Meet Alexandra Hahn

We recently connected with Alexandra Hahn and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Alexandra, so great to have you on the platform. There’s so much we want to ask you, but let’s start with the topic of self-care. Do you do anything for self-care and if so, do you think it’s had a meaningful impact on your effectiveness?

Scrolling through the topics I was offered for this interview, I have been getting carried away in a little bit of my German “I need to make it right” vibe. In this case: I need to find the right question to my answers, to my life story.
After a while I had narrowed it down to a few: What do you do for self care? How do you keep your creativity alive? How do you avoid burn out? Where does your optimism come from? We had taken pictures, busy in the kitchen, around my garden, at the beach … and I was still not quite clear how to start. But last night around 1 am, while I was still baking Keto Kräckers for the farmers markets this week – my energy levels slowly dropping after a long day of work, it finally occurred to me that my remedy, my answer to all of these topics was actually one and the same.
I met one of “my” tree frogs at the back door, and while adoring his vibrant colors and perfect shape I started talking to him as I always do, asking how he was doing tonight, apologizing that I had to open the door , which didn’t bother him at all by the way, I started smiling and thanking him, and we laughed at each other , at least that’s what I did and in my world he did too.

There it is, right there…
I love those little things along the way, the little moments, the little encounters with nature’s beauty. And when I say I love them, I mean I inhale them. I cherish them with every bit of my body. I feel them. I see them. I sense them and most importantly I still get very excited about them. It creates this happiness inside of me, that is just contagious. My inner child, my little girl, is so very close beneath the surface, I can reach her within a second. From whatever state I’m in. And I collect those moments. I’m a Taurus, of course I collect them. They are all over my heart, some fade and some I remember for years but they are always with me and there are new moments constantly coming in every day. The crab looking at me at the beach – have you noticed they have an additional tiny set of arms that blends perfectly into their face and every once in a while they reveal them and their only purpose is to clean their black pin needle eyes? The osprey hunting, the dragon fly with the broken wing.
I have shown a friend a tiny frog up on my 12ft tall sunflower, sitting on one of the yellow flower pedals. “How did you even see that?”, she asked me in return. I don’t know, I just see them, they come to me, they show themselves, I am just paying attention.
I w a n t to see them.
And this is how I recharge. It’s what keeps my creativity alive, there is an abundance of beautiful tiny moments in my heart. It is part of what keeps me from burn out (That indeed needs a lot of self-discipline and determination as well, prioritizing your own wellbeing over getting your customers’ needs met. Your wellbeing over business . In the end yourself over money), it is definitely where my optimism feeds upon. It is part of my self-care. It is my own special me-time.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?

I own a small gluten free bakery business and I focus on gluten free, keto friendly, dairy free, sugar free baked goods.
Everything is hand made by me with deep-rooted love for naturally delicious food and mindful living. I believe that our body is greatly capable of healing itself and staying healthy, if we would just feed it the right things, keep our stress levels balanced, and our emotions regulated.
My products range from German style seed bread, multi seed Keto Kräckers, and granola to a variety of pastries that meet all kinds of special dietary needs.
My business is built on a very personal approach: Its name “Lexi.Berlin” combines my nickname and my hometown – which I created in a moment of homesick longing for my family and friends and the one city of my heart – Berlin. The slogan – von mir für dich – from me to you – because I only sell what I love and what I would eat myself. A friend of mine likes to make fun of me, saying it is impossible to compliment me on my food because I only ever answer: I know. “Your tartes are delicious!” I know. I love them too, otherwise I wouldn’t make them.
Many of my recipes are family recipes lined with childhood memories. My grandma’s apple pie with almond honey topping, my mom’s Plum Streusel, which was a must have every fall after harvesting 10 buckets of plums in our garden. My mom is the reason my Plum Streusel doesn’t have a yeast dough – against good old Berlin tradition. She doesn’t like yeast, so she makes it with “Rührteig”. Which, by the way, made it so much easier for me to transform it into gluten free.
For me, creating food is a way to spread love . It is bonding and in a beautiful way it is like a picnic blanket to build community around. I have been lucky to experience this at my local farmers markets for myself as well as together with the amazing team of Mello Beans Coffee while building a local coffee and art community around our sweet little coffee shop down here in Virginia Beach.

I had been gluten free for a few years before I moved to the U.S., which was about five years ago. Since I couldn’t find my favorite kind of gluten free seed bread in the stores, I started making it myself. Seed by seed; dark, dense, filling, natural. Bread the way I love it, gluten free in “Vollkornbrot” tradition. From there I developed my Keto Kräckers when my husband started his Keto diet. By that time I had made friends in the local farmers market community and had received my Green Card. I did the only thing I knew and had brought over from my former life – being self-employed and running my own business. So I signed my business license the month COVID slowly started spreading in Wuhan and when the virus had made its way over the oceans I was part of a vivid farmers market family. At that time we were one of the only reasons people were allowed to leave the house. Buying groceries at an outside venue. Community – right from the start.

I won’t even dive into telling you about my old life and profession – which is basically one because I’m an artist. That would probably fill another chapter. Just that much to be said. There are days when I miss the theater like crazy. Creating the scenery for a stage production, being part of that incredible bunch of talented people who stir up this beautiful magic every night the curtain rises is a feeling that never leaves you completely.

But believe my actual talent is having ideas. Creating meaningful spaces, finding solutions for all kinds of problems, and this is how the circle closes, creating recipes for all kinds of special dietary needs.

In recent years, and especially in the last year, I have discovered another talent of mine – which at first, I couldn’t really believe to be true, since I’m an introvert and only really free, when I’m in nature all by myself.
But that talent is bringing people together. And I must say it’s a wonderful one. I meet people and I collect them in my orbit and then at some point they meet through gravity or because I am throwing an idea into that orbit and a special group of people resonates with it. So, they meet each other around that idea and from there magical things happen …every time the curtain rises.

Come meet me online and learn more about my products www.lexi.berlin

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

Idealism. I’m deeply idealistic, to the point where people have been laughing at me because following through with my ideas seemed so much extra work that wasn’t rewarded in money. But I always go the extra mile if it makes it more beautiful because I know it will make that smile in the other persons face/ audience/ customers a little bit brighter when I do.

Bring the people you work with into your boat. Pick them up where they are and slowly bring them towards your idea. I don’t succeed through pressure. I am not even capable of applying pressure. But my ideas and my love and enthusiasm with which I work on a project are somehow contagious, they inspire people to want to work with me. I love what we do, and they love what we do. They believe in it. That creates a wonderful work environment and multiplies good ideas.

Work hard. Period. Find what you’re burning for and work hard. When you are good, there will always be work for you. People will call you and ask you to work with them.

What has been your biggest area of growth or improvement in the past 12 months?

Go on a walk before you flood the bathroom.
Go on a walk before you flood the bathroom because your head is all over the place and you forgot about the running water.
Go on a walk before you subconsciously start a fight with your loved one, just so you can slam the door and say: now I need a time out and go on a hike for a day! Now I’m allowing myself a time out.
Go on a walk as often as needed so your body doesn’t have to create an injury or illness to put you down on the couch if it needs to recharge.
Go on a walk before it’s too late. Not after.
Go on a walk as prevention, not as a remedy.
When you think: It’s ok, I’m still good, I can work another three days without a walk, it’s exactly the moment to go on a walk.

It took me a while to see the pattern and I am far from being an expert. It just happend to me last week, but more often than not, I make myself go on a walk at the beach while I am still feeling strong, especially during busy stressful times. I know I need to ground regularly so I don’t get emotionally overwhelmed. Because if I do get overwhelmed it affects my relationships and my family. I have a responsibility to take care of myself and bring my best into our circle.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.lexi.berlin
• Instagram: @lexi.berlin
• Facebook: @lexi.berlin.foryou

Image Credits

Mallory Anderson