Niki Connor of Los Angeles, California on Life, Lessons & Legacy

We recently had the chance to connect with Niki Connor and have shared our conversation below.

Good morning Niki, we’re so happy to have you here with us and we’d love to explore your story and how you think about life and legacy and so much more. So let’s start with a question we often ask: What are you being called to do now, that you may have been afraid of before?
I’ve felt called to do what I can to help inspire others to take better care of themselves physically and mentally through self-love instead of fear. In this day and age, there is too much misinformation being spread by unqualified people and media using fear-mongering, criticism, money, large followings and even bullying to manipulate their audiences into buying whatever they’re selling whether it’s a subscription, course, snake oil product, etc. This has caused people to become more anxious and fearful in their day-to-day lives because they’re constantly being fed contradicting information and told that something they’re consuming is going to make them ugly, old, fat or sick and the very thing they just spent their hard-earned money on has been labeled as useless or harmful.

While I firmly believe that we ought to do what we can to live a healthy and balanced lifestyle, pressuring people into feeling insecure about something, fear-mongering or putting others down to be seen as more qualified is not the way to go. I prefer to lead by example and do my best to be more kind, patient and understanding with the way I treat myself and others, because the tough love treatment I tried in the past led me to burnout and depression. We ought to be inspired to have enough self discipline to take care of ourselves because we love and respect ourselves, not because we’re trying to fit a certain size or be accepted by others. When it comes to our health, most of us were taught how to diet, not how to nourish ourselves and that has resulted in chronic health issues due to vitamin and mineral deficiencies.

A large percentage of the diet and beauty industries have gone from supportive to dependant and are now designed to keep you spending money to “fix” what you have been led to believe is “wrong” with you instead of helping you feel your best naturally as best as possible and create long-term improvements that would help you reach and maintain a healthy lifestyle as well as improve your physical and mental health. If fad diets and beauty trends worked long-term, they wouldn’t be profitable because you wouldn’t keep yo-yo dieting and finding new problems that need to be fixed. With so much conflicting advice, trying to do what’s “right” can be stressful, but your health and wellbeing doesn’t come from a place of anxiety or deprivation, your relationship with yourself can help you make mindful and informed decisions based on trust – not fear.

Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
I’m a Professional Chef and Health & Nutrition Counselor using my platform to help educate others on living an attainable healthy lifestyle. I use my formal health, nutrition and culinary education, background as a professional athlete, International upbringing, extensive travels and passion for improving the lives of others to help my clients and my audience live a healthy and balanced lifestyle. My work ranges from nutrition counseling and cooking to prevent and fight illnesses to events and personal chef work for Oscar-winning actors, Grammy-winning musicians, models, professional athletes, Fortune 500 executives, tech CEOs, etc.

The goal of holistic healing is to achieve optimal health and balance in all areas of life, hence why I am called a holistic chef. I use the “food as medicine” approach with a strong belief in bio-individuality. I firmly believe in the marriage of Eastern and Western medicine: A board-certified doctor who is qualified to help you with your condition based on their field of medicine will save your life, but living a healthy and preventative lifestyle with the help of a certified nutritionist, dietician or qualified chef like me can help keep you out of the hospital in the first place. I’m autistic, I have ADHD and CPTSD and have dedicated years to healing from trauma and finding peace amongst the chaos to manage my physical and mental health better and be of service to others.

I recently finished writing my first book which is a lifestyle/cookbook and am excited to share it!

Great, so let’s dive into your journey a bit more. What part of you has served its purpose and must now be released?
I learned the hard way that trying to do and be everything to myself and everyone else would never lead to peace and happiness. I was exhausting myself trying to mask my neurodivergent traits and suppressed my needs to try to improve my business and be accepted by others, but it led to an injury combined with such severe burnout that I spent a couple of years recovering, learning to regulate my nervous system, and overcoming depression. There is nothing wrong with hustling to reach your goals, but neglecting your physical or mental health and suppressing who you are to try to fit into a mold that is not meant for you is harmful and even dangerous. Self-care is sold to us as a marketing tactic when its not about how many visits to the spa you take, it’s about treating yourself with love and kindness and prioritizing your physical and mental health. I thought that I was expected to know everything I could in order to be taken seriously because that was the most common response I would get whenever I sought advice. The most intelligent and interesting people I admire are more focused on learning, admit what they don’t know, hold themselves accountable and are more interested in being a good person rather than trying to be interesting and “cool”.

Is there something you miss that no one else knows about?
I miss some of the opportunities I had in the past because I didn’t handle them well, I took some things for granted, trusted a few wrong people and was more focused on trying to fit into a mold and appease others than my own personal growth and creating a better life for myself. I did it to myself, learned my lessons and am no longer embarrassed to admit that I was far from the responsible and secure person I am today. If I could go back in time, I would have handled things very differently, but instead of dwelling on the past I chose to use it as a lesson to learn from.

Next, maybe we can discuss some of your foundational philosophies and views? What are the biggest lies your industry tells itself?
That you are not enough. When I was in nutrition school while living in New York (I’m now based in LA), I devoured every bit of information, obsessed over ingredients and set impossibly high standards for myself. If I came down with so much as a cold, I punished myself for not being in “perfect” health 24/7 and believed that extreme discipline was the key to health. What started as a pursuit of health and knowledge ended up negatively affecting my relationship with myself and others. Once I stopped trying to be perfect, everything changed! I had more energy, presence, and peace. I could enjoy food without attaching it to pain, guilt or fear. I started trusting myself and that trust was the foundation for real, lasting wellness. I can now honor my body with nutritious food and exercise without punishing myself for not being perfect. The system does what it’s designed to do: keep you chasing, fixing and feeling like you’re always just a few pounds, purchases or procedures away from being “enough”. It’s exhausting, damaging, and even dangerous. We deserve to take care of ourselves out of love, not shame and nourish our bodies without fear.

Thank you so much for all of your openness so far. Maybe we can close with a future oriented question. What do you understand deeply that most people don’t?
Empathy.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: http://instagram.com/holisticchefniki
• Other: http://tiktok.com/holisticchefniki

Image Credits
Niki Connor
Torrey West