Sponsored Article - Presented by Black Star Wealth
Richa Gupta is the founder and CEO of Good Food for Good where she created a line of sauces and condiments that are organic, dairy- and gluten-free, vegan-friendly, and free of sugar and preservatives. And get this: not only are their products super healthy, but they also donate a meal to someone in need for every product bought.
Before Good Food for Good, Gupta was a young mom working full time at General Mills, supporting a four-year-old daughter. She was struggling with the amount of time she had to feed her daughter healthy, wholesome, food. “I used to have like 20 minutes to feed her, to bathe her, to put her to bed,” she says. “Anything that I looked for in the market for shortcuts was loaded with so much crap, so many things that I didn’t consider food.”
Growing up in India with her mom’s fresh, healthy meals, put Gupta in a unique position to recognize the abnormalities in North American products. Gupta had never eaten out of a can or a jar until moving to North America at age 25. Seeing all those preservatives and other unpronounceable ingredients was not normal. It felt wrong to her to feed a child food you can’t pronounce.
In addition to struggling with eating healthy, Gupta also felt unfulfilled in her career: “I think, at a certain point, all of us probably question, ‘is this my legacy, is this what I’m supposed to do, my purpose in life?’” And this was not the legacy she wanted to leave behind.
Challenges in parenthood and in her career led Gupta to the idea of creating something not only good for her but good for people in need as well. “I was in love. It felt like I found my purpose,” she remembers. “I tell people all the time, I think Good Food for Good found me, rather than I founded Good Food for Good. It’s given me so much joy and so much fulfillment.”
Gupta isn’t the only one benefiting from her business. As of the end of July 2021, Good Food for Good has donated 917,000 meals to people in need.
WHAT HABITS HAVE YOU DEVELOPED TO HELP YOU BE SUCCESSFUL?
Gupta highlights three main habits that help keep her on track.
Goal setting: “Definitely.”
Brushing off the small stuff: “We lose a lot of focus time, time that could go towards the right direction, when some minimal pain just disturbs us.”
Control what you can control: “You can’t go back and change things. Control things that you can control and let the rest go.”
YOU’RE OBVIOUSLY VERY BUSY GROWING YOUR BUSINESS, BUT WHEN YOU’RE OUTSIDE OF WORK, WHAT DO YOU DO TO MAINTAIN HEALTH AND WELLNESS AND A GOOD BALANCE?
“I believe in more of a work-life flow than work-life balance, because I guess I enjoy doing what I’m doing!” Gupta says.
She would do what she’s doing even if it wasn’t her job: “Researching food, researching climate change, reading all this stuff is what I would read even if this was not my work.”
In addition, Gupta enjoys spending time with family and friends, playing with her dog, gardening, yoga, nature walks, entertaining, and cooking.
WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO A WOMAN LOOKING TO BECOME HER OWN BOSS OR READY TO MAKE A BIG CHANGE?
“I would say, ‘Do it.’ The first step is the hardest, but without it, it’s not going to happen,” advises Gupta. “I know it’s scary, but you have to just take that first step and ask the questions and the answers will come.”
Take the first step as soon as you can. Don’t wait for ‘one day.’
