Jessica Sepel is a nutrition expert, best selling author and blogger at www.jessicasepel.com
What first inspired you to start blogging? Describe your career/lifestyle beforehand? I’ve wanted to be a nutritionist since I was 14 – I was just fascinated by how the body works – and how powerful food can be in changing your health and wellbeing. But my real passion for helping people live a healthy life came from my own personal struggle and negative relationship with food. After moving to Australia from South Africa when I was a teenager, I became a serial fad dieter. I had become dangerously obsessed with my weight. I was weight conscious, not health conscious. Something needed to shift.
After school, I went on to study a three-year Bachelor of Health, then a further two years specialising in nutrition. It was in my fourth year of study that something really clicked. I started blogging – privately at first – about my learning, new recipes I was creating and the amazing changes I was experiencing by eating a wholefood diet. It was all very organic – I never expected it to become a full-time job!
What is the premise behind your blog and how does it differ from other popular health blogs/vlogs? My philosophy is very balanced – there are no diets or extremes. I think it’s refreshing for people to hear that you don’t have to be perfect ALL the time. We are so overwhelmed by health messages these days – what we should be eating, what we should be drinking, which diet we should be following. People are struggling to find balance with food and health. My blog, my online Program and my books were created to help people clear the confusion and reconnect to their unique bodies.
What is your current following?
320,000 across our channels. How do you work running the blog alongside your other commitments?
I have an incredible team behind JSHealth who support me. I can’t do it all, but I’m good at delegating and focusing on what I am good at – ensuring I maintain my connection to my community. They matter most. What do you enjoy most about what you do? Are there any perks/downsides?
The fact that it is my own business is a good and a bad thing. On the one hand, I can govern my own hours 90% of the time. On the other hand, it’s 24/7.
What would be your one piece of advice to any budding health and fitness bloggers? Find a message that you are genuinely passionate about, and don’t be afraid to share it with the world. Never be afraid to show the vulnerable and hard times too.