We had the good fortune of connecting with Kate Flynn and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Kate, have there been any changes in how you think about work-life balance?
Before launching my own business, back in my corporate days, work and life were two black and white things. Work was my job, life was all about everything outside of that. Spending time with friends/family, going on vacation, working out… and candidly, I was horrible at the balance part! I was a lot of work, very little life. Since becoming an entrepreneur, though, my perspective has shifted. Now that I have my own company, work is my life. Especially because my co-founder is my husband. We love what we do so much, and we’re so passionate about growing our business, it’s hard for us not to want to spend time on it all hours of the day. Even when we go on vacation, we want to keep working. And when we go out to dinner, we want to talk about it! So it all just starts to blend together a bit more. So what I’ve had to get better at is consciously setting aside to do all the things that help fill my cup as an entrepreneur. While part of me wants to hustle by working 20 hours a day and not sleeping, I know this is a marathon – not a sprint – and that’s not sustainable. I need to get sleep. I need to make time to workout. I need to make time to prepare healthy, nourishing food so my body is fueled. My balance these days is making sure my body and mind are taken care of so I can be the best founder I can possibly be. The other big change for us recently is that we had a daughter this summer. That’s been a huge adjustment for us, as anyone with kids knows – they need a lot of attention and take up a lot of time! So we try to be conscious about how we spend our time with her: my husband will watch her when I work, I’ll watch her while he works – so we can take turns focusing 100% attention on work, or 100% attention on our daughter, vs. splitting our mindshare. We haven’t nailed it yet, but we’re working on it!!

What should our readers know about your business?
We started our business several years ago with a goal of making whole food eating more accessible. We did this by launching a line of delicious, grab-and-go snacks made with 100% real food ingredients. As we grew our company, we realized we were solving one problem – health – while contributing to another problem – single-use plastic. So as we started to grow, we decided to focus on not only making healthier packaged foods, but also more sustainable ones. In 2018, we started selling some of our snacks in compostable packaging, becoming one of the only packaged food companies in the US to sell food in compostable packaging. Today, we offer an entire line of pantry staples in compostable packaging, so you can stock your entire pantry with plastic-free foods. We also recently launched a “send-back” program, so if our customers don’t have access to composting, we can compost our bags for them to ensure they turn into soil. There’s nothing more rewarding than knowing we’re creating such positive change for both people and our planet.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
We live in Santa Barbara, so here are some of my personal favorites in our neck of the woods: Brunch: Lilac Patisserie, or if you’re looking for more diner style – Mesa Cafe Dinner: Barbareno or Sama Sama for something a little nicer; Mesa Verde for casual plant-based cuisine Drinks: Good Lion for cocktails, Topa Topa for beers Fitness studio: Barre3 Beach: Jelly Bowl in Carpinteria Dog walk (off-leash!): Douglas Preserve

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Our friends and family who continue to support us along this journey by buying our products and telling people about our company. I don’t think everyone knows this, but we still watch every single order that comes in. So while we don’t have the time to personally write handwritten thank you cards with every order anymore, we see when people we know buy from us. And it always makes us feel so grateful and humbled.

Website: www.sunandswellfoods.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sunandswellfoods/
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kate-flynn-15187726
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sunandswellfoods/

Nominate Someone: ShoutoutLA is built on recommendations and shoutouts from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.