Talking openly about fertility, endometriosis and getting the right work-mum balance with Keira Rumble of Krumbled Foods
Keira Rumble is the best kind of influencer, shedding light on the health issues that millions of women struggle with every day. Taking to social media, Keira brings a realistic yet positive outlook on issues such as fertility, endometriosis, and the work-mum-balance. Her healthy snack brand Krumbled Foods was borne of frustration with the existing snack market brimming with products packed with hidden sugars. Driven by the desire to improve her own health and help others with the same goal, Keira continues to make her mark on the industry for the better. I caught up with Keira to discuss all things nutrition, women’s health and her personal health struggles.
To start off, please could you give our reader an idea of why you decided to create Krumbled Foods?
Yeah, sure. It all started when I was in my early twenties. I was diagnosed as pre-diabetic, or insulin resistant, and so I knew that I needed to have a bit of a shift in the way that I was eating. I turned to the supermarket aisles, and I wanted to try and find a healthy snack. I was eating all of these snacks and wasn’t seeing much progress with my health, and it wasn’t until I turned them around and started looking at the back of the packet that I realised that they were filled with so much sugar, and it was sort of that moment that I thought, whoah, why aren’t there healthy products out there?
There was so much sugar and hidden sugars in all of these products, so I really wanted to create a health food company that was actually healthy. I also wanted to go a step further and create something that would just fit into my lifestyle. At the time I was having a lot of collagen, a lot of probiotics, prebiotics and vitamins and then making my snacks, and I wanted to create something that I could literally grab and go and put in my handbag whilst getting all of these benefits. So that was where the concept came from, and we spent 2 years in research and development, and then launched, and now I’m here.
So how did this evolve into your Beauty Bites? And why did you decide this was the product?
I guess I wanted that functionality in a snack and having the high dose of collagen into a snack bar was my main priority. I guess from a marketing point of view, it makes sense to have something that’s easy to grab and go so there was a really great gap in the marketplace that we could really start to advertise and market to our consumers.
I’ve had a read of your website and it gets quite technical. Could you briefly summarise the science behind Beauty Bites?
Collagen is something that our bodies produce, but when we start getting older, we start to produce less collagen, so you want to start incorporating digestible collagen to actually help replenish your collagen levels. We formulated them to have one a day, and then in 6 weeks you start seeing the results of better skin hydration, better nail health, better hair health, and then we included the pre- and pro- biotics to help with your gut health, and then having the added vitamins to help with your skin and all of the beauty benefits from those vitamins.
To talk about the nutritional side of things even further, I’ve been personally struggling with suspected endometriosis and have dramatically changed my diet. I’ve been shocked by how little some medical practitioners believe there’s a link between nutrition and overall bodily health. I wondered if this is something you’d personally encountered, and whether you’re using your brand to address this issue?
I guess, from my own personal point of view, it’s important to have good health but I completely understand that good health isn’t accessible for everyone. I mean, working in a busy job, it’s so easy to just go to the supermarket and grab something that’s easy.
In terms of the medical space, I think we’ve actually been really well-received because we are really low in sugar, so we are diabetic friendly, and that’s something that I was really conscious about - creating something that was actually going to be better and wouldn’t be a fad. So yeah, I’ve been really fortunate to have that medical space to be quite on board with the product. But it’s definitely something that I hear and see everyday, especially going through endo surgery. I’m about to have another endo surgery and it’s just something that you hear all of these naturopaths and nutritionists talking about how food is so inflammatory, and you’ve got to have an inflammatory diet, but then you speak to the medical surgeons [who disagree], so it’s finding that balance isn’t it?
It is a really difficult road, and they look at you like you’re stupid sometimes when you tell them all of the things you’ve been doing, but when you’re actually feeling the benefits yourself, you know that it is really changing.
To bring it back to the brand, what’s been your proudest achievement for Krumbled to date?
So, we launched into a major grocery retailer in Australia, and I think that was very much a pinch-me moment, to see it on the shelf. We’re now in over 2,000 retailers across the globe. So going into Holland & Barrett was a massive feat for us. I was just so excited, and obviously I’m coming out in April to the UK which will be great as we haven’t been able to get there, and I think just getting all of these incredible retailers. Then also having people try the products and post about the products so organically, just on their own Instagram and Facebook, and getting these amazing testimonials. People have really bought into the brand because they’re seeing the results. There’s too many to choose.
That’s great to hear, and is there anything else in the pipeline currently?
Yeah, so we’ve got over 15 products that we’re looking to launch, we’re moving into our own factory over here in Australia, we’ve got some really exciting new retailers that we’re hopefully going to be launching with and going out to the UK will be a great opportunity to meet people face to face and build those relationships.
I’ve read from your Instagram and bio about your difficult fertility journey. Please could you expand on that for our readers?
My partner and I have had 7 pregnancy losses, and 1 ectopic pregnancy included in that, and we went through IVF in 2020, and we were really fortunate to have a successful round and I’ve got an 8-month-old baby now. So, a very happy ending, but I guess the biggest thing for me going through the fertility journey is the first few lots of miscarriages I didn’t really talk about.
The way that I was treated by some medical people, saying just go home and take Panadol. It wasn’t until I had my ectopic pregnancy that I thought, well, this is such a common thing – pregnancy loss, and it’s just not spoken about enough, and I started to document it on my own social media and just was inundated by thousands of women going through the same thing. It was so heart-breaking to read everyone’s stories, but it reassured me that I was doing the right thing by sharing it, because at first I was quite worried that I was oversharing and people wouldn’t want to hear it.
Even endometriosis is such a common, chronic, debilitating illness that no-one really knows, so many people are undiagnosed with endo, and it takes 7-9 years for people to be diagnosed. In Australia, it’s something like 1 in 4 people go through a miscarriage so fertility, female health and reproductive health is just such a passionate thing for me to talk about because I’m so personally involved in it. Whilst each and every one of those losses were so heart-breaking and it was a really dark time for me, it’s been nice to have that happy ending, which is what everyone wants.
It’s very refreshing to see someone with a large outreach on social media documenting their personal struggles because you don’t often see that side. Using your voice in this way is perfect in my opinion.
Well, I just thought, if I was online, each and every time I was going through my pregnancy losses or experiencing a chronic endo flare up, and I wasn’t seeing that, I thought there was something wrong with myself. When in fact there was something wrong with this perception of everyone living this healthy, happy, amazing life when in reality, so many people are hit with so much heartache and heart-break. Why wouldn’t you talk about it?
I completely agree. I don’t know about you, but when I was pregnant, I felt this pressure not to announce before 12 weeks due to the increased risk of miscarriage, and I hate that, we shouldn’t feel that. It should be celebrated from the beginning.
Absolutely, and with Hunter, my son, we announced early because no matter what, being pregnant is such a celebration. Whether or not it sadly ends in a miscarriage, an ectopic or a loss, it’s something to be celebrated because for some people, especially myself, it’s just such a hard thing to fall pregnant and stay pregnant, so it should be such a celebration.
So how did this experience change your outlook of life and business?
I’ve always been an empathetic person, but my level of empathy has definitely changed and grown and I like to hold a bit of a space for people when they message. I mean, I do get overwhelmed with the messages I receive every single day from people, but it’s my job to hold space for them and to be there if I can in any capacity. So I think I’ve really had a deeper understanding in compassion for people going through it.
Then speaking as a business owner, it’s so important for me employing people to have the flexibility if you’re going through IVF or fertility treatment to be able to take time off and not have that worry that you’re needing to make it up or it’s taking into your sick day. I think that people are entitled to take time off without worrying, and that’s something that’s really important. We’re a small business but I really want to ensure that we’re supporting people no matter what they’re going through, and I never had really thought about that until we started employing more people, and I guess that’s really, very much at the forefront now that we’re growing the team.
Gosh, I wish every employer was as considerate!
I just think back to how would I have survived going through so many pregnancy losses with a boss that didn’t understand it. I wouldn’t have been able to, and I’m really fortunate in having the flexibility in being self-employed, but not everyone has that flexibility, so I think that I have to put myself in other people’s shoes and think ‘what would I want? What would I need? And what would I deserve?’.
And what advice on a personal level would you give to somebody experiencing something similar?
I think, so for instance with all of my pregnancy losses, it took me four specialists to finally get an answer as to why we were having a lot of the losses, and I was told for so long ‘oh we just don’t know why, it’s very common, it’s very normal’, and it wasn’t until I said well no, I need more answers that I actually got them, and it took me four, and you know, so much money to actually get these answers, so I think if something doesn’t feel right in your gut, your gut instinct, it might be worth getting that second advice, or third or fourth.
Yes, at the end of the day we each individually know our bodies better than anybody.
Yep, and even in endo, if you haven’t even been diagnosed yet, but you know when there’s something deep inside of you that knows something’s not right.
I remember being in college, and I would have to take the whole week off due to these excruciating periods, even back then. But it just got dismissed and told to take pain killers, and all my pain was normalised.
‘It’s normal’, yeah, it breaks my heart to think about how many people just go on in life in so much pain, especially with endo.
I know, it’s nice that it’s being spoken about more, because I think it is nowadays, but there’s so much more that needs to be done, more education because it’s not there yet.
No, and I know that periods shouldn’t be painful, but it’s just always spoken about like ‘oh, I’ve got my period, I’m in pain, I need a heat pad’, but why? You’re not actually meant to have pain, and what level of pain? Then some people who have slight pain people with severe endometriosis, it’s just, hard to relate to and it’s hard to understand unless you’re literally living and breathing it.
Yeah absolutely. So how do you manage to balance being a businesswoman and a Mum?
It’s challenging, it really is. It’s something that I haven’t mastered, at all, but I don’t think I ever will, but I think it’s just having those moments where I just take a deep breath in and deep breath out and you know, really figure out my priorities for the day. The weekends are my weekends with my bub, and I try and switch off when it’s sometimes impossible, but yeah, I haven’t mastered it yet and I take my hat off to anyone who has mastered it - working Mum life, it’s a lot.
What advice do you have for lesser established businesswomen?
Bring it back to your why all the time. So when you’re faced with a tough business decision, or a crisis, or if your vision gets blurred, I think that it’s so important to bring it back to your why, why you’re doing it and trying to assess whether or not the decision that you’re faced with, or the crisis that you’re faced with is worth stress, because stress is such a big player in so many things, especially in business, and I think that you can overcome that stress if you bring it back to your why.
Finally, how do you stay motivated in both business and wider areas of life?
In business, I think it’s really looking forward to things, I mean, looking forward to little things, and big things and to have the fuel of that why. So for me, I love creating products, love creating brands, going to different countries, and it’s always really exciting, but there are days where I have to sit in front of the computer answering emails, doing invoicing and it’s boring, and it’s quite time consuming, so I think, you know, trying to ignite that passion anyway you can, and I guess that’s personal too.
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Abigail is a photographer, writer and mother of four based in West Yorkshire. She is keen to explore all manner of themes within human nature and history through her photographic practice, amalgamating in a dusky, decadent aesthetic. These visual characteristics are further enhanced through her use of analogue equipment. Her photographic work is informed by a unique depth of research, and she prides herself on becoming fully immersed in the intricacies of each theme that my work explores. Whilst she specialises in editorial fashion photography, her work is also characterised by elements from a variety of photographic genres, particularly street and documentary photography. When she’s not photographing, she is writing, especially on topics such as visual arts, culture and history and is currently undertaking personal and editorial work in this field.
