This year has actually been quite a big year for me in my work and career. So, I thought, as I do most years, I would have a go at sharing some of my achievements from 2023 with the readers of my blog. With two young children, it’s always been a bit of a juggle when you take work, career, home life and parenting into the mix, but last year I actually made a decision to have FEWER working hours, not more. I’m very lucky to be able to do that with my work, and it’s only possible because I have a little team around me, including Emily Kerrigan, Katarina Martinez-Thomas and Chrissie, as well as my team at Sokada, who work on my website.
I wanted to spend a little more time with Ada before she heads off to school in September and our life with “little people” changes forever. I can imagine it’s going to be an even bigger year this year for our family as well as plenty of new and exciting things to watch out for with SR Nutrition and my work as a Nutrition Consultant.
So here’s to 2023 and all that me and my little team achieved:
I won SILVER in the Mother and Baby awards
This is a BIG category for a very prestigious parenting award ceremony in the UK, so I have to confess to being very pleased about this one.
I really didn’t expect to win, but I won an award for my book, How To Feed Your Toddler, in the Best Weaning Food/Product category.
The competition was TOUGH, and I’m so grateful that the judges thought my book was the winner.
Thank you also for my amazing team at Penguin for nominating me in the first place.
I launched a NEW BOOK!
My THIRD book, How to Feed Your Family, came out in September and I was SO happy to see it launched.
I’d worked so hard on this, trying to make it as practical and visual as possible for families to help with the overwhelm that can come along with feeding a family.
It contains 70 recipes – the most from my books to date – as well as lots of helpful resources like budgeting, menu planning and utilising your fridge and freezer properly.
For me, at my time of life right now, it’s been the biggest resource for me personally in 2023, too!
I got on the Sunday Times Bestseller list!
I don’t like to blow my own trumpet much, but I now am a Sunday Times Bestseller THREE times over. That’s quite unique, I think, for a fairly niche type of book – feeding babies/toddlers and families – I’m really proud I can say that. How to Feed Your Family was the third of my books to make it onto this prestigious list. I honestly wasn’t expecting it at all, as it gets released in manuals and competes with every cookery book, information book and diet book going…so happy that I made it three times over. Wow.
I was on a Parenting Showcase Panel for Penguin
I took part on a parenting panel for Penguin at their Parenting Showcase event in February. This was alongside some HUGE names in the parenting field including Emma Svanberg (Parenting for Humans), Rosey Davidson, Marie Louise (Midwife), Louis Weinstock, also Kate Ferdinand. I was so honoured to be on this panel and it was such a lovely event. Penguin celebrated all of their books that support parents through every stage and every aspect of parenting, too. Penguin Ebury (my publishers) are the BEST of the best when it comes to publishing in the area of parenting.
I welcomed a new employee
Emily Kerrigan joined my team whilst Kat MT was on maternity leave and she’s been really integral to SR Nutrition’s growth and also a great deal of the social media, blog and recipe content I’ve delivered this year. Emily is a fully qualified nutritionist, journalist AND a Leith’s trained chef – what MORE could a Nutrition Consultant like myself want? Emily has been brilliant and we are going to continue to work together into 2024, too – lots of recipe development projects and more. Thank you, Emily.
I created a meal with Zebedees
I worked with Zebedees to roll out a version of my “Cheat’s Lasagne” from my How to Feed Your Family book, to children who are offered Zebedees hot meals in nursery settings every day. It was such an honour for Brendan, the Head Chef, to use my recipe for this and even more of an honour that I know many, many children are getting to have it for their lunch every three weeks. The staff at Ada’s nursery always tell me when she’s had it and Ada even said to me “I had YOUR recipe today mummy.” Proud moment for sure!
I supported Little Dish with their charity campaign
I took part in a HUGE campaign for Little Dish where they joined forces with an incredible charity called The Felix Project in the name of giving back. Little Dish pledged to provide HALF A MILLION free, nutritious meals to children throughout London via The Felix Project. The team have done so incredibly well on this project called Buy One, Give One and it’s still rolling out today. I’m SO proud to work with brands who care and are about health, wellbeing, community and supporting families – even over profits.
I spoke at the Baby Show throughout the year
Always SO honoured to be on the main stage at The Baby Show and having a headline slot where I get to talk to parents and parents-to-be about what to expect from weaning. This year I also talked about pregnancy nutrition and hopefully I’ll be back in 2024, too!
I received a Highly Commended Award
In June I was nominated for an award with The Caroline Walker Trust. I ended up getting a certificate for “Highly Commended Freelance Nutritionist” for my work in child nutrition. I won this alongside Clem Cleave who does incredible work in Public Health and is now someone who I communicate with regularly.
I joined an Expert Influencer connection
This year I’ve attended several expert influencer dinners run by the lovely Rosey from Just Chill Mama. It’s amazing to attend these events with some of the biggest names in the Expert Online Communities from psychologists, GPs, speech and language therapists, midwives – you name it. It’s also lovely to meet with a group of females all working and all in fairly “niche” jobs as far as careers go. I find these sessions empowering, supportive and also I learn a lot from working with these ladies on a regular basis.
I filmed with Sheerluxe
I was honoured to be asked to film on a panel for Sheerluxe with Emma Svanberg and Tobi Asare. It was such a surreal experience, like I’d stepped out onto a catwalk. Everyone there is dressed to the absolute best and it’s quite literally like a set from a magazine. Loved the chat and discussion and also the supportive conversation aiming to help parents feel less overwhelmed. I hope you like it.
I produced my brand new flashcards
My weaning and toddler flashcards took over a year from initial idea to design, printing and concept and finally being on my website. The idea behind these flashcards is that they are a little fun, supportive accessory to support your weaning/child feeding journey. They are like the milestone cards that are used in pregnancy and after having babies, but focus on supportive words, tips and encouragement for when you are either weaning your baby or feeding a somewhat fussy toddler. Each goes nicely along with each of my books too, so they make a great gift package for a friend or family member with a little one.
I launched my Fussy Eating Crash Course
I was really proud to launch my Fussy Eating Crash Course online – and I’m delighted that it’s already helping lots of parents to tackle picky eating with their little ones. It offers lots of tips that you can put into practice straight away and you can follow along at your own pace. I also continued to roll out my online weaning course – a complete, step-by-step guide to starting your baby on solids, from first tastes all the way up to sharing family meals.
I’m always so happy when parents get in touch to let me know it’s supported them! In 2024, there is no chance of slowing down as I have some FANTASTIC collaborative projects with some brilliant brands already in the pipeline. I’m going to be travelling to Belgium for work and also making a trip to The Malvern Hills to work on a top secret project, too! I’m staying on as the Nutrition Consultant for Zebedees, Little Dish and am working on some projects with Penguin, too. Watch this space and make sure you’re signed up to my newsletter to be the first to find out about everything that 2024 has in store, as well as getting tasty recipes, exclusive content and all my best advice!