Zoe Foster Blake shares her secrets to good health and good business

bodyandsoul.com.au

Taking notes.

Photos: Instagram @zotheysay

Zoe Foster Blake’s CV is varied and oh-so-impressive. Beauty editor gigs at the country’s top mastheads; books – one of which was made into a TV series; an app and, of course, a hugely successful beauty line, Go-To skincare, which to date, has sold more than 300,000 products (!).

Then, there’s the half a million followers on Instagram obsessively following her every peach-drenched post, interspersed with snaps of her husband Hamish Blake, first born Sonny, travel inspiration and pregnancy tips. (Her second baby is close.)

Here, the Bundanoon-born darling and pin-up for chasing – and achieving – your dreams shares career advice, her secret to maintaining good health (spoiler: it’s all about the gut) and the best fitness tip she’s picked up in training. We’re all ears.

What’s the best piece of beauty advice you’ve ever received?

“Wear sunscreen and don’t over-exfoliate: your skin only has a finite number of layers. The best piece of advice I like to give is: your face stops at your boobs. Take all your skin care down to your boobs.”

What’s your advice to others looking to start their own business – beauty or otherwise?

“You’ve probably already started it. By that I mean, I reckon the best businesses often start as passion projects or hobbies, done for the love or enjoyment of it, or the thrill of the creative process, or the satisfaction of the end result, rather than to make cash. They become a business organically because the love is there, and eventually, so is the demand.”

How do you deal with hesitating or second guessing yourself when you’re about to start a new project?

“I marinate. I spend months or even years considering if I’m passionate enough to see it through, mulling it over with my inner circle to see if it sucks or has legs, and working out planning and timing before I actually kick off. By the time I get to the point of actually starting the work, it’s very clear in my head that it will be completed.”

What’s the most important thing you’ve learnt over the course of your (very diverse) career?

“It was a recent revelation, which is that you needn’t lock yourself into one industry or medium. As I’ve gotten older, I realise I just like creating stuff. Be it skin care, or books, or apps; whatever: the medium, format and content is irrelevant, I just enjoy making stuff. I used to worry that it was confusing and professionally foolish to flit between into so many fields, but if I trust my faith in the project, and believe there is an audience for it, and nurse a strong will to make it, well, who cares. Whether it succeeds or fails, I enjoyed the process, and I will always learn from it.”

What’s the single most important thing to creating a positive working environment?

“Hiring people who care, and who want to be there. Having a good team is everything, particularly with Go-To, where the heart of our business is delighting, satisfying, nurturing, and playing with our customers. The dedicated, caring, efficient, genuinely passionate people I have in every area of the business, from the warehouse to web development, are the backbone and magic of the company.”

What’s the best piece of health advice anyone has ever given you?

“Look after the gut. The gut is everything.”

What do you do to relax?

“The modern-day renaissance of TV we are all enjoying is up there, (I pretty much look forward to my nightly bookend of couch/chocolate/Netflix from about 7am) but a good, strong massage is my ultimate.”

How do you like to start your day?

“Croissants and good coffee. How I actually start my day is not quite as charming. (Tongue scraping, dressing and feeding a small child, drinking a putrid lemon/ACV drink etc.)”

What’s your favourite workout?

“I was a runner, a very happy one, but pregnancy-based pelvic issues have foiled that for now. So, it’s reformer Pilates. It makes me strong and eradicates my slob posture.”

What’s the best fitness tip you’ve learnt in your training?

“Strength is everything. I was a cardio bunny for a loooong time, but saw much better (and faster) results and more tone once I started doing bodyweight training (and Pilates).”

Did you have a turning point when it came to your health?

“Last year. I read Gut by the marvelous Giulia Enders, and it put me on a path of informed and meaningful gut and overall health. I did a lot of tests and ended up on a low-FODMAP eating plan, which for my gut issues was fantastic.”

How do you stay motivated – in work and outside?

“I surround myself with positive, creative people, and read and watch stuff that makes me laugh, and inspires me to be better, and do more.”

What’s your go-to healthy dinner?

“Baked fish with roast veges and some rice or quinoa. Or an omelette. Or pancakes. (Relax, I mean the earnest ones with eggs/almond flour/banana etc.) (And maple syrup obviously, because life is for LIVING GODDAMNIT.)”