The Story of how a food styling company was born & how one dream lead to another. Founder Caroline Ismail, on starting her business FoodArtConcept, in the United Arab Emirates & her passion to support social impact going forward.
30 January 2023. It’s no secret, that some time’s the most challenging and emotionally turbulent periods are those that bring deep transformation and progress. I’ll share the lows and highs, as a reflection of how each journey is unique, and that believing in one’s dreams and working hard
to achieve them, is the best investment in self.
Caroline Ismail, (Caro to my clients) and is the founder of FoodArtConcept, a food styling and consultancy business, now successfully closing in on its 8th year. Proudly, the company has reached a point of maturity and is well-positioned to lead by providing expert niche services to global centralised food companies – some of the largest in the world, supporting creative and commercial advertising requirements, across the region.
Some doors closed and others opened, and her long-held dream of combining food and
creativity into her own venture was born. She took the leap in 2015, enrolling in an advanced food styling and technical training course through a leading institute in Manhattan, New York, and the rest is history… as they say.
While this may read with hedonistic charm, the pressure to return and make something of herself, was a very challenging part of the entrepreneurial journey. There were many practical lifestyle adjustments too, like creating a routine that she could commit to, self-motivation when working by herself, and managing imposter syndrome that can sometimes creep in, always uninvited.
To frame this journey, she should share that everything that has happened up until this point has been preparing her for her role today, and the transition she aims to make successfully in the future. Her early education, emerging from a culturally diverse background with influences from France, Lebanon and Romania, followed by a decision to pursue a hospitality degree, and then her many professional experiences derived from international postings within leading hospitality groups, have culminated in a progressive exploration of the world of food, and gastronomy.
It’s been her passion all along and remains the driver and motivation for the good fortune and
success she has had thus far. She also give credit to her incredible family who instilled a culture of respect for meal times, a love of food, the practice of never wasting, all of which provide firm
ground for the path she has chosen.
She has always loved food, its’ source and origin, its preparation, and the beauty of harnessing
quality and achieving elegance and simplicity. As she mature, she consider how her relationship with food has changed, from health to increased awareness of issues related to irresponsible
consumption and the importance of advocacy and influence in food controls, particularly for
children and youth growing up today…to acquiring a new vocabulary and changing mindset
from “healthy eating” to “ethical eating.
If she were to sum up her best advice, aimed at those thinking about starting a business she would break it down to the following:
IT’S GOOD TO HAVE A PLAN, BUT BE READY TO LET THAT PLAN EVOLVE
Where limited experience in starting up and marketing your own business might be the
reason for not taking steps forward, there are so many great resources that are virtually
free at your disposal. She needed to develop new skills and found HubSpot, Hootsuite and
Masterclass so helpful for everything from creating business plans, to managing her own
website, and developing better negotiating skills. Ask someone to mentor you, there are
so many highly experienced experts who are ready to offer great advice, just to get you
started.
START SMALL, WITH WHAT YOU’VE GOT
Starting up comes with some unforeseen and sometimes hidden costs, but it’s easy to
place importance on the things that won’t help your business at the outset. In 2015 the
only option available to her at the time was a Freelance and Entrepreneur licence, through
Twofour54, located in Abu Dhabi. The licence was affordable and allowed her to carry out her business without overly burdensome licencing fees, and office space requirements. In 2019 after four years of developing her business, She upgraded to a fully limited company, because her business had steadily matured. One plate at a time.
TRUST YOURSELF & FIND YOUR INNER CIRCLE
There is greatly value to listening to your inner voice or your ‘gut feeling’. She has also
learnt over time that making a decision when she is distracted, or lacking focus will not
derive the best result. If it means taking an extra day or a few hours, try to take your
decisions with great clarity. It will serve you and your business in the long term.
Take the time to surround yourself with a few trusted people you know you can count on.
They might have different skills than you, and they might have different priorities, but what has stood me in good stead is a close few that have stood by when she has really
needed perspective, objectivity, and most importantly honesty. You know who you are.
A few of her favourite reads, that might be of interest:
Micromastery by Robert Twigger, (2017), Learn Fast and Find the hidden Path to Happiness.
Business for Bohemians by Tom Hodgkinson, (2016), Live Well, Make Money.
The Big Red Book by Rumi, (2010), The Great Masterpiece Celebrating MysticalLove & Friendship.
Good to Great by Jim Collins, (2001), Why Some Companies Make the Leap…and Others Don’t.
Solve for Happy by Mo Gawdat (2017), Engineer Your Path To Joy.
The Little Book of Ikigai by Ken Mogi (1988-2017): The secret Japanese way to live a happy and long life.
Kellogg on Marketing by Tybout Calder (2010): The Marketing Faculty of Kellogg School of Management
D’un Monde à L’autre by Nicolas Hulot, Frederic Lenoir, (2020): Le Temps des Consciences
Those reads became like your go to reference…you take note, include the tips, read
another book…come back to that note… They are here to stay.
CHANGE IS A CERTAINTY, ADAPT
Every single day she learned - it’s a constant that keeps her interested, challenged and
motivated. One of the most important attributes of an entrepreneur she believes in the
willingness to learn and adapt. Then she decided, every day she will make a point to create
something …as small as a recipe, painting a recycled prop or just refreshing her plants…
She found her peace and a sense of accomplishment within such goal.
With perspective, she has understood first hand that rushed decisions are usually (not
always) the wrong decisions and expecting what was not committed on paper, doesn’t
mean much. Other than that, learning to accept the unexpected is part of the journey,
that keeps things interesting. She lean towards the sentiment of focusing on what can go
right, and not what may go wrong, it helps her forward : We now say “Downs & Ups – Vs
“Ups & Downs” … So, it’s a mindset …we finish our thinking cycle on a “Up Note” …
BEYOND BUSINESS, HAVE A GREATER PURPOSE
Beyond the accomplishment of managing a profitable business, that sustains you and
your wider commitments, I believe it’s important to consider our purpose. To be able to
contribute and give back time, services, or whatever might be applicable to your business
model, is a really important consideration. Always fascinated with Maslow Pyramid …it
now resonates right.
So here she is, as an advocate for ethical eating and conscious consumption, in April 2022,
she decided to actively pursue a Professional Executive Doctorate as a DBA researcher
through College de Paris/Ascencia Business School (https://www.collegedeparis.fr/).
Her research relates to Children Obesity in UAE : “Food Consumption Behaviour of the
UAE (United Arab Emirates) Youth (5-17) and the Risk Factors of Obesity: Is it A Socio-
Cultural, Economic or a Consumerism Challenge?”
At this stage, her life feels right, she has a purpose and she is so excited to be pursuing
some deep work that she hope will make a modest contribution to United Arab Emirates
Society.
That brings her to a question : Why do she need an Executive DBA? She already have a growing
business a schedule pretty full. Why would anyone adds on to a feverish schedule some
extra responsibilities ? This is actually the correct word : Responsibility : What is Caroline - Food Stylist & Expertresponsibility
? How can she support her industry ? How Can she give back ? Keeping in mind
that 60% of our job is physical, it’s only fair to put our brain and heart to the service of
the community and plan our next years wisely. This is for the future of our little generation:
Imagine we can bring to the table few modest shifts via Food Consumption, Media, Retail
Shops, while being supported by UAE legal bodies.
She always been a dreamer. But once the FIRST dream becomes a reality, all you want is to
keep dreaming and executing more dreams. Here to another dream on its Ideation
phase, another dream born in United Arab Emirates.
And now will leave you with this beautiful paper that is shaping the essence of our
research and strongly believe will benefit anyone regardless his or her career path.
A possible reason for the low intention–behaviour correlation is revealed by the
relatively strong effect of the participants’ general capacity to override or inhibit
impulses.
At its core, the Theory of Planned Behaviour is concerned with the prediction of
intentions. Behavioural, normative and control beliefs as well as attitudes, subjective
norms and perceptions of behavioural control are assumed to feed into and explain
behavioural intentions. Whether intentions predict behaviour depends in part on
factors beyond the individual’s control, i.e. the strength of the intention–behaviour
relation is moderated by actual control over the behaviour. Barring methodological
shortcoming a low intention–behaviour relation is a warning sign indicating that we
may be reaching the limits of reasoned action.
So here a challenging and useful exercise:
Set your Intentions Vs your Behaviour for at least 21 days (to implement the habit)
Observe your actions
And watch the magic happen.