We were lucky to catch up with Lola Sandra recently and have shared our conversation below.
Lola , appreciate you joining us today. How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?
When I moved out on my own and started keeping kosher, I had to learn how to cook the Indian food I was accustomed to eating. It was a lot of trial and error with cooking, getting inspiration from other chefs and recipe developers on social media, and researching ingredients to learn about their characteristics and finding substitutions when I needed them. During quarantine, I planted the roots of my food brand, LOLA – Clean | Conscientious | Kosher, and came up with my proprietary recipe for *Indian Wedding Cookies*, which are a hit! All of my recipes, including the *Indian Wedding Cookies*, are made with hand picked organic ingredients. As far as speeding up the learning process, I don’t believe shortcuts are the best way to go about achieving your goal in the long run. Throughout the process, remember to have fun while you’re practicing. Knowing things aren’t always going to work out as planned and accepting this as a part of the process are important. Becoming self-aware and working with my energy, learning how and when I create best, and allowing myself to take breaks when needed – these are all things I’d recommend considering as a part of the learning process. I’ve learned that when I try to push too hard beyond my capacity, I might have some benefit in the short term, but I end up getting burnt out and in the long run it actually sets me back. Practice, consistency, walking through fear, and being willing to try different things are essential. Bouncing back after a difficulty and moving forward is the difference between growth and staying where you are. An obstacle for me can be timing and trying to do too much at once, honestly. I sometimes prioritize things that I’m not passionate about – like a “survival job”, because I feel I have to, but I’m aware that it takes away from the energy and time that I could be putting into my creativity – and I end up getting in my head about that. I’m also finding how important it is for me to have designated time in my schedule for creating and for rest.
Lola , love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
Baking has always been something I loved. My favorite class was Home Economics, where I discovered a fun, creative space being in a kitchen. After school, my friends and I would always bake on our playdates. Nutrition was also of interest to me, which was counterintuitive considering I have a huge sweet tooth! I didn’t formally study nutrition until quarantine. It was the perfect time to focus exclusively on taking a course. When things shut down during COVID, I pivoted from focusing on acting to cooking and personal training. I was cooking regularly at home and experimented a lot. Friends and neighbors commissioned me for my services to prepare nutritionally conscientious and kosher meals, while being built in taste testers for anything new I was trying out! Something unique about my brand and cooking, LOLA, is that it’s kosher Indian food that is nutritionally conscientious and uses organic ingredients. Indian food is a rarity in the kosher world. I was born in India and my mom brought me and my sister to The States and raised us in NY. We grew up eating Indian food – a hint of curry perpetually in my hair and clothing. When I moved out on my own and started cooking for myself, I became very aware of how carbohydrate heavy Indian cuisine is, so I started figuring out way to add extra protein into my dishes. I also don’t eat meat and my brand LOLA is vegan. I make my artisanal curries with a higher protein content using clean, plant-based, organic ingredients. My mom was a single mom and we didn’t grow up with a lot of money. There was even a time during or early years in America where we would go to the local food pantry to get food. Nonetheless, my mom always cooked delicious and healthy food. A lot of the ingredients, especially spices, that were staples in my my mom’s kitchen are “trending” today. I want to be able to share the delicious and nutritious food I grew up eating. Clean and healthy food should be accessible to everyone – this is something I strongly believe in and hope to share through my brand, LOLA. I’m really proud of the thought I put in and the steps I take towards sharing this value with my brand, whether it’s using hand picked organic ingredients or taking up opportunities where I can contribute to providing access to nutritious food for those who may not easily have access to healthy meals. Also, I recently collaborated with a local cafe that I love, 310 Coffee Company, that I’m really proud of! It took a lot for me to go in there, drop off my cookies for them to try, and ask them if they’d be open to collaborating and selling my cookies.
What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?
To support creatives and a thriving ecosystem overall, society can do a better job of not imposing a “one path for all” approach. I work with children and have the opportunity to learn so much from them. I see how early on proclivities develop and see how it’s a disservice to a child to not have their natural inclinations and abilities nurtured. Although I did well in school, academics were not easy for me. Coming from a culture where academic achievement is not just highly valued, but expected, I had a lot of pressure to perform in that space, rather than have my natural interests, like in performance, for example, nurtured. Constant drive and high performance anxiety are only a couple of the toxic characteristics of society’s imposition to be a certain way. For creatives who don’t fall into a more generic path, I think society can be more accepting of different paths and appreciate individual contributions rather than expecting people to work like machines.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
The first time I did a pop up at an outdoor market was probably the biggest challenge so far I’ve had with my brand, LOLA. It was a last minute opportunity that I had a week to prepare for. I said yes to it, clueless about the amount of work it would entail. Thankfully I have amazing friends. One, an ER Doctor who spent her day off driving me around to different stores to get everything I needed for the event and cooked with me in a commercial kitchen well into the night. Another friend, Marco from Marco DiLuca Events, designed my beautiful activation. He and his partner donated their time and resources, setting me up on the day of the production. I ended up losing money on the event, not making enough from sales to break even. I had so much food left over and I was so stressed from the whole experience, that I cried for 2 weeks. However, because I had so many *Indian Wedding Cookies* left over after that event, I went to a local cafe I always work at, 310 Coffee Company, and left them my cookies to taste – they’re great with coffee! That’s how my collaboration with 310 Coffee Company started!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://shef.com/order/shef/lola-s-1
- Instagram: @NourishedByLola
Image Credits
Brown sweater: Margaret Seid @MargaretSeid
Food shots: @DeluluWineClub