Right Living

As the director of SaladStop!, Katherine lives out the company’s belief that it is a basic human right to eat truly well. “I believe in healthy eating and a healthy lifestyle,” she says. “I like this teaching by Buddha: ‘To keep the body in good health is a duty, otherwise we shall not be able to keep our mind strong and clear.’” To Katherine, this is something to be applied both to her nutrition and to her work life. “I have been a vegetarian for 25 years, and I’m an advocate for animal rights,” she says. “I work closely with farmers and suppliers to make sure that everything we sell is ethically sourced.” She also believes in working for a company or someone she believes in. “When you are passionate about a subject or a project, you give your 100 percent and it no longer feels like work,” she says. “At the end, it’s not the money that will make you happy — it’s the feeling you have when you lay down at night and know that somewhere or somehow you have made a difference.” She’s lucky that she works with her family and husband, so she is surrounded by loved ones every day. While the lines between work and life might blur, Katherine makes sure that during their hour-long lunch break, they speak about other things than work. “My tip would be to focus on your work during the day without being distracted, so that you can finish as much as possible and not stay at the office into the night. I think nowadays many people can’t focus for long, and tend to go onto social media or check their phones. Even though it might only be a few minutes, it does add up and interfere with the work being done.” Another way that Katherine destresses is by going horse riding. “While my mind generally feels cramped and tight during my work day, on a horse my mind is in sync with the surroundings, and seems to loosen and slow. I get absorbed in the motion and connection. There’s no thinking involved, only sensations. In those moments you become one with your horse, and the power and communication binds to finalise into a dance that can never be replicated.”