Today we’d like to introduce you to Elina Fuhrman.
Elina, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I never imagined I would be where I am today, not just in business but in life. I grew up in the former Soviet Union and came to America after the fall of the Berlin Wall, with $61 in my pocket, without a place to stay and not knowing a soul. Many wonderful people helped me since I landed in New York City, and I then I spent most of my life raising my family and building my journalism career. I worked at CNN covering international news, I traveled the world, I thought I had it all.
Everything changed one day, when I was handed a cancer diagnosis. That’s when my entire universe went into a free fall. It was 2009, and I thought I was going to die. I was scared, I felt helpless and for the first time in my life, I didn’t know what to do. Until a friend called me and suggested I treat my cancer as an assignment. Cancer actually became my most important assignment; except this time I wasn’t telling a story, I was the story.
I turned down chemotherapy and embarked on my own healing pilgrimage, trying to understand what makes people sick and how to reverse the process. I also made a pact with the universe, promising that if I figured out a way to heal myself, I would tell everyone how I did it. That’s really how this life-long journalist turned into an accidental entrepreneur- all because of cancer! No joke.
When I realized that ancient medicines relied on soups to heal, a spark was lit for me. I relied on Ayurveda, Chinese Medicine and Naturopathy to guide me in understanding the power of herbs, spices and plants, and then creating my own recipes for healing soups. I spent most days in the kitchen, injecting my newfound culinary creativity and healing juju into my soups. My soups helped me find awareness of my body, emotions and daily choices; tune into my deepest thoughts, create a balance in my life, and ultimately stop cancer in its tracks.
Soups also led me down this totally unexpected, unplanned path. I had to keep my promise to the universe and share what I learned about wellness and healing, mixed with gourmet magic, of course. Soupelina (Soup + Elina) was born in 2012, and I’ve been cooking, and healing people ever since.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Is there such a thing as relatively smooth? I might need a new navigation system. But honestly, I’ve had great days and not so great days; I’ve had times when I was jumping with joy and counting my lucky stars, and days when I was crying in the kitchen in the middle of the night.
One of the biggest misconceptions about being an entrepreneur is that we had it all figured out before we started. Wrong! I didn’t even have a business plan and I definitely didn’t have any experience in the food industry. But I saw an opportunity to help people heal, make the world a healthier place and that was it. I’ve been figuring things out ever since. If you believe in your mission, in your business and yourself —you do things you never knew your could.
Please tell us about your business.
I’m the founder, CEO and chef of Soupelina. My friends also call me The Soup Guru or the Culinary Alchemist. I help people eat healthy, lose weight and heal them from all kinds of illnesses. Plant-based food is very powerful when it comes to reversing health conditions. And soups especially are paramount to healing the gut, aiding digestion, cleansing the liver and even calming the mind. I cook my soups in small batches and source ingredients from small, local sustainable farms. All my soups are vegan but there’s more; I don’t cook with grains, nuts, corn, soy, fruits, dairy and beans. The soups are very pure, gluten free and are truly food as medicine. All my clients tell me they taste the love and healing juju in every single spoonful.
Any shoutouts? Who else deserves credit in this story – who has played a meaningful role?
My daughters, Madeline and Isabelle, are the loves of my life, my friends, my biggest cheerleaders and helpers. I wouldn’t have made it without my dear friends who are always there for me. And I’m very grateful to my clients who trust me with their health and wellbeing.
I have to give a special shout out to my agent Cassie Hanjian, who read about Soupelina back in 2014, contacted me and encouraged me to write a book. Because of the book, Soupelina’s Soup Cleanse, the soups are accessible to people around the world. I love getting emails from all over the world and read about people’s transformations just after a few days on the soup cleanse. Try it!
Pricing:
- 3-Day Soup Cleanse $225 + delivery
- 5-day Soup Cleanse $375 + delivery
Contact Info:
- Website: soupelina.com
- Email: hello@soupelina.com
- Instagram: soupelinaLA
- Facebook: soupelina
- Twitter: soupelinaLA
Image Credit:
Rose Depont
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