11. Ivana + Antonia Juric - How to find success through discomfort.
In this episode, we're learning how to find our success through our discomfort. Ivana and Antonia Juric are sisters and founders of Leo and Co. Bakery, an inclusive, baking company in the GTA area that specializes in delicious, handcrafted, allergen-friendly baked goods and healthier alternatives to traditional pastries and bakeshops.
Growing up, Ivana and Antonia were both competitive athletes, which fuelled their desire to learn more about how to properly fuel their bodies and keep up with the physical and mental demands that sports had on them. The pair also had a deep love for food and watching their grandma prepare classic Croatian and Italian-inspired desserts. Ivana’s passion for cooking and baking continued to grow exponentially. She started spending countless hours in the kitchen, inventing and testing recipes to get them just right.
In 2013, Antonia developed an autoimmune disorder and became incredibly ill. For months she spent most of her days in bed, in pain, unable to eat almost anything. At first, she had to cut gluten out of her diet completely. As time went on the list of things she was unable to eat grew longer and longer until it felt she almost had no options whatsoever. This was an extremely hard time for her mentally and physically and Ivana would constantly try to alter her recipes in order to help her sister eat and become healthy again.
As time passed Antonia became healthier and continued to further her education in health and wellness and discovered a passion for the food industry and how different foods affect the body/mind and gut. The pair started creating recipes together, and slowly realized that this alternative way of eating was best suited for their needs.
The duo believes that everyone should have delicious food that makes them feel great. They strongly believe in having dessert every day! This is why their treats and eats are filled with the most nutritious ingredients they can source. They are continuously trying to make their goods healthier while also keeping the delicious flavors.
They discuss their tips and advice for going into business with their sister, why therapy is a must when working in a family business and how they included local companies in their business plan to ride the challenging and unpredictable wave of COVID-19.
