WILD TALK

Ariella Werner-Seidler

Sarah and Ella are eating a breakfast of Hemp Granola with Blueberries

Wild Life

WILD NAME

Ella, Bella or Werns

IN YOUR OWN BREATH

I was fortunate enough to grow up in Sydney and have the opportunity to travel. I moved to London at 23 then on to New York at 24 where I’d spent the next 8 years. During my time away, I found myself working in roles and industries where I work on curating a meaningful experience around a product or an idea. I feel really lucky that I’ve been able to experience different cultures, ways of thinking and approaches to brand storytelling that I can now draw upon to help brands grow locally in Australia.

WILDEST PLACE YOU’VE TRAVELLED

Egypt is pretty amazing. My grandma grew up in Alexandria in Egypt and lived there until she was 30. Alexandria is a French colony and it’s almost like they placed the refined cafe’s of Paris into the crazy mayhem of Egypt, where people eat croissants dipped in hummus… it’s mind blowing-ly amazing.

Sarah and Ella enjoying a lunch of Roasted Cauliflower and Haloumi Tostadas

Wild Kitchen

WOULDN’T go to the wild without these 5

Pen knife, head torch, a good book, Berts Bees lip gloss & chilli flakes (chilli flakes in my handbag at all times).

WILDEST PLACE YOU’VE EVER COOKED

This is a hard one but probably recently (during COVID), I bought my partner a flatpack fire pit & grill. We live in an apartment in Surry Hills with a balcony winter garden and actually fired it up out there. We’d been inside for 6 weeks and just wanted a campfire! The smoke was seriously billowing off the balcony and onto Crown street, I’m surprised the fire brigade wasn’t called. We fired it up just long enough to make my mums Israeli eggplant dip so I reckon it was worth the stress, fear, and smokey clothes for the rest of the day…

WILDEST RECIPE you’ve tried

Every time I try to cook octopus it’s a bit wild tbh. It’s not intuitive, it’s super confusing, I don’t really understand the boil, then soften, then grill, then eat within 5 minutes or you’ll lose the softness… I’ll get there one day, but for now octopus is up a few notches on me.

WILDEST ITEM IN YOUR KITCHEN

Probably the fact that we have six methods of making coffee. Semi automatic, pod, pour over, stovetop percolator, aeropress and cold brew… gotta have options right?!

Wild Business

YOUR CAREER CHOICE IS A WILD (NON-TRADITIONAL) ONE, HOW DID YOU START?

It’s always going to be difficult when you go the non-traditional route in a career. I’ve always been a strong believer in doing what you love. I studies philosophy at university because that was my interest at the time, then I was always drawn to the hospitality industry - it was through those interests that I was able to experience different cultures and different ways of thinking that eventually lead me into a career curating meaningful experiences. I really think that if you’re lucky enough to have the opportunity to do what you love then you’ll (eventually) excel at it.

DID YOU EVER THINK THIS IS TOO WILD? I’LL NEVER MAKE A CAREER FROM IT?

Anyone in the creative or startup industry who hasn’t had that thought is either crazy or lying. Some days are really hard, some days are easier… you just hope that as time goes on you have more of the latter. The biggest obstacle is definitely taking something that people often think you’re doing for fun and figuring out how to monazite it. People are always asking for help with their websites, or emails, or events - often for free. They’d never ask a doctor for a free consultation. I think we gradually need to educate people that for some of us, this is a career and while we’re always happy to help out and give a bit of advice, our time and expertise shouldn’t be any less valued than a more traditional career.

ADVICE YOU’D GIVE SOMEONE TRYING TO START A CAREER IN STARTUPS/EXPERIENCE

Find a mentor - and I really can’t stress this enough… if you can find someone that you look up to that is successful in the area you’re trying to grow into it’s really invaluable. Ideally, find someone with a vested interest to help you, so that’s either a family friend, a past tutor at university, someone senior in the business you’re in. Schedule a time to meet either fortnightly or monthly with a list of questions or items you’d like to learn or know more about. They’ll be able to help shape and guide your career and grow your community and connections. They’ve been through it all before and obviously came out well on the other side… they’d probably feel a sense of accomplishment helping you do the same.

WHAT’s NEXT?

In the process of launching my own business (scary and wildly exiting), getting back to normal post COVID (wild for everyone) and hopefully mastering octopus one of these days… oh and continuing to work for Sarah and grow more fun, wild content with her!

Ella reads WILD Adventure Cookbook

All images: Luisa Brimble
Location: Unyoked Cabin, Kangaroo Valley

Next: Wild talk with Stefan Haworth