Hawkins Watts’ application technologist, Grace van Tilborg
Grace van Tilborg is only two-and-a-half years out of uni but she’s already working full time as an application technologist and running a start-up, The Oat Company, with her business partner Allie, on the side. For her, food technology is the perfect combination of analytical math, science, business, and creativity.
HotSource: What got you interested in food technology and how did you end up in your current job?
Grace van Tilborg: Since I was little, I have always been encouraged to follow my passions and take every opportunity as it arises. Growing up on a farm I developed a great love for the outdoors and an appreciation for where my food comes from. This, combined with my interest in science, led to food technology. For me, it is the perfect combination of analytical math and science, with business and creativity. Food technology is one of those things that is really broad, and you get the chance to make it your own. I feel as though throughout university and even now, I am constantly adapting my path as you don’t even know what’s out there or what you’re truly passionate about until you start giving things a go.
I started my new role as an application technologist at Hawkins Watts just a couple of weeks before the August lockdown. Prior to this, I spent two-and-a-half years as a food technologist for a baby food company doing a combination of quality assurance, product development, and process improvements. Feeling completely thrown in the deep end, I focussed on absorbing as much knowledge and experience as I could from those around me. I became both competent and confident, now in this new role, I feel as though I am starting over again. Although I have accepted that it will be exhausting for the first few months, I am excited about this new challenge and feel so grateful for the supportive learning environment. Diamonds are made under pressure, and I find I do my best work when I’m constantly learning and pushing myself in my abilities.
What/where did you study?
I studied a Bachelor of Food Technology with Honours at Massey University Albany campus.
What was your motivation for founding The Oat Company?
Well, a bit of an interesting story about luck, seizing opportunities and a whole lot of perseverance.
Early last year I received a message on LinkedIn from Allie, my now business partner, saying she had recently returned from England with a business idea for which she was wanting to partner up with a food technologist. A few messages and phone calls later, my curiosity had peaked, and I couldn’t let it go. Her enthusiasm was infectious, I truly believed in the idea, and I knew I would have regrets if I didn’t at least give this challenge a go. Goodbye social life, hello passion project.
Like a little kid in a candy store, I regularly get excited by this process of developing something of my own that I love and being incredibly proud of what both Allie and I have achieved. The vague career plan has always been to immerse myself in different products, and companies, absorbing technical, operational and business knowledge, before eventually starting up something of my own. This way I have been incredibly lucky to do both a little earlier than expected.
What are some of the major lessons you’ve learnt through starting this company?
Perseverance – Allie and I both regularly have moments where the pressure builds up, nothing is seemingly working out the way we expected and it all just gets a bit overwhelming. Luckily, we have each other to be there and say “hey, yeah I know this is hard. Take a night off, get some perspective and then let’s figure this out together”. More often than not the roadblock leads to a diversion onto a better path anyway.
Celebrate the wins – this is so important. It is so easy to get overwhelmed by everything that you still have to do, but there is always going to be that. Sometimes you have to take a step back and really appreciate the milestone before freaking out about everything that comes next. Tell yourself well done and be proud for a moment. Then use this excitement and channel it into motivation for the next stage.
Don’t forget your priorities – for me, my family, my friends and my personal wellbeing will always be the most important. I do find myself getting carried away with work or oat milk or something else entirely sometimes. I have to remind myself (or actually have my mum or best friends remind me) that nothing else really matters if I don’t have those first three things to enjoy. It has been hard to juggle everything, and I know that I’m taking on a lot. Yoga, exercise, and the outdoors are some of the key things that help me to switch off my tunnel vision when I get stressed.
Is there any advice you wish you’d been told before you started that you can share with our readers?
Just start. Ask a heap of questions. Make some mistakes. Learn and grow from them. Commit and try your best to keep an open mind. If you don’t believe something is going to work then it probably won’t.
When you start on a project, it’s highly unlikely that you’re going to have everything figured out from the very beginning. Quite frankly if you did it would be boring. You don’t have to be an expert; you just have to have the passion and drive to figure it out. I regularly feel imposter syndrome. I am only two-and-a-half years out of uni starting my dream food tech role and starting a business on the side, being the sole developer of a complex product. I get asked complicated questions by senior food technologists or clever customers, and I feel like I should have an answer to everything. But the truth is, I have found it is perfectly okay for that not to be that case. Let someone else teach it to you.
When I first started with the oat milk I didn’t even realise you had to hydrolyse the oats (probably not something I should be admitting to in the NZ Food Technology magazine). To say I have come a long way since then is an understatement and yet there are still so many moments that imposter syndrome creeps back in. No one was going to hand me a book or some lecture slides with a step-by-step guide, I just had to pick a place to start and go for it. I have been overwhelmed by the number of people out there who genuinely support us and want to help. You just have to ask the right questions to the right people. Start the conversation and get people involved. The worst they can do is say no.
If you’d like to take part in Quick-Fire Questions or know someone who might email [email protected]
