What impact and influence did the women in your life have on you growing up?
I have such lovely memories of my Nan. She was a fiercely independent woman who was widowed in her 50s, and I spent many of my school holidays with her. She was a passionate gardener, even winning awards for her rhubarb and an incredible cook. Her battered pan-fried haddock with hand-cut chips and homemade tartare sauce was famous in our family. Fridays were always my favourite days when I stayed with her.
She would let me help prepare the chips, and it was there that I learned one of my earliest life lessons: the devil is in the detail. Cooking, like many things in life, is all about precision and care.
My mum was equally formidable, a real force of nature. She’s an incredibly capable, resilient woman and a strong role model for me growing up. She always had a “can-do” attitude and giving up was never an option. She’s also wonderfully creative: a talented seamstress, an adventurous cook and an exceptional baker. Her scones and fruit cakes are legendary in our family. She always believed in “real food first” and loved adapting recipes to make them healthier without losing flavour.
I also went to an all-girls school, which had a big influence on me. I was mad about sport, tennis, hockey and netball and we had brilliant female sports teachers who really motivated us. One in particular, Mrs Pierce (nicknamed “Mrs Fierce”), was only five feet tall but had an incredible ability to inspire a team.
Alongside sport, I was a bit of a science geek. I loved biology, human physiology, chemistry and physics, and they were all taught by female academics who were deeply passionate about their subjects. They encouraged us to ask questions, challenge evidence and think critically, something that has stayed with me ever since.
Outside of friends and family, were there other female inspirations who shaped you growing up?
Growing up in the 80s I saw the rise of pioneering women who broke through significant gender barriers of the time. From the UK’s first female Prime Minister, to Anita Roddick’s The Body Shop - the rise of ‘power women’ dominated the decade with unapologetic leadership and conviction showing young girls that women could have a commanding voice at the highest level.
Sport was also a big part of my childhood. My mum is an avid, and very vocal, sports fan, and Wimbledon was a firm favourite. Each year she’d pick me up from school and we’d queue for the end-of-day “returns” tickets for the standing area on Centre Court. I was lucky enough to watch so many incredible matches.
One player who really stood out for me was Martina Navratilova. The sheer power of her game and the competitive sportsmanship she brought to every match was extraordinary. She completely reshaped the women’s game and continues to be an inspiration and advocate for women’s sport today.
I was also hugely influenced by the wave of cooking shows that appeared in the 90s. When Nigella Lawson came onto our screens she made home cooking feel exciting again, real food, deliciously indulgent, made to share with friends and enjoy properly. That philosophy really resonated with me.
When & how were you first introduced to the world of health, wellness & nutrition?
Healthy eating became a major focus in our household during my childhood. When my dad was just 32 he suffered three unexplained cardiac arrests. Following that, my mum was advised to reduce fat and salt in our diets, cook from scratch and prioritise heart-healthy foods like oily fish, lean meats and plenty of fruit and vegetables.
She embraced it wholeheartedly, cooking healthy meals for the entire family and experimenting with spices and wholefood ingredients. It was my first real exposure to the idea that food has a powerful impact on health and wellbeing.
Who taught you about the importance of real, nutrition & its impact on wellness?
I studied Physiotherapy at Nottingham University in the early 1990s and later went on to complete a Master’s in Cardiorespiratory Physiotherapy at UCL, focusing on rehabilitation.
During my years working in the NHS - including leading intensive care and cardiac rehabilitation teams, I worked closely with incredibly knowledgeable nutritionists and dietitians. They showed me just how important a balanced, nutrient-rich diet is for recovery and long-term health. The impact was obvious every day in the hospital environment.
That’s when the idea that “food is medicine” really became embedded in my thinking.
How did Veloforte begin?
Veloforte actually started in my home kitchen.
My husband Marc is a keen cyclist but was a serial under-fueller. He constantly struggled with low energy and poor performance because he couldn’t stomach the bars, gels and energy products that were marketed to cyclists as the “only” way to fuel.
So I decided to make something better - natural, real-food energy bars based on an Italian family recipe for panforte, a traditional Tuscan delicacy. Panforte literally means “strong bread.” It dates back to the 1300s and is made from dried fruits, nuts, honey and spices baked into a dense, nourishing cake. Legend even has it that it fuelled Roman legions, the original energy bar.
Marc’s Italian Nonna dug out the family recipe, a fiercely guarded secret passed down through generations of the Giusti family. I adapted it for endurance sport: swapping brandy for citrus juices and adjusting the balance of carbohydrates and protein.
It took a few attempts to get right, but once we had it nailed we gave the first Veloforte bars to friends and family to “test in the field.” The feedback was incredible.
Soon we moved production from our home kitchen to a small commercial kitchen in North London and launched a very simple website. Within six months demand had grown so quickly we couldn’t keep up.
Finding the right baking partner who shared our commitment to artisan production, traditional methods and the highest quality ingredients took patience. But once we did, it allowed me to focus on what became our mission: creating a nature-led performance nutrition brand that avoids artificial shortcuts.
From bars to gels, chews, electrolytes and protein powders, the goal has always been the same, match the performance of lab-made products using only real food ingredients you might find in your own kitchen cupboard.
Every Veloforte product starts with the same question in my head: how can we create this with zero compromise on performance and zero compromise on ingredients?
How did your upbringing prepare you for life as a founder?
The lessons I learned growing up have shaped everything I do:
Do your homework.
Keep an open mind.
Never stop asking questions.
Be brave enough to challenge the norm.
Take responsibility.
And most importantly - never give up.
Were there other women who played a key role in building Veloforte in the early days?
Absolutely. In the early days some of my closest friends were instrumental in helping get Veloforte off the ground.
Belen, Becca, Rachel, Bruna and Nilva were my kitchen hands, bar wrappers and post-office runners. We’d have the tunes on, hair nets on, and work late into the night wrapping bars and packing orders. There was a lot of laughter and a lot of hard graft.
They’re amazing women and I’ll always be grateful for their support.
What role do you see women playing in the future of nutrition and wellness?
Women are already playing a transformative role in this space.
We’re seeing a huge rise in women’s sport, more female-founded brands in health and wellbeing, and retailers increasingly backing women-led innovation. Research into women’s health and performance is finally gaining attention, although there is still a long way to go.
Currently only around 6–9% of sports science studies focus exclusively on female athletes. That means there is still a huge gap in our understanding.
But the momentum is building. Experts like Dr Stacy Sims are leading the conversation around female-specific physiology in sport and helping reshape how women train, fuel and recover throughout their lives.
There’s also fantastic work being done by research groups in universities such as Nottingham Trent and Loughborough, which are putting women’s sport science firmly on the map.
Supporting and empowering women to lead, research and innovate in this space will be essential if we want to drive meaningful progress in nutrition, health and performance.
And that’s something truly worth celebrating this International Women’s Day.