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Squirrel Sisters: A Day In The Life

The Squirrel Sisters is a nickname which has stuck with Gracie and Sophie since childhood (squirrel rhymes with their surname ‘Tyrrell’ and is much more fun to say!) Coincidentally and perhaps luckily, they also love nuts! They have spent the last few years perfecting their 100% natural award winning raw snack bar recipes, trying different diet/lifestyle plans to find out how foods affect the way they feel and giving meditation, yoga and all sorts of zen and endorphin-inducing activities a go…

Sophie and Gracie say: Sleeping until 8am would be classed as a lie in for us, we both naturally wake up quite early, which isn’t a bad thing because it means you can make the most out of the day.

Gracie – when I first wake up I always check my phone- social media and emails and then get up go and make myself a herbal tea (normally green) and then shower.

Sophie – I like to go to yoga first thing in the morning so I normally wake up have a tea and then head out to a class.

We arrive in the office between 9-9.30am. Gracie lives in Fulham and Sophie lives in Balham and our office is located an equal distance from each of us, so we have the same commute. Door to door it is about 40 minutes, which actually isn’t too bad for London.

Squirrel Sisters proves that being healthy doesn’t have to be boring. We wanted to change the stigma attached to health by creating products with beautiful packaging that satisfy all senses…not just your health but most importantly your taste buds. Before setting up the company we did very different jobs, Gracie was working in film and TV in London whilst Sophie was working for a branding agency in Singapore. But it was an easy transition because this line of work has always been a passion of ours. We started Squirrel Sisters with a blog, which was a hobbie and something we did as sisters to stay in touch while living on opposite sides of the world so the product/business side of SS came quite naturally as the blog grew. If you have a genuine passion for something it should be quite a smooth process getting into that line of work. We’ve had so much useful advice over the years, it’s hard to pick just one but something that has been incredibly prominent to us and been a real saviour in some situations (especially in business) is remembering to ‘always trust your gut’.

The best part of the job is getting to work with each other. Working with your sister is the best thing; we completely trust each other and have each other best interests at heart and that’s invaluable in business. The least brilliant bit is packing deliveries, it’s so time consuming! We could end up wasting hours in the day packing deliveries ourselves, which really wasn’t an effective way to use our time. We now work with a logistics company who picks, packs and send orders for us. Our role model is our mum- she’s amazing in everyway! Other role models would be Renée Elliott (a.k.a superwomen) the founder of Planet Organic; not only is she a successful business owner but she does all that while being a mum of 3! And finally, a world renowned role model would have to be Beyoncé, she’s just incredible and we love how much of an advocate she is for girl power, equality and strength.

We both bring our lunch into work everyday- it saves money and means you can actually have something you really want rather than grabbing something off the shelves in your local supermarket. We usually rustle something up the night before and keep it fresh in a Tupperware container. Tupperware plays a vital part in our lunchtime ritual. Favourite snacks are obviously our delicious Squirrel Sister bars!

Work never really finishes when you run your own company. Our office hours are 9.30-6pm but once we leave the office we are still on our phones doing emails, until we go to bed. We try to enjoy our evenings with exercise classes, the gym, going for dinner with friends or just chilling in front of the TV with a glass of wine and a good film.

Gracie- I try and get to the gym at least 3 times a week. I find it makes me feel more energised and generally healthier mentally and physically. I love cooking so find it easy to fit it in with my weekly routine. If I’m back late or don’t have much time I just whip up something simple and easy like a big chicken salad .

Sophie- I try and do yoga in the mornings a few times a week. For me fitting cooking in with my weekly routine is all about preparation. I make big batches of things and freeze them so if I have little time or energy I will just get something out of the freezer and have that.

Food and nutrition has always been a passion of ours so whatever we did it would probably involve these things! Gracie trained as an actress and still does acting work when possible. We both think working as a nutritionist would be really interesting too.

Our top three online recommendations are:
Sheerluxe (a daily pleasure of ours- food, health, beauty, fitness, and fashion)
The Grocer (we have signed up to get daily bulletins all related to the food industry)
Headspace (a great meditation app)