During the divorce Mikie said both her ex husband and her were experiencing rough times and had to stay in the same house for two years while they tried to work around their separate finances.
"It was tough as you can imagine staying with someone you are divorcing’’ she told Drum in an interview.
“Together as husband and wife, we had had invested in a call centre business which later we realised was not the best for us. The finances to carry the business was sourced from our life savings, so when the business fell, we were almost left with nothing.
When their business failed, their marriage followed – and when the divorce was finally finalised in 2013, Mikie was left with nothing.
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“I was battling to even keep the lights on at my place for quite some time. I often felt useless and depressed. I was left to pick up the pieces of what was once my life. I know what it is like to have nothing, to have lost everything and to have to start again. Faced with this challenging situation, it is easy to find something or someone to blame,”
“Each one of us has a choice in how we respond to options in daily life, and there is no future in being a victim” Mikie explained.
While Mikie was searching for answers and new ways to make a living in Johannesburg, she found comfort in healthy foods and a book by Dale Carnegie’s ‘How to Stop Worrying and Start Living’.
This book Mikie explained, was just what she needed.
"I read the book frantically hoping to regain my strength".
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It was during this time that Mikie found her next business venture and what would become her saving grace. She explained that as she was trying to stay healthy, she began researching healthy eating at affordable prices and this was when she thought of creating her own product: Mama’s Spices and Herbs.
With the help of a friend she met through networking at the gym, Mikie was able to launch her brand of spices first , later teas.The turnover of the business was great, however, she was not making enough money and had to go back to drawing board.
She decided to go back to what she is best at and that is networking, she networked with food entrepreneurs where she could access their customers by providing them with her spices and it was then that the business took off.
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“The success has been rewarding, but more importantly: knowing that people are beginning to make a mindset shift. They are learning that they can improve their health and that good nutrition is essential for the body to function and be disease-free. Watching people find hope and being able to provide for their families is an extremely satisfying experience for me and has played a part in my healing.
“I will continue to empower, educate and uplift others so that they can live healthy lives and achieve financial independence by running their own small entrepreneurial enterprise.”
