From Skeptic to Believer: What LinkedIn Taught Me About Food, Community & Business

When I first met my now co-founder (though neither of us knew that’s what we’d become), he gave me one piece of advice:

“Keeks, whatever you do, get on LinkedIn before we get to Cannes.”

He’s a business savant.
I’m not someone who naturally gravitates toward apps, especially ones I assumed were corporate, transactional, and far from the creative, sensory world I live in . 

I joined reluctantly.

Two years later, I found myself walking into the London HQ of LinkedIn to sit down with the Solange Uwimana Editor for UK & Europe. Talking about health, sport, Gen Z upskilling, and workplace culture in a climate where jobs are harder to get, and even harder to keep people in.

That moment made me reflect on everything that happened in between.

Cannes, “Breaking Bread” & The Moment It Clicked

Before Cannes, my co-founder had tasted my food at a retreat. That led to an invitation:

Create a roundtable breakfast for his team during the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.

He called it “Breaking Bread.”
Set in a classic French villa, the brief wasn’t just food.

It was:

• Creating energy
• Breaking down barriers
• Opening up deeper conversations about the creative industry
• Exploring how businesses can reconnect with people in volatile markets

My role?
To source and create something that would hold the room, and sourcing, for me, is everything.

Sustainability isn’t a feature of our business, it’s the foundation.
The quality of raw materials in food mirrors the quality of inputs in any workplace.

So I went deep, two days of searching, a lot of badly spoken GCSE French.
And eventually - gold.

A biodynamic supplier that aligned with everything I believe in. Reflecting the age old principles of the region and utilising AI and tech to optimise production in a climate friendly way. 

We brought it back, and something unexpected happened.

We didn’t just cook, everyone cooked. Together.

Different industries. Different skill sets. Same table.

And in that moment, we weren’t just talking about collaboration, we were living it.

What Food Taught Me About Business

That breakfast became a blueprint for how I now see companies:

• The best ideas don’t come from the top - they come from everywhere
• Leadership is about recognising value, not controlling it
• Culture isn’t a deck or a slogan - it’s something you actively build

Community at work doesn’t just happen. It’s designed.

And just like food:

• You need good ingredients (people)
• You need intention (values)
• And you need space for things to come together naturally

The Unexpected Power of LinkedIn

In four days at Cannes, my LinkedIn went from 0 to 100+ connections.

But more importantly:

It gave me visibility into worlds I didn’t think had anything to do with mine anymore..

Through people sharing consistently, I’ve been able to:

• Understand industries outside of food
• Connect with founders, creatives, and operators
• Translate what I do into something businesses actually need

As a founder, it’s become one of the most powerful tools I have:
Not just for networking, but for alignment.

It’s helped the right people find me.
The ones who care about the same things:

• Sustainability
• Culture
• Experience
• Real connection

Where We Are Now

Walking into LinkedIn HQ wasn’t something I ever imagined.

But it made sense.

Because the conversation we’re all having now is bigger than food or platforms:

• How do we build workplaces people actually want to be in?
• How do we support Gen Z entering an unstable job market?
• How do we retain people when loyalty is no longer guaranteed?

The answer isn’t one thing.

But I’ve learned this:

Small, intentional experiences change everything.

A Call to Build Differently 

We’re in a tough economy.

That’s exactly why this matters.

This is the time to:

• Show people they’re valued
• Experiment with new ideas
• Create moments of connection that actually mean something

If you want:

• Better culture
• Stronger teams
• Real connection

Start small.

Tiny experiences. 1% shifts.

And if you want to explore what that looks like through food, design, and shared experience

Our door is open.