In A Day With... Gabrielle Mirkin
All beautiful pictures are supplied by Gabrielle x
Firstly, are you able to tell us a little about you; where is your hometown, where are you living at the moment and what do you do ?
I am the Founder and CEO of ACTIVIST. Activist is a Mānuka Honey company I founded with my husband Luke, almost four years ago. We specialize in The Ultimate topical and ingestible Mānuka products for beauty, wellbeing and immune support. You can find our offerings at the best clean beauty, lifestyle + department stores and organic grocers, juice bars and cafes across the globe.
Prior to starting ACTIVIST I lived in New York City and worked as an Art Director at Harper’s Bazaar and then VOGUE magazine. These learnings as well as my childhood in nature, growing up in Aotearoa, New Zealand have shaped my company and the woman I am today.
I was born on an avocado farm in New Zealand and spent my upbringing swimming in the salty waters of the Pacific, hiking in the dense green native New Zealand bush with my family, and eating fresh abundant produce and Mānuka Honey from the local land. I have lived in Auckland, Sydney, NYC and now our home is Topanga Canyon, nestled into the Santa Monica mountains in Los Angeles, looking over the Pacific, facing west back to New Zealand. I am eternally blessed to be the mother of two small children Cisco River and Tallulah Blue, who inspire me everyday to be a better person. ACTIVIST is my third baby and receives almost as much love as the other two.
How do you usually start your day ?
I am a mum with two small children, so my mornings look very different now. We are up early with the sun and we always start the day with cuddles in my bedroom overlooking the mountains and watching the sun come up. We hear the neighbour’s roosters crow. My husband and I make coffee first thing; an oat milk flat white with Canyon Coffee on our espresso machine. I make breakfast for everyone; homemade granola, smoothies or almond butter toast. Both our kids go to preschool so during the week I also make school lunches at the same time as breakfast. I probably spend far too long making their lunches, but I try to make them interesting and nutritious for the day ahead with their teachers and friends. If it is the weekend, we like to make green juice and pancakes with Mānuka Honey.
What does your dream day look like ?
My dream day would always be waking up at the ocean and running down for a morning swim in the salty sea. This would be followed by delicious coffee, green juice and tropical fruits. A farmer’s market visit would be on the agenda to grab some local produce and other goodies for the rest of the day. An afternoon hike with my kids in the mountains in Topanga and then back to our house for a dip in the pool, an early BBQ and cooking dinner for good friends with music and some local wine. Then to bed early. Perfect!
Do you have any natural skincare favourites or skincare rituals ?
I love to do a nightly face mask with our Activist Manuka Honey Mask. I use Mānuka Honey as a daily face wash, face mask and as a spot treatment along with Activist Mānuka Oil. I use our Green Botanical Serum morning and night, which contains a potent infusion of land and sea botanicals; Mānuka and Kawakawa Oils, Wild-harvested Algae, New Zealand Avocado and kiwifruit seed oil and Blue Tansy.
Do you have a favourite scent ? If so, where does it take you ?
My favourite scent is honey, beeswax and the smell of the thick green native bush in New Zealand; wet, green, fresh, herbaceous, smells of Mānuka, Nikaus, Pungas. It takes me back to my childhood growing up in New Zealand and will be embedded in my mind forever. We want to encapsulate this scent in a 100% natural fragrance for ACTVIST. My other favourite scent is my dear friend Emily’s BODHA perfume, Plants; it’s made from fragrant green leaves, twigs and rinds with notes of green citrus.
Are there any food or health philosophies that guide how you and your family eat ?
We like to eat seasonally, local, organic and fresh from one of the many wonderful farmer’s markets in Los Angeles. We eat mainly plants. We do eat small amounts of fish, and eggs from our neighbour’s chickens.
I love cooking nutritious whole foods for my friends and family; we make a lot of salads which my boy likes to help with every night (his favourite additions are wild fennel, radishes and sour grass!), roast vegetables, homemade chicken soup with matzo balls, dhal, Mexican food, rice bowls with sauerkraut and nori seaweed wraps, all kinds of citrus, berries, pumpkin, hemp and chia seeds in homemade granola and healthy baking.
We use a lot of fresh herbs, cilantro is a favourite and gets added to our morning smoothies every day, along with wild blueberries, spirulina, barley grass powder and Mānuka Honey. We make green juice on the weekends with celery, cucumber, lemon, ginger and herbs. I add some green apple, pineapple or pear for the kids.
How has becoming a mother of two changed your views on health and “wellness” ?
It has changed my views a lot!
Health and wellness to me is not about yoga and green juices anymore (although I still do enjoy those things when I have the time). It’s about being happy, healthy and whole. It’s about spending time outdoors in nature with my kids and nourishing Cisco and Tallulah’s little bodies and minds to set them up for life.
Sleep is also a top priority for my health and wellness because I get so little! My kids love their sleep too.
What do you find the most challenging thing about motherhood ?
Trying to do it all; motherhood, running a business, looking after a household, being a wife, friend, daughter and sister. Trying to do a good job at everything is very challenging! I have such respect for all mamas. But more recently I am finding, just the challenge of raising small human beings in this absurd world we live in, is quite frankly terrifying at times.
What is your favourite way to move your body ? Does movement play a part in your everyday routine ?
I love to hike in the evening in Tuna Canyon Park, close to our house. My 5-year-old boy rides his bike and I push our two-year-old girl in her stroller. I love swimming and yoga too. Jumping on our trampoline in the evenings under the big Oak tree is lots of fun too (and good exercise!)
When do you feel your most beautiful ?
After a long day at the beach swimming in the ocean with my children, friends and family. Salt and sun on my skin and hair makes me feel beautiful.
If you are feeling tired, stressed or just off, how do you come back to yourself?
A swim in the ocean or a big walk at the beach.
Are there any old-school natural remedies that you always have on hand for you and your family ? (Assuming Mānuka will play a part here!)
Mānuka Honey has been a remedy in our family since I was a very young girl in New Zealand. Probably on my first birthday I was given a spoonful of this golden nectar. Mānuka Honey is the medicine of choice for kiwi kids and they all take a spoonful of Mānuka Honey for daily wellbeing and at the onset of a sore throat or cold. It’s incredibly powerful as a topical wound healer too and for any skin issues. 100% natural and safe to use with children and while pregnant and breastfeeding. Our Manuka Immune Elixir is also a go-to remedy that we always have on hand for immune support. The kids love it and it tastes delicious too.
If there was one piece of advice that you could teach/instil in your children, what would it be ?
I’ve taught my children from when they were babies to always show kindness and empathy to other people. I always say to them
“Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible.” (Dalai Lama).
I also follow this teaching and hope to lead by example. I instil in my children to do whatever it is in this life that brings them happiness and to contribute to the world in a positive way, no matter how small that contribution is.
Treading lightly on the Earth is clearly very important for your family and for your business ACTIVIST. It can be overwhelming for someone knowing where to start when wanting to reduce their family’s environmental impact. Do you have any simple tips that you would like to share that people could implement into their daily life ?
Things we do on the daily at home:
~ Compost all our fruit and vegetable scraps; we give them to the neighbour’s chickens and in return they gift us fresh farm eggs every week!
~ Reduce your water use. We live in a severe draught in California; I use the speed cycle on the dishwasher and washing machine always.
~ I do not have a dryer and dry all our clothes, sheets and towels in the wind and sunshine. It’s the best. I’m lucky enough to be able to do this in sunny California year round!
~ Buy your produce at the farmer’s market to reduce plastic packaging. The fruit and vegetables of course taste much better too and you support your local farmer! Always bring your own reusable bags from home too.
~ We buy a lot of vintage furniture and clothing instead of buying new.
~ We always give hand-me-downs of our kid’s clothes and our friends with older kids pass down their clothes to our two children, so we never purchase new clothes for them.
~ I only use plant based cleaners and often make my own using water and our Mānuka Oil; as a 100% natural disinfectant, it’s second to none!
~ I also love to buy bulk pantry items such as nuts, seeds and grains from Re Grocery and refill washing liquid from The Well Refill in Topanga. I reuse glass jars instead of buying packaged goods.
You and your partner both are from New Zealand. What do you love about it there and miss from your home and such a beautiful part of the world ?
I grew up on a beautiful avocado farm in the countryside in New Zealand with my English mother and American father. My husband Luke grew up in a beautiful seaside surf town on the Coromandel Peninsula.
There are so many things we love and miss from home; the thick native New Zealand bush and trees, swimming and surfing in the salty Pacific Ocean, collecting pāua and pipis, eating fish ‘n’ chips and fresh strawberries in the summer time and grilling corn on the BBQ with friends. I miss the quiet, the peacefulness, the safety and most of all the people.
I am so grateful to my parents that they raised my sister and I in New Zealand as little kiwis. Everyday we know how extremely fortunate we are to have grow up in Aotearoa, Land of the Long White Cloud and the many blessings that this peaceful land has brought to so many people.
If you were to choose 5 ingredients to have in your kitchen, what would they be ? (Practical or impractical!)
Mānuka Honey
Good Olive Oil
Flaky sea salt
Coffee
Sourdough bread
(lots of fresh herbs! Cilantro!)
To part, are you able to leave us with a favourite recipe?
I love making this rice dish from Ottolenghi’s Jerusalem Cookbook. It’s great to take to friend’s houses for dinner or as a side when bbqing or picnicking. I go crazy with the amount of fresh herbs I add and use much more than the below amounts!
Ottolenghi’s Basmati + Wild Rice with Chickpeas, Currants and Herbs
Ingredients
1/3 cup wild rice
2 1/2 Tbsp olive oil
2 1/4 cups basmati rice
scant 1 1/2 cups boiling water
2 tsp cumin seeds
1 1/2 tsp curry powder
1 1/2 cups drained chickpeas
3/4 cup sunflower oil
1 medium onion very thinly sliced
1 1/2 tsp all-purpose flour or gluten-free flour
2/3 cup dried currants
2 Tbsp chopped flat leaf parsley
1 Tbsp chopped cilantro
1 Tbsp chopped dill
salt and freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
1. Cover the wild rice with plenty of water and bring to a boil in a small saucepan. Simmer for about 40 minutes, then drain and set aside.
2. To cook the basmati rice, pour a tablespoon of the olive oil into a medium saucepan with a tight fitting lid and heat on high. Add the rice and 1/4 tsp of salt and stir to combine the rice and oil. Carefully add in the boiling water, lower heat to very low, cover, and let cook for 15 minutes.
3. Remove the pan from the heat, remove the cover, lay a clean towel over the pan, re-cover, and let sit for 10 minutes.
4. Heat the remaining 1 1/2 Tbsp olive oil in a saucepan over high heat. Add the cumin seeds and the curry, then the chickpeas and 1/4 tsp of salt. Stir fry the chickpeas for a couple of minutes, then transfer them to a large bowl.
5. Wipe out the pan and pour in the safflower oil. Heat until very hot. Toss the onions with the flour, separating the onion rings as you do. Check to see if the oil is hot enough by dropping an onion in. It should sizzle vigorously. Dust any excess flour off the onions and fry them, in batches, until deep golden brown. This should only take a couple of minutes. Set the onions on paper towels to drain.
6. Mix the two rices, the chickpeas, currants and herbs together in a bowl. Add salt and pepper to taste, and top with the fried onions. Serve warm or at room temperature.
