Interview: A Heart-to-Heart with Georgia Peck
- mariesavva
- Feb 22, 2024
- 7 min read
Ingredients Georgia used to be the entrepreneur she is today:
450ml of community-building
A squeeze of "believe in yourself" advocacy
200g of positive self-talk & body image
A pinch of social activism
2 tbsp of slow fashion and holistic fitness lifestyle
Whisk into a smooth Rising Above Co founder, sprinkle with Earth lover, avid dancer and killer podcaster, and voilà! Here you have Georgia Peck!
Georgia is not your average “Kylie Jenner” wannabe that litters social media these days. She peels away the layers of unrealistic, neatly-packaged digital cultures and exposes her true glory when the filter wears off. Living in her judgement-free zone, she refuses to view life through rosy specs.
She unashamedly tears down fast fashion and social constructs, observing reality as it is — in the humble breadth of mountain bikes, nourishing vegan bowls, workout sessions out in nature, ethical slow fashion, and boundary-pushing online content.
An anti-bandwagon-ist to the core, Georgia cycles the road less travelled. Let's take the back seat in her bike ride towards rewriting well-entrenched narratives.
I spent countless years doubting myself in every way possible. From my worth, my confidence, my aesthetic, my abilities to pursue my dreams… Now, after so much work internally to break down these toxic habitual cycles of beliefs I fully believe in my capabilities.
M: Can you give me an insight of who you are and what you do?
G: Yes! My name is Georgia, I am here to rewrite society’s narrative in terms of perfectionism, detrimental success expectations and help people shift into their most thriving, authentic selves. To do this, I am using my slow fashion company Rising Above Co and my podcast where I host experts and inspiring people as well as unfiltered and real talk solo episodes.
M: What fuelled your shift into sustainable living? How it has impacted your life?
G: It started in 2016 when I saw my friend go veggie and I was genuinely confused as to why she would want to cut out so much delicious food! I did my own research and found some ground-breaking realities around the environment, animals and health studies around the animal farming industry. From then on, I have been vegan and have kept up to date and learned about our environment and how important it is to do your part.... however small.
Sustainability has impacted my life, because I feel generally more positive in the fact I am doing the best I can with what I have to take care of our planet. And it has also been a massive catalyst for the building of my slow fashion business Rising Above Co.
M: What's the mission of your clothing company, Rising Above Co?
G: To tackle fast fashion and the impacts it has head on through slow fashion and a beautiful message behind it. To shift the way we feel about ourselves and know it’s important to really take care of you and the planet.
M: I fell goofy-eyed in love with your latest product lines and work ethic. I know you're launching soon! Can you talk me through a typical day at work with a few behind-the-scenes snapshots?
G: Aww thank you so much!! A typical day right now, as I am almost launching (by the time this releases, it should be live and updated!), is finalising the new collections. I have decided to not only have the product collections of the standard t-shirts, dresses, bags and so on, but to have personalised collections to fit certain movements or seasons. Such as tropical summer, mindful and femme collections.
I will spend time refining my graphic design skills to get the designs absolutely the highest quality. I will be doing market research to know what people want, networking with other brands and people, and posting social media content.
In addition, self-care things to keep me thriving like physical movement (often dancing like a crazy person! Or running or biking), mental fitness such as meditation or mindfulness and having some fun as well. What’s the point of life if you aren’t having fun??
M: I'm a self-declared addict of your Instagram reels! What inspires you in creating them?
G: Thank you so much again!! I really really enjoy creating reels because often the creativity of inspiration comes from me seeing certain things online or my own thoughts. This can be people feeling not good enough because of a belief in society, how I used to feel within myself in terms of body image, social media, fitness etc, and spread my message in a fun way
M: What are the 2 toxic habits you're proud of dropping?
G: COMPARING! What a game changer!! To not feel like I am constantly needing to live up to other people's expectations for what I am doing, or other’s view of success. To know exactly how I define success in my eyes, and be happy with where I am and where I am going.
NOT BELIEVING IN MYSELF. Another game changer... I spent countless years doubting myself in every way possible. From my worth, my confidence, my aesthetic, my abilities to pursue my dreams… Now, after so much work internally to break down these toxic habitual cycles of beliefs I fully believe in my capabilities and strengths to do whatever I wish to do.
M: How do you stay proactive in days when all you want is to curl up in bed with a I'm-giving-up kind of attitude?
G: Great question. I want to first state that it's totally okay to have these days... Even in the world of social media, it looks like everyone is having a great time. But, in reality, we are all human and have a spectrum of emotions. It’s important to listen to your body and your mind when it’s telling you that you are tired, burned out, or feeling low. Give yourself that space to feel your emotions (it sounds woo woo I know!), but we spend so much time ignoring if we feel down or angry or not happy when in reality those are all signals something is not right.
Personally, I will first have awareness of what is going on... really going on, in my mind and body and ask where is this coming from. Or even just simply stop whatever I am doing and allow myself to do whatever I feel, I need in that moment to feel better; to recharge.
M: Name 3 of your must-haves in terms of values, and why?
G: Okay...so...this is personal to you. I can’t tell you what to value or what not to value, because it is your life and no one can tell you exactly how to live it, if that makes sense? But for me personally, my highest values I live my life by are: integrity which is basically always doing what you think is right in situations, even if that means it’s the hard way!
Care is a big value for me, caring about our planet and treating it well because we do not truly own this Earth. Care also for the people on this Earth and helping others to my best abilities to make this place a happier, more calm and positive place. Finally, care for me — self-care. You have to fill up your own cup before anyone else’s.
My third value is transparency. To me this means not faking or lying about what is really going on in order to put on a façade. When we do this, we often shut people out and feel separated from others, when in reality humans need connection. This also means to me in terms of my work is that on social media I will always show people the ‘negatives’ or real side of life as well as this ‘perfect’ image of myself.
M: When we risk relapsing to comparisons and self-sabotaging, what do you advise doing to unburden our glow-up?
G: Awareness. Awareness is everything because once you are aware of something you can, then you can take steps to change or shift that if it is not serving you.
I would say to dig deep and ask yourself why are you feeling the need to self-sabotage? Is it lack of validation, connection, purpose? It’s often more of a deep rooted thought pattern or belief that makes us go back to old ways. I would advise (if you are feeling intensely mental burdening definitely seek medical advice from a therapist) to take a step back and work on the relationship you have with yourself. This can look like journaling, meditation, sitting in the quietness and truly listening to what your mind is saying (it’s uncomfortable but necessary at times), or just doing what you love!
M: What is one veggie dish you cannot resist? Can you give me a brief rundown of the recipe?
G: Oh wow, I haven’t talked about veganism in a hot minute. I tended to get picked on a lot, because I was the only vegan in my high school and so I rarely talk about it now. However, that is down to the fact I don’t think it is necessary to be 100% vegan to be sustainable, saving animals or improving health, etc.
My favourite veggie dish has to be…. this is hard!
Pad Thai!
It’s so simple, but so delicious! I never measure ingredients, but I can give rough estimates.
Serves 2
What you need
1 Pack of Thick rice noodles (I use Amoy)
½ large block Tofu- extra firm
Veggies (I use broccoli, pepper, carrots, spinach)
Handful of Peanuts
Olive oil
Sauce
3 tbsp Soy sauce
1 tbsp Grated Ginger
1 tbsp Lime juice
1.5 tbsp Peanut butter
1 tsp Chilli/hot sauce
Tiny bit of water
Method
Press tofu in paper towels (or tea towel for zero waste) to get rid of excess water
Cut it into cubes
Mix together all the sauce ingredients
Marinade tofu cubes in the sauce while you chop up veggies
Heat up a pan and add in a dash of oil into the pan
Stir fry the veggies and noodles until more soft
Add in the tofu (I tend to either do this in another pan, or make a space in the pan with veggies and noodles) and cook for a few more mins
Add in any left over marinade and top with chopped peanuts!
Enjoy!
If needed, add more soy sauce :)
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