{"id":1599317,"date":"2020-06-10T15:52:36","date_gmt":"2020-06-10T19:52:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/divine.ca\/?p=1599317"},"modified":"2020-06-15T07:53:37","modified_gmt":"2020-06-15T11:53:37","slug":"womeninspiringwomen-valerie-azinge-founder-of-my-digital-kitchen-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/divine.ca\/en\/womeninspiringwomen-valerie-azinge-founder-of-my-digital-kitchen-part-2\/","title":{"rendered":"#WomenInspiringWomen: Valerie Azinge, Founder of My Digital Kitchen, Part 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

Valerie Azinge self-deprecatingly calls herself the Bionic Woman because of the rods and pins that she needed after surgeries for her traumatic accident.\u00a0 She went through a lot to get to where she is today.\u00a0 She was living her dream, and that dream had to be put on hold. Her advice \u2013 don\u2019t give yourself a timeline for your own dream \u2013 it takes time.\u00a0 Follow your passion, take your time \u2013 it can take years and seek the right resources to make your dream happen. \u00a0My Digital Kitchen<\/a>, her successful bslog and business are only part of that dream.\u00a0 Her cookbook, 30-Minute Low-Carb Dinners<\/a>, is in-stores now.<\/p>\n

Her story, and her wisdom, like her recipes, needs to be savoured.\u00a0 Here is part two of Valerie\u2019s story in #WomenInspiringWomen<\/a>.<\/p>\n

First Steps<\/h3>\n

I was bed-ridden for over 6-weeks and lost muscle mass.\u00a0 You can even lose muscle in your neck which disrupts your balance.\u00a0 When I had to get up to take my first steps, I had a nine-inch pelvic fixator (used to fuse your pelvis after an injury) and it protruded.\u00a0 I had an open book fracture that was 25 centimeters wide, that literally had to be fused together.\u00a0 This restriction made it impossible to stand up straight, plus I had this open wound so moving was painful.<\/p>\n

The first time I tried walking, my feet were so swollen that it took five minutes before I could take my first step.\u00a0 I had two physiotherapists behind me holding me, and guiding me.\u00a0 I could only take three steps that day.\u00a0 They told me how well I had done and that I had to train my body to walk again, but I cried.\u00a0 When you are a kid, you don\u2019t remember learning how to walk \u2013 you just do it.\u00a0 As an adult it\u2019s different.\u00a0 My body is still uneven and my balance is still off.\u00a0 There was long-standing damage that still affects me.\u00a0 There is a chance that I may not be able to carry children and that was a bitter pill to swallow. As a woman, it\u2019s very hard to hear \u2013 I was so upset. \u00a0It took me awhile to wrap my head around it.\u00a0 You never know though.<\/p>\n

I was diagnosed with PTSD and have to take anti-anxiety medication.\u00a0 I don\u2019t feel guilty now about taking medication because when you\u2019ve gone through something like I\u2019ve gone through, or worse, it does take a toll.\u00a0 Your physical body may not be able to process it all.\u00a0 You have to take the steps to take care of yourself.<\/p>\n

It teaches you that life is short and you have to value every single day, and don\u2019t take anything for granted.\u00a0 You go from living day to day, showing everyone how well you are doing.\u00a0 You put on your hair, clothes and your makeup to being stripped bare and completely beat up and injured.\u00a0 Somewhere in the back of my mind, I kept telling myself that there is a reason for this.<\/p>\n

A Blessing<\/h3>\n

In a strange way, the accident was kind of a blessing.\u00a0 Prior to the accident, I was on the fast lane.\u00a0 I never took any time to slow down.\u00a0 I put a lot of pressure on myself and I always felt like I had to be three steps ahead.\u00a0 I never gave myself any time to focus on who I was and what my value entailed.\u00a0 The accident taught me that I had to slow down, take a step back and understand that what I\u2019ve accomplished doesn\u2019t define who I am.\u00a0 I also realized that I don\u2019t need success just to compete with other people.\u00a0 There is room for everyone.<\/p>\n

I know that I can do anything if I put my mind to it.\u00a0 This also taught me to not just associate myself with what I\u2019ve accomplished.\u00a0 Should it be stripped from me one day, I still want to be someone who is liked for who they are and for their spirit.\u00a0 I feel that gets lost a bit now with people trying to make something out of themselves and their careers with social media.\u00a0 It\u2019s like you identify yourself for what you have accomplished instead of just being you.\u00a0 Your success is what you do, not who you are.<\/p>\n

One Year Anniversary<\/h3>\n

After the one-year anniversary of my accident, I got a few friends together and created recipes from my catering service and took them to St. Michael’s and Toronto Rehab to give back to the doctors and nurses that got me back on my feet.\u00a0 They not only took care of me physically, they made sure that my well-being was taken care of as well.\u00a0 I broke three fingers and the doctor knew that I was a baker and really advocated for me so that I could get most of my mobility back.<\/p>\n

Social Media and Business<\/h3>\n

People can feel inadequate when they see others doing things that you feel like you should be doing.\u00a0 When we come across other people who are traveling in private jets to luxury vacations with their family, you feel like you are lacking.\u00a0 You feel like you are working so hard, but you aren\u2019t reaping the same results.\u00a0 Even if you are achieving some success, when you see others, you think maybe they are ten steps ahead.\u00a0 It can make you feel inadequate.\u00a0 We forget that not everything that we see is the truth.\u00a0 Social media, with the filter and the lighting is meant to show you at your best, but you never know what is behind that.\u00a0 You don\u2019t know if people are renting those private jets or if they are inflating their net profit.\u00a0 What you know is your own truth and that you are taking the right steps in your business and in your life.<\/p>\n

If you are only in business for profit, you will hit a lot of roadblocks.\u00a0 If you are in business because it is a passion and you want to inspire others and help people with your brand, then you will find success. \u00a0You will spend less time focusing on what everyone else is doing because you are confident in your own space.<\/p>\n

My Digital Kitchen<\/h3>\n

My Digital Kitchen is online catering service where you pick out the desserts that you want and then it gets delivered to your door, whether it\u2019s for an event, a business or a private home.\u00a0 We also provide care packages.\u00a0 Part of what I learned being in the hospital, particularly in rehab is that there are a lot of geriatric patients.\u00a0 They can be there for a very long time and some don\u2019t get a lot of visitors.\u00a0 They feel lonely and unloved.\u00a0 When I was in rehab, they opened up to me and they don\u2019t feel like they have a good support system.\u00a0 I decided that care packages were essential to my business. People can receive something beautiful with a special message so that they know that they are thought of, appreciated and loved.\u00a0 We create them for special occasions as well.<\/p>\n

Gordon Ramsay, Her Cookbook and Beyond<\/h3>\n

\"My<\/p>\n

I would tag people in my Instagram photos to get engagement.\u00a0 Gordon Ramsay came across my page, engaged with my photos and started following me.\u00a0 At first, I thought it was a glitch but it was him.\u00a0 He interacted with my stories.\u00a0 I was still a blogger.\u00a0 He is my celebrity chef idol and it made me feel that people value what I do and it is good.\u00a0 I\u2019ve had the Food Network feature me a few times and was featured in Buzzfeed and a few other outlets.<\/p>\n

One of the things that the accident inspired was making me write my cookbook which was published in May.\u00a0 I was in rehab, and I was literally on my birthday when I got the offer.\u00a0 When you get the offer, the publisher has cooks and chefs that test the recipes.\u00a0 They want to make sure that the person that they are endorsing is legitimate.\u00a0 Recipes have to be delicious, easy to follow and have ingredients that are high quality for them to green light a book.\u00a0 I had to come up with 75 recipes.\u00a0 I was only allowed to use three from my blog, the others had to be created from scratch.<\/p>\n

A lot of research and testing goes into writing a cookbook.\u00a0 You have to develop and test the recipes before you write your manuscript.\u00a0 I tested each recipe about three or four times to adjust the flavour or cooking time.\u00a0 Then, you have to create them again to do the photography, so it\u2019s a lot of cooking.\u00a0 It took about a year from start to finish.<\/p>\n

The 30-Minute Low-Carb Dinners Cookbook was inspired by my time in the hospital.\u00a0 I went from being this healthy person who could cook and exercise to not being able to walk.\u00a0 I had to live off of hospital food for three months which is not the greatest.\u00a0 I needed a way to eat my way back to health.\u00a0 These low-carb recipes inspired me because typically, cookbooks only target the able bodied.\u00a0 I couldn\u2019t exercise because of my disability, but still wanted to detox and could feel good about myself again.<\/p>\n

I wondered if there was a way to structure my diet to feel healthy, lose the weight and be able to nourish myself with nutritious food while I tried to work my way back to exercising again.\u00a0 The low-carb recipes were a workable alternative for me.\u00a0 You can follow a low-carb diet, lose the weight without waiting to physically fit again.\u00a0 There are people, including me because of my disability, who may never be able to exercise hard core.\u00a0 I have been able to achieve success using this diet because my body has reset, I\u2019ve been able to detox using healing foods like vegetables and my confidence has grown.\u00a0 The book was very personal and healing, it wasn\u2019t just a cookbook to me.\u00a0 It was based on my needs, my experience and I love the food.<\/p>\n

Valerie\u2019s Inspiration<\/h3>\n

My mother inspires me.\u00a0 When I was growing up, my dad was the bread winner, but he had challenges managing money.\u00a0 At the time, my mom was fine with being a housewife and taking care of me.\u00a0 When she saw my father\u2019s difficulties in managing money, she didn\u2019t want the family to crumble, so she started working in catering.\u00a0 She was also a great cook, so I guess I got it from her.\u00a0 She would do things to create an income and save any cash that she had for a rainy day.\u00a0 My mother realized that she needed to extend her career.\u00a0 She went to law school and became a lawyer.\u00a0 She has four degrees and she has a great career.<\/p>\n

It inspired me and really showed me the strength of a woman.\u00a0 My mother didn\u2019t just up and leave.\u00a0 She stuck it out and said that if her husband couldn\u2019t provide an income for her family, that she could.\u00a0 Her life taught me the value of hard work.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Valerie Azinge self-deprecatingly calls herself the Bionic Woman because of the rods and pins that she needed after surgeries for her traumatic accident.\u00a0 She went through a lot to get…<\/div>\n
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