Ampersand Woman: Brandi Williams

Brandi Williams and her husband, Justin, are the proud owners of Primally Inspired Eats. Primally Inspired Eats provides authentic handmade, gluten-free and primal/paleo inspired artisan goods. In a food culture dominated with goods overflowing with sugar, flour, soy, and processed oils, their goal is to supply nutritionally dense, whole food based alternatives. You can find their products at the Bloomington Farmers Market, Bloomingfoods, and Cup & Kettle. Brandi and sat down and talked about what inspires her and how Primally Inspired Eats about. She graciously shared her story with me below.

As I reflected on how to introduce myself I immediately went to the phrase below, “My mother always said….” And my mother always said, “The older you get the faster time goes.” That quote has stuck with me, especially because my mother passed away at the young age of 52. That event certainly shaped the woman I have become today, how I view the world, how I love and view the people I love, and how I choose to spend the time I’ve been granted. In all honestly one of the major driving forces for me is time. Not attempting to beat time, or stop time, but to be present in what I am doing with my time, to consciously choose my own path, and spend the time I have carving out what happiness and success looks like for me. Equally important is to use as much of my time being present with those I love, and exploring the things that interest me the most.

This is where I confess that I am also a self-proclaimed research junky, another driving force. Once curiosity takes hold in me, I will research the heck out of a topic, and make every attempt to immerse myself in it. Nutrition, food, and preventative measures for health and wellness, oh heck yes! Again, the event of having a close loved one experience a health crisis followed by death sent this research junky into overdrive when it came to finding out everything possible in the realm of preventative health and wellness. Which, as you might guess, ultimately led me to cooking and baking with naturally gluten free, grain free, and overall allergy friendly, paleo, keto type ingredients. This took root first within our home, as providing those I love with nutrition and wellness through food, seemed to me, one of the best ways I could love them. Hence, a very fitting way to spend my time.

Besides being a self-proclaimed research junky, I also enjoy sharing the information I gather. Not just sharing but conversing, dissecting, analyzing, debating. All the things I loved so much about grad school. I loved the researching aspect of grad school, but facilitating and teaching in a college classroom was equally influential. I spent two incredibly informative and inspirational years as a graduate assistant for EDCI 285 Multiculturalism and Education. The classroom was filled with undergraduate education majors and we would spend an entire semester unpacking identity in relation to race, class, gender, and sexual orientation, and how this impacted who they would be as teachers, what they brought to the classroom, and how their future student’s individual identities affected what they brought with them into the classroom as well. It was the best in my world. Tough topics, lots of conversation, reflection, research. It had it all. Probably the only other “job,” besides becoming a mother, and creating Primally Inspired Eats, that I have had complete love and passion in doing. Another fitting way, in my mind, to spend some time.

Then came motherhood, which inspired me to knit all these passions together. How I consciously spent my time, which now focuses very much on my kiddos, health and wellness through food and nutrition, and my need and love for research and teaching. The obvious portion of this tapestry has manifested as Primally Inspired Eats. Primally Inspired allows me to share in the best possible way all the things I’ve learned around alternative and nutrient dense focused baking. I get to share the results of that research in the form of really delicious and nourishing baked goods. I also get to have very meaningful, informative, and reflective conversations with our customers, around interesting, and sometimes even tough topics related to health and wellness, another aspect of our business that I completely adore.

Finally, Primally Inspired also allows for freedom. Freedom for me to choose how I spend my time and most significantly, for the daily incorporation of the most important human beings in my life, my children, Ben and Eleanor, and my lifelong love, Justin. We work daily as a family to grow our business, learn from one another in the form of homeschooling, and spend as much time as possible exploring and pursuing our passions. Primally Inspired Eats has gratefully allowed for so many of the things that inspire me to intersect and meet in this particular time and in this particular space. What we would say in our family as “time well spent.” I love it, it’s the best in my world.

I hail from… Greentown, Indiana

I currently live in… Bloomington, Indiana

My morning routine before leaving for work is… Sunday - Wednesday: Coffee, morning snuggles with the kids, Fancy Breakfast, gratitude journalling, and learning work. Thursday - Saturday: Coffee, Baking, and prepping for Market.

My personality at work in three words: Focused, Independent, and Multitasking

My favorite go to tea: Tulsi/Rose

My favorite tea types are… Green, Herbals

My favorite time for tea… Afternoon

When I grew up I wanted to be… A Teacher

When I “grow up” I want to be… Traveler, Explorer

My mother always said… "The older you get, the faster time goes; so value each day."

What I wish I knew when I started working: You can carve your own path. You can be unconventional.

If I could have a power lunch with anyone, living or dead, it would be… Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

If I could have happy hour with anyone, living or dead, it would be… Maya Angelou

Finish the following sentences:

Success is…. Freedom to create the life I choose

Happiness is… Freedom to create what speaks to me.

Sexy is… Authentically vulnerable

A working woman can never have too many… People in her tribe

Your motto:. "Have an attitude of gratitude"