In the early 1990’s 18-year-old Carolyn Creswell built the foundations of a global food empire while also studying a Bachelor of Arts.
Carman’s Fine Foods muesli and muesli bars are now stocked on supermarket shelves in 35 countries.
Carolyn, who is the Managing Director and Founder, purchased the business for $1,000 during her first year of university.
“I would do some deliveries before university or do some accounting at the library at lunch time. I juggled both the things,” she says.
She combined cooking and deliveries with the study of sociology and politics at Monash University which she credits as the seed of her business success.
“I 100% wouldn’t have had the success at work if I hadn’t have done that degree, if it hadn’t taught me that there’s nothing you can’t learn, and to just give it a go,” she told DASSH.
“Because an arts degree is so varied, it’s like I don’t know anything about that…well I’ll go and learn about it.
“That certainly helped me with my small business. I’d be like ‘well I don’t know anything about profit loss or who would I go and ask’, but my arts degree taught me how to learn about things.
“The way it made me think was very beneficial to the business.”
She didn’t plan to do an arts degree – she initially wanted to get into law but didn’t have the marks.
“I thought I’d do Arts and if I studied really hard, I could transfer across second year. So that was one of the reasons that I chose it.
“What I loved when I did it was that I got to study things I was passionate about and interested in. That sort of taught me how to research, and how to learn.”
Carolyn urges students graduating from high school to consider planting that seed to work out who they are and what motivates them.
“I loved every bit of my arts degree,” she said.
“I think sometimes people can just finish at school and say, I’ll do law, commerce, medicine.
“But do you really want to do commerce? Is that really what you’re interested in? What do you want to do every day? What things can you learn? What things will fill your cup?
“To feel that when you go to work on a Monday morning and there is no joy, to go and just do it for the paycheck- that is quite an empty, sad life.”
Carolyn says the brilliance of an arts degree is the breadth of choice.
“Up until year 12, you haven’t really had that much choice – only within parameters of high school.
“When you get to uni, and it’s up to you, the breadth of things you can study is extraordinary. Arts can take you down the most incredible paths.
“I did a major in sociology and politics. I also did Jewish studies which was also super interesting. I was the only non-Jewish person in the class.
“Not every degree is about saying about what’s the job at the end of three years – it’s about being able to find your passions and find how to learn, how to think, and what you’re interested in.
“That then helps you specialise…look at me, I’ve specialised in politics and sociology and now I run a business.”
Being able to learn how to think, to learn and understand the way the world works has allowed Carolyn to pursue a passion for social justice.
She is the Ambassador for the Asylum Seekers Resource Centre and Smiling Mind, has served on the board of the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Foundation and the Human Rights Law Centre.
“My early study gave me a love of learning and made me acutely aware there is so much you don’t know about,” she said.
“I was very much drawn in very quickly to seeing some of the world issues – for example, a university banned a brand because it had been having trucks drive around in Africa telling people not to breastfeed babies but to give powdered milk instead.
“But people didn’t necessarily have clean water to add with the milk and babies were dying. There was a huge protest about that at the time.
“I went to rallies about Indigenous issues – that fire gets lit in you for social issues when you are young and you start university.
“For me, that kind of planted this seed of wanting to challenge inequality.
“There’s two parts to this, one is what would Carman’s do, and what does Carman’s talk about publicly and what is right for the brand.
“And there is what am I personally passionate about. What do I want to get involved with.
“With my work with human rights or asylum seekers, that has been very much my journey and not so much part of the Carman’s journey.
“I love that analogy where someone is walking around the beach and all these starfish have washed up on the shore and this person is going along and throwing them back.
“Someone comes up and asks, ‘what difference do you think you’re going to make?’ – ‘I made a difference to that one’.
“When I look at lots of people who might have done two different degrees such as Law and Arts, often the arts has really made them who they are.
“It’s where they have found a sense of what motivates them, and what lights the fire inside of them.”
Carolyn Creswell Bio
Carman’s Kitchen founder, Carolyn Creswell is an inspirational leader whose success proves that you can run a multinational business, love what you do and have a genuine work-life balance. As an 18-year-old university student, Carolyn founded Carman’s in 1992 when she bought the small muesli business she was working at for $1,000. 32 years on, Carman’s Kitchen is now Australia’s favourite muesli brand, alongside being a market leader in deliciously good for you snacks thanks to the brands consistent innovation and perusal of continuous improvement.
From humble beginnings where Carolyn used to park her tiny Daewoo alongside semitrailers in supermarket loading docks, Carolyn’s determination and focus on producing quality products using whole foods, has seen Carman’s build a strong following in exporting to more than 30 countries globally. Carolyn’s passion for healthy food made from real ingredients has cemented Carman’s reputation as a food brand that customers can trust thanks to the brands ethos of real food, made with real passion.
As a proud mother of four children aged 20 and under, Carolyn understands the importance of producing nourishing foods for herself and her family and applies this to every Carman’s recipe. Calling the Carman’s crew her “second family”, Carolyn put them at forefront of her mind when designing the new office that the business moved into in 2018. Now one of the most enviable working spaces in Australia, Carman’s HQ offers its employees access to a gym, yoga studio, sauna and massage room, free barista-made coffee and on-site chef. Carolyn has also loved extending the space to the public, via the Carman’s Kitchen Store, and other businesses, with conference facilities and meeting rooms for hire.
Carolyn’s business acumen has led to a number of accolades including the winner of 2007 Ernst & Young’s Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award and being named the 2012 Telstra Australian Business Woman of the Year. She is also a graduate member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. As Carolyn looks to the future “I’m amazed at the achievements of Carman’s thanks to our loyal consumers. The growth we’ve experienced is thanks to hard work, a talented team and a range of products that we’re really proud of and that people love to eat. I’m looking forward to seeing what we can achieve in the next thirty years!