It’s been 11 years since Nadia Lim blazed a trail across the nation’s television screens on MasterChef New Zealand. Many Kiwis have since credited her with teaching them how to be creative in the kitchen through her TV shows and cookbooks, but the celebrity chef says she struggled with imposter syndrome when she won the show’s second season in 2011.
“I was 24-25 and I kept saying to myself, ‘I don’t know if I deserve this,'” shares Nadia. “In the end, I got around it by deciding it was reverse karma. I thought to myself, ‘I’ll make sure that I justify that I deserve this by using it to do great things and to help other people.'”
Like all the other groundbreaking women celebrating the Weekly’s 90th birthday this week, Nadia has a strong sense of wanting to give back to the community. “It comes down to that saying, ‘The only thing you get more of by giving it away is love and happiness,'” she explains.
That “giving” includes sharing her knowledge and passion for food with as many Kiwis as possible. “From the age of 12, I knew what I wanted to do,” says the mum-of-two, who’s expecting her third child with husband Carlos Bagrie next year. “I’ve always had a passion for nature and food, and for people eating well.”
When she thinks of inspirational New Zealand women, suffragette Kate Sheppard tops Nadia’s list, but the foodie, 36, says her mum Julie shaped her into the person she is today.
“She’s a great listener,” shares Nadia. “She can be quite reserved, but she’s no pushover. She has a quiet inner strength and resilience that I really admire, and she’s so good at seeing things from all perspectives. Hopefully, I’ve picked that up from her.”
The co-founder of My Food Bag says she has also found inspiration from the many women she’s encountered over the past decade who are doing “incredible things” behind the scenes for their community and charity. “They’re unsung heroes.”
If Nadia could offer advice to her 16-year-old self, it would be to “keep learning every day”.
And her greatest success? “It’s still to come,” she says. “I’ve achieved a lot of things, but I like to think I still have a lot more to go.”
