For Marewa Sutherland, clean fuel is a way of life. The co-founder of PURE Sports Nutrition, Marewa launched the brand in 2012 with her brother, Simon Kraak, after struggling to find effective, easy-to-digest nutrition options as competitive athletes. Over a decade later, the business now supplies over 1200 stockists, sponsors more than 90 events a year across Australia and New Zealand, and continues to grow — all while staying grounded in purpose. We caught up with Marewa to talk about building a brand with family, staying focused through the chaos, and what real work-life balance looks like when you’re running a fast-moving company.
You co-founded PURE Sports Nutrition after struggling to find clean, effective fuel as an athlete. How does that personal experience shape how you work today?
My experience as an athlete (coupled with being a business owner) has shaped many areas of my life – but the basic premise hasn’t changed at all; that is, living a highly active lifestyle that is fuelled by clean nutrition. Health underpins everything I do and how I show up personally and professionally.
What does a typical workday look like for you, and how do you balance time between product development, business operations, and your own wellbeing?
This changes day to day depending on travel, projects and the circus that comes with a young family and a business. Surprisingly to myself, I thrive under this unpredictability, however, the key is to have absolute non-negotiables locked each day: Movement, family time and a decent night’s sleep.
It’s taken 10 years and some honest self-reflection to realise there isn’t time for these things in the juggle unless I make time, and subsequently the payoff has been monumental.
With over 100 events across AU and NZ, travel can be extensive and often involves early flights followed by up to 12 hour event expo days. It’s both exhausting and energising getting to meet our community, help athletes with their event nutrition and witness the elation of the finish line.
Many cogs turn to operate our business, and our biggest strength is our people, many of whom are athletes, but more importantly all of our team are passionate about what we do, where we want to go and how to drive the business to get there.
Product development is always churning away in the background and my co-founding Brother, Simon Kraak leads this area and is often calling me at absurd hours to chat over his latest idea. A strength of a family business is that honest conversations come to the table very easily, so we always know where we stand and how we can work together (and where we can’t!).
As a sports nutritionist, how do you apply the same principles of fuelling athletes to fuelling your own energy and performance at work?
The basic principles of nutrition drive how I fuel myself and I have no doubt, determine how I turn up each day. Basics such as having adequate protein in each meal, along with plenty of real fruits and vegetables to ensure I am getting the energy required to tackle the day. Generally speaking, I feel people tend to overcomplicate nutrition yet get the basics very wrong. As with athletes, base nutrition is a key driver to performance, with supplements elevating outcomes when required. Similarly to endurance exercise, hydration is key and underpins so many basic but vital processes within.
What routines or boundaries help you maintain balance while running a fast-growing business and staying connected to the sports world?
Living and breathing an active lifestyle comes naturally, so I’m right at home at any sports event and can often be found trying to snatch up a last-minute race entry to experience that race day thrill. In terms of sports nutrition, I’m always trying to have my finger on the pulse when it comes to new research and innovations. Balance doesn’t come easily in what we have taken on, so the dream downtime is at a secluded South Island Lake, without a shop in sight.
PURE has grown across Australia and New Zealand and supports over 90 events a year—how do you stay focused on purpose and not just scale?
Because our brand is who we are, staying focused on purpose feels like it comes naturally – that honesty and trust we have built comes before anything else. I was a sports nutritionist before I was a business owner, so that drive to prescribe only what athletes need is still embedded in me and also understanding that what works for one may not work for all. That’s the beauty of nutrition, you need to be open minded to achieve performance.
Looking back over the last decade, how has your idea of work-life balance evolved, especially as both a founder and a former athlete?
Athletes have the ability to be laser-focused on their sport, which from a founders perspective, naturally crosses over to our business. From the outside, it’s easy to see success, but in reality, it’s been a decade of dreaming, perseverance and showing up. Again, these are all traits that athletes potentially need to perform and drive growth. The best part, when your passion becomes your purpose, it doesn’t feel like work.
