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The Canberra Business Podcast
A podcast about all things Canberra Business.
The Canberra Business Podcast
Meet the researcher who became Canberra's balloon genius
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When Dr. Chloe Lim discovered her hours as a molecular biologist and epigenetics researcher were being reduced due to funding cuts, she never imagined a request to twist balloons at a church event would transform her career path. Yet six years later, she's the award-winning owner of two thriving Canberra businesses that blend scientific knowledge with creative entertainment.
From laboratory research on DNA's "light switches" to founding Giggly Wiggly Balloons and Twistific. What began with YouTube tutorials quickly evolved into professional training with world-class balloon artists. Today, she creates everything from simple animal balloons to commissioned two-meter sculptures for the National Gallery of Australia.
Recently transitioning to a company structure, she aims to expand both businesses while developing Twistific as a social enterprise addressing gender equity in STEM. Her advice for aspiring entrepreneurs? "Put yourself out there" and "keep persisting and think outside the box when things aren't working."
This episode is supported by CareSuper.
Hello and welcome to the Canberra Business Podcast. I'm Greg Harford, your host from the Canberra Business Chamber, and I'm really looking forward to today's podcast because I'm joined by Dr Chloe Lim, a molecular biologist and epigenetics researcher and regulatory scientist, who then went on to become an author, speaker and owner of two small Canberra businesses Giggly Wiggly Balloons and Twisty Fick. Dr Chloe Lim, welcome to the podcast.
Speaker 2Thanks so much, Greg, for having me here.
Speaker 1Now your career has been really interesting. Can you tell me, perhaps just to start, tell me a bit about epigenetics. What does that even mean, and how did your role doing research in that space lead you to start your own businesses?
Speaker 2Yeah, so genetics I mean, everyone knows genetics yeah, so that's the DNA, our genome, and we know that it codes for all the different proteins and things that help us, you know, to function as a human being. Epigenetics is an additional layer of controlling those genes, so there's actually an environment around the DNA that can either lead to a gene being switched on or switched off. So epigenetics really is that extra layer of regulation for genes and it only gets expressed depending on certain stimulus as well. So if you think about it, um, you know you've got like switches right, yeah, so so I I always liken epigenetics as a like switch. So you know you need to get the right signal to get the right like switches on.
Speaker 1So, essentially, that's that's what it is so that sounds really um, fascinated, fascinating, really complicated, um, and, and really hard to get your head around. What were you researching in that space?
Speaker 2So I was looking at the environment of the DNA, so we call that the chromatin environment, and really, essentially, it's the packing of the DNA into a specific structure, because DNA, you know, it's actually a very long piece of string, if you want to call it, it's about two meters long, but it has to fit into a very tiny cell, and the way it does that is that it folds itself into little bits and form what you probably recognize as the chromosome.
Speaker 2Yeah, so for a gene to be expressed, the DNA needs to be open and accessible by certain factors that can then read the DNA, and so what I was doing during my research was looking at the environment of the DNA and to see, when I give them an immune response, what happens, what are the genes that are being switched on and what are the genes that are switched, switched on and what are the genes that are switched off. And then how is that environment set up? So there are what we call chemical modifications on the dna, and there are certain modifications that are associated with an open gene and some with a closed gene, so you can't actually access those genes. So my job was really to understand the landscape of the dna and how that impacts an immune response.
Birth of Giggly Wiggly Balloons
Speaker 1And now, here you are, running two small businesses here in Canberra featuring none other than balloons, which is a big change. So tell us about Giggly Wiggly Balloons. And, for people who can't see the podcast, here I've got a beautiful kiwi that's been made of balloons here on the on the table in front of me. Um, but but what do you? What do you do in a balloon business?
Speaker 2oh so well. You would have seen balloon twisters or balloon artists at parties and corporate events. So you know I go out to different uh events and I twist balloons for children, but I also offer balloon storytelling services and also balloon twisting workshops as well. So anything around balloons even creating balloon sculptures and balloon marquees as part of the offering for as a party entertainment service business. And really I got started six years ago, back in February 2019.
Speaker 2And how I got into it was my church needed someone to twist balloons at a community event and no one put their hands up, and so I thought maybe I'll give it a go. So I went onto YouTube and looked up how to make a balloon dog, and after I made it, I was like, oh my gosh, this is actually quite fun. And so I kept looking for other videos and tried different designs and I'm like I was hooked and I was looking to start a business at that time as well. So how I got into business was because, when I came back to work after maternity leave with my twin girls, I was really working part time as a researcher, but there was not as much grant funding available, and so my hours were reduced even more, and that was when I realized that I cannot depend on my job as a source of income, or my only source of income, and so I decided to start my own business so that I can feed the extra mouths that I've just got.
Speaker 1I'm glad it's working out. There doesn't appear to be any particular connection between genetic research and balloons. Is there something I'm missing here, or is it just coincidental that you've made that leap?
Speaker 2Yeah, no, it was definitely serendipitous. I really did not expect to be twisting balloons at this age. You know, I was never a creative type. When I was growing up in school I really disliked art. I couldn't draw for the life of me. It's like just give me science subjects, give me maths, I'll do maths problems for you, but just don't ask me to draw. And so it was interesting, I guess, the fact that I tried something new and something a bit different, just to serve a need, and from there it led me to all sorts of different opportunities. That relates to me working with balloons.
Speaker 1And there's a strong connection with balloons in your other business, right? Do you want to tell us about that?
Speaker 2Yeah, absolutely. So I've got another business called Twistific and it is a science education business that focuses on making science fun and engaging for children using science shows and workshops. Fun and engaging for children using science shows and workshops. And so what I've done and how it got started was I actually wrote a children's book called what Makes you Unique, and it's an introduction to DNA and the concept of how genetics makes all of us unique.
Speaker 2And at the time I was also doing balloon storytelling shows, where I was incorporating stories and using balloons as a form or a way to engage children. And so I thought well, why don't I mix balloons in with my story and use this as a way to engage children? So that's how my you know, my science shows came about. So I've got a science show called Twisty Science Show. It's like science storytelling with a twist, and what I do is I use balloons as a way to illustrate the concept of like DNA or genetics, so kids can actually have something concrete that they can think about when they see you know genetics or see DNA, because obviously we can't actually see a DNA unless you use a very special microscope. So here it's just making it more tangible for them to help them to understand what is it that makes them unique and how their body works so across the two businesses who are your customers so my main customers are parents you know, in the balloon business, definitely parents and child care centers.
Speaker 2I also work closely with corporate events, corporate companies as well.
Speaker 2Shopping malls are also a great one.
Speaker 2And then I guess, with the science education business, I am trying to get into more of the primary school area as well, so trying to bring the science show to primary schools, because I think it's a great way to really fit into the Australian curriculum as well, because we're talking about science and we want to engage children in science, and we know that children develop their career aspirations at an early age.
Speaker 2You know my daughter, who is eight. She's been talking to me about, you know, who she wants to be in the future, and really it's around that time when children are starting to think about what sort of jobs they want, and a lot of times they feel that science is not for them, because they might find it tricky or they've been discouraged from doing science, and so I want to send that message that science is for everyone and not everyone needs to be a scientist. But I think it's also important for them to develop scientific thinking skills, and so this is a way to really continue that path of curiosity for the children and understanding and admiring the wonders of the world through science.
Speaker 1So my observation, or one of my observations on the world, is that many kids do love science. When they're younger they're really interested in volcanoes and dinosaurs and all the cool things around the world, but perhaps as they get older they lose. They lose interest in that. What do you think we can do to help keep kids interested and engaged in science as they, as they grow up and get older and perhaps look to careers?
Balloon Artistry Training Journey
Speaker 2that's a really good question, and I think it's a challenge that we are still facing. I know that there are lots of resources that have been put out, like, for example, resources on science careers. The government has a great website called Future you and that highlights the profiles of different science careers. I think keeping that conversation going and keeping them exposed to fun science opportunities or fun science opportunities or fun science events Because I think what happens throughout the schooling years is perhaps it becomes more challenging for them to understand things, maybe science is presented in a way where not only is it hard for them to understand, but not in an engaging way as well.
Speaker 2So I think perhaps it's looking at how the curriculum is set up and how, then, can we use evidence-based learning practices to help them and to help the teachers to really deliver those science subjects in a way that helps the students as well, and I mean learning. The process of learning is also very different, for we can tailor to all those different learning styles either a visual learner or what do you call it? The visual learner, or the auditory learner, or kinesthetic type of learning. Then you'll be able to tap into each of those child's learning preferences and learning styles and help them to learn and navigate through the challenges of learning a science subject so jumping back to balloons, because I find this fascinating.
Speaker 1So you literally trained as a balloon artist by watching videos on YouTube, is that right? You didn't go off and do a TAFE course in balloon making or anything like that.
Speaker 2Oh gosh, I mean I did start off on YouTube videos, for sure. There's a lot of amazing balloon artists out there who put out material, put out tutorials for everyone to learn. But I also invested in myself as well, so I invested in courses. There is actually a balloon artist college out there, so I actually invested in that and learned as much as I could from that. And now and I've also invested in mentoring with one of the top balloon artists as well, Lily Tan. She's a Guinness World Record holder for making really big sculptures. So I think you know there's that level of investment If you want to go further and advance yourself in those techniques. So I'm always looking out for great ways to improve my balloon twisting skills, but apart from that, also my performing skills as well, Because kids you know you need to be able to, you need to learn how to be able to entertain them and engage them, and so that's a skill that I'm always trying to improve, as well as storytelling skills, Because part of my offering is a lot of storytelling.
Speaker 1Mm. So where does your inspiration come from for your balloons, as well as storytelling skills, because part of my offering is a lot of storytelling. So where does your inspiration come from for your balloons, for your show?
Speaker 2What is it that inspires you and gives you the content that you're delivering? You know, I mean I got into balloons because I just love it when I make someone happy with the balloon creation I've made. And so you know, to answer your question, I would say it's actually the people that I have served. I think they continue to inspire me because when I see the joy, when I see how happy people are, it just gives me that extra boost of energy and inspiration to keep working.
Speaker 2Now, in terms of specific people, I guess you know, with, uh, with balloons, there are a few internationally known balloon artists out there who I, whose work I really admire. Uh and it's, it's. I don't know they're on Instagram, you know Facebook, I will follow them there and just look at their work. But just people who does such massive sculptures, because I don't know they're on Instagram, you know Facebook, I will follow them there and just look at their work. But just people who does such massive sculptures, because I haven't actually had a chance to really dive deep into building big things, apart from the time when I was on the TV show Blow Up, but anything bigger than that. I was like, oh, I really want to get involved in that. So just seeing other balloon artists create, creating amazing, beautiful balloon sculptures, that inspires me to keep improving my balloon skills too so what is the biggest balloon sculpture that you've made?
Speaker 2oh, biggest one. I think I would say the biggest one that I've made was a display that I've done for National Gallery of Australia and that was back in 2021. Patricia Piccinini was the Australian artist and she had. She created the Sky Whale and the Sky Whale Papa. So any Canberran will know you know what they are, if not, look it up. But they're very interesting organic structures and I was tasked to create this balloon display and highlighting those two amazing sculptures. But it was a very challenging sculpture because I was only two years into my balloon artistry and I didn't really have a lot of those techniques and skills down pat yet. So it took me a long time to try and figure things out, to try and work out how to create things. But you know, I think in the end it turned out really well. I think it was about two meters by two meters um wide, and then I had to make the sculptures separately and then attach them on. So so to me that that will probably be my biggest one so far. So how?
Speaker 1technically complex is it to twist a balloon and do something exciting for it? Now we've got a beautiful kiwi here on the on the desk a kiwi bird, not a kiwi fruit, just to be clear for our audience here. How many balloons have you used for that? How long did it take you to pull this together?
Speaker 2Yeah, so with this kiwi bird I've used two long balloons we call them two long balloons, one's a 260, and then the beak and the feet are made of what we call a 160 balloon, which is a little skinnier balloon. And then the eyes are actually made with a scrap balloon, so not the whole balloon, just a little bit of it to make the two little beads for the eyes and what I've done at the bottom. So the kiwi bird is actually sitting on, I guess, a landing of a base of balloons which is green in color and that's made of four, five inch round balloons.
Speaker 1So, and how did you know how to pull this together? Is this just years of practice?
Business Challenges and Future Growth
Speaker 2Yeah, so I tend to get my inspiration from Google. Google is a great source of images and also images of other people who have made balloons like this before, so I try to search like balloon kiwi twist. As long as you put a twist in, it will give you a twisted version usually, but if not, it will give you a foil version, which is not what I want. But I also source my inspiration from the actual image itself. So I'll look up how a kiwi bird looks like. I mean, I had an idea already I did live in New Zealand for a while, but I said I need it to be precise, and so I look at the picture and then I look at how other people have done it and then I try and work it out myself.
Speaker 2So I do a little bit of what we call balloon improv, if you want to call it, and sometimes I do that at corporate events or birthday parties as well, where, if I have enough time, they can ask me for whatever they want, and I will just look at a picture and try and figure it out.
Speaker 1So that sounds risky. Are there occasions where it doesn't come off? It doesn't work.
Speaker 2I mean, I have to say sometimes I will have to say I don't think I can make that. I remember at this Christmas party a guy asked me to make what do you call those things? Those ferris wheels. He asked me to make a ferris wheel. I don't know if I have time and today I'm only making balloons for children. So I just love. I think that's the thing. The beauty about balloons is that it's not just for children, but adults also love it as well.
Speaker 1Now look, I certainly love balloons. Balloons are awesome and I think we need more of them, but sometimes there's concern from people in the environmentalist lobby about the environmental impacts from a waste point of view, the impacts on animals and birds of potentially digesting them. How do you manage those concerns in your business?
Speaker 2Yeah. So as a responsible balloon artist and a professional balloon artist, I think it's important that we use balloons in a very responsible way as well, and so we do not condone balloon helium releases, because we know that that can cause issues for the environment being. You know, it ends up being rubbish at the end, and so one of my policies is not to allow helium balloons for release. Everything needs to be weighted, and with any balloon rubbish that we generate, it's important to throw it away just like any rubbish. So if you generate rubbish, do the responsible thing and put it away as waste. Now there is an alliance called the Pro-Environment Balloon Alliance where, together as a group, we are trying to improve the education and awareness around how to responsibly use balloons as well. So not just educating consumers, but also educating other balloon industry people who come in who may not necessarily understand the impact that it could have. So, as part of being a responsible business owner, it's also understanding how can we take care of the environment the best that we can, too.
Speaker 2And another great initiative that we get involved in is actually the recycling of balloons. So balloons are actually made of latex. Some people may think it's made of plastic, but the twisted balloons. They are made of natural latex and that comes from rubber trees and it's quite sustainable. In fact, most of the balloon companies, they actually source their latex from Rainbow sorry, rainforest Alliance certified forests as well. And so if you look for those things, I think, I think you know you'll be, you'll be rest assured that that person is a responsible balloon user and also that you know, as long as we keep letting people know, what's the best way to deal with, um issues like I'm sorry, deal with, you know, balloon rubbish. I think that helps too. And the other thing so I wanted to mention was also a balloon recycling program as well yeah, so tell us about the balloon recycling program.
Speaker 1Where do you presumably you're not recycling them in your in your house um, where do you send them, who recycles them and how does that process work?
Speaker 2yeah. So terra cycle, I know, does a huge amount of recycling of different types of things, and they also include recycling of balloons too. Now, I don't actually know specifically what happens to the balloons, but I do know of different companies where what they do is this is a different one from TerraCycle, but another company where what they do with balloon scraps or those leftover balloons is that they make it into playground mats, and balloons really lend themselves easily to making soft cushioning for playgrounds because they are made of rubber. So that's a great way to reuse any balloons that's left over.
Speaker 1So there's really a reuse function for balloons which probably not a lot of people know about. So, really, really interesting to hear that and really good for the planet, I guess, overall, as well, of course, for the safety of those kids who are ultimately using the playgrounds. Now, obviously, you've been running a business for what? Five, six years now. What have been the biggest challenges you've faced in running your businesses? Getting them off the ground and making a success of them?
Speaker 2I think with any business, the challenge is always clients and sales.
Speaker 2So finding new clients or keeping existing clients, getting new bookings, getting existing bookings and so for me it's how do I keep getting businesses, or being able to serve people with what I have, and part of it requires me to think about how can I reach those people too.
Speaker 2So I mean, I'm very thankful that a lot of the times my business has come through word of mouth, and I think I feel that in Canberra, that's actually a pretty big thing where referrals really work very well to help a business grow. So I think what's important is also being really good at what you do and being able to offer excellent customer service, because then people will think about you, they will talk about you and they'll share about your services with everyone else, and that's how you can get new people in. So I think that's part of the prevailing challenge. I mean, if you're talking about the current climate, then you know it's increase in expenses. Even balloon costs have increased too, and also, I guess you know people are not willing to pay as much anymore, so they don't really want to spend. So I find that for me at the moment, it's more the economic climate that's really impacting businesses.
Speaker 1Is it just you and your business? Do you have a team working with you?
Speaker 2So I'm the, I guess, the main person, the main balloon artist, the main performer, but I am supported by other people, so I have an assistant who helps me with social media things, all the admin stuff fantastic, I love having an assistant, it really helps a lot. Um, and then I also have subcontractors as well, so if, at any time, I'm not able to take a booking or I'm double booked, then I have someone else that, uh, that is trained to be able to do what I do in for for certain um event settings and they can go in on my behalf as well and have you dealt with that training yourself?
Speaker 1have you sort of personally kind of taken on an apprentice almost and sort of trained them up? How does that work?
Speaker 2Yeah, so I guess you know, in this day and age, virtual training is always very helpful. What I've done is I've recorded myself making balloons and to teach, talk them through how to do it and send those links to them so that they can try it themselves. But if they have any issues they will have a Zoom call or get on Teams or get on WhatsApp and just work through some of the challenges together.
Speaker 1What advice would you have for other people who might be listening to this, who are thinking about starting their own small business?
Speaker 2So starting a business is no easy feat. There's a lot of things that get into it and it's really a steep learning curve, especially, you know, for me. I didn't actually have a background in business, I'm a scientist, I'm still a scientist, but I think what is key is to keep persisting and to innovate or to think outside of the box when things are not working. I mean I've been very impressed with. This is another business where you know she did Ready Set Snap.
Speaker 2I'm not sure if you heard of Ready Set Snap, but she owns this studio where she lends out and hires out to people for use. And I remember her coming up to me when I won the Canberra Women in Business Award just to ask me for advice about how to get her business going. And for me it's like you just have to put your name out there. You have to keep promoting yourself, promoting your business, share it with anyone you know. So I think it's so important that people put aside that hesitance to share about their business, because if you don't tell people about your business, no one's going to know about it and no one knows that you can offer that service. So I think it's so important that people are willing to put themselves out there and share about their work.
Speaker 1Absolutely. What does the future hold for Wiggly, wiggly and Twistific? What's your aspiration for growth?
Speaker 2Oh gosh. Well, I've recently changed from a sole trader into a company structure, and part of the reason for it is because I do want to expand my business and grow it into a bigger business. So really, I would like to bring more people on, either through Giggly, wiggly or Twistific, depending on where the skill set lies people who love entertaining children, learning how to twist balloons, or people who want to teach science to children. So I think there's a lot of scope for bringing more people on so that we can serve more people. So that's definitely on the cards, and one of the things that I'm trying to do, I guess, with Twistific is also to try and develop it as a social enterprise, because Twistific, essentially, is trying to address the issue of gender equity in STEM, and so being able to use that pathway, I think, or being able to call ourselves a social enterprise, helps people to see that. You know, it's not just about science shows or science parties, right, but we are trying to address a bigger issue in this world.
Closing and Sponsor Message
Speaker 1Excellent. Well, thank you very much for telling us all about your businesses and your background, and I wish you all the very best for the future. I'm Greg Harford from the Canberra Business Chamber, and it's been a delight today to be talking to Dr Chloe Lim, the owner of Giggly Wiggly Balloons and Twister Chloe, thanks very much for joining us.
Speaker 2Thank you so much for having me, Greg.
Speaker 1And just a reminder that this episode of the Canberra Business Podcast has been brought to you by the Canberra Business Chamber with the support of Care Super, an industry super fund with competitive fees and returns, exceptional service and a focus on real care. You can learn more at caresupercomau and don't forget to follow us on your favourite podcast platform for future episodes of the Canberra Business Podcast. We'll catch you next time.