As someone who has spent over a decade as a model, I am all too familiar with the challenges we all face to maintain a certain body type and meet expectations in beauty. I loved my job, but found myself struggling with the pressure to look a certain way and pushed my body to some unhealthy extremes. This took a very heavy toll on my self perception and mental health and it wasn’t until I hit total burnout that I started to practice yoga, and discovered a new way to move which felt deeply into what my body and mind truly needed and I was able to quiet my inner critic.

Over my years spent traveling as a model, I had the privilege of working with some of the best fitness and wellness instructors in the world, and it ignited this passion in me to want to understand the how and why of certain tools that change my body, my mind, and make me feel good. I've been on a journey of learning and experimentation, exploring the power of food as medicine and other mindful practices for improving overall health and well-being.

As my career slowly shifted into the media world, my passion grew into a desire to help others, specifically women, navigate the world of expectation and the onslaught of conflicting information to find what their best version is. I believe that everyone should feel confident and empowered in their own bodies, and from that place they are capable of reaching their goals and beyond.

We first met at a mutual friend’s birthday party, where we were the only two people not drinking. In fact, Dom had been about to bail because he knew it would be a boozy night but was getting texts from friends calling him a ‘Flaker’, which is a big trigger word for him after spending years in LA where everyone’s a flaker (‘the LA Flakers’), and he’s always been determined not to be that guy, so he arrived, late, and was seated next to Esther.

Within minutes, we were engaged in the biggest, health-nerdiest conversation you can imagine: discussing yoga, meditation, journaling, alkaline water (we know, we know) and Dom started showing Esther pictures of the hike he’d been on that day. We were swapping book and podcast recommendations, and it was the start of a magical connection. That week, Dom sent Esther a constant stream of voice messages and articles to read, and not only did that not scare her off, it solidified that we were on the same page. Since then, we have lived together in LA and in NZ, completed nine out of the 10 NZ Great Walks, driven and tented across the western states of America, lived in Bali, got Covid together not once but twice and started the Wellbeings website while battling yet more viruses, computer disasters and different time zones.

The idea for Wellbeings first came up while we were hiking along the Routeburn track. Dom had long been keen to launch a podcast and it was while on the scenic hike that Esther saw the potential that the Wellbeings world could be an even bigger one: a digital resource, a community and an educational platform.

This is when we unofficially went from life partners to business partners. We reached out to our community and started getting advice and support, and the response was incredible. What we discovered was that people were so wanting to work on something like this because they saw it as so needed.We were overwhelmed by this, and are so grateful for all the people and companies who have given their time, advice and resources to help bring WellBeings to life.