Kester Black // Episode 43

Welcome to the first Pep Talk of 2021! After a solid break and a few dreamy holidays, I'm very ready to get stuck back into chatting and hearing the amazing stories behind some of our favourite local businesses. I have some exciting plans in the works for Pep Talk this year and I'm so glad you're along for the ride.

Today we're straight into it for 2021 with Anna Ross, founder of vegan and cruelty free cosmetics brand, Kester Black. Probably best known for their rainbow of nail polishes in simple and stylish bottles, but like many of the stories we hear on Pep Talk, Kester Black had a more roundabout route to finding it's niche.

Fresh from studying fashion at polytech in hometown Dunedin, Anna moved to Melbourne. Despite already having her own fashion label while she was studying, she couldn't afford to pay excess baggage to take her sewing machine over the ditch, so she shifted to jewellery making, learning from scratch from other makers. It was when she started playing with lacquer for her jewellery, that she stumbled upon what is now the nail polish of Kester Black as we know it.

And also a quick note before we start that we recorded this chat last week, before the Level 2 and 3 announcements were made here in New Zealand, so just a warning you now in case a few of our Covid references sees slightly out of date already! Things change fast at the moment.
Kester Black have a strong social media game so make sure you give them a follow @kesterblack and keep up with what they are up to. Check out their full range at www.nz.kesterblack.com.