I’ve been a full-time employee of Go Native New Zealand since around 2011, but my Mum, Elinor McEwan, founded the company so I have seen it grow and evolve since its conception in 2001.

I have trained and worked as an actor since I was very young and in the beginning working here enabled me to pay my rent while I rehearsed theatre shows in the evenings and weekends.

I learned all the foundations of formulation from Mum and have been making my own skincare most of my life, and most of my own makeup for the past few years. As I got deeper into the business I became more and more fascinated by the skincare formulation world. Now this is my full-time job and I have a diploma from Formula Botanica in Organic Skincare Formulation. I am currently studying at the School of Natural Skincare for a Diploma in Formulating Natural Makeup and Advanced Colour Cosmetics.

The more I learn in the formulation field the more I realise I will literally never be finished learning, which can be a little overwhelming at times but ultimately is very exciting. I love that the all knowledge I gain can go directly into the business and helping customers with their ingredients and formulation questions. I love customers asking me questions that I may not yet know the answers to. I always want to be transparent with my knowledge, or sometimes lack there-of, and that way we can learn together. I may learn about something I had not yet thought about.

We’re a small, tight-knit team here and everything is done in-house. This includes filling and shipping orders, product photography, content creation, designing formulas, social media and email marketing… I could go on. Anyone who runs a small business will know what I mean! It’s never boring and I feel so lucky that I’m able to use my organisation and productions skills (from those years of getting theatre shows on their feet) and also sate those creative urges with formulating and designing formulas and content. I also get to work with my friends and family which is incredibly special, plus I get to bring my little dogs Gus and Calliope to work with me. They're not as helpful as the rest of the team but they're very good at letting us know when the courier arrives.

Calli

As far as personal life goes I follow a vegan diet, buy only second hand clothing as much as possible and am very enthusiastic about sustainability, conservation and animal welfare. This ethos is congruous with Go Native New Zealand. I love being able to put those things into practice on a daily basis, from researching the best possible packaging solutions to choosing what ingredients we decide to stock. 

I still do the odd bit of acting work when I can. I’m involved in the theatre and comedy industry and am part of a female/non-binary improv group “Heartthrobs”. We perform live long-form improvisation shows based on TV shows and films. In 2020 we won Best Comedy for our show “Lust Island” in the Auckland Fringe Festival and performed the 2022 Basement Christmas Show "Sleigh!".



Comedy is where I met my comedian husband, Rhys. We got married in January 2022, surrounded by friends, family, dogs and donkeys.

Photo by Kate Little

Most weekends are enjoyed watching a comedy show or theatre production and playing Dungeons and Dragons with friends. Because I’m ultimately a big ol’ nerd at heart.

Follow the whole team and see behind the scenes at Go Native New Zealand on our Instagram page!