In Conversation with Nathalie Kelly
In our efforts to keep ROSE & IVY original, we are delighted that an array of talented women with upcoming projects are helping us maintain our integrity by photographing themselves home.
Born in Lima, Peru and raised in Sydney, Australia, Nathalie Kelly is an inspiring soul. Fresh off the first season of the feel-good ABC show The Baker and the Beauty, I caught up with her to talk about the power of connecting with nature, cultivating her inner temple, standing in your truth, and advocating for a change in the way we consume fashion.
Note: I had this incredible conversation with Nathalie before the world took a different turn and people across the globe began to rally and raise our voices on injustice and inequality. I held off on publishing it in order to reflect on the heaviness of the moment. I am sharing this today because I know that anyone who reads this will be lifted up by Nathalie’s calming spirit, wisdom and mission to make the world a better place.
Photography by Nathalie Kelly
Interview by Alison Engstrom
How are you staying present and navigating the Quarantine time period?
I am using this time to really reflect. I think it’s a great opportunity to create a new world when we come out of this. There are a lot of things that we are going to be looking at differently and hopefully, approaching with a lot more mindfulness. I have just been spending my time grounding myself in practices that connect me to source energy, like meditation and Qi Gong. I’ve been diving into kundalini yoga, which is helping, it feels like it’s cleaning out the cobwebs. I can listen to the information coming in so that I can get the inspiration that I need to help make this world that we all want to live in. We are all going to be playing our new roles in creating this reality. I’m like okay, when we get out of this, how can I be a more mindful consumer, travel more mindfully, eat more mindfully or how do I party mindfully? (laughs) that’s a big one that I have been thinking of.
You have such an interesting background, you were born in Peru and raised in Australia, where do you call home now?
I have almost spent half of my life in LA. I was in Australia for half of my life and in the States for half of my life.
Do you go back to Peru often?
Most of my family is back there, it was just my mom and I who emigrated to Australia. She’s one of nine brothers and sisters. My whole extended family is back there. We are from a part of Peru called Huánuco, which has both jungle and Andes, so in that sense, I feel pretty connected to my roots. Even though I have only been back maybe four or five times, it’s always so meaningful. I envision myself living there someday. I think that the indigenous cultures of Peru knew how to live in harmony with the natural world and they have so much wisdom that we are dying for. This is a quote from my friend, Julia Watson’s book Lo-TEK, which is about indigenous wisdom, she says, “In today’s world, we are drowning in so much information but starving for wisdom.”
That’s how I feel when I go back there, these people are tapped into ancient wisdom, I mean look at Machu Picchu, what a feat of engineering. What a marvel of human creation, the way that it was built into the landscape using the rocks from the mountain. It just emerges out of the natural world. Those are people who are just so in sync with the stars and the seasons. When I was last there last, I went to visit a community on an island called Taquile on Lake Titicaca. This is a community that has had very little contact with the outside world, they told me that they still know how to read the stars and bird’s eggs. They can see a bird’s egg and know what kind of season it will be that year, like if it will be rainy or when the summer will start, that’s how in sync they are with nature. That is the thing that we have lost. It’s so sad to me that we can recognize logos of brands more than we can recognize plants, trees and star systems. That speaks how disconnected we are from the natural world and going back to Peru is a reminder of my heritage and birthright, but not just mine, we all have ancestors who are connected and it’s up to us to open up the channels of communication again. I think the source of our separation is our disconnection from nature. We need to remember where we came from and bow to the creative force of nature and ask her how can we be of service to her, instead of destroying and turning our back on her for all of these years; nature shouldn’t be subjugated and profited from—we have got it all wrong.
I completely agree, throughout this time, I have learned many important lessons, one being, I need to be closer to nature.
My house in LA, I am really grateful for it, it’s super spacious and a wonderful place to be quarantined but I don’t have any grass. It’s been killing me not to be able to go earthing. I have created a rooftop patio and I have planted a pollinator garden for the birds and the bees. I’m going to start planting fruits and vegetables and just do it in planter boxes because I don’t have soil. I have been here for two years and I have never done that.
“...we can recognize logos of brands more than we can recognize plants, trees and star systems. That speaks how disconnected we are from the natural world and going back to Peru is a reminder of my heritage...”
I’d love to know What was it about the acting world that pulled you in?
I was definitely a storyteller growing up; now looking back, I would watch certain movies or TV and they would resonate with me more strongly than other people in my family. It wasn’t until I watched Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet, I think I was 11—I had read Shakespeare, my dad made me read it from a young age—was life-changing for me. I remember, I was balling my eyes out when the movie was over and when we got home, I was still crying and my mom was like, okay, enough already with the crying! You know that they died, you read the book! Then I realized, I was not crying because they died but because that was what I wanted to do. It was a big declaration at such a young age, to recognize that was what I wanted to do and that maybe it was my destiny and what my soul was crying out for. But it was a long and winding road to get here.
I was also very academic and I had a big interest in social justice, and after my first trip to South America and saw the inequality there. I was determined to do something about it and use the most out of my education. I studied social science and policy and quit my little acting thing until I booked a gig that got me over to America; three months later, I booked Fast and Furious: Tokyo Drift. By that point, things happened so serendipitously for me, I had to believe that there was a reason. I put down my degree and my academics and I was like okay, I’ll give this acting thing a real shot now that I am over here. But you know, it took 15 years from moving over here at 20. I am finally playing a role where I can align all of my values and bring my true essence that’s why it is such a gift to play someone like Noa Hamilton on The Baker and the Beauty. She is very aspirational and I haven't played too many women who were aspirational in that way, it’s a real honor to be here now and have the privilege of playing that part. At the same time, it says a lot about my perseverance, because 15 years of failed auditions and not getting the part, quitting and starting and quitting and starting—probably anyone with less perseverance would have quit during that time but I am tougher than I give myself credit for.
“..we don’t need to be making any new clothes and until brands can switch to regenerative textiles and start putting people and planet before profit, I don’t want to participate in that system anymore.”
Perseverance is something that I love talking about with people. It can shape you in a profound way.
Totally and I think that it is a very important message in this perfection culture to share with people that it isn’t always easy or perfect. We live in the age of social media where we always want to show the end result; we don’t highlight the hard work and the rejection that it takes to get there and all the setbacks. You know, we aren’t posting pictures of all of our setbacks. I think that can create a culture that is very damaging and unrealistic for young women. I want to say, that I am one of those people who experienced a lot of rejection and a ton of setbacks, but as you said, those experiences have really shaped me and I don’t think I’d be able to bring this character to life without having those experiences. I have come to a place in my life and with my maturity where I know not to be deterred when things don't go my way, there are lessons to be learned. I can stop fighting those setbacks or perceived rejections because I realize something is to be learned here. You don’t know what one no means because it might mean a yes somewhere else in an area that you never imagined. There has to be an element of letting go and relinquishing control.
I’ve read you have a diligent wellness and self-care practice. What spawned that journey for you?
I am proud of my self-care practices and rituals. I want to say that I have not always made that space for myself in the past. I was somebody who used to rush over taking care of their body; I was more like slap on some makeup, put on an outfit and go out--beauty was more external for me in my 20s. Now that I am in my 30s, I have a more comprehensive understanding of beauty, not only is it beyond external and it’s very much about my inner world and my inner life and my inner temple, as I like to call it. Am I taking care of my inner temple, am I meditating? I definitely pray, but I have a different way of praying, I have my maracas from a Shipibo tribe in the Amazon and I pray with my shaker. It’s important to have a connection to source, whether you believe in a higher power or not. Maybe your connection to source is creativity. Whatever it is, you need to be taking care of your inner temple as much as your outer temple and taking care of your inner organs. If you want to radiate on the outside you need to be functioning on the inside. I have never paid so much time to the functioning and my organs and thinking about how to support my liver, kidney and my lungs. Thankfully, I have practices like Qi Gong and Kundalini that are about moving chi and removing blockages, so that these inner parts of my body can function well. Now I can’t get enough of it, I wake up and say I cannot wait to open my heart center today or I cannot wait to expand my lung capacity today. I wish I had known about all of this in my 20s but taking care of yourself, is especially important as you get older sadly. When you are younger, you have so much fuel to burn and everything is limitless.
“I think that it is a very important message in this perfection culture to share with people that it isn’t always easy or perfect. We live in the age of social media where we always want to show the end result; we don’t highlight the hard work and the rejection that it takes to get there and all the setbacks. ”
From my own experience, I feel like people who practice meditation and have good energy, you just want to be around them and their auras.
Totally, and auras aren't some woo woo thing and I used to think it was, but now that I have worked with Kundalini, I understand auric fields. I know I used to roll my eyes at it because I didn't have a strong auric field. What does that mean? I didn't have good boundaries, it meant when I used to go out with people I used to be heavily influenced and think, oh maybe I should just drink this, do that or stay up this late. I wasn’t listening to myself or my intuition and now that I have this practice, I am so much happier because my boundaries are so much stronger. I can go and meet people and I feel comfortable saying, I’m going to go home now, or, I’ll just have some water and I may sound like a party pooper but I am happier then I have ever been; I am healthier than I have ever been. It makes me feel great that I don’t have to rely on alcohol or other things as a crutch and that is because my auric field is strong and I can hold conversations with people without feeling awkward anymore. I think a lot of times we have social anxiety and the Kundalini has helped me with that too, I feel so much grounded now.
Agree, for me personally when you come into your own, you aren’t swayed as much and care about what others think.
It’s the people-pleasing that women have; as little girls we are trained to be nice to say yes, and to be compliant. That can be damaging to us when we grow up and then we don’t know how to speak up and say, that doesn’t feel good to me. I would not have had that language in my 20s—it does not feel good to me because it was all about making other people feel good. Now, it just feels so great to have the language and the boundaries to tune into myself and ask, is this the best thing for me? If I want to be of service to others in the way that I want to be, I need to be strong in my integrity and in my boundaries. I used to hate this word but morals, because it reminded me of some outdated thing that my mom or my grandma used to say. I used to rebel against that pretty hard, but now I realize that there are things that I want to stand in and believe in. There is something about being noble and virtuous, not in an old fashioned sense, but rather succumbing to the pressures that women are put under. I’m just trying to figure out who I am as a woman, as opposed to all of this programming that we all have experienced as women in society.
“...it just feels so great to have the language and the boundaries to tune into myself and ask, is this the best thing for me? If I want to be of service to others in the way that I want to be, I need to be strong in my integrity and in my boundaries. ”
I think it also goes back to being authentic.
Agree, it’s more about your truth. For a lot of years, I wasn’t operating from a place of truthfulness, I vaguely knew what I stood for, but not really. Now I feel stronger knowing what I believe in and the things that are important to me like integrity, honesty and authenticity. I want to live by those standards versus just talking about them.
Sustainability and doing more with less has been something that I have been focusing on at ROSE & IVY. you recently took the #nonewclothes pledge with the organization re/form. Can you share more about what inspired you to change the way you consumed fashion especially in an industry where there is a lot of excess, not to mention freebies?
It was a case of me realizing that I was not in line with my values. I was talking a lot about the earth and the planet but then once I started to wake up to the statistics about overconsumption. It’s obviously very important how we treat our workers and the environment—there are a lot of documentaries that people can watch like River Blue and The True Cost that can enlightened people. They show just how damaging the fashion industry is for the planet and for those making the clothes. The place that felt like I needed to take a stand on in my life was overconsumption and excessiveness. I realized I was part of the culture that was promoting this, like an outfit of the day, or always needing to be in something new. When I looked at my closet, it was bursting at the seams—I have rooms full of clothes, I cannot give away enough because I have so many. But there I am still online browsing stores thinking about what to buy next. I realized I have a problem, this is what an addict feels like. The moment that I realized it was psychological, I realized I was duped by the system. This is all programing and they got me.
When you look at the system they are all men at the top of these fast fashion or high luxury brands in suits making decisions on how to profit off of women’s insecurities, that’s what this fashion and trends are all about. There is no reason that the jeans you bought last year are not valid to wear again this year, but everyone conspires that you will be ridiculed if you come out with last season’s outfit. They play on our insecurities and our desire to be cool. Social media has just amplified all of this, I realized, oh my gosh, I have been totally hoodwinked by the system and acting out of line with my values just because for some reason it was cool for me to be seen as cool or trendy. When I realized that was in my power to change just by my participation in, that was when I was like, you know what, this is my responsibility right now with my platform for people to know that there is an alternate route. I am not the only one and I hope to be part of a growing movement of people saying enough is enough. This fashion system is ridiculous when you look at the statistics of the trillions of tons of clothes we are making a year to be burning and dumping into landfills. It does not make sense, we don't need to be making any new clothes and until brands can switch to regenerative textiles and start putting people and planet before profit, I don’t want to participate in that system anymore. And that’s big for me because I am going to have appearances, maybe I’ll be invited to high-brow events and I am going to have to figure it out either by wearing what’s in my closest, second-hand or borrowing. We just have to change the narrative because the planet can not support this excess anymore. So for my journey, I have a monthly call with Re/Make and I am going to talk about the process. The response I have gotten from the post on Instagram might be the most popular post ever, which is so exciting to me it shows that this is hitting a nerve with people. Other people are also fed up and that’s how change happens.
“I can stop fighting those setbacks or perceived rejections because I realize something is to be learned here. You don’t know what one no means because it might mean a yes somewhere else in an area that you never imagined. There has to be an element of letting go and relinquishing control. ”
Now, let’s talk about On The baker and the beauty—it’s such a feel-good show that the world needs right now. You play Noa Hamilton, an international superstar and fashion model, who falls for the guy who works at his family’s bakery. What was it about the role that drew you in?
When I saw the name I was like, what is this? The name makes it seem like it is a fairytale. Then I read the script and thought this is good, then I saw that it was directed by David Frankel, who directed The Devil Wears Prada, Entourage and Sex and the City. People might think at first it is cheesy, but when they give the show a chance, it’s actually a really grounded and authentic romantic comedy. It doesn’t live in la-la land. They tackle a lot of real issues and the characters are all truly real, which is what drew me to the project. In a sense, it’s a Prince Charming story, except in this case the Prince Charming is a woman! People are resonating with it and women are loving how empowered Noa Hamilton. She is such a great character to play because she is so aspirational, she is a 5 foot 5 supermodel and she built a whole empire; she is also a world-renowned philanthropist. These are the kind of messages that we want to be sending out to our young girls. And she isn’t surgically enhanced, which is another big problem that I have today with media. I have made a vow to not have my photos retouched because there has to be a voice of reason; it has to come in right now because it isn’t healthy. Suicide statistics among young girls have never been higher and that a big part has to do with this perfection culture on Instagram. Without wanting to shame other women, there just has to be an alternative.
It’s pretty awesome that the whole cast is Latin!
It is but it was unintentional. I don’t play Latin on the show because there is a culture class between our worlds but it just says so much about where Latinos are at in the country and how a show like this can speak to so many different people.
“...once you embody what your goals and values are like, what’s your mission on this earth, then you can figure that out every decision can be weighed against that...”
You are passionate about so many things, I’d love to know how you stay curious?
My problem is how do I follow-up on all of the ideas that I get because of my curious nature (laughs); it’ just my nature. Now that I have cut out meat and I meditate more, I just get so much creative inspiration and I want to solve everything and I want to turn everything into an educational show, now I just need the follow through to finish all of the things that my curious nature has led me too. I am really big on soil health right now, so I am learning how to be a soil advocate, so between balancing soil and indigenous people and beauty, life and acting, I don’t have space for more curiosity.
“I’m learning, like most women, to listen to my intuition. For a long time, I didn’t even know it existed or how to tune into it. ”
How do you live with intention?
I haven’t always lived with intention and I have spent a lot of my life being pretty mindless and intentional but I think first of all, it is good to get clear on what your intentions are and what your values are—it’s as simple as writing it down and making a list. And then it’s easy, once you embody what your goals and values are like, what’s your mission on this earth, then you can figure that out every decision can be weighed against that. I’m learning, like most women, to listen to my intuition. For a long time, I didn’t even know it existed or how to tune into it. Now it feels a lot more accessible to me and I can ask myself if this is what I am supposed to do or give energy to, is this worthy of my time and space right now? It’s just a constant checking in with my gut now because I am clear on my mission.