SUSIE SIERRA
I grew up in QLD, Australia and was out riding horses every day. I loved being close to nature and developed a great love for the natural world.
I had no interest in art or painting growing up. In fact, art wasn’t even a subject at my school. I pursued modelling and acting and at 20, began a career in TV as a weather reporter. After auditioning for a pilot TV series in Sydney (which never got off the ground), I decided to stay in this beautiful, lively harbour city.
For the next few years, I was modelling with a top Sydney agency doing Cosmo and Cleo covers, Vogue spreads and catwalk. The beauty world opened up to me but I didn’t really like everything I saw in the modelling world. Beauty seemed superficial and I was looking for something more.
In my mid 20’s, I moved to the US and launched a range of Australian made, pop-art sculptures. I set up a workshop in Aspen and sold them with great success. I also gravitated to theatre at this time and did a season in repertory theatre with a group of wonderful New York and Chicago actors. What a time that was! I loved performing. After 2 years, I returned home to Sydney to continue with my theatre practice.
However, another page was about to turn for me. In Sydney, a friend asked me to design a menu board for their restaurant. Just for fun, I decided to paint it even though I’d never picked up a paint brush in my life. It was cathartic! I fell madly, deeply in love with painting and within a year opened my own art gallery in Sydney’s east. I went from strength to strength with feature editorials in major art & design publications including, Vogue Living, Belle and many others.
For 20 years, I continued to paint. Through this time, I developed strong spiritual practices of meditation, silent retreats, plant-based living and creative visualisation studies. I was like a monk in a cave honing my skills and going deep into a rich subliminal life. Sometimes I wouldn’t see people for days - just painting. It was bliss.
One morning I woke up and knew change was imminent. It was time to leave my safe cave and re-enter the world. I was changed somehow. I could feel an invisible hand pushing me forward yet I didn’t know where I was going. At the same time the economy went through a severe dive and sales for art slowed. Another cue!
I knew I had to make changes or I would not survive. I closed the gallery and took time out to travel and think about my future. As an artist, beauty was my passionate pursuit. I wondered if there was a way I could bring a deeper experience of beauty to the world and a fresh way of viewing life? Did I have something to offer that people might want or even need?
Around this time, I had an experience in meditation where I found myself in a subliminal dark cave. Reaching down to a stream running through the cave, I discovered it was a river of liquid gold. At the time, I was researching ingredients for beauty products and as it turns out, gold is a wonderful product for the skin with a powerful message through history. That’s when I decided to launch my beauty brand and make gold my hero.
- Nature is my subject. I grew up surrounded by the beauty of the natural world. I feel fortunate to be an artist and try to see the world through fresh eyes each day.
- A plant-based diet nourishes and supports me. I love animals and believe we are the caretakers of our world. I support Australian wildlife sanctuaries and charities as much as possible.
- Beauty begins on the inside, with our feelings and thoughts about ourselves and the world around us. Our thoughts become actions. Acts of kindness are beauty in motion; compassion is beauty of feeling.
- My style is creative and individual. I love vintage 60's & 70's. Because of my love for animals I never buy leather or fur.