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Nat Buchanan’s presence is quietly powerful. Balancing roles as an actor, model, and entrepreneur, she’s built a life shaped by curiosity and creativity. In our debut episode of RISE Routines, we spend the morning with her talking starting from scratch, embracing change and building something entirely your own.

Watch the episode below, or read the full interview for moments that didn’t make it on camera.

NAT: I'm back and forth a lot between Sydney, Newcastle and interstate a lot but I'm very much a homebody. But I like being back and forth. I'm very much someone that needs change, so I think if I was just in one place it would be a bit dull for me.

NAT: I feel like I can be extroverted with people I’m comfortable with. When I was younger I definitely would've been considered extroverted but the older I've got, the more I've kind of come in. I feel like I recharge when I'm by myself. Especially with modelling and acting, you're giving so much of yourself outwards that when I get home I'm just like no one touch me.

NAT: All of them really compliment each other, which I wasn't expecting. The entrepreneur side of me has given me a lot of confidence in my acting and my modelling. I think when I didn't have my business, there was a part of me when I was only modelling that felt like, oh, I've got more to give. And I was kind of feeling like I'd lost side of my creative expression because with modelling sometimes it's not really about your ideas, you're a part of the project, but it's not really about your ideas. So to be able to put my own passion and ideas into something has given me a lot of confidence in that way.

NAT: They all have, but I think maybe with having a business, because I hadn't done anything like that at all. There was just so much I didn't know and still don't know. So every day I am like, fuck, that didn't work. Okay, let's pivot, let's find a new angle.

NAT: Modelling? Yeah. My sister was a model and when I finished school I was like, oh my gosh, she's so cool, I need to do that. So I did it for a bit, but I always kind of had one foot in one foot out and then I stopped and then I came back to it. But I think especially in the last few years, I've really found my groove of it and come to really appreciate it and understand that you can bring yourself to it. You don't just have to be a mannequin, especially these days, I think they really want models to show their personalities, which is really cool.

NAT: Oh… I can't do both?

ELLY: No, unfortunately not.

NAT: Damn… I think Mad Max because the environment and world is just so out of this world and the sets are amazing. That's always been a dream of mine is just, I love fantasy films, I love period dramas, and to act in a world that's not my everyday reality.

NAT: I'm definitely a morning person, so I tend to spring out bed, which my partner definitely does not. I'm always singing and dancing. I just have all this energy in the morning and right before bed, I think they call it the zoomies? So [1] I'll probably get out of bed singing dancing, something random, then [2] I'll go make a matcha. I went to a Mecca retreat and they gave everyone this, I think the brand is Shoku Iku, I probably butchered that, but I really like it. And then [3] I'll do a gratitude journal as well.

NAT: So this is a new one that my friend Dom has made. It's called Self Journal and generally the gist is like what are you most grateful for and setting your intentions for the day. You start with what's your mood for the day, which I really like because kind of rare that we really check in with how am I actually feeling right now? At least for me, I don't really think about it that much except when I do this.

ELLY: What mood would you circle today?

NAT: I'm going to go with energetic.

NAT: I do.

NAT: At the moment? You don't want to know. I don't want to know. I’m definitely addicted and I need help.

NAT: I've gotten really into Korean skincare. So these two I really love. This one's from Cosrx and it's a toner, so I'll put that on first. I've been really enjoying this gel cream from Purto and it's just really light because I've got sensitive combination skin, so I really like that together. And then this new serum from Lancôme. It's a new serum, they spent 27 years or something making it. It's got this ingredient that really helps with my skin repair and I really noticed a difference when I started using this.

NAT: If I was on a desert island, you need concealer. I love concealer so much. If I'm running out of the house and I don't do anything, it's probably just a tiny bit of concealer. I love lip products. This is the Mac in well. Sometimes when I'm sitting in the chair and they're like, you're done and they haven't put on lip liner... I'm like, you're not done. You're so not done. And this is from Nas and I think it's like a lip pencil slash lipstick kind of thing.

NAT: Definitely, yeah. I used to chemically straighten my hair and for most of my life. I felt like that was just what I had to look like. I felt like I was more convenient with straight hair, especially on set. And then I went back to my Afro hair. I feel like that really helped me embrace my full self a lot more, just wearing my hair naturally and just having that confidence on set to feel like, you know what? This is my hair, take it or leave it. I'm not inconvenient, I'm not a problem. It's been a journey for sure.

NAT: I think about five years ago. My hair was just so damaged. I honestly couldn't do anything with it. So then I cut it all off and I had this tiny little afro. I just had to strip myself back and start loving myself and my hair again from ground zero. Then as a model with curly hair, navigating how people look after it on set and whether they know how to do it or not and how that makes me feel. That was another part of the journey. So I think where I'm at right now is just really just embracing it. Even on the days where I'm like, oh, it doesn't look like how I want it to look. You just go, this is my hair, this is its texture, it's going to be disobedient, and that's beautiful.

NAT: Adelaide was a really good place to grow up. I had a good childhood of just, growing up at the same pace of the age where I was at. I remember moving to Sydney and I felt like girls were doing all this grownup stuff that I was like, oh my God, you go to the movies without your parents?! I had a really innocent, in some ways, childhood.

NAT: I do. Do you want to meet her?

ELLY: Of course.

NAT: This is Nutzy.

ELLY: Hello Nutzy. Oh, she's so sweet. How old is Nutzy?

NAT: Oh God, we're not going to be revealing that! She's never been washed or anything. And yeah, I love her.

NAT: I think just being uncompromising on quality and comfort. I was really determined that whatever I created had to be something that I would personally use and that took some time. As well as just being hungry to constantly learn. I don't know what that would be as a quality, constantly learning, but just commitment to getting better and creating a better version of the business.

NAT: Just from me personally, looking at my bed and hating how mismatched it looked. When I went back to curly hair, I started using silk pillowcases and really noticed a difference of how I was waking up with my curl. And yeah, I was like, wouldn't it be good if you could just flip it? The concept was that you can still get the beauty benefits of sleeping on silk. There's less friction, you are getting less tangles and less breakage. And if you've got curly hair you can maintain your definition and that sort of thing. But you've also got the linen side, so if you have linen bedding, you can flip it to the linen and the textures just compliment each other a lot more. Everything looks a lot more cohesive.

NAT: Oh God, everything. There's so many decisions I've made where I'm like, in what world? What was I thinking? But I feel like they're so important. You learn more from your mistakes than you do from things going right. When we launched I was like, I don't want bedding to be boring. I want to do really fun colours. And one of the slips we had was fluorescent green and we had a fluorescent purple. Then as you start selling, you're getting customer feedback and I was like, oh yeah, what would a lime pillowcase match with? But stuff like that where I was like, how did I not in the two years think that?

NAT: I want FlipKip to be just a destination for everything cosy, everything comfort related with sleep, beauty and bedding. I think FlipKip does a really good job of merging the worlds of beauty and bedding together. I personally, like I said, I'm a homebody and I love beauty, and so to me it just feels like a collision of all my authentically favourite things.

NAT: So the records are my partner's Pride and Joy, but he definitely got me into them. At the moment we're loving the Fontaines DC new record, Romance, it's really fun. Love the Fujis as well.

NAT: This is actually a crazy story. I went to a psychic last week and she said a bunch of crazy shit, but she also said, you need to get this book. It's called The Universe Has Your Back, it's about the universe having your back and to trust in yourself. Not letting fear get in the way of going after what you really want and to letting yourself actually dream big and just surrendering, letting go.

NAT: The book that sticks with me is A Little Life. Have you read that? It's horrendous. Horrendous. Heart ripping, soul crushing. Do not read it. Disclaimer, do not read it if you're having any sort of emotional fragility at all.

NAT: I guess we balance each other out really well, but maybe a bit of my letting go. Surrendering to life is something I try and pass on to him. He definitely helped me finish things. Before I met Link, I'd have all these ideas and then I would just never finish anything.

NAT: Yes. Bistro 916 is really good in Potts Point. Get the fish and the little fries that they have with it. I love Cho Cho San as well. Just go to Potts Point. So many good ones there.

ELLY: Amazing thank you! Alright. It was lovely spending the morning with you Nat. I hope you enjoy the rest of your day.

NAT: You too. Thanks for coming over.

ELLY: See you. :-)

NAT: Bye. :-)

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