Living on the shores of Lake Wakatipu, Queenstown couldn’t be much more of a contrast to the bustling, cosmopolitan life Jasmine and Mark lead in Singapore. Leaving behind corporate jobs, they returned to New Zealand in 2018 in search of a fresh lifestyle with greater purpose and mindfulness and a vision to create quality wellness products.
Without a grand master plan, but rather a sense of wanting to evolve, they started from scratch with a raw piece of land overrun with wilding pines and weeds. They transformed it into a native landscape combined with lavender, chamomile, and other flowers that are now the raw ingredients for their organic products sold under the brand Black Teal Bay.
Jasmine’s background in yoga has cultivated her interest in holistic healing and natural wellness. This combined with her creative expertise, has allowed her to skillfully craft lavender essential oils blended with plant-based ingredients to create natural products such as balms, body oils and soaps.
Happily leaving the corporate media world behind, Mark’s domain now is managing the land and developing the Black Teal Bay brand, both online and offline through their retail distribution channels.
McClean & Co as a business partner
Despite their range of creative and business skills, Jasmine and Mark felt the need for a professional assistance early on in their journey. They sought professional accounting services to help guide their business decisions and found McClean & Co. Suzanne became their go-to account manager.
“McClean & Co provide local and specialist accounting knowledge, they are efficient and prompt. It’s very important for us to work with professionals, they are a very good business partner and as a customer we feel of value to them.
“Not knowing much about accounting requirements in New Zealand, McClean & Co are like our outsourced supervisor, and along with Xero, they have helped us to be process-led and tax compliant.”
Even though they haven’t fully tapped into all of Xero’s capabilities, they appreciate its functionality. Mark says: “It’s not spreadsheet mumbo-jumbo!”
The team at McClean & Co thank Jasmine and Mark for these kind words, collaborating with them has been a pleasure. Their creativity, strong work ethic and business acumen contribute to our successful partnership, and it is further enriched by their mindful approach to both work and lifestyle.
