Nomad Women Stories: Meet Lauren McKee, ‘Barefoot and Boundless’

Nomad Women Stories is a new series honouring remarkable women from our community who are redefining what it means to live, travel, and dress authentically in this chapter of life.

Last week, we introduced you to Stephanie, a quiet adventurer based in Sydney, Australia. This week, we’re heading to the Far North of New Zealand to meet Lauren McKee: a Sound & Movement Therapist, homesteader, traveller, and one of the most grounded women we’ve had the pleasure of talking to.

Three years ago, Lauren and her husband Wynne did something most people only dream about. They deliberately left Wellington City behind and moved their family to a tiny rural coastal village in the Far North of New Zealand.

Today, Lauren grows her own vegetables, makes cheese, ferments wine, fishes, collects shellfish, and raises sheep, chickens, and what she lovingly calls “a menagerie of animals.” Her teenage children are growing up close to the land, learning things no classroom could ever teach.

Alongside all of this, Lauren works as a Sound & Movement Therapist, guiding others toward deeper connection with their bodies and themselves.

“It was a deliberate choice,” she says, “to slow down, reconnect with the land and live more intentionally.” 

And yet, she still travels, explores and remains deeply curious about what comes next.

This chapter feels different because it’s the most honest version of life I’ve lived. Earlier years were shaped by ambition and momentum, always moving toward the next thing. Now, the pace is slower. We’re rooted somewhere that truly means something to us, while still keeping the world open.

My relationship with travel has completely transformed, and so has my relationship with ‘stuff.’

When I first travelled in my late teens to Canada and Europe, I brought the biggest suitcase I could find. And I filled every inch of it. High heels, knee-high boots, ski gear, a jacket for every occasion. I remember arriving in the UK and having to haul this monster up an endless winding staircase at a packed train station. No lift in sight.

Two years later, I was back in Europe for two months, this time with a backpack that weighed over 30kg on my 50kg frame. And then there was South East Asia with my now-husband Wynne. I had secretly stuffed my shoes and extra clothes into his pack. He couldn’t figure out why his bag was so heavy until he pulled out my kitten heels.

And now? On my last two overseas trips (one for a month, one for three weeks), I travelled with hand luggage only 7kg. My favourite Sadhu pants, shorts, a dress, two pairs of shoes, merino wool, cotton and linen tops, and one simple jacket. That’s it!

It turns out the lighter you travel, the freer you feel.

The trip that changed everything wasn’t one I chose. It was one that chose me.

Wynne and I were living in Vancouver when we started a small tourist wear company called Ningnong. Then something extraordinary happened: the Hudson Bay Company offered our line as the unofficial brand for the 2010 Winter Olympics. We were over the moon.

But with that came complexity. We were building something real employing Canadians, but couldn’t quite tick all the immigration boxes. We left briefly to sort things out, returned with what we thought were all our ducks in a row, and walked straight into the worst moment of the journey. The immigration officer wasn’t convinced. She put us in a holding cell and told us we had to leave. Air Canada didn’t fly to New Zealand, so we flew to Sydney instead.

We landed in Australia feeling completely defeated.

But we had a friend there. So instead of flying straight home, we stayed. We bought a $6,000 Toyota Hiace campervan, house-sat our way across the most beautiful corners of New South Wales, started an online marketing business, and made a life with very little money. We stayed for exactly a year, to the day.

That year taught me I could face adversity and come out the other side still standing. It gave me the backbone for everything that followed. It gave me freedom not to be scared.

I love getting dressed up, but living on a farm means most of my days are spent in the garden or with the animals, so when I travel, it feels like a genuine treat. Every single day becomes an opportunity to put on something that makes me feel beautiful.

What I’ve come to love about Nomad the Label is that every piece makes me feel both pretty and comfortable at the same time. I can mix and match everything to create completely different looks without packing much.

Style, for me, has to feel like freedom first. When I’ve spent the morning feeding animals and pulling weeds, and then I slip into something that flows and breathes and lets me move, there’s something almost luxurious about that.

My introduction came through my best friend. We were co-hosting a retreat, and I couldn’t stop staring at her wardrobe, especially her two pairs of Sadhu pants. She looked so confident, so put together, so effortlessly chic and comfortable all at once. She even let me try them on so I could figure out my size. I was sold from that very first moment.

I now own four pairs of Sadhu pants, and I wear one nearly every time I leave home. My current favourite combination is the Anika shorts or Sadhu pants with the Vivre top and the Bloom shrug. I wear them together constantly and get so many comments.

But perhaps what I love most is never having to think about what I’m going to wear. Everything mixes, everything works, everything feels like me.

I don’t have to imagine this woman. I’ve stood right beside her.

At Christmas, my mum came to visit and was really disappointed with everything she’d brought. She kept looking at what I was wearing with a kind of quiet longing. So we went shopping. We found a bright, flowing kaftan; it was light and bold and nothing like anything she’d normally reach for. Even when she put it on, she felt nervous, unsure.

And I said to her, “Stop thinking about what your body used to look like, what you used to wear, who you used to be. Embrace who you are now, all of you. Put your hand on your heart and say, ‘I love you.’ Just as you are, right now, in this moment.”

She bought the dress. She looked absolutely stunning.

So, to any woman who feels too old, too curvy, or not stylish enough, start with your hand on your heart. The right clothes will follow.

I turn 50 next year, and I feel younger now than I think I did in my 30s. More confident, more powerful in my own skin. And I really just want to live my best life.

Barefoot and Boundless.

Because that’s exactly what this chapter feels like. My feet are in the sea or the soil, tending the garden, feeding the animals, raising children who know what it means to be connected to the earth. And yet the world is still wide open. I travel light, I live intentionally, and I’ve never felt freer. Less stuff, less noise, less pretending. More of everything that actually matters.

Lauren’s story is a reminder that simplifying your life doesn’t mean shrinking it. That stepping back from the noise can actually open the world up wider. That the woman who once hauled a 30kg backpack through European winters and stuffed kitten heels into her husband’s bag is the same woman who now travels with 7kg and feels more herself than ever.

This is what we mean when we say Nomad is made for real women living real lives.

If Lauren’s story resonated with you, come and join us in the Comfort Club, our private Facebook community where women share travel stories, styling tips, and honest conversations you don’t often find online. We’d love to have you there.