Think a healthy holistic lifestyle is too difficult to achieve in city like Hong Kong? Cristina McLauchlan, founder of The Vibe Tribe, shares her thoughts on living well.
Living in this fast-paced concrete jungle, it’s easy to feel burnt out with piles of work and overwhelming stress weighing you down 24/7. That’s why we need sleep the best massages in Hong Kong to combat anxiety, a variety of yoga classes to stretch the body and fitness studios to help channel our frustrations. If you’re familiar with the wellness movement in Hong Kong, you’ve probably heard of The Vibe Tribe. So we recently had a chat with the founder, Cristina McLauchlan, on her lifestyle that prioritises health and well-being.
An interview with the founder of The Vibe Tribe, Cristina McLauchlan
Hi, Cristina. So we know you’re big on sustainable and conscious living, can you tell us a bit more about your role in this community?
As the founder of The Vibe Tribe, I call myself an Ethical Publicist. I work with a range of ethical brands to support them by leveraging their platforms through storytellings, events and journeys. What I do is to help strategise brand stories and sales and marketing, to help create awareness – a conduit for change.
How did The Vibe Tribe get started?
I started the company in 2015 in New Zealand after being in the luxury communications industry for a long time. I worked in Beijing and Shanghai for a German company, with head clients like Mercedes Benz and Cartier, until one day I realised that what I was doing was not sustainable for the planet and it actually didn’t make me a very happy person. No matter how much money I was making, how many dresses I had or how many parties I went to, I didn’t feel satisfied in my spirit.
So I had the opportunity to work for Tourism New Zealand in Singapore which brought me back to New Zealand. And I realised how much New Zealanders are so aligned with nature and sustainability practices, plant-based food and the spiritual holistic movement of yoga and meditation. That’s when I decided to just jump from one end to the other and started The Vibe Tribe by myself. When I moved to Hong Kong, it started blossoming through a lot of hard work.
What other projects do you have at the moment?
Now, I represent and work with different brands. The main brand I work with through The Vibe Tribe is a clothing business called WE-AR. It’s a twelve-year-old ethical slow fashion business that is based in Bali and New Zealand. So that was the first client that I became a conscious collaborator with.
Then MANA! appeared. The founder of MANA!, Bobsy Gaia, is someone I look up to. He’s the pioneer of the plant-based movement in Hong Kong. I started working with him on the brand for MANA! and – since then – the brand and vision has only gotten stronger.
Another offshoot is called Conscious Cinema. It’s something I started in New Zealand as I wanted to create an event where people would start thinking a little bit about what we were doing to the planet, and in my experience, the best way to reach that kind of emotion is through films, food, beverages, and music. They most recent of these was held at Grassroots Pantry on 8 October where the documentary PLANEAT was screened.
There’s also the Movement Market, where we partner with GuavaPass, RUMI X and MANA! Cafe. Starting on 14 October, it’s an event that runs across four weekends, and includes different sessions like full-body strength and plyometric exercises in the morning, followed by yoga sessions. And certainly delicious vegetarian food from MANA! Cafe!
How do you position your approach on promoting this holistic way of living, you know, without coming off as preachy?
I don’t tell people what to do, but I show them what their options are. For example, I’d ask people, “Did you know what ingredients are in your cosmetic products?” I call it conscious consumerism. You need to know where your dollars are really going and if the products are really what they are advertised to be.
Last but not least, what do you love about Hong Kong?
I love the diversity here, and that people don’t just judge you by how you look. But I don’t like that people focus too much on technology, and just looking at their phones all the time. There’s so much more to see around you.
You can keep up-to-date with what’s going on with The Vibe Tribe here.