We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Kerstin And Natalie Humbert-droz And Wheeler. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Kerstin and Natalie below.
Kerstin and Natalie , we’re thrilled to have you on our platform and we think there is so much folks can learn from you and your story. Something that matters deeply to us is living a life and leading a career filled with purpose and so let’s start by chatting about how you found your purpose.
We really love this question!
We are Kerstin and Natalie, we’ve been best friends since we were about 14— both the new kids in our school—- and have been inseparable ever since. Finding our purpose (in regards to a career) is a whole different story!
As teens, we would chat on the phone for hours; twirling that 00’s phone cord around our fingers & fantasizing about which creative business we wanted to start together; and years later, after navigating life and different experiences we eventually brought our teenage vision to life. It took a long time though and many different experience to bring us here! Honestly, I am thankful for them all.
I think it can be so hard to truly follow your passions… especially when first coming out of high school. The pressure to go to university and find a secure job was a huge part of the culture we grew up in. We both had always loved the arts and entrepreneurship. However we did end up going to university and are so glad for that experience.. Kerstin majored in literature and Shakespeare and Natalie went into digital animation.
However after all was said and done, Kerstin became a Registered Oncology Nurse and Natalie became a mortgage broker.
Although we both loved our careers, something kept pulling us towards our passions. Kerstin’s now husband bought her, her first DSLR back in 2010 and she began taking photos of friends, and doing some boudoir shoots, while also reaching out to other wedding photographers! Natalie began doing production and real-estate photography for different companies on the side.
We would sit together and dream about truly finding our passion. Going to work each day and feeling inspired and creatively fulfilled. A job, that didn’t feel like a job. We both are nostalgic about pretty much everything, and photos always have a way of bringing one back to an exact moment and feeling. Capturing a moment in its authenticity, yet being able to make it artistic and beautiful. Capturing the light, colours and feeling all in one.
A mix of luck, a very supportive community and taking the risk really did pay off. We officially launched NomadbyNK in February 2016 and it snowballed from there! We photographed our first wedding… feeling like imposters! We barely charged anything, we had no limit on hours and ended up being there for over 17 hours (yes, at the end of the night we wondered if this really was the career we wanted) lol We were told on repeat that most people will not make it as photographers, at least not in a way that they can financially survive.
However, the first wedding got noticed online by a magazine publication. They ended up flying us to Colorado to do some photography for them and even speaking about some of our photos in a conference they put on. It helped to get eyes on us and propelled our business and confidence. We dedinetly had imposter syndrome for a while and often still do. However, we do know how hard we work, how we have been able to really capture authentic and beautiful moment with an artistic eye. We will never stop growing and adapting, but there is no doubt that we have found our purpose in regards to our careers.
We also launched Nomad’s sister business @tinyhumans.ofnomad in 2020 when COVID slowed weddings quite dramatically.
We have had the chance to photograph the happiest moments of so many peoples lives, as well as some of the saddest times. It is an honour to be invited into peoples lives and some of their most intimate moments.
I would say we found our purpose by taking the risk. Knowing we could fail, but trying anyways. Working long hours for little money and putting everything we had into making our dream job a reality. We had the benefit of also having our other jobs while we built Nomad by NK and were then able to go full-time. I get to work with my best friend every day and do something we both love. It isn’t always easy, but it has been so worth it!
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
I think we may have answered a lot of this in the first question! but a little more about us personally!
Kerstin is based in Deep Cove, North Vancouver married to her teen sweetheart Erik and together they have a little boy Julian (2019) and little girl Ella (2022)!
Nat is based in the Pemberton Heights area in North van alongside her husband Carl and their 3 little boys: Brooks (2018), Jude (2019) & Teddy (2022).
We grew up very differently!
Kerstin was born in Thailand, and then lived in Taiwan and then Greece, finally landing in Canada for her high school years!
Natalie being born/ raised in North Vancouver/ currently the fourth generation of her family living in Pemberton Heights!!
Our vision and thought process is extremely similar! We will catch ourselves doing or saying the same things constantly! People often ask if we are sisters, although we do not look alike! A product of growing up alongside each other and running a business together, our brains are very in sync lol.
Fun facts:
-We both have 2 sisters and a brother (Kerstin’s the third born, Nats the oldest)
-Nat’s sister Sam is also in the wedding industry! The owner of @ritualsoflovebridal 🤍🤍
-we both have an addiction to buying kids clothes & decorating our houses
-kerstin is a wine drinker & nats a beer drinker and we will battle over why each is better!
-kerstin is a dog person and nat is a cat person (Cats are cool too!!)
-kerstin uses an apple laptop to work and nat a PC (luckily we both agree on apple phones!!)
Since having children and Covid, we added on a lot of family newborn and maternity to our business and launched Tiny Humans of Nomad in 2020. It has been so wonderful as we now really get to follow along with so many life journeys. From weddings, to babies and family sessions!
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
I think the skills we both have that have allowed us to be successful and have impacted our careers are firstly our desire to connect with others. I think an authentic connection truly allows our clients to feel comfortable in front of the lens and lets true emotion and connection come through. We truly seek to learn about who our clients are as people, what is important to them. I think this curiosity and desire to connect has bene very impactful in our journey.
Secondly, I believe that being adaptable and knowing when to lean on our support systems and resources has been a great skill to have. We have both gone through our own life tragedies and challenges over the course of the past 10 years. We have also both become mothers. We also had to find a new way for our business to pivot when Covid stopped the majority of weddings and hence the majority of our income. I would say balancing motherhood has been a huge challenge, and knowing when to ask for help. Lean on each other (know one another strengths and weaknesses) and our family and friends for support.
Lastly, the desire to always learn and grow. We love to learn new things, be inspired by others in our field and people in general. Taking courses, workshops, listening to podcasts, reading and listening to the stories of those we meet. When starting a business I don’t think we realized all the different elements that are part of it. It wasn’t just the photography and editing. It was marketing, accounting, time management, networking, the life/work balance (sometimes it’s hard to know when to switch off as there are no set hours). I think understanding what you don’t know and seeking the expertise of others is huge. Constantly striving to be better and to grow.
To close, maybe we can chat about your parents and what they did that was particularly impactful for you?
Kerstin – My parents have always showed me unwavering love and support. Growing up all over the world, I got to grow up amongst so many different cultures and languages. I feel so lucky to have gotten to experience so many different ways of life. Yet to see that there are always more similarities than differences in the end. To have friends who didn’t speak the same language as me, but to still be able to connect on a human to human level. My parents taught me to respect and embrace differences. To learn from others and have those things enrich my life. To love and trust instead of fear things in life. I think it has given me a great sense of security. I remember when I was young, a person was rude to us at a coffee shop. I still remember my mum not getting angry. But when we left, she said “I think that woman is just having a bad day. We don’t know what happened to her today. Sometimes when people are hurt or sad, then can be mean”. It always stuck with me and something I teach my own kids today!
Natalie – My parents taught me a strong work ethic and how important human connection is! How humour is so impactful in life. It helps you connect with others and helps you make it through the hard times! also being able to laugh at myself. To have humour and to be yourself!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://nomadbynk.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nomadbynk?igsh=MWZvcDRtb2ppb2d5Zg== https://www.instagram.com/tinyhumans.ofnomad?igsh=MW53N3Zxd3Y2dnNnMQ==
Image Credits
Nomad by NK
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
