Kira Walton is one half of the power couple behind Voya, an organic beauty brand launched in 2007 as a spin-out from the Walton family’s famous VOYA seaweed baths in County Sligo. Kira and her husband Mark live in Strandhill, with their offices based nearby.
I like to give my dog an early morning walk on the beachfront. It blows the cobwebs off and clears the mind for the day. It also stretches both my dog (Buddie) and my legs in the morning before the VOYA offices open at 8.30am.
I drink Barry’s tea for breakfast while Mark knocks back an espresso. I also have homemade brown bread from the local café slathered in butter and marmalade. My favourite.
I wash my hair every three days. If there is no hair maintenance involved, getting ready takes 30-40 minutes. If I could leave my hair alone for a week but I don’t think that would fly in the work environment that I’m in! I envy people who roll out of bed, run their hands through their hair and hey presto, they look like models.
I always cleanse my skin of the day’s make-up and even just of the pollutants in the air. I don’t live in the city but it’s very important in that environment to cleanse, even if you don’t wear make-up. At night I will either use a night cream (Dream Crème) or facial serum (My Little Hero) before I sleep. I also exfoliate every week; it’s a must to rid the complexion of dead skin cells. I use VOYA’s body lotion and have now started using the new body oil we’ve just launched, Angelicus Serratus, an amazingly luxurious product.
One tip I always offer to new mums is that our ‘My Little Hero’ is a great serum /oil balm for cracked and dry skin around the breasts and any dry skin patches and stretchmarks.
My greatest weekly indulgence is staying in and ‘Goggleboxing’ at the television set. And chocolate ice cream-Ben and Jerry’s. Or a great big Magnum.
My husband makes dinner. He’s a better cook than I am. When it’s a focused working week, we are quite strict with what we eat. For me it’ll be something healthy like baked salmon and for Mark, chicken. If we have guests Mark will make everything, including sauces from scratch. He’s great!
We try to finish work at 5pm. Because I work and live with my partner we wrap up work together. The office closes at 5pm so we encourage everybody to go home at 5pm. Sure, it’s great to see an employee putting in the extra hours but really it is not conducive to a healthy work/life balance. In the summer our evenings are active and sociable but when winter rolls the woolly sweaters are on and the 5lbs weight gain happens! I often try and stay the course with yoga but because I travel so much it’s hard to do. I also love to paint and draw and be creative so I love to get the paint brush out and just express myself.
We don’t have children but we have a fur baby, which to us is our little one. He comes to work with us and trots into the office like he owns the place. It’s good to have an animal on site. Stroking a pet is therapeutic, the slow repetitive touch is meditative, soothing and healing. Research also shows that having an animal around decreases stress levels considerably.
My sister lives three minutes away. Her husband is my husband’s brother so it works out great for us both, kills a few birds with one stone! It’s great having her close by and she has two beautiful daughters Alana, 7, and Elie-Rose, 5, who are amazing and so much fun. If we get home early enough we scoot down and see them before bath time.
We get together with our friends at the weekend and sometimes, if we are lucky, midweek. We like to entertain at home and have people ’round for a couple of nice bottle of wine and good food. A walk in the fresh air in Hazelwood Demesne or a climb on Knocknarea is also likely.
The Maldives is my ideal holiday destination. There is so much to do there; snorkeling to find Nemo, surfing and so much more. The waters are turquoise blue, just beautiful. At home, Mark and I just like to stay in Strandhill, Sligo, where we live. There is so much on and the scenery is breathtaking.
The last book I read was The Goldfinch by American author Donna Tartt, it’s a great read but wow, what a mammoth.
The best piece of advice I’ve ever received is that every woman is an inspiration to another woman. Another one is ‘there is nothing as constant as change’. I always like to add “and embrace it”!
