Earlier this month we stopped by the Triumph and Disaster store to check in with their founder Dion Nash, a local legend and friend to Barkers. Knowing that one man’s 9-5 is completely different to another’s – we were excited to hear about what a day in the life of Dion holds, as well as getting a little more well-acquainted so that we can introduce you to the man behind your favourite grooming products.
Q&A With Dion Nash - Founder of Triumph & Disaster
BMC: What does an average “day in the life – work week edition” look like for you?
Dion: This sounds like a question my staff might ask me! But generally I get into the office around 7.30am - this gives me a little time to myself to get the day underway and sort through some of the bigger jobs that require some peace and quiet. Coffee, long and black. Once the team arrives we get into all the team focused work for the day. I try to do some exercise most days, maybe just 40 minutes at the gym, yoga or a swim. The afternoons are usually set aside for meetings either internal or external. I leave work around 6pm most days. But we also encourage community engagement at T&D, for me this often involves coaching sports teams, so if that is the case I will leave early to do that and then wrap the days emails from home later that night.
BMC: That sounds like a day well spent! Okay, going back a few years – it’s 2011 and you decide you want to build a skincare brand. Have you always been interested in skincare? Was there a defining moment where you knew this was the path you wanted to go down?
Dion: Kind of, yes, mainly out of need from being in the sun all day for 15 years or so as a cricketer. Basically you needed to protect yourself with sunscreen but then wash it off without stripping your skin and then needed to moisturise for hydration and protection. So it is sort of a part of a cricketers armoury – I think this is true of many people who work outdoors. But the defining moment was after taking redundancy from my nice corporate job I saw a guy in New York use a women’s hand cream in a meeting, and it was like “I can do better than that” and I felt I understood what’s good and bad in the category and most importantly I felt I knew how men used skincare in their lives – so it was kind of a challenge to myself from that point, as I really wanted to see if I could build a brand and this was a category I felt I had insights in and a competitive advantage in.
BMC: That’s awesome! You guys are absolutely killing it. From your perspective, what would you say your biggest career highlight has been so far?
Dion: Apart from working with Barkers… I would have to say finding good like-minded people to work with. It takes time to find and build the right relationships, I feel like we have a couple of fantastic distributors on board and those relationship’s and learning to work with different cultures and understand them, but also grow with them is exciting.
BMC: We’ve loved partnering with you as well! We’re always stoked to work alongside like-minded people, it definitely adds to the fun of what we get to do. Obviously we know it’s not all fun and games though – what’s been the biggest lesson you’ve learnt as the founder of a skincare brand?
Dion: Business is unrelenting. So you need to find a way to manage your time and stress levels that is sustainable. It is inevitable you will have ups and downs so having coping strategies and disciplines that help you deal with that are essential.
BMC: So true – we couldn’t agree more. Now… you touched on it briefly but once upon a time, you were an international cricketer – what is one of your favourite memories from that time in your life?
Dion: Travelling through India, which is such a rich and diverse place and loves its cricket, so you are treated well, but it’s the experiencing of a culture that is so different to NZ that has a really profound effect on your outlook.
BMC: That’s epic! Now, we’re assuming your “work uniform” looks a little different today compared to what it did back then… How would you say your sense of style has changed throughout the years?
Dion: For sure – I am a child of grunge – or at least a teenager of it, and I lived and breathed that look for probably too long. If I am honest there are still traces of it that can be seen today. But I have become more of a chameleon and like dressing for different occasions. Now I would say my day to day business style is casual formal if that is such a thing, I might wear jeans and boots with a waist coat and shirt for example – or now that its summer a chino and polo with some retro sneakers.
BMC: We’re big fans of the ol’ chino and polo combo as well – an absolute classic! We’re also big fans of making the most of our down time outside of work. How do you unwind away from the office?
Dion: Family time is really important to me, I get so much energy and balance from it. But also I collect books – mainly NZ history or NZ authors early or first editions. I love collecting and building a library that feels like a story in itself to me.
BMC: Before we head out, what’s next for Triumph & Disaster?
Dion: Skincare for contenders – we want to play to original our ethos of triumph and disaster and really build out a campaign that speaks to who we are as a brand our what drives us as a business – watch this space.
BMC: Bonus question, just because we can… if you weren’t running Triumph & Disaster, what do you think you’d be doing?
Dion: Honestly I can’t imagine doing anything else, there is so much more to be done before I can settle and even think about the next stage. But I love being creative and building brands or ideas so I imagine it would be in that space somehow.
