‘A writer who lived alone with a cat – that’s my true self’: Zoë Foster Blake opens up

This story is part of the April 14 edition of Sunday Life.See all 12 stories.

Ten years ago, on April Fool’s Day, Zoë Foster Blake was newly married, pregnant with her first child and hot off releasing her fourth novel. Oh, and she was also launching a skincare brand, Go-To. “I did a book tour, launched a brand and had a baby, all in three months,” says the 43-year-old. “I honestly put it into the world and then collapsed.”

Today, Foster Blake is more than a household name, she’s the face of a brand that’s earned its keep in our households – my own bathroom, like that of most women I know, is peppered with flashes of Go-To’s signature peach packaging. Much like its April 1 launch date, Go-To is fun, a little cheeky and unlike anything else in the market. The products are also really good.

Sportmax dress. Credit: JEDD COONEY

The desire to launch her own brand came after Foster Blake was asked to collaborate with a make-up company on a capsule collection – a process which helped her realise that if she were to ever launch a product, she’d want to be involved from beginning to end. She had no interest in slapping her name on anything she didn’t truly believe in.

Go-To launched with a range of five products, including a face cream, a foam cleanser, exfoliating wipes, a lip balm and body oil. Some from the items from these early rounds of launches, like the Properly Clean cleanser and Face Hero face oil, are still among the company’s bestsellers.

From there, the brand gained a cult following, launched two offshoots (Bro-To for men and Gro-To for kids). And after selling a 50.1 per cent stake to global beauty company BWX in 2021 for $89 million, Foster Blake became the majority owner again in 2023 when she bought back her stake for just $8.5 million.

Her successful skincare brand aside, it’s been a big 10 years for Foster Blake. Or a big two decades, if you rewind to her time as a beauty editor at Cosmopolitan and Harper’s Bazaar magazines, then her blog Fruity Beauty, where many Australians were introduced to the imagine-your-funniest-best-friend tone of her writing. While Foster Blake is now, first and foremost, the founder of Go-To, to her many followers and fans she’s more than that. She’s the author of 15 books, the wife of comedian Hamish Blake, 42, and mum to two kids, Sonny, 9, and Rudy, 6.

Talking to Foster Blake at her chaotically colourful but exceptionally well-decorated home in Sydney’s Vaucluse – a space many will be familiar with after it was the subject of a Vogue Living home tour – it would be impossible to ignore the parallel timelines of becoming a business owner and becoming a mother. After all, it’s not exactly common for someone to take on two such challenges at the same time. But that’s what she did.

She says she is still getting to grips with both roles every day. “Our generation is really invested in parenting,” she says, acknowledging her husband’s equally steep learning curve when it comes to raising their children. “We read a lot about it, we’re doing the work, we want to raise our kids the best we can. We want to treat it not like a job, but as a project.”

And when it comes to both jobs and projects, the Foster Blake family has a lot going on. Blake co-hosts the much-loved Hamish & Andy podcast alongside Andy Lee, and the reality-TV series LEGO Masters on Nine (the owner of this masthead) with Ryan “Brickman” McNaught. Beyond Go-To, Foster Blake has just finished another novel, out in October, which she says draws on the lessons she’s learnt as a female founder. With Sonny and Rudy both now in school, I’m curious as to how one of Australia’s favourite families makes the most of their time together.

“We read a lot about it, we’re doing the work, we want to raise our kids the best we can. We want to treat it not like a job, but as a project.”

ZOË FOSTER BLAKE

While Foster Blake’s Instagram was once flooded with funny posts showing Sonny, and later Rudy, being regular (but exceptionally adorable) kids, she now preserves that space for product recommendations and the occasional snap of the family on holiday, usually with the kids’ faces hidden. “We’re very private and we’re very boring,” she says. “We’re just a normal family and I think our inclination to share our life has gone down a lot.”

Of course, there are hundreds of thousands of people who would call Foster Blake’s life anything but boring. Even the family’s latest additions, a pair of Persian kittens, Potato and Jimothy, have already made their way into countless group chats and Instagram feeds only a few weeks after settling into their new home.

But beyond the kittens, who take turns napping, playing, and nestling into Foster Blake’s lap as we talk, she says bike rides – whether in France or New Zealand – are her family’s favourite thing. After each day of cycling, the family play cards at dinner, joke around, watch The Simpsons and stay up late. The joy of transitioning from having young kids who need constant attention to having independent kids who feel part of the family team is something Foster Blake finds difficult to articulate.

Zara bustier and jeans.Credit: JEDD COONEY

“For me, my favourite bit [of parenting] is having little buddies,” she says. “They’re not just people we’re telling to put on a jumper and finish breakfast, it’s that friendship. I’m not trying to be their best friend – I’m definitely their mother – but I like them.”

With parents known for their sense of humour, I wonder whether the kids take after their parents. “Rudy is very funny – she’s got very good comedic timing,” she says. “But Sonny, he’s a bit more like me. He likes rules. He likes doing things the right way.”

There’s a side to Foster Blake many people may be surprised by. While Blake is, in his wife’s words, a classic extrovert, she considers herself quite the opposite. The energy required to co-parent, be a good partner to her husband of 11 years and a dependable friend while writing books and running a business is something Foster Blake now understands is only possible with solid boundaries and time dedicated to resetting, usually at home. “I say [to Blake], ‘Remember, you married a writer who lived alone with a cat – that’s my true self.’ Now I’m a different person, but that’s who I come back to.”

“I’m not trying to be their best friend – I’m definitely their mother – but I like them.”

ZOË FOSTER BLAKE

With all that she’s achieved and continues to achieve, it’s no wonder Foster Blake often gets asked about her relationship with success. When she was in her 20s, there were vision boards and lofty goals, like getting one of her titles into Oprah’s Book Club. Today, however, her definition of success is simpler: “If you’ve done good work and it’s resonated, you get to do more of it.”

Whether it’s books or business, to Foster Blake success means being able to do something again. And the recipe for getting shit done? Well, it requires having her hair tied up (always up), lip balm within reach, a good playlist and a closed office door (though, given that office is at home, there’s sometimes no stopping interruptions from the kids).

Valentino mohair blazer and Paco Rabanne earrings from Parlour X.Credit: JEDD COONEY

Of course, the success of Go-To can’t be wholly attributed to Spotify and a good scrunchie. When looking back on her first Go-To photos, Foster Blake sees a very unsure version of herself. But while many of us feel disconnected from the version of ourselves from a decade ago, Foster Blake has done more in the past 10 years than most people do in a lifetime.

She tells me that it takes two years for a mother to get back to herself after a baby, which rings true when she thinks of herself five years ago, coming out of that two-year shadow after having Rudy. “It was like, what have I missed? I’ve been busy making children and breastfeeding.”

Describing herself as someone who gets bored easily, Foster Blake finds it fascinating that she’s still here, working elbow-deep in the company she founded a decade ago. “I think the reason I’m still so passionate about it is because I love the product, I love the customer, I love my team,” she says. “It allows me to feed my addiction and love of newness, because I can do a new product, campaign or strategy all the time.”

So, who knows what the next 10 years hold for Foster Blake, her family and Go-To? Not the woman herself – it turns out that she can only think in increments of three years at a time or, more recently, each coming school year. “This year is about making sure I look after myself with exercise, eating well and sleep hygiene,” she says.

Fashion editor, Penny McCarthy; Hair, Darren Summors for Oribe; Make-up, Heidi Scarlett King using Nars at Mecca; Fashion assistant. Allegra Cole.

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