Kiwi business with heart: ‘MY MASCARA CHANGES LIVES!'

This Christchurch entrepreneur’s magical wands make a difference

- Hayley McLarin

Hannah Duder spends every 4th of July as a day of celebration and reflection. But she’s not an expat American marking Independence Day – for her, it’s a date on which she challenges herself to ensure she’s living her best life, as her high school friend Jess Brown would have wanted.

“The fourth of July is the date she passed away,” says Hannah softly. “It’s a reminder that life is precious. She said to me, ‘Make sure you’re doing what you want to be doing with your life. Do what makes you happy.’ We hear that all the time, but when it comes from a friend who’s your age – we were 23 – you take it on as a responsibility.”

At the time, Hannah, now 28, was studying for a law degree and a Bachelor of Commerce at the University of Canterbury, majoring in taxation and accounting, and hoping for a six-figure job as either an accountant or a lawyer. Money was her driving force.

She’d already been through the emotional trauma of the Christchurch earthquakes – her mother Wendy’s home was destroyed and she was forced to bunk on a friend’s couch while working with the Student Volunteer Army.