Supermodel Miranda Kerr on self-love, Scandinavia, and welcoming her fourth child

“If my kids are getting wild, I’ll spray a little bit of this around,” says Miranda Kerr, whipping a bottle of her brand KORA Organics’ Minty Mineral Hydration Mist from her handbag with a smile. “If they’re having a moment, or there’s a tantrum, it really clears the energy,” she explains calmly. It’s just one of the many tools in the beauty and wellness arsenal of 41-year-old Kerr, who welcomed her fourth son – the third with husband and Snapchat founder Evan Spiegel – only a few months ago.

The supermodel is sitting in the lounge room of her luminous Los Angeles home, her hallmark cherubic features and iridescent blue eyes showing no tell-tale signs of newborn-induced fatigue. From Kerr’s serene, softly-spoken demeanour, you would never guess the strain she's under, but she’s disarmingly honest about it. “Having a fourth child is really taking things to a whole new level,” she says, “and breastfeeding this time around… wow. I want to sit and enjoy the moment, because it doesn’t last for long, but I have three other children running around.”

On paper, Kerr now has four children, but if you ask her, she’s a mother of five: she considers her skincare line KORA Organics as her first-born. “I treat it like one of my other children. I laugh because I have four children, four boys. This project, that I created from the love in my heart, is my fifth child. It was the first baby, and it’s a baby girl. It’s true.”

The first-born, KORA Organics, was conceived around 2006 when Australian-born Kerr was in her early 20s, in the midst of a formidable career that took her from agencies in Japan to the elite ranks of the Victoria’s Secret runway to the towering New York City billboards of H&M and Maybelline. But it wasn’t an opportunistic brand venture as the afterthought to fame. KORA stemmed from Kerr’s childhood and was a mission that likely would have brought her to global acclaim regardless of her modelling chops. The hefty contracts and high-octane campaigns as a model certainly helped, though – almost entirely funding the brand’s beginnings. “I invested all my hard-earned money. All of my slogging away for 20 years, working a minimum of six days a week, each week in two different countries,” Kerr says. “I invested all my eggs in one basket, which was so daunting.”

It was daunting, but she was undeterred. There was no doubt in Kerr’s mind about this pathway – she secured certifications in nutrition and health psychology at Australia's Academy of Natural Living directly after her schooling. The seed was first planted when she was even younger, though, by the influential women in her family. “My grandmother introduced me to noni when I was little,” Kerr says, referring to the little-known superfruit with powerful antioxidant properties. “She would give noni to me to drink if I had an ear infection, or she would put noni on my skin if I had pimples or sunburn. Noni is now a key ingredient across the whole KORA range.”

Her interest in natural wellness and holistic health became more serious, though, when she was about 16 and her mother was diagnosed with cancer. “That’s when my family and I did a big deep-dive into what we were putting in and on our bodies – and realised how unnatural all of these products were. That’s what led me to want to create my own products that were not only healthy, but actually certified organic.”

Today, KORA Organics – which operates out of headquarters in LA and Sydney, and is available in 40 countries – is still the only range that Sephora carries globally that is completely certified organic. The reason? As Kerr attests, it’s no easy feat. “It’s hard to do. There are so many restrictions, always someone looking over your shoulder. But that’s what I wanted as a customer and what I believe everyone deserves.”

In a now-saturated market of clean beauty and holistic offerings, Kerr’s establishment of KORA in 2009 (and as a concept years before that) make her a true pioneer. “It’s crazy,” she reflects, “because we really did pave the way for this natural, clean beauty movement.” With Kerr partnering with some of the best chemists in the natural space, the range follows the strictest standards and highest clinical performance – with a quality that Kerr has made steadfast by remaining hands-on for 15 years. “Being the 95% shareholder, founder, owner, and CEO, and by creating these products from my heart, I’ve maintained the integrity of these products and ensured their potency has never been diluted.”

While the brand's spectrum of natural ingredients – kakadu plum, cloudberry, caviar lime, aloe vera, noni – reflect the influences of Kerr’s Australian childhood, she finds inspiration across the globe: including Scandinavia. “I am really drawn to the natural lifestyle in Scandinavia,” she says, “and I felt an alignment with how health and wellness are a seamless, natural part of life – more so really, than any other countries that I have ever visited.” The energy of crystals is also harness by Kerr to detox and empower KORA’s products. “All of the products touch rose quartz crystal in the manufacturing process – it’s such a gentle and soothing crystal,” she explains. “I don’t talk about it as much because not everyone is into it, but it’s like an added benefit. It helps you to open your heart chakra and enhances your self-love.”

The latest addition to the KORA range is an SPF 30 sunscreen serum, dubbed Silky Sun Drops, which – naturally – is certified organic and packed with antioxidant-rich botanical extracts. Not only offering sun protection (either applied over makeup or as a primer), the Silky Sun Drops address other skin issues like tone, texture, pigmentation and malasma which, Kerr says, have especially “come to a head” during her pregnancies. It goes without saying that she uses all of the KORA products herself and sees them as the only choice for her young family too. “I have been using Silky Sun Drops on my four and five year old over the summer, and my 13 year old loved it too,” she says, while she’s sticking with KORA’s gentle body lotion and oils for her newborn. Even Spiegel, her husband, has provided his endorsement. “His skin is beautiful,” Kerr laughs, reeling off his use of the turmeric-infused scrub and moisturisers. “I looked at him yesterday, and he was just glowing!”

Kerr is putting it lightly when she describes life right now as a “juggle”, but spoken like a true entrepreneur and CEO, she says the best outcome simply comes down to time management. “I’m working so closely with the brand, but I also want to give my everything to my family. So I’ve started to schedule in one-on-one time,” she explains. “For instance, I can be playing with Lego with my six-year-old, while I’m pumping at the same time. Then I can have special breastfeeding time with the baby, and go for a walk with my 13-year-old, and then be pumping while I play on the swing or have a tea party with my four year-old. That one-on-one time is so important.”

“I always want to give my 100 per cent,” Kerr goes on. “Like I’m here with you in this moment and want to give you 100 per cent, just as I do when I’m with my husband. It’s tough and it’s a juggling act, but I love what I do. Helping people, providing them with the power of organics, it’s my passion.”