The Central App

Central Home: From the Big Apple to Orchard Country – 10 Questions with Leslie Preston

The Central App

Staff Reporter

08 January 2025, 3:30 PM

Central Home: From the Big Apple to Orchard Country – 10 Questions with Leslie Preston Leslie Preston. PHOTO: SUPPLIED
Introducing Central Home - a new series looking at some of the remarkable people who choose to call our neck of the woods home. Some have a long affinity with Central Otago, others have made the choice to put down roots and settle here. Regardless, they have a passion for the region. This month we chat to Leslie Preston, founder of Bachcare Holiday Homes and Director of Rose & Thorne Lingerie.


1. New York born and raised, tell us how you came to call New Zealand home? 


Not sure I ever could have predicted living in New Zealand having grown up in New York with Manhattan as my playground! 


I moved out to the West Coast to attend Stanford Graduate School of Business to pursue an MBA, and ended up meeting and marrying a kiwi classmate, Stefan. The rest as they say is history.


New Zealand’s been home for 30 years and I wouldn’t have it any other way. We are both even more proud now to call Central Otago home!



2. How did your time at Stanford help to shape your approach to work and business when you arrived in New Zealand?  


I’ve always been passionate about business, from a young age. 


After a few years experience in Auckland working in senior roles for large multinational companies, and with two young children, I felt the calling to start my own business. 


The Stanford MBA gave me the foundations and confidence to envisage and create an enduring company.


Bachcare Holiday Homes was my first entrepreneurial journey, and looking back I think the global scale of thinking at Stanford combined with my upbringing in New York really played a tremendous role in ‘thinking big’ from the outset. 


Over the next 15+ years, it grew to be the largest full service holiday rental company in Australasia and voted one of the Top 20 Vacation Rental companies in the world.


In 2019, Bachcare was sold to a UK company. As I’m sure anyone that has sold a business that they have poured their heart and soul into will tell you, it’s a somewhat bitter-sweet experience!


3. What drew you to Clyde, and what’s surprised you about the region? 


With Covid showing how much business can be conducted remotely, we decided to leave the craziness of Auckland for a more balanced lifestyle. 


The vast open spaces of Central Otago was a major factor, combined with all the active lifestyle options. The cycle trails, the mountains, wineries, hiking, rivers.


Everyone is so nice in Central, so helpful. And we love the small community feel of Clyde combined with the charm of the historic Clyde village.


4. In recent times, you’ve become involved with New Zealand lingerie brand Rose & Thorne – tell us more! 


Rose & Thorne is another great NZ success story. Originally co-founded by my husband Stefan (formerly CEO of Bendon), and also the former head of design at Bendon, the Rose & Thorne bras are world class. 


Structurally engineered to support large-cup women (size C Cup to K Cup), the bras are gorgeous, well priced and super comfortable. 


We get such positive customer feedback on what a difference our bras make. Founded in 2011, I joined the Board in 2021 to help grow the business and get our bras on more women both here and Australia.


5. How has moving to Clyde influenced your vision for Rose & Thorne? 


It really made me aware how important online shopping is to small communities outside the main city centres. 


Lingerie is such a challenging business, more so than I ever imagined. For example, we have upwards of 40 sizes for the majority of our bra styles, and this makes it incredibly hard to service small communities with a physical retail store while still providing choice. 


With the changes to online shopping since Covid, it’s exciting that our brand can reach so many more women, making our full range accessible to anyone with an internet connection.


We are 100% online (check out roseandthorne.co.nz), and we offer a free bra fitting service via video with our bra guru. This provides great value to our regional women, and I highly recommend the service! (just email us at [email protected]).


As we have settled more in to our life in Otago, we have shifted more of our business out of Auckland. 


We now have our distribution centre, accountants and web developers in the South Island as well. We can bring the best of a world class bra to women, operating from the regions!



6. What excites you most about the future of Rose & Thorne? 


What puts a smile on our face is the vast amount of positive feedback we receive from our customers.


With our recent size extension spanning from 10C to 24K, we cater to a large group of women that rely on our bras to make a difference in their everyday lives. 


We are particularly passionate about helping women with larger busts discover comfort and support and blending this with style. 


These women experience issues with discomfort and pain that makes everyday life that bit harder.


Discomfort is a real mood killer, it can prevent them playing their favourite sport or being as active as they would like – solving this problem for them is our driving force. But, we want to do it with style! 


Large busted bras have in the past jokingly been referred to as ‘over the shoulder boulder holders’ due to their typically drab appearance – we want to and are changing those norms! 


As we continue to grow in the regions of NZ and Australia, it’s exciting knowing more women will be wearing and loving R&T.



 

7. How do you balance being a locally rooted brand while appealing to a global audience? 


We have amazing bras that are up with the best in the world, but we draw on our community values of authenticity, trust and care. 


We maintain that Kiwi-can-do attitude and continue to innovate with our products. We listen to our customers and stay true to what matters – great fitting bras, beautiful bras, affordable bras, and comfortable bras. That’s a winning formula for us and our ladies.


Speaking of our community, we’re thrilled that someone from the region won our most recent Rose & Thorne giveaway. Congratulations to Ruth Carroll!


 

8. What advice would you give to other entrepreneurs in Central Otago and beyond?


It’s definitely possible to grow and scale a business from Central Otago. 


Be bold in your vision, be resilient in the face of obstacles, surround yourself with great people, listen to your customers, ignore the nay-sayers, and have fun!

 

9. How do you recharge or find inspiration when you’re not working?


Cycling on the various trails, swimming, going to the wineries, walking our Huntaway puppy, enjoying the spectacular scenery.


 

10. What does a perfect day in Clyde look like for you?


Blue skies, walking along the Clyde River track with our Huntaway, stopping to say hello to others along the way. 


Coming back with a clear head to tackle the days emails and meetings. 


And finish off with a quick ride on the Otago Central Rail Trail followed by some wine and cheese enjoyed in our backyard, taking advantage of the long summer evenings.