The business of BARBER

Celeste Barber knows how to make Aussie women her business. With a hit television series and her Backup Dancer tour in full swing, the entertainer is accepting a new challenge: launching a beauty brand. Here she talks to her co-founder Claire Greaves about raising boys, ageism and defining success

It’s a bone-chilling morning inside a draughty Sydney photography studio and Celeste Barber is hurling demands. No, the success of a hit Netflix series and global stand-up comedy tours hasn’t turned the entertainer into a power-hungry tyrant. Nor has the announcement that the star is stepping into her business-mogul era as the founder of beauty brand Booie. Instead, the Australian multi-hyphenate is trying her hand as an amateur DJ on set of her marie claire shoot. “Queue up Kylie’s ‘Padam Padam’ … Can we play Dua Lipa’s ‘Houdini’ and ‘Training Season’ next? And add ‘Birds of a Feather’ by Billie Eilish to the playlist, please,” quips Barber as she contorts her body into high-fashion poses. “I’m trying to do a Zendaya,” she says in that self-deprecating style of hers that has amassed the comedy queen more than 9.5 million followers on Instagram alone.

As Barber moves about the studio, roaring laughter dispels any concerns that her new venture as a business owner might have broken her funny bone. “This dress really shows off my boobs – and my heart surgery scar,” she tells the crew, while clutching the front of a Camilla and Marc dress.

Spend an hour with Barber and it’s difficult not to feel the full weight of the “Celeste effect” that transformed her from a social media star who parodied models’ posts into a respected actor and award-winning comedian. Sharing stories of motherhood, sex and mental health, Barber resonates with a generation of women who want to feel seen and heard. It is these women the entertainer is hoping will join her on her venture into the beauty business, alongside P.E Nation co-founder Claire Greaves.