Welcome. My name is Cleo.
I think I'm born a seeker. As a young girl, uprooted from the Netherlands and growing new roots in Norway with my family, I was already searching for answers: Who am I? Who should I be? What is my purpose? Where am I going? Born with six planets in retrograde, perhaps that was always what I was here to do...
Always looking for a felt sense of identity, which was never here but always somewhere else, nothing ever really felt enough. I never felt enough.
It was during one of those familiar thought races — deep in another loop of chasing answers — that I chose a different path...
I booked a tiny house in nature by the sea, turned off my phone, and set the intention to simply listen and let nature guide the way.
That afternoon, I sat on the beach, and watched the waves roll in... and there it was. I felt my Being. A glimpse of truth whispered, “THIS is me!” I laughed. All that searching and trying, and there She was, all along.
And so, my journey home began.
From that moment, my inner experience of who I was changed completely — and so did the way I saw everything around me. I began noticing what was not aligned with my true nature: where I lived, what I owned, how I worked, what and how I consumed…
I dove into ancient wisdom from the Seers of the world… The mystics, philosopher’s, poets, and wisdom keepers.
This eventually led me to the Kundalini Yoga School. The moment I discovered their teacher training, I felt a deep full-bodied hell yes. I knew, this was it.
As I peeled away old imprints that had shaped my reality, I began to remember who She was underneath it all.
In that remembering, I started letting go of the old. Selling my things, leaving the city, my job, and embarking on a pilgrimage, Camino de Santiago. My Heroine’s journey.
The more I leaned into Her guidance, the more life began to flow. As soon as I stopped trying, striving, and attaching, I received.
My stories are still a part of me. Within them lies my purpose and the work I now offer through moai. They are my colours, my twists, my spiral, my volumes of living. They show up in my passions, my sorrows, my fears, my courage, and my creation. It’s what moves me and how much I love to move — to feel!
What I've realised, is this: our stories are our gifts when give them a conscious channel to be expressed and we start to see who we are beyond them. That's when we gain the power to rewrite them and take our rightful seat as Creators.
With the knowing that there are always two sides of the same coin. In one minus there is a plus, in one shadow a light. Together they are whole.
With moai, I aim to guide you on your own journey home — whether it's through yoga, inquiry, self-expression, philosophy, art, nature, myth, conversation, be-ing, or whatever else I’m exploring that may serve you too.
I am both student and teacher, forever learning, and perhaps forever… a seeker.
moai and I
moai is where I spiral into my world. Everything that wants to come through and be expressed finds its way here in whatever shape or form. Stories like the one above are at the very heart of moai. Kundalini Yoga and self-inquiry (lots and lots of journaling) has been two of the main ways for me to explore the stories within.
Other threads that have shaped my path are PR, marketing, communication, community, and nature. They now come together in what I offer through moai. At its core, my work is about connecting the dots of the different experiences that shape us, and uncovering the unique gifts hidden within them.
Today, I'm based at the Costa Brava in Spain. As new stories are being written, this space will rewrite itself too. This is what I devote myself to: A creative and curious life, where every moment has a chance to reveal something new.
A timeline
1994
Cleo Francis Boland was born
on the fourth Friday of June 1994, I came into the world in Amersfoort, the Netherlands. a sensitive Cancer sun, shaped by Capricorn’s structured ambition and a touch of Leo’s firey passion. I was given the name Cleo Francis.
1997
moved to norway with the family
lived in various small towns until finishing high school
2013
went on a backpacking trip
first time traveling outside of europe
2014
moved to oslo
started studying PR & marketing
my childhood and teenage years were shaped by a search for belonging in the Norwegian countryside. there was a deep sense of freedom and imagination, a remembering of days spent in nature, swimming in rivers and gathering blueberries in the forest, yet alongside it, a feeling of limitation and otherness that I couldn’t quite name at the time.
at 19 years old, I spent nearly three unforgettable months traveling through South Africa, Japan, Thailand, India, and Australia with a backpack and my closest girlfriends. an adventure that opened my world both outwardly and within.
I moved to Norway’s capital, where the next five years became a mix of side jobs, studies, and a growing sense that something more was calling. the question what else is there? stayed with me. I began moving through Oslo’s fashion and creative scene, getting to know the world of PR while low-key preparing my exit.
2017
exchange semester in paris
during my final year of studies, I spent a semester in Paris: another world unfolding. I experienced my first Fashion Week, nights at Le Rouge and Silencio, and found endless inspiration in the people on the streets, who expressed themselves so freely. together with my best friend, I launched an online magazine for a Norwegian streetwear shop, where we interviewed creatives, created spontaneous shoots, and documented the energy around us.
2018
moved to amsterdam
started working at daily paper
I completed my degree in Oslo, and after a brief first encounter with Daily Paper during Paris Fashion Week, I moved to Amsterdam to join the brand — not in PR at first, but as a store associate. it became one of the most defining periods of my life so far. after six months in the store, I stepped into the early stages of building the brand’s first in-house PR department. the four years that followed were shaped by community, music, culture, and a sense of belonging I hadn’t known before.
2022
moai was born
an idea had been forming within me for years, filling the pages of my journal without yet finding its shape. what if community connection could go deeper? what if we shared our resources, and spoke openly and vulnerably about our paths? I felt a strong pull to step into a supportive role, to hold space for my artist friends around me as they moved through their own creative journeys. we began to gather: to talk, to journal, to reflect, and to listen. something started to grow from the inside out.
2022
transitioned into marketing and branding
moai as a creative agency
I began noticing how strongly my identity had become tied to my role as a PR brand representative, and I felt a need to step back and explore myself anew. at the end of the year, I ended my chapter at Daily Paper and moved into a marketing role at a global immigration firm as the first and only in-house marketeer, where I was given a high degree of creative freedom and trust. I took the lead on shaping their brand identity and guiding a full brand refresh. meanwhile, moai was taking a new direction and the vision of a creative agency started to form.
2023
internal shift
started kundalini teacher training
moai vision was changing
inner changes were unfolding, and the life I had been living in Amsterdam slowly began to feel misaligned with who I was growing into. I felt a deep longing for stillness — nature, air, earth, writing, walking, being, and simple moments alone in cafés or at the cinema. it felt like Mother Earth was calling me back, shaking me awake. it was during this time that I began a 1.5-year Kundalini Yoga teacher training that would catapult me into something new. at the same time, the vision I had for moai was changing. whereas it was originally centered around the community I had in Amsterdam, I was now asked to surrender to a more solo inwards journey.
2024
left amsterdam
walked the camino de santiago
fell in Love
I left my rental apartment in Amsterdam, saved money, quit my then in-house job position, and - once again - prepared my exit. this time, not knowing where I would end up, what I would do, or even why. all I knew was that there was this inner calling I had no choice but to listen to. and so I quite literally took one step after the other and, as I did, a new path began to form. as I walked the camino de santiago, I first and foremost experienced a deep sense of universal Love which also led me to meet my one Love in human form!
2025
moved to spain
freelancing as a marketeer
offering yoga classes, workshops and guidance through moai
after a year of traveling, pet sitting, volunteering, and reconnecting more deeply with the land, nature, animals, people, and myself, I followed romance and moved to the Costa Brava in Spain, opening myself to whatever new story wanted to unfold. I was at this point well into freelancing, choosing a path with more autonomy, uncertainty, and alignment with how I wanted to live and work.