Mackenzie Rose Moore and Joannes De Vincenzo are a couple that we follow very closely here at BODA SKINS, but you probably know them as @kozmoore and @tropicaljesus69 on Instagram. Bikes, leather, love and lust, they are so us. Aside from wearing our iconic leathers, whilst rocking the biker world, this power couple are living one hell of a life - the good life.
Joannes (Tropical Jesus) is the lone wolf. With a Welsh mother, Italian father and a childhood boasting origins in France, it's safe to say he’s one cultured human. Describing himself as somewhat of a recluse in his earlier childhood days, his upbringing consisted of international schools, epic music and even better food, in his dad’s critically-acclaimed restaurants. Time has passed since then, joining forces with his life partner, Mackenzie, as the pair wait to welcome their first child into their world of escapism and adventure.
Mackenzie, Canadian born, grew up in the city of Toronto before heading to France to begin her student exchange program when she was 16. This is where the story began, and we were lucky enough to hear it. Now, the couple has their own restaurant along with flourishing modelling careers that see them at the forefront of the BODA SKINS brand, along with a collection of other badass platforms.
We caught up with Joannes and Mackenzie over Zoom to talk childhoods, moments, creative inspirations, weed, witchcraft and photography...
TEAM BODA: So, guys, it’s been a minute since we last spoke. But, we want to take it back to the start… How did you both meet?
Mackenzie: Okay, we met when I was 16, when I did an exchange to Italy. His parents had a bar there, so I would go and speak to his mum every day, and she would say she has a son! At first I was thinking “oh god, I don’t want to meet him,” but when once we did meet, we really got on - I mean, we only met once in Italy, but two years later, I was back in Canada - because I was only in Italy for two months - and he came over too!
We kept in contact during those two years, but only on the basis of “oh my mum says hi, say hi to your mum for me,” but when he came to Canada, after two months we started dating and we’ve been together ever since.
So was it love at first sight? Tell us more about the whole vibe...
Mackenzie: No, we were more like friends at first, I tried to set him up with my sister at first because he was three years older than me [laughs], but we weren't dating each other in that way when we first met. I know some people love the story of it being electric and being love at first sight, but, no! That’s not how it happened for us.
Has there ever been any challenges of working the relationship long-distance, or have you always been together?
Joannes: No, we have been together since Canada, we’ve only done two years apart. I lived in Wales for a couple of years where I was studying. I failed university, then I moved over to Canada just for a change and then I lived there. Then my Visa expired, and she came and lived in Wales with me for three months, and then we moved over here to Spain.
Mackenzie: That’s the story over the last seven years or so, but really, we started dating in Canada - that’s where it started for us.
So, what was the idea behind moving to Spain, how did that happen?
Mackenzie: We came here with just a suitcase, and now, we have opened a restaurant here together and settled, and we’re having kids, so yeah! It’s gone very well.
You say you are now settled in Lanzarote and that’s amazing! Now you have announced that you’re pregnant - congratulations! How was that whole experience for you?
Mackenzie: It has been really good! The pregnancy was planned, so it was just a surprise at how quickly we got there. We thought it would take a lot longer, so that’s been good. But, for the whole experience, I’ve just felt normal - apart from growing out of my clothes! Everything is really normal.
Now in your (current) home of Lanzarote, you have opened your restaurant, @gustolanzarotte, how was this launched and how did it come into fruition?
Joannes: I grew up in a restaurant, my dad was a chef and he had a restaurant in Monaco, and I guess the whole thing of growing up in one, it made me think that I would want to have my own one day - I just didn’t realise how fucking hard it is [laughs].
I’ve always wanted to learn how to cook and I enjoy food and wine. I don’t drink wine, but it’s interesting to see people interested in all of the different ones. The culture of where food comes from as well is cool, and it’s nice seeing people happy when they’re eating, you know, it brings people happiness. But, yeah, my dad is the main chef at the restaurant.
Mackenzie: We launched it as a family - it was his dad and his mum in the kitchen, and he and I working together on the floor.
So, talk to us about your journey on social media, how have you grown into it and made it a part of your life?
Mackenzie: I think with social media it comes with two sides, I think the positive of it is the community that you can build, there’s so many like-minded individuals that are being original to who they are, and that’s the most important thing. As long as you’re being true to your style and who you are, I think that’s the most important thing, right?
Joannes: I think it’s pretty cool though, as you can find a lot of stuff that you like and it’s really easy to do so. You can find a lot of photographers that you like, the same with fashion, you can find people who are creating their own brands -
Mackenzie: - We’ve found a lot of our best friends through it as well. A lot of them are photographers, but most of them we have met through Instagram -
Joannes: - We shot with a well known photographer - we never actually thought he would take photos of us, but we realised that these people are just people, so we thought let’s just DM him. Instagram opens a lot of doors in the right way.
You say that you travelled around a lot when you were younger. How did you personally get over those periods of adjustment at such a young age?
Joannes: I went to an international school, so everyone would move around. You would have a best friend, and then two years later, they would move again or move back to his country. So, I guess I got used to it from schooling, and then when I lived in France, I would have my group of friends from rugby, and another group of friends from state boarding. But I never got attached. When I see my wife with her friends, they were friends from school and grew up together.
I don’t really have that with anyone as I’ve always moved around. But, it’s cool, I meet so many different people. I don’t have a ‘gang’, I just meet people, speak to anyone and if I like them, then that’s it.
I don’t really have time to make friends. But, in each country, I’ve made many great memories with different people and gotten close with different people, so everyone is in my life, but not that deep. It’s kinda weird.
Mackenzie: Whereas, I grew up with the same people for 18 years. I grew up in the same place, so it was a big adjustment moving here and having nobody, I was more dependent on people and I wanted to make friends, and I needed that. But, he’s always been a lone wolf: he will surf alone, he will do anything alone. And I’m learning from him, because I think it’s awesome.
Joannes: When we moved to Canada, she had her sister, and I don’t have any brothers or sisters, so I would do literally anything alone, you get used to it. I was happy alone, it was something that made me realise that I’m happy when I’m alone.
Tell us about your wedding, we saw images online and we gravitated so heavily towards it.
Mackenzie: We were married here in Lanzarote, and it took us almost a year to get the paperwork sorted. This was when I was 21, then two years later, we went to Toronto to have our wedding celebrations, and we just made it really small and had our close friends and family there, and that was perfect for us.
I don’t think we would have been able to do a big wedding with lots of people! So yeah, it was perfect. We danced on the street and ate McDonalds… It was really good!
People get asked this a lot, but when you get married does anything feel different or does nothing change?
Joannes: Not really. I mean, maybe the first couple of days may feel strange because it's a new stage in your life -
Mackenzie: - I think society has made us all think a certain way about marriage, but we’re just committing to a person while signing a piece of paper and you can commit to someone without doing that!
Joannes: We don’t really believe in the concept of marriage, we just did it because of Visa complications and to stay together.
Mackenzie: I don’t think we would have got married if we were from the same country or if we could have stayed together without getting married. But we didn’t have any other way of staying together so we had to play the game.
Did you have any inspirations when growing up?
Mackenzie: I would honestly say, no role models. I would say don’t look up to anyone because you don’t know what people are like. Unless you really know their soul and how they really treat people, I would say I don’t look up to anyone. I think people are cool and have amazing styles, but I don’t look at someone and think I want to be them.
Joannes: When I was a kid, I used to like rugby players. That’s when you’re a kid, you look at rugby or football players - whatever sport you like. But, I never identified with any of them, I just liked the way they played. I look up to my dad and stuff, but no celebrities or anything like that. She watches a lot of movies and she knows a lot of actors, but I don’t know any personally. I like musicians, I used to look up to the drummer of Blink 182. You know, the tattoos and the sort of trashy guys that had cool style, so I used to look at them and think I wanna look like them and look cool when I’m older.
I think everyone is a cool individual though, everyone has their cool things and bad things. When I was a kid I was the fattest and nobody would ever want to speak, but at the end of the day, everyone is individual, and everyone has something cool about them. Everyone should be themselves and that’s it. You see people that used to be a sort of way then all of a sudden they want a beard and long hair, with bikes and leather jackets, but it's like, dude, that’s not you! It’s a good thing to change but I think being true to yourself is the main thing.
For people that don’t know who they are yet and are trying to find themselves, what advice would you give to them?
Joannes: I would say travel and experience different cultures. Not the typical Thailand and elephant riding, I mean everything from poor countries to rich countries, to speaking to people on the streets - that really opens up your mind. I remember speaking to some homeless people on the streets in Toronto and that’s what really changes people.
But the best thing is really travelling and experiencing different versions of life. See different people, don’t just see one dude! I think finding yourself is difficult too, especially when you live in a city, you’ve got strip clubs and nightclubs, and a lot of things that tempt you to be something you’re not. But when you’re on an island like we are here, I feel so much more at peace and just a much more chilled guy.
Mackenzie: It’s made life easy living here, it's so bare, there’s nothing.
With that being said, has that put you off of the idea of living in another city?
Mackenzie: No, I don’t think we could do a city, I think being more secluded and more alone is something that we would go for.
Joannes: I mean, yeah, we could do that for three months then get out into the city for two days. But I remember being out in Toronto and biting my nails because there were so many people there, I was so nervous. That made me feel like shit. I lived in Toronto three years ago, but now I can’t walk in the street without biting my nails because there were so many people. Living here has really changed my lifestyle.
Mackenzie: We realised that when we moved from a city to a secluded island that we had to adapt, but when we missed the city and we went back, we were desperate to get back to the island.
What activities and hobbies do you have that seriously make you tick and come into your own?
Joannes: I mean, smoking weed definitely helps, but I like surfing a lot. It makes me feel like, if I’m having a shitty day, it really helps me think about nothing. Riding my bike too, those two things make me focus on just myself and nothing else. When you own a business, you have things to stress about, so when I go for a ride or surf, my mind just solely focuses on that. These are the most important things for me, so my mental health is under control.
Mackenzie: For me, I would say playing the bass is something that has really helped me as I can do it alone and really focus on it. I have been studying witchcraft too and I find that really fun and interesting. That would be mine for sure. I have met a lot of witches on Instagram, I wouldn’t call myself one, even though I do believe in it, but it’s a real practice that is like a religion. You learn about magic and rituals, and it’s super interesting.
What is your favourite thing about each other?
Joannes: How caring she is, how easy going... She’s like a sister, we’ve been together eight years, but yeah, I would say how caring she is. She has no bad intentions, she always does things for a good reason and never a bad reason which is rare to see these days. You always see a lot of people that use people for things, so it’s nice to see someone that never has that in mind. She always wants to see people doing the best for themselves, too. Not just me or her family, she wants to see her friends doing something good, which is something nice to see.
Mackenzie: My favourite thing about you is that since the day that I’ve met you, you’ve always known exactly who you are. You have always known where you’re going in life, you don’t change for anyone. You have always been so kind and loving, which I love, because, sometimes people can be so confused about who they want to be, but yeah, you’ve always known where you want to be. You’re a clear person.
Mackenzie: My favourite thing about you is that since the day that I’ve met you, you’ve always known exactly who you are. You have always known where you’re going in life, you don’t change for anyone. You have always been so kind and loving, which I love, because, sometimes people can be so confused about who they want to be, but yeah, you’ve always known where you want to be. You’re a clear person.
When looking into you both, I came across your page @thebadvillans, which looks super cool. Talk to us about this, What is it and how did it start?
Mackenzie: It’s something that began with a very clear direction, but it has kind of taken the back seat for now. We started it together, then we have just been focusing on our individual goals for a while now. We began the page though, because we were doing a lot of couple modelling before the pandemic with a lot of wedding photographers and stuff like that. So we named that account to model it off of our relationship and to post cute photos, but ones that are in our style. But what we’ve found with wedding photography is that it can be very platone, very romantic and very kissy and that’s not what’s us. We think that we want to rethink the direction in which we want to take that page, because we love taking pictures together, but we want to make it even more our style. We like bikes, we like being sexy and fun.
How would you both describe yourselves as a team?
Mackenzie: I think we’re friends on a daily basis and that’s why we work so well. I think that friendship is the main part of our relationship, and the rest of the things then follow.
Joannes: When it comes to the restaurant, it can become more difficult as there’s more pressure, and the job is kind of stressful - so that’s when we clash, really. You know, we might yell every once in a while. But usually, when we do photoshoots and the more creative stuff, we actually get to enjoy it. Usually during this, the vibe is a lot more chill, but when we work like a normal type of job, it can be difficult. A lot of people think that relationships are always easy and perfect, but nobody is perfect and nothing is easy, you’ve just got to learn to love the devil in them. It’s the challenges that really make the relationships stronger. I don’t know if that answers the question! [laughs]
"You’ve just got to learn to love the devil in them. It’s the challenges that really make the relationships stronger."
Where do you get your creative inspirations from? Music, books?
Joannes: I tend to stay away from books - I’m not much of a reader, but I love listening to music. I listen to a lot of podcasts, too, even motivational ones. But, I think it depends on my mood, if I’m having a down day, I’ll listen to motivational or spiritual stuff, but if I’m happy I’ll listen to stupid stuff.
How are you enjoying wearing BODA SKINS?
Joannes: I think it was 50 Cent that said: “you’re born alone, you die alone,” which is something that I used to always think of. Also, “mess with the best, unlike the rest,” which is a British Army one, this is one that signifies that everyone is equal.
Mackenzie: I would say that mine is, “life is as good as your mindset,” I really do think that life is what you make of it and the mindset that you have reflects the world that you live in… Yeah, I live by that.
