diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.py b/.github/workflows/ci.py
index a01253e65..c225eae9c 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.py
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.py
@@ -40,6 +40,9 @@ def install_deps():
     if is_bundle:
         install_bundle()
     else:
+        if is_macos:
+            # needed for zlib for pillow, should not be needed after pillow 8.0
+            os.environ['PKG_CONFIG_PATH'] = '/usr/local/opt/zlib/lib/pkgconfig'
         run('pip3 install Pillow pygments')
 
 
diff --git a/Brewfile b/Brewfile
index 7de76cb93..11f1e8e21 100644
--- a/Brewfile
+++ b/Brewfile
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 pkg-config
+zlib
 python
 imagemagick
 harfbuzz