Casey Berglund:
What does it take to build something incredible from nothing and then know when it's time to step back or hand over the reins?
Today I'm in conversation with Natalie Batlle, the visionary founder of Juno House Club, the women's membership club that has become a sanctuary for so many ambitious, soulful and creative women from all over the world. These are the exact women that I have brought to you through this series. Natalie shares her experience of going from being a first-time founder building something fast without a playbook to transitioning out of the CEO role into a more strategic position as chairwoman and how she's learning to embrace the season of soul-searching and reflection. We talk about the evolution of leadership, the gift of creating space for others, even when you can't always enjoy it in the same way yourself and what it means to honor both the vision and the journey. This is a conversation about daring to build, learning to let go and trusting that what you've created indeed has a life of its own.
What does it really take to create calm, purposeful success that feels good in your body? I'm Casey Berglund, TEDx speaker, author, coach and your host of The Purpose Map Podcast brought to you by Worthy and Well.
Welcome back to the show. I want to take a quick moment to thank you, to thank you for being here, for living and for supporting this work. If you've been enjoying these conversations, please take a moment to mind load the show and leave a rating or review. It genuinely makes a difference in helping these stories reach the people who need to hear them, too. And now here's my conversation with the incredible Natalie Batlle.
Casey Berglund:
Are you a first-time founder, which you know, or have you had other businesses in the past?
Natalie Batlle:
I am a first-time founder, which for those of us who kind of study this as an industry, you know, like founder culture, that's the really good and really bad thing, and like of those of us who kind of been on this road, you would go, "Oh my gosh, so she's only good. Her next project would be so much better." Like, "Founder, you know, get her, get her, get her where she needs to go because, you know, second-time founders and you've got the wisdom and you've got the chops and you can really go." First-time founders, we're figuring it out on the way. And the way in it, you know, Juno House, yeah, was not only my first project as a founder, but it was also an innovative, call it disruptive model that didn't have a playbook. So we also weren't copying something, we were creating something. We were creating a concept, we're creating a movement, we're creating a community and all of these things didn't come with a kind of like pre-established rule book. So there was a lot of growing pains along the way. We literally opened our doors in 2022 on Women's Day. That was for the beautiful day. It was a day that we created our library, and it was the day that we actually wanted to not get in the library. She invited all of our first members and partners to come and dedicate a book. Some of our authors just like you, you know, the community of writers and I remember that day also being the day that we got the keys from the contract and imagining the keys from the contract when you buy a house, imagine on this amount of space and size and complexity and remember looking at Carla who's always been living from, from right hand. She's always overseen ops and being like, "I hope we can figure out how to use the lights before everybody comes in." It was just everything at once. This was always a project that really I think required a certain daredevil capacity to be in it, to lead it and now I think that we're looking for a little bit more stability as we kind of go into scaling mode and impact mode and because I do like to kind of break things along the way and take chances. I'm also really looking forward to me moving into chairwoman and also having a little more space for new projects because I don't want to lose that part of me, which is a little bit eager to shake, shake, shit up.
Casey Berglund:
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Makes so much sense. Something that I shared in the very first episode of this series where I shared more of my story was how you know, I chose moving to Spain, I chose to move to Spain for love after my dad died. Like there was like so many things happening at once and something I shared in that first episode was that there's this saying in the trauma world that's like, "Anything too much, too fast, too soon is trauma." And it made me reflect on like, oh my gosh, when it comes to manifesting big things in life or entrepreneurship, it's like you're going after a dream and there's so much that can happen at once, but like at what point does that look too much for the system? And it just is, it makes me curious if you ever felt like this project was like too much, too fast, too soon, all at once.
Natalie Batlle:
That's really interesting. I want to kind of like go back to that after we, after we're done recording and I would get more information about who came up with that theory because I feel like it'd be really good for me right now to study it. Um, yeah, I think that there's phases, right? I think in the beginning I had so much adrenaline and I wanted this so badly and it was just like in Spanish, voluntad, like will, you know, like I willed Juno I think into manifestation. You know, it was the day I met Eva, like I followed her into a corner after and she was presenting at a, "Yes, I know. It's like I must meet you. I must say about my project, you will be on board." Happened, you know, Leana got stuck here because of the quarantine. She couldn't go back to New York, you know. It's like my interior designer. I met her by chance and it was, so we're both almost in tears because we just knew that we were going to do this project together. We had a shared creative vision. Carla and I were friends from the park kids, you know, investors had a relationship with my father. It was like very in a way that, you know, all this building blocks is it, I can see this moving, this has to be, this is a building, let's go. I think in the beginning I wasn't conscious of any kind of trauma, even though I think I was probably carrying a lot within me because I was so ready and but passionate and was going to make it happen, either at any cost that it was going to work, we're going to build community, we're going to build a brand, we're going to change other's lives. And they had that north star very clear. I think now that I'm like slowing down a little bit compared to perhaps a pace that was at six months ago, some of that trauma is beginning to be more, I can feel that more.
Casey Berglund:
Yeah, thank you for sharing this. There's so much to what you just said. I can witness the Juno woman in you and I say that intentionally with emphasis because I recall you telling me what Juno means and where that comes from and you said something about like a warrior woman. And when you spoke about, "I had this vision," you're holding this energy of absolute certainty which from a manifestation perspective, I think the universe really likes. Like, she is not backing down no matter what. So, like, here we go calling in this and that and the other thing. And also a gift that I think is an inherently feminine gift is like intuition and inner knowing and like really trusting that. So, I see that you totally had that and that was absolutely necessary for the space to be in existence. And I guess the the piece of the too much, too fast, too soon is like our head and our commitment and our will, you use the word will, totally works to bring something in, but then where's the space for the body to then process at some point? And it's natural for in a moment that's a bit slower for the body and the nervous system to be catching up and for you to be like moving through some of the sensations of like what the hell you just did in the last three years, you know, and what is happening now? So, I'm curious in this slower season, what have you noticed or learned about yourself that maybe you didn't have the space to see before?
Natalie Batlle:
I think I'm really just getting into it, you know. I think that I'm noticing again maybe more clearly what I don't want to do versus what I do want to do. I'm realizing how much I enjoy nature. You know, like this weekend, we went to the mountains. We're going to the mountains a lot as a family. It's kind of like a happy place and we're, you know, foraging for wild mushrooms, which is like so not really me, but kind of like I guess really who I am now because I just couldn't get enough of it. It was so therapeutic walking, you know, walking, walking, walking, looking for mushrooms. They're so hard to find and it's so gratifying when you find them and they taste delicious that are Williams and with my son and like he's getting so much joy out of it. I'm getting so much joy out of it. I'm getting so much joy out of that that he is so clever. So, I'm really enjoying that family time, I think, right now and noticing about me that I like, I really like nature, I really like that. So, that's something I think I want to move into a little bit more and and yeah, but I think it's still early on my path. I don't, I don't think I'm enlightened yet. I think this is still an early interview compared to maybe where I could be in a year.
Casey Berglund:
I can't wait to chat with you a year from now. We should have a follow-up and see what else has evolved. So, yeah, time with family, space and presence in nature and it makes perfect sense to me that your body would appreciate that slowing down a little bit after, after putting your heart and soul into this project. Yeah. So another thing that stands out to me about your story that I think the listener will really resonate with because I know that there are a lot of mothers who are either exploring entrepreneurship or in the deep end of entrepreneurship and I just think it's an important conversation to have around how you as a mother navigate the integration of family life and entrepreneurship and I would imagine that this is actually something you've probably talked about so much, but I'm curious to hear what your thoughts are on it at this stage.
Natalie Batlle:
So I always say you can have it all, that you definitely can't have at the same time. I don't think that's my quote. I think it's a pretty famous quote that I've adopted that it resonates with and it's just real, you know. You just can't have everything at the same time. You can't. You can't have the kids happy and the husband happy and the house clean and your business thriving and working out and seeing friends and, you know, looking amazing on the same day. At least I can't. I don't know if any women really you can. I think it's really important of me as a community so, so especially within our Juno Woman community, you know, that's growing that we don't, that we're really like open about where and how to prioritize I think work life balance that's been incredibly hard for me and like I said before when I was really in that founder, builder, CEO role, the micro-management of the amount of work that I had every day, like the detail of the work I was doing, made it impossible to ever leave my phone even in the other room, right? Not only because of demands between clients or between customer service or if between social media, right, but then real things like how would an alarm goes off and Carla can't get a hold of me, you know, or when the girl's names their keys and that's happened before, you know, I remember traveling and nobody at peace did Juno and if you can, each disaster was just like a random day that everybody kind of messed up and it was okay and we got over it. And so now then trying to be more present at work, that balance with my kids, I am really intentionally trying to just leave specifically my phone and not so close to me at all times. I think that's not a lot of damage to myself as a leader and my confidence kind of because I think you get bombarded with information and it's like never enough. You can't turn off this hyper-digitalization and I'm really aware now that my children are getting older, you know. Close to nine, half, Elliot six and a half, you know, Alec especially is like, "Mommy, you're always on your phone. Could you please look at me?" And and those comments happen when they get a little bit older and you realize the way that that year is coming out. So, I think that for me right now, you can't have it all at the same time, but you can makes, you can take ownership of where you're kind of dropping the ball and for me, it's been way too attached to my phone, to this company and not as engaged with my, with my family, which is really important.
Casey Berglund:
Yeah, when your son says that to you, "You're on your phone a lot. Can you please look at you, look at me?" How does that feel inside? Like what happens internally?
Natalie Batlle:
Oh, it's a total like, like, I'm like, get tear. I'm thinking about it. It's like a total, you know, gut, gut punch. Yeah, I think that all moms and dads have probably had that. I think that some people are just better at it, you know, and it also depends on the load that you're carrying and this goes back to entrepreneurship and I talk a lot about founder therapy, like that's kind of my spiel and more of a, you know, personal brand, like everything is important at time. You just especially have this therapy session in between us because there's just a different set of benchmarks when you're really in business for yourself, when you're carrying the weight of that. So, it's not as easy as in guarantee phone to somebody who's employed and it's not that anyone's more important, it's just the reality of that burden. So, what I do with my son actually now, and it's really fun, is that now if that happens, of course, I'm more aware of it. I could try to get my phone, but also I'm talking to him a little bit more about what an entrepreneur is, what I mean to create something and it's also that he has a bit of perspective of where I am as well because I want him to know that, you know, but Mommy's working and Mommy's building things and like that's that interesting to learn about, too. So, it's really fun. We're having a little more of a dialogue. Yeah, and either day we were because he loves to, you know. He said, "The Moon Blue Juno House," and there's a good income food class and Little Juno. We went led by a member, really great and after, "Sick. How did you make, Mmm?" And it was so sweet. It was just so cute and it was like I think that kids also especially with their parents want to know what their parents do. So maybe involving them a little bit more.
Casey Berglund:
Yeah, that makes so much sense and in those moments, I imagine assuring him to like, "Mommy loves you," like, you know, little, like kids make up stories about why their parents are acting a certain way that are completely not the truth, you know, like stories about their own self-worth or their love ability or whatever. And I mean, it takes an adult having gone to a lot of therapy to realize like, oh, it was because of this thing when I was little and etcetera, but it's kind of beautiful to embrace, I'm in a season of sort of embracing the beautiful mess of humanity and how you know, and how imperfect everything really is and I think as someone who has been a perfectionist and wants to like control all the details, it's been a big hard lesson to like let go and surrender and love the parts of myself that feel kind of shadowy and shameful. And I think it's allowed me to offer more compassion and grace to other people and it's amazing to hear how you can, you can teach your son that, too and how beautiful that you received that recognition from him, like or at least a curiosity. "How did you build this?" Like,
Natalie Batlle:
Yeah, like a little bit, I think I've been kind of giving back to when you kind of think about it. Yeah, in a little way, but in in I don't mean him, I mean like his but I think that curiosity that only children can give you which is really sweet and which is what you miss when you're on your phone the whole day.
Casey Berglund:
Yeah, yeah and knowing a little bit more of your story in many ways, it was your kids that inspired this whole project in the first place. So it'll be so beautiful as they get older that they, they receive that, too, you know. How much can you share about what's next either for you personally or for Juno or other projects, like even little teasers?
Natalie Batlle:
I think I don't have 100% mapped out where I'm going right now. I'm doing and I am beginning, beginning to get my myself back into a little bit strategic consulting but really niche when it comes to helping people and companies understand the importance of the woman to woman ecosystem and movement and really thinking about not only because I think there's already so many thought leaders specifically with DEI and gender equality and more the corporate part of that purpose but also would be helping companies understand like the mission from a marketing perspective. So, I'm getting back into the brand consultancy which feels good for me. I'm so very dedicated to Juno, so Juno is not going anywhere and, you know, Juno is always going to be a huge part of my of me and I imagine the company. So what Juno are more focus is on our growth. So, for example, we're doing a pop-up in our Baya and we did our first pop-up in Madrid last year. I'm overseeing that part of the company as we kind of see what we can do outside of our physical house and how we can get to a new city in the right way in the right form and make the most impact. And then, yeah, I mean, there's a couple projects I'm working on that are more creative. You know, I'm a writer, I am, that's mean, always and there's been so much that I've written over the years. I've never organized. So, there's going to probably be something that comes out in that kind of a medium. I'm not sure exactly how, but there is something I think to look forward to.
Casey Berglund:
Like fiction, non-fiction, poetry, what kind of writing?
Natalie Batlle:
Question because I would never think that I would write fiction. Like if you could know that as a writer and as a creative writer always at best, right? In school, that's what I studied in college, you know, me, but I never would think, "Oh, I'm going to write a book. I'm never going to write a book on the right fiction, right novel." That would have been so far fetched, could ask me that a couple years ago and for some reason I am like really feeling yeah fiction right now, but I don't know. I mean, this is this is super, everyone listening, this is not holding me accountable. Understanding that the creative brain is a manifesting things and we're going for it. I just have a lot that I want to share and not so much from, you know, autobiographical. I've told them no a little bit more.
Casey Berglund:
I got many waves of chills as we were talking about fiction and there's a reason why I brought that forth because I can totally see it or feel it. It seems kind of counterintuitive given your like depth and breadth of experience and given how you like hold yourself, but it almost feels like, "Oh, yeah, what's the fictional side of now Natalie's brain?" Like, I see it and I hope that you do that.
Natalie Batlle:
I hope so, too. I think there's something there, maybe, you know, I'll get some work done the next couple months that I have some help with my new PA, you know, and get some order, some order. But, yeah, no, I think there's just a lot of stories to be told and one thing I will say is that growing up, and I've had different lives, you know, the New York, San Francisco. I worked in politics. I come from creative advertising belt, you know, over in tech, you know. I believe a lot that this nonlinear path that I've had and it's always been connected by storytelling and the grants by creating movements, you know, by creating brand purpose. And I think that now as I move into more strategic consultancy side that's great because that makes sense and that's something very easy that I can do that I love to do because I love to believe in advertising. So yeah, if I have anybody with their company or their branding or their marketing, I'll do that with joy and it comes easy to me. But I don't always do things that come easy to me or else I wouldn't be here. So it would be very probably not like me just to move only to consulting and there's this creative side that there's a story that wants to be told and I think that the way I want to write it will be a little bit more with humor and fiction, a little bit less reality. So, we'll see.
Casey Berglund:
I can't wait to read that and I know you said, I know, I know you said, "Don't hold me accountable," yeah, like a Substack, even, let's see it.
Natalie Batlle:
That is, that is something that might happen. I'll ask for your help with that.
Casey Berglund:
That is my invitation to you is to start somewhere. I want to read your writing. Okay, yeah, big time because that that's, I like that accessible. It could grow that way. It could build natural desire for whatever comes after the Substack, you know, like a great marketing tool. I'm just planting some seeds.
Natalie Batlle:
I love it. I mean, I think you have a lot of wisdom, too, but it's really fun to kind of think about what's next. I will say that my husband here would be like, "Break, break." He'd say, "Break, Natalie. You have a tendency to only think about like magnificent, like magnificent, but complicated and big things," which is amazing. It's how we got Juno, you know, but also sometimes on a personal level, I can think so much about that big vision that it can be a little bit hard to start. So, I'm also embracing the fact that this is probably one of the first times in my life, that's my career, that I have a little bit of a moment to do some soul-searching and think really strategically about where I want to go but that it's not always the most comfortable for someone like me because I love to do. So, the reflection is, we'll come back a year.
Casey Berglund:
I was just thinking that. I'm like, there will be something written by then and yeah, and I think it's people naturally go through this season and these moments of just being with themselves, sitting, reflecting and I think that's so valuable, like just being in silence or being in nature, being back with kids and all of that is part of the process of the soul-searching. I love it. You know, specifically for me, when I get to come in after there's been this like inspiration and this deeper sort of knowing and then it's the time for building whatever is new and being like a collaborative partner or a mirror and like pulling out that person's wisdom and what they've integrated in that time because it's so special and it's like such a beautiful moment that I think it's important to not rush through. Yeah, so I'm excited for you. Yeah, as we wrap up, I'm curious what I haven't asked you that you wish I would have asked you because there's an important final message to share.
Natalie Batlle:
I think, you know, because you're part of our community, right, and which I love and I love being able to really get to know you more as well. So, thank you for having me on the podcast. I would ask kind of a little bit for both of us to kind of finish by saying a little bit because I know you went back to Canada, you know, and what did you take from being a Juno woman and living this movement here with me but really with the girls and the team and the other members. I'd love to kind of, I said I never get to hear it enough. So, I'd be really curious about your
Casey Berglund:
You ready for this? I can go off. Yeah, well, let's see what comes out. After seven or eight months of grief and loneliness and not having a single friend here in Barcelona as someone who prides herself on making strangers friends, like I think it's my superpower to meet people and to connect people and to be part of an ecosystem, a synergistic ecosystem of humans, good humans. I collect good humans. Not having that for longer than I ever have in my life and then walking into Juno and immediately crying because I was like, "These are the women." And I knew it from the moment I stepped in. "This is the space. These are the women." And so what I want to share is I could feel the intentionality and the thoughtfulness in every aspect of the design of the space to who you were calling in or manifesting as being part of Juno and not everyone is the same by any means. There's a diverse group of women, but what I see is there's a rootedness in being worldly. Even the local women have traveled and have experienced other cultures. There's this commitment to authenticity and purpose. There is a huge entrepreneurial spirit, which I love, even among the women who are in corporate spaces. They're like floating ideas or innovating and I think I'm blown away when you talked about how there wasn't a playbook for this. It's like, "Oh god, I just love when people create things that didn't exist before." And it made me imagine how like, yeah, like really how many women spaces are there in the world that is even remotely close to this. Like, there are women spaces, but in my eyes, like I've sat in a lot of them. I've sat in the spiritual women circles, I've sat in psychedelic medicine journeys. I've sat in entrepreneurial circles. I created a community called Play Big, Play Big and Jam with my friend Aislin in Canada that was all about supporting women with like getting on bigger stages or using their voice, but I've never been in one physical space filled with the crème de la crème of those women, my women. So I walked in and I cried because I'm also really freaking intuitive because I knew and I signed up that week and I just knew. And because of Juno, this podcast exists and this podcast is curated with women that I have not just touched the surface with. I have deeply connected with. I have moved in some way. I have spilled my heart out to when I was in the rock-bottom moments. I have held space for, I have coached, I have guided, I have, we've gone deep and so not a single person in this series is just someone I met here and never had a conversation with or never met outside of here as well. And I am going to cry because I'm leaving soon, you know. And as I prepare for that though, it feels so correct and right. You know, my partner and I going back to Canada, taking care of our moms, having a family of our own, grounding in. I, I feel this preemptive grief that is coming to me as I prepare to leave because this doesn't exist where I'm going to yet and it may not ever, but I am taking forward maybe a reclamation of my own capacity to bring beautiful women together and to create synergistic connections and to honor not just their intellect and brilliance, but their heart and soul and embodiment and I feel as though maybe this is the reason why I came to Barcelona truly, you know. I'm so honored to have been able to share that reflection with you.
Natalie Batlle:
I mean truly as, as the creator of this, there's days where I feel like I just didn't get to live experience and on Juno, I didn't. I was always operating and fixing and making it better or you know, there's so many, there's so much problem solving and troubleshooting that I had those early years, especially that I think that kind of taking your reflection with me as a lot of motivation, but also as you know, the nice testimony that makes me feel so found. I'm also incredibly fulfilled. Say that part of my journey right now is also enjoying and becoming a Juno woman for myself. Exactly, knowing many more women from the community more profoundly. I think that, you know, I created Juno House because I wanted this space for myself. It was a very entrepreneurs. We do things because we want them, you know, and it was like, "It doesn't exist. I miss New York. I missed incredible women who are bold and kind and took care of themselves and that were complex and that were funny, but that were also spiritual or eccentric," you know. There's all of these different women archetypes that I felt like I didn't have access to in Barcelona when I moved back from New York. And so you absolutely to me represent Juno Woman spirit that, you know, we imagine when we built this. So thank you and I'm really thrilled that it was part of your journey here and part of what made you above and feel part of Barcelona and you never know, I mean, that's what we're trying to do, you know, that's where I am. I double, I still believe that Juno has a really far way to go. I say to yeah, and I want to enjoy it also. I really do. Yeah.
Casey Berglund:
And I hope you just like, we end here and you let that really sink into your bones. Like what I shared as a celebration of everything up until this point because I don't think that we celebrate enough what we've built as founders. It's easy to look for what's next and create the next vision, but I think there's moments of pause to really be in the goodness of what it is.
Natalie Batlle:
Thank you.
Casey Berglund:
You're welcome. Um, I so appreciate you listening to today's conversation with Natalie. Her story may have inspired you to reflect on your own career, own journey, where you're building, where you're letting go, where you're allowing yourself to simply be. If you want to learn more about Juno House Club or connecting with Natalie, you can check out her links in the show notes and of course, if this episode resonated with you, if you share it with someone who's navigating their own founder journey or learning to step into a new season of their work. Speaking of loving into a new season of work, I'd love to support you if you're looking for that, for the guidance. I have a free training, "Grained: Your Pathway to a Calm, Purposeful Career or Business that Fuels a Life You Love," especially after a burnout, breakdown or big, like a big. So I made this a person who is wanting something more fulfilled, a deeper in alignment, like their true nature and their new definite success in this season. So you can find a link to that training in the show notes channel. I can't wait to talk with you, talk, speak. Take good care.
