Natalie's husband, Dr. Doug, formulated a 7-ingredient balm in a hotel room while preparing for an ultra-marathon. What was meant to be used for himself started as a side-business, and ultimately turned into Natalie leaving a multi-decade career in pharma and biotech to help run the business.

As a team, they eventually earned trust from dermatologists, holistic practitioners, and endurance athletes with their brand Dr. Doug's Balms. She breaks down what it actually takes to scale a wellness brand without compromising values.

The conversation explores education-first e-commerce, resisting “bright shiny objects,” navigating AI’s impact on small brands, and why witnessing your product change lives in person is still the most meaningful KPI.

Guest Bio:

Natalie is the co-founder of Dr. Doug’s Balms, a neurologist-developed body care brand built around clean ingredients, real science, and products people actually finish. With a background in biotech and pharma, she leads brand, education, and growth while her husband, Dr. Doug, a neurologist and endurance athlete, oversees formulation and R&D. Together, they’re building a trusted wellness brand that turns complex science into simple, effective recovery and skincare solutions.

Connect with Natalie:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nygardner
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/drdougsbalms/
Website: https://www.drdougs.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/drdougs/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drdougsbalms
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYKoVKFiUiTi5Jdsx6UOLpQ

Connect with Jordan:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jspensir
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jordanscarroll

Follow Wellness Founders:

Website: https://www.wellnessfounders.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wellnessfounders
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5YjVR6OICHSlx03nsEnNMl
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/wellness-founders-podcast/id1842965990
Buzzsprout: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2531665/free_share_page

Graham Weiner, a landscape designer for billionaires, hostel founder, organic farmer, and probiotic beverage entrepreneur, explains how he uses plants, pollinators, and color to create environments that change how people feel, not just how a place looks.

He walks through his journey from underpaid botanist in Brooklyn to designing gardens for billionaires and eventually building Lost Boyz Hostel and a stack of nature-led businesses in Costa Rica.

Graham also opens up about turning a 24/7 party lifestyle into three and a half years of sobriety, and why he now makes “energetically profitable” his main KPI for business and life.

Throughout the conversation, he highlights community and the five dimensions of health: social, mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual - as the real levers of long-term wellness and fulfillment.

Guest Bio:

Graham Weiner is a Costa Rica–based landscape designer, founder of the iconic Lost Boyz Hostel, and co-creator of an organic farm-to-table experience, and probiotic beverage brand. Trained as a botanist at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, he left the public sector to design high-end private gardens and eventually build a portfolio of nature-centered ventures serving travelers, creators, and wellness seekers. Graham’s story blends regenerative land stewardship, hospitality, and sober entrepreneurship, offering a rare perspective on how to build businesses that nourish both the land and the people on it.

Connect with Graham:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/grays.garden/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/okhrafarms/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/farm.to.table.cr/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/la.pantera.rosa.real/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lostboyzsantateresa/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/graham-weiner/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/graham.weiner

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lostboyzsantateresa

Website: https://www.haciendaokhra.com/

Website: https://www.lostboyzsantateresa.com/

Connect with Jordan:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jspensir

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jordanscarroll

Follow Wellness Founders:

Website: https://www.wellnessfounders.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wellnessfounders

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5YjVR6OICHSlx03nsEnNMl

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/wellness-founders-podcast/id1842965990

Buzzsprout: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2531665/free_share_page

In this episode, we sit down with Laura Munkholm, President & Co-Founder of Walla, to unpack what it really takes to scale a wellness SaaS company without losing your soul (or your customers).

She shares how her background in sports informs her leadership style, how years of consulting in the studio space led to Walla, and what it's been like to take on the 800-pound gorilla in the space, MindBody.

Laura breaks down how their recent round of fundraising is going to fuel their AI studio software innovation, and how they've created a new category of “performance software” for studios that uses data and AI to prescribe action, not just show dashboards.

We also dive into Gen Z’s rewiring of the wellness economy, why studios should market to identities instead of age brackets, and how to build a fast-paced team that stays in their strength zone instead of burning out. If you’re building software for humans with bodies, not just users with logins, this one’s for you.

Guest Bio:

Laura Munkholm is the President and Co-Founder of Walla, an all-in-one software platform built for boutique fitness and wellness studios. A former yoga teacher, studio manager, and consultant, she’s spent two decades in the trenches helping hundreds of studios improve retention, revenue, and client experience. At Walla, she blends her on-the-ground operator experience with product, sales, and data strategy to help founders build profitable, human-centered businesses in the booming wellness economy.

Connect with Laura:

Walla: https://www.hellowalla.com/make-the-switch
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/laura.munkholm/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wallasoftware/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauramunkholm/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/wallasoftware/
Website: https://www.hellowalla.com/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@walla_software
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/laura.munkholm
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wallasoftware
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/
Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/well-well-well/

Connect with Jordan:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jspensir
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jordanscarroll

Follow Wellness Founders:

Website: https://www.wellnessfounders.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wellnessfounders
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5YjVR6OICHSlx03nsEnNMl
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/wellness-founders-podcast/id1842965990
Buzzsprout: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2531665/free_share_page