Episode 20: Natalie Holloway, co-founder & CEO of Bala, on how they built it and how Covid has affected sales
“Not being able to meet demand has been a good problem to have, but I care so much about our customers that I want them to be able to get what they want when they want.”
-Natalie Holloway, co-founder and CEO of Bala
Episode 20 is here! In this episode, I sat down with Natalie Holloway, the co-founder and CEO of Bala. She’s a fellow Austinite, now living in Los Angeles where she and and her husband Max own and operate the company they started in 2018 together. Natalie and I connected for the purpose of this podcast, but we actually have quite a bit in common, so I am looking forward to getting to know her better. She has a fun story to share about how Bala came about, and how they got to appear on Shark Tank and walked away with investments from Mark Cuban and Maria Sharapova. Bala is a fitness company, their hero product being Bala Bangles, which are stylish weighted bands that amplify the fitness benefits of just about any routine. I heard about Bala about a year ago, but it wasn’t until Covid hit that one of my best friends told me I needed these stylish fitness accessories. My mom got me the white 1lb bangles for my birthday, which I immediately slid onto my wrists and did a happy dance. They’re just so fun!
In this episode, we talk about:
Natalie’s background and what she did before Bala came about
the idea of Bala & how their products stand out
uses for Bala products
the meaning of the name Bala
what the beginning of Bala looked like for Natalie & her husband Max in Brooklyn
what working with family is like
new products on the horizon
their experience on Shark Tank
how Covid affected their sales
where they’re sold and how they got such big accounts like Goop, Free People & more
how they market Bala
All about Natalie/Bala:
Natalie Holloway is the co-founder and CEO of Bala. She’s a fellow Austinite, now living in Los Angeles where and and her husband Max own and operate the company together. Bala is a fitness company that Natalie & Max founded in 2018. Their first collection, Bala Bangles, are stylish weighted bands that amplify the fitness benefits of just about any routine. Today their line of fashion-forward fitness products are designed to bring a little something extra to a range of activities. They are carried in over 1000 retail locations worldwide. Their mission is to inspire movement by design.
Where to find Natalie:
Natalie’s IG: https://www.instagram.com/nnholloway/
Bala’s IG: https://www.instagram.com/bala
Bala’s website: https://shopbala.com/
Other resources we mention:
The clip on Shark Tank:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PetyqLnkYmM&t=6s
Workouts on Bala: https://shopbala.com/pages/workouts
If you enjoyed this episode, please head to Apple podcasts, subscribe (so you’ll see each new episode!) and leave a review and a rating: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-fitness-insider/id1485908967#see-all/reviews. This helps others discover my podcast and also provides me with some much needed feedback :)
If you’d like to follow along updates with this podcast, be sure to follow me here:
