Some people build companies. Others build legacies. Natanya Wachtel is doing both. As the Founder and Chief Strategy Officer of The New Solutions Network, she is reshaping how brands engage, influence, and inspire.
With a background in behavioral science and a no-nonsense approach to marketing, Natanya works exclusively with companies that put purpose before profit. Her work spans across industries—from healthtech pioneers to wellness visionaries—but the common thread remains the same: transformation. After a life-altering health battle, Natanya redefined her path, proving that resilience isn’t just about survival—it’s about reinvention. Today, she’s not just leading brands to success; she’s leading an industry-wide shift toward marketing with meaning. In a world that often feels divided, Natanya is proving that the most powerful solutions are those that bring people together.
Inspired by her unwavering commitment to reshaping the future of business and wellness, we sat down with Natanya to dive deeper into her journey, her vision, and the lessons she’s learned along the way.
Below are the excerpts from the interview:
Natanya Wachtel, you’ve mentioned that your journey through sickness, paralysis, and clinical death profoundly reshaped your perspective on life and business. Can you share how this experience influenced your decision to redefine your company’s structure and business model?
Dying changes you. Being told I might never walk again was a gut punch to everything I thought I knew about strength, resilience, and control. But the real breaking point wasn’t my body—it was the moment I realized I had built a life that was unaligned with what actually mattered.
Before, I played by the rules of corporate success—scaling companies, winning contracts, hitting every milestone that looked good on paper. But when your body literally shuts down on you, you stop chasing things that don’t matter. I didn’t just need to recover—I needed to rebuild from the ground up.
That’s why The New Solutions Network isn’t just another agency or consultancy—it’s a conscious-minded collective. We partner differently than traditional firms because we aren’t in the business of selling hype—we build sustainable, ethical, purpose-driven brands.
- We partner with companies that actually give a damn—from conscious consumer brands to biotech and longevity disruptors.
- We’ve expanded into media, direct-to-consumer products, and services—because real transformation needs to exist outside of corporate boardrooms and in people’s daily lives.
- A marketplace & community are coming next—because connection and shared knowledge are just as important as the solutions themselves.
I had to rebuild myself to survive. The New Solutions Network was built—and rebuilt—to help both individuals and companies do the same: redefine, reinvent, and come back stronger.
The New Solutions Network leverages behavioral science-powered marketing. Can you explain how this approach differs from traditional marketing strategies, and why you believe it’s the “secret sauce” for companies that dream big and do good?
Most marketing today is outdated, noisy, and full of empty promises. It’s brands shouting into the void, hoping their message sticks. But The New Solutions Network isn’t here to play that game. We don’t just market—we build the bridge between what people truly need and what actually works.
Traditional marketing tells people what to think.
Behavioral science-powered marketing helps them connect with what they already feel—what they already want and need.
Most agencies focus on features, benefits, and flashy campaigns. We focus on psychology, identity, and subconscious drivers—but always with integrity.
- It’s not about selling more—it’s about selling better. We work with brands that actually improve people’s lives, not just companies trying to push a product.
- It’s about trust, not tricks. People don’t like being sold to. They like being understood. We help brands communicate in a way that respects their audience’s intelligence and values.
- It’s about closing the gap. If people don’t want something, we ask why—because maybe they shouldn’t. And if they do, we make sure they actually find it.
This is why I’m selective about who we work with. I won’t put my name—or my team’s energy—behind something that isn’t real, useful, and actually worth people’s time and trust.
Because when you build a brand that aligns with human behavior and truly helps people, it stops feeling like marketing. It starts feeling like belonging.
You’ve worked with some of the biggest names in healthcare and healthtech. How do you see behavioral science transforming the future of wellness marketing and customer engagement?
Let’s be clear—behavioral science in marketing isn’t new. I didn’t invent it. But I’ve been at the intersection of psychology, marketing, and health long enough to see how most companies still get it wrong.
Too often, it’s treated as a conversion trick—a way to nudge people into making a purchase. But if you actually want to create lasting behavior change—whether that’s in an individual, an organization, or an entire industry—you have to go deeper than dopamine triggers and habit loops.
I don’t just understand this from a marketing perspective—I understand it because I’ve lived it. I’ve been the patient navigating a broken system. I’ve been the entrepreneur building solutions from the ground up. And I’ve been the strategist guiding global brands, enterprises, and industry leaders to rethink how they connect with the people they serve.
That’s what The New Solutions Network is about. We’re not just a company. We’re a network, a collective, a family of organizations working at every level:
For brands & enterprises: We help legacy brands, Fortune 500s, and disruptive startups rethink consumer engagement and build movements, not just marketing plans.
For organizations & industries: We work with healthtech, wellness, life sciences, and emerging sectors to reshape the way companies interact with consumers on a large scale.
For individuals & communities: Through direct-to-consumer brands, media platforms, and transformation-driven initiatives, we help people make better choices for their health, identity, and future.
Behavioral science is just one piece of the puzzle. If the system itself is broken—if the product, service, or experience doesn’t actually serve people—no amount of “good marketing” will fix it.
People don’t want to be “optimized.” They want to be seen. They don’t want to be “converted.” They want solutions that fit their real lives.
At The New Solutions Network, we don’t just use behavioral science. We use it responsibly—to help brands, businesses, and individuals build something real.
Because at the end of the day, marketing doesn’t heal people. But the right information, delivered at the right time, in the right way? That can change everything.
As an advisor to companies like Philter Tech, ViTel Health, and Reju, what common threads do you see in the challenges faced by startups and established businesses in the healthtech space? How do you guide them toward sustainable growth?
There’s no single formula for sustainable growth. If there were, everyone would be doing it. The reality is, every company has its own challenges, its own blind spots, and its own lessons to learn the hard way.
But from what I’ve seen—both as someone who’s built companies and as someone who’s been on the receiving end of these systems as a patient—one of the biggest struggles is the disconnect between innovation and real-life adoption.
- I’ve seen brilliant companies with groundbreaking technology struggle because their audience didn’t understand how to integrate it into their lives.
- I’ve seen mission-driven founders burn out because they built something incredible—but had no strategy to reach the people who needed it most.
- I’ve seen enterprise brands try to pivot into wellness or healthtech, only to fail because they assumed the same old marketing tricks would work in a space that demands trust.
At The New Solutions Network, we work across startups, enterprise, and disruptive brands, helping them find where the friction is and figure out how to actually connect with the people they’re trying to serve.
For some, that means rethinking their entire brand story—because if people don’t trust you, they won’t buy in.
For others, it’s about understanding why their audience isn’t engaging—because most of the time, it’s not that people don’t care, it’s that there’s a barrier they haven’t considered.
These are big, layered questions and I don’t pretend to have all the answers. What I do know is that the companies that take the time to get this right—the ones who actually listen, adapt, and build with human behavior in mind—are the ones that don’t just grow. They last.
Your collaboration with groups like The Chopra Foundation and other leaders in psychedelics and innovative treatment paradigms is groundbreaking. How do you see integrative medicine and Western science intersecting, and what role do you believe they will play in the future of health and wellness?
The real question isn’t if Western science and integrative medicine will intersect. It’s how long we’ll keep pretending they’re separate before we finally admit they’ve always been part of the same equation.
Because here’s the truth: The human body doesn’t care about our academic silos, our medical politics, or whether a treatment is “conventional” or “alternative.” The body only cares about what works.
We are long past the point where we can afford to think in binaries. Western medicine vs. Eastern medicine. Clinical vs. holistic. Science vs. spirituality. Pharmaceuticals vs. psychedelics. These are false choices—artificial barriers that have done more harm than good. We need all the tools in the toolbox.
That’s where my work comes in. I’m not a medical doctor. I’m not a licensed therapist. But I am a bridge—between disciplines, between cultures, between ancient wisdom and cutting-edge science. And if there’s one thing I know, it’s that people—whether they’re patients, practitioners, researchers, or companies—need guidance in navigating this space responsibly.
- I work with the leaders shaping this space—from seeing what can be done with The Chopra Foundation to psychedelic researchers, neuroscientists, behavioral scientists, and indigenous medicine practitioners.
- I help companies bringing new solutions to market—ensuring they communicate responsibly and ethically, without feeding into hype or misinformation.
- I advise individuals, practitioners, and organizations seeking to integrate these modalities—helping them understand the science, the culture, and the real-world applications.
And here’s what I know: The future of health and wellness isn’t about choosing one path over another. It’s about integrating the best of all worlds.
Psychedelics have shown profound potential in treating depression, PTSD, addiction, and existential distress.
Indigenous healing traditions have preserved thousands of years of knowledge about plant medicine and the mind-body connection.
Behavioral science helps us understand why people resist change, why they seek healing, and what actually helps them shift.
But no one modality has all the answers. And that’s the point.
The biggest challenge isn’t scientific—it’s cultural. We’re up against stigma, misinformation, regulatory barriers, and the deep-seated fear of change.
That’s why this work isn’t just about healing—it’s about education, advocacy, and shifting the entire conversation.
At The New Solutions Network, we take an evidence-based approach to everything we do. But evidence doesn’t just come from clinical trials—it comes from lived experience, from indigenous knowledge, from centuries of healing traditions that have worked long before modern medicine acknowledged them.
If we want real progress, we need to stop asking “What’s the right approach?” and start asking “How do we bring them all together?”
And if you’re navigating this space—whether as a leader, a company, a practitioner, or an individual—I help make sense of it. Not just the science, but the strategy, the ethics, and the future.
Because the future of health isn’t about one answer. It’s about a better question.
You’re actively involved with organizations like Women Who Create, Inspiring My Generation, and CreateIt Labs. How do these roles align with your mission at The New Solutions Network, and what impact do you hope to create through these initiatives?
I’ve always believed that success isn’t just about what you build—it’s about what you give back, who you empower, and how you use your influence to create opportunities for others.
That’s why my involvement with Women Who Create, Inspiring My Generation, and CreateIt Labs isn’t just about supporting causes—it’s about actively integrating impact into everything I do, from business strategy to media to community building.
Women Who Create is dedicated to empowering women of color in creative fields through mentorship, funding, and access to industry networks. Too often, the creative economy leaves behind brilliant, underrepresented voices—this organization is about reshaping that narrative and creating real career opportunities.
Inspiring My Generation, founded by Francesca Reicherter, is a leading force in youth mental health advocacy. Their work is critical because awareness isn’t enough—young people need tangible tools, financial access, and support networks to navigate mental health challenges. I support them because mental health should never be a privilege.
CreateIt Labs is about revitalizing hands-on skills and bringing back the trades. It’s a nonprofit innovation hub that gives people access to cutting-edge fabrication technology, training, and mentorship. We talk a lot about the future of work, but if we don’t invest in the people who actually build, make, and invent, we’re failing entire generations.
And this philosophy of impact-driven work extends into my media division.
When we built The Natanya Experience, we didn’t just create a show—we created a platform that requires a commitment to giving back. If you want to be on the show, you don’t just show up and talk—you make a donation, you invest in change, you actively contribute to something bigger than yourself.
Because to me, media isn’t just about visibility—it’s about responsibility. Every story we amplify should lead to real-world action, real funding for change, and real opportunities for people who need them.
At The New Solutions Network, we don’t just talk about making an impact. We build business models that make it non-negotiable.
This is the bigger picture—funding the future, reinvesting resources, and making sure that for every dollar we bring in, there’s a path for how it gets multiplied into something meaningful.
You’ve described your work as a bridge between science, innovation, and human transformation. What does success look like to you now, compared to when you were navigating the corporate maze earlier in your career?
I wasn’t always skilled at playing the corporate game—at least not in the way it was designed. The rules felt rigid, limiting, and often outdated. I was a divergent thinker, outspoken, drawn to the bigger picture—and that wasn’t always welcome in environments that valued structure over disruption.
For years, success looked like climbing the ladder, winning the contracts, collecting the titles. And I did all of that. But if you spend enough time inside a system that wasn’t built for the kind of impact you want to make, you start to question why you’re following its rules at all.
Now? Success isn’t just about what I achieve—it’s about what I create that allows others to thrive.
- Before, success was personal. Now, it’s shared.
- Before, it was about recognition. Now, it’s about whether the work I build outlives me.
- Before, it was about gaining access. Now, it’s about creating spaces where more people can step in, lead, and be heard.
Success today isn’t about reaching the top of an outdated system. It’s about building something better—something that works for the people engaging with it, that respects their time, energy, and contributions, and that creates real, lasting value.
Because at the end of the day, it’s not about whether I “won.” It’s about whether the people involved—the partners, the clients, the communities—actually gained something meaningful, something sustainable, something that elevated them in some way.
That’s what we’re building at The New Solutions Network. Not just business success—but systems, platforms, and strategies that create real, lasting impact.
What’s next for The New Solutions Network? Are there any upcoming projects or initiatives that you’re particularly excited about?
We’re on the edge of something big. Multiple things, actually.
Because what we’re building isn’t just a business expansion—it’s a movement that fuses media, behavioral science, wellness, and sustainability in a way that hasn’t been done before.
Media Expansion with The Natanya Experience
The Natanya Experience isn’t just a show—it’s a cultural disruptor. We’re rolling out sub-series that take conversations about mental health, power, and resilience to places the mainstream won’t touch:
Psych & Hip Hop—where we dissect the psychology of survival, success, and struggle through hip hop culture.
Behind the Service—unpacking the mental health struggles of those who keep the hospitality industry running.
Organized Minds—where we explore the psychology of high-stakes professions, from law enforcement to organized crime, revealing the resilience, stress, and survival tactics that shape their worlds.
Game Mindset—unpacking the behavioral science of competition, risk, and decision-making, from elite athletes to high-level entrepreneurs, showing how mental conditioning separates the best from the rest.
And here’s the difference: We don’t just start conversations. We change the conversation. Every story we tell has a mission, a deeper layer, a reason it matters.
Talk Dirty to Your Brain – The Book That Hijacks Your Mind (For Good)
This isn’t self-help. It’s self-reprogramming.
Ever feel like your brain is working against you? That’s because it is. Marketing, media, your own survival instincts—it’s all designed to keep you on autopilot.
Talk Dirty to Your Brain teaches you how to hack the system before it hacks you.
- Learn how to make your own brain crave better choices.
- Understand why willpower is a lie—and what actually drives behavior change.
- Flip the script on fear, decision fatigue, and mental roadblocks so you control your mind—not the other way around.
This book is built on behavioral science, neurolinguistics, and years of decoding what actually makes people take action. It’s Tim Ferriss meets The Art of War, but for your brain. And once you understand the game? You never unsee it.
I can’t say too much yet, but I’m also excited to be teaming up with my friend Dave Tarnowski, the creator of Disappointing Affirmations’ brilliant and darkly hilarious take on traditional self-help. If you’ve ever seen those viral posts of peaceful, scenic backdrops paired with brutally honest or slightly unhinged affirmations, that’s Dave.
Dave built a massive following by flipping positive psychology on its head, and now he has a book, stationery line, and other collaborations in the works.
For Talk Dirty to Your Brain, we’re fusing that same irreverent, sharp-witted approach with behavioral science-challenging the tropes of self-help while giving people something that actually works.
The reality is transformation isn’t always wrapped in a perfect, uplifting quote. Sometimes, you need to laugh at your own contradictions, call out your own BS, and learn how to rewire your mindset in a way that sticks. That’s the energy we’re bringing to this book and audio book and movement!
The Future of Wellness: Science-Backed, But Make It Sexy
We’re creating a lifestyle wellness brand that’s Huberman meets Martha Stewart—because wellness should be luxurious, grounded in science, and actually fun.
We’re talking:
- Supplements that work like an IV and have clinical data—not ones that just look pretty on a shelf.
- Healing experiences that bring the best of global traditions together—clinically validated, culturally rich.
- Sustainability as the foundation, not the afterthought.
This is wellness for people who don’t just want to feel better—they want to understand why it works.
One of the things I’m most excited about with The New Solutions Network 3.0 is we’re all working alongside friends- most people we’ve known for years, in different capacities, who are now coming together for something bigger.
Over time, we have all taken different paths, built our own successes, and faced our own setbacks, but now, we’re reconnecting. Some of us are ahead in certain areas, some are still climbing, but that part doesn’t matter. It’s about what we’re building together-we call it ‘We Formation’ like military-style.
It’s a full-circle moment to be able to collaborate with people I trust, who bring their own genius to the table, and who share the same drive for impact.
Besides, we are working with many celebrities, athletes and former government and service people, like Mike Dowd, to bring personal stories to life in ways never before executed in the publishing world leveraging our native AI and authentic, visceral storytelling approach to biographies. We are bridging culturally divided worlds together, to help us all see one another and connect, via our new social integration campaign, started by me and Dowd called ‘The Merge’.
These aren’t just surface-level stories; they are deep dives into resilience, reinvention, and the unexpected paths to success.
The best part? I get to tell these stories alongside the very people who inspire me! So it is not just business, it’s personal, and that makes all the difference.
Mentorship seems to be a cornerstone of your work. What advice would you give to aspiring entrepreneurs who are looking to break barriers in their industries?
I’ve been a mentor, I’ve been a mentee, and sometimes I’ve been both in the same conversation. I’ve never seen mentorship as a one-way street—it’s an exchange. Some of the best insights I’ve ever had have come from people I was “supposed” to be teaching.
Now, as I approach 50, I don’t feel like I’m slowing down—I feel like I’m just getting started. Maybe that’s because I fought to get my health back. Maybe it’s because I wake up every day with a sense of curiosity and wonder that makes everything feel new again. Either way, I think that mindset is the real key—not just in business but in life.
So if I had to share anything with the next wave of founders, disruptors, and changemakers, it would be this:
- Stay curious. The second you think you “know” everything, you stop growing. The best leaders I’ve met are the ones who are always learning.
- There’s no perfect roadmap. If you don’t see a clear way forward, that doesn’t mean you’re lost—it means you’re in uncharted territory. And that’s where the best ideas are born.
- Your energy is everything. Protect it, invest in it, and don’t buy into the myth that burnout is just part of success.
- Find your people. The ones who challenge you, push you, and remind you why you started when you feel like giving up.
- Aging is a mindset. I don’t think getting older means losing your edge—I think it means knowing how to sharpen it.
I don’t have all the answers. But I’ve learned that when you stay open—to new ideas, to new perspectives, to new ways of thinking—you don’t just grow. You evolve. And to me, that’s what real success looks like.
Join the movement with IMPAAKT—redefine success, reinvent impact, and build something that lasts.
