Natalia Forster spent 25 years helping some of advertising's biggest brands find their voice - while quietly losing her own. In this episode, Nat talks about the kindergarten teacher who spotted something different in her at five years old, decades before she had language for it, and the mentor who later made it safe for her to stop performing and lead from her actual self. That shift didn't just change how she felt at work. It grew the business. Nat has never sought a formal diagnosis, and this conversation doesn't try to hand her one. What she does have is 25 years of learning to work with a brain that, in her words, "didn't think in a formulaic way" - and the humor, resilience, and hard-won self-trust to build VOICE, the business therapy lab she now runs for founders, brands, and teams who are ready to stop performing and reconnect with their essence. This is a conversation about masking in rooms that reward polish over honesty, about the specific loneliness of being told your voice creates "noise," and about what happens when someone finally lets you be exactly as unboxable as you are. In This Episode Losing her voice in advertising, then building a company to find it againThe kindergarten teacher who told her mum she'd fail in structured schoolWhy "bad at math" was really "taught the wrong way"Moving to Amsterdam at 24, learning to think in a second language, liveThe mentor who made it safe to be differentMasking as a "performative self": 15 kilos, panic attacksBeing told in meetings she was there "to take notes," not to have opinionsAnia on the double empathy problemOn never being formally diagnosed - and not sure she needs to beBuilding VOICE, and choosing who she works with nowHer mantra in Spanish, fascia exercises in the park, lavender salt bathsQuickfire round: time management, food quirks, fixing the world's schools About Nat ForsterVOICE is the first business therapy lab for brands, teams, and the people who lead them. Founded by Natalia Forster - who goes by Nat, is originally from Argentina, and has called Amsterdam home for 19 years - VOICE grew out of a creative strategy career spanning 25+ years inside agencies including Ogilvy, Wieden+Kennedy, 180, and GUT Amsterdam. It exists on a single belief: most brand and culture problems are human problems, rooted in disconnection from essence. Using a proprietary methodology called VEMM (Voice Essence Map Method), VOICE helps brands, individuals, and teams strip back the noise and find what's actually true about who they are. Nat launched VOICE in September 2025. Website: this-is-voice.comLinkedIn: Natalia Forster Timestamps00:00 Show intro, meet Nat Forster02:35 25 years helping brands find their voice03:21 Losing her voice, founding Voice05:41 Nano moments: when school didn't fit08:03 The kindergarten teacher who saw her12:46 Never diagnosed, still unsure13:39 Ania on the double empathy problem19:37 The mentor who let her flourish25:07 Masking, panic attacks, 15 kilos29:41 Shrinking her voice in the boardroom33:26 Voice today: who she works with35:17 Her strongest ability: humor36:33 Redefining success46:46 Fascia, mantras, and grounding58:37 The book that woke something up1:01:31 Fixing schools, if she ran the world1:02:49 Where to find Nat1:06:56 Outro and thank you Resources Mentioned Untamed by Glennon Doyle - gave her permission to trust her own voiceAtomic Habits by James Clear - taught her to protect the obvious Work With AniaIf something in this conversation resonated, Ania's chemistry call is 30 minutes, no mask required. Book at aniahulsman.com Enjoyed This Episode?A five-star review helps more gloriously unboxable humans find the show. If someone in your world would love this - a founder, a creative, someone quietly tired of performing - please pass it on. Produced by Ania Hulsman. Original jingle by Steve Greenwood.