What if the reason you feel tired, unseen, or disconnected in your business has nothing to do with your work ethic and everything to do with how you’ve been taught to perform success?

In this episode, I sat down with Krystal Jugarap, founder of Herrolo, for a deeply honest conversation about what it actually looks like to step off the hamster wheel and start building a life and business that feels aligned, spacious, and true. Krystal shared her journey from being the “good girl” who checked all the boxes to becoming a mother and entrepreneur who leads with intention, boundaries, and community at the center.

We talked about leaving corporate life, navigating motherhood while building a business, redefining visibility beyond social media pressure, and why community is not just a nice-to-have but the foundation for sustainable success. This episode is for the woman who knows she is meant for more but is ready to stop performing for it and start embodying it in a way that actually supports her real life.

WHAT YOU’LL LEARN

✨ Why performing success leads to burnout and how embodiment creates sustainability

✨ How motherhood can become the catalyst for redefining success on your own terms

✨ What visibility looks like when it is rooted in relationships and community, not constant posting

✨ How to build a business that honors boundaries, energy, and long-term legacy

WEEKLY CHALLENGE

This week, take ten quiet minutes to ask yourself where you are performing instead of embodying. Choose one small boundary you can honor that feels supportive rather than restrictive. Let that boundary be an act of self trust, not self discipline.

RESOURCES

✨Join Krystal's Online Community

✨ Join The CEO Besties Virtual Community 

A virtual membership designed for women in the early stages of building a business who want clarity, structure, and support before acceleration. Life-first. Foundation-focused. Community-driven.

✨Have you ever had a “great month of revenue” and still felt anxious because you don’t know if it will repeat?

Book a call with me and let’s talk through your business and your customer journey. We’ll explore what working together could look like and where support could make the biggest difference.

Book a call here  →  https://calendly.com/nataliebernacchi/claritycall

GUEST INFO

✨ Instagram → @joinherrolo

✨ Website → https://www.herrolo.com/

✨ Instagram (Personal) → @iamkrystalj

CONNECT WITH ME

✨ Instagram → @nataliebernacchi & @lightheruppodcast

✨ Website → https://nataliebernacchi.com/

✨ Get on The Lit List → https://nataliebernacchi.com/newsletter

What if the reason your revenue feels unstable has nothing to do with how well you sell?

So many founders assume that when revenue dips, the answer is simple. More leads. More content. Another launch. More visibility. But what if the real problem is not how many people are coming into your business, but how many are quietly leaving?

In this episode of the Light Her Up Podcast, Natalie Bernacchi dives into one of the most overlooked drivers of business growth: retention. Drawing on more than 15 years of experience building customer success systems inside tech startups, Natalie shares the moment she realized her own business did not have a sales problem. It had a retention problem.

This conversation explores the silent revenue killer called churn, why launches plateau when retention is weak, and how founders can shift from constant selling to building stable, recurring revenue. If you have ever felt like you are always hustling for the next client while wondering why income still feels unpredictable, this episode will feel like someone finally turned the lights on.

WHAT YOU’LL LEARN

✨ Why strong launches can still lead to unstable revenue if clients are leaving faster than they arrive

✨ What churn actually means in a service based business and why it quietly drains growth

✨ How shifting from acquisition thinking to retention thinking changes the way you run your company

✨ Practical ways to strengthen onboarding, client success, and renewal pathways so revenue compounds over time

WEEKLY CHALLENGE

This week, shift your focus from where clients enter your business to where they leave.

Take a look at your last five to ten clients and map their journey. When did they exit? Was it after onboarding, after the first month, or at the point of renewal?

Then ask yourself one powerful question: Are clients seeing value fast enough?

Even a small insight from this exercise can reveal where your revenue is leaking and where you can create a stronger experience that keeps clients engaged and supported for longer.

RESOURCES

✨ Free Customer Journey Audit

Natalie is offering listeners a free audit to help identify where clients may be dropping off and how to strengthen the client journey. DM the word AUDIT to @nataliebernacchi on Instagram to get started.

✨ Join The CEO Besties Community

A virtual membership designed for women in the early stages of building a business who want clarity, structure, and support before acceleration. Life-first. Foundation-focused. Community-driven.

Join Here → https://theceobesties.com/launchpad-society

✨Have you ever had a “great month of revenue” and still felt anxious because you don’t know if it will repeat the next month?

Book a Clarity Call with me and we’ll talk through your business, your customer journey, and the role retention can play in creating more predictable revenue. As a Revenue and Retention Strategist with over 15 years of experience building and leading Customer Success and post-sale growth inside high-growth startups, I bring that same revenue infrastructure thinking into founder-led businesses.

We’ll also explore what working together could look like and whether deeper support would be a fit.

Book a call here → https://calendly.com/nataliebernacchi/45-minute-call

CONNECT WITH ME

✨ Instagram → @nataliebernacchi & @lightheruppodcast

✨ Website → https://nataliebernacchi.com/

✨ Get on The Lit List → https://nataliebernacchi.com/newsletter

Ever hit that moment where you think, whose life is this, and how did I get here? In this episode, Natalie sits down with returning guest Michelle Hooey for a conversation that feels like a deep exhale and a wake-up call at the same time. Michelle is stepping into a brand new chapter as an author, with her book The Goldie Effect launching March 6, and she shares what this season is really like behind the scenes, including the fear, the certainty, and the identity shift that comes when you stop playing small and start telling the truth.

Michelle opens up about her family’s journey, including five pregnancy losses, Goldie’s early birth, six months in the NICU, and what it has meant to mother a medically complex child with no clear diagnosis. What makes this episode powerful is how Michelle turns that lived experience into something practical and usable. She shares the exact framework that helped her survive the hardest seasons and still build a meaningful life, the 15-Minute Rewrite: regulate, reflect, reclaim.

If you are in a season of burnout, uncertainty, reinvention, or you simply feel like you have been living on autopilot, this episode is here to remind you that your life is not broken. You do not need to burn it down to change it. You can rewrite it, one small decision at a time, and this conversation was created for the woman who is ready to choose herself again.

WHAT YOU’LL LEARN

✨ Why identity shifts often start in the most unexpected, painful seasons and how they can lead you back to who you really are

✨ The 15-Minute Rewrite framework and how regulating your body first changes what you are able to handle next

✨ How to stop trying to “fix” your life and start reclaiming it through small, consistent choices that actually stick

✨ What it looks like to build a life-first business model, including Michelle’s decision to run her business in 10 hours a week

WEEKLY CHALLENGE

Pick one day this week and schedule your 15 minutes like it matters, because it does. Set a timer and do this:

1. 5 minutes to REGULATE: breathe, stretch, shake it out, take a short walk, anything that brings you back into your body

2. 5 minutes to REFLECT: ask yourself, what feels heavy right now, and what do I actually need

3. 5 minutes to RECLAIM: take one small action that supports your life, your health, or your next step

Then DM Michelle or Natalie and share what shifted for you after you did it. 

JOURNAL PROMPT

✨ Journal Prompt: Where am I saying yes out of obligation, and what would change if I trusted my no

✨ Journal Prompt: If I had 10 hours a week for my goals, what would I stop doing and what would I focus on

RESOURCES

✨ Get your copy of The Goldie Effect by Michelle Hooey! Buy it HERE.

✨ Join The CEO Besties Community

A virtual membership designed for women in the early stages of building a business who want clarity, structure, and support before acceleration. Life-first. Foundation-focused. Community-driven.

✨Have you ever had a “great month of revenue” and still felt anxious because you don’t know if it will repeat the next month?

Book a Clarity Call with me and we’ll talk through your business, your customer journey, and the role retention can play in creating more predictable revenue. As a Revenue and Retention Strategist with over 15 years of experience building and leading Customer Success and post-sale growth inside high-growth startups, I bring that same revenue infrastructure thinking into founder-led businesses.

We’ll also explore what working together could look like and whether deeper support would be a fit.

Book a call here → https://calendly.com/nataliebernacchi/45-minute-call

GUEST INFO

✨ Instagram → http://instagram.com/michelle_hooey 

✨ Website → http://anchorlesscoaching.com/ 

CONNECT WITH ME

✨ Instagram → @nataliebernacchi & @lightheruppodcast

✨ Website → https://nataliebernacchi.com/

✨ Get on The Lit List → https://nataliebernacchi.com/newsletter

What if growing your business did not require you to be everywhere, all the time

In this episode of the Light Her Up Podcast, Natalie sits down with Candace Dudley for an honest, grounding conversation about burnout, identity shifts, and building visibility in a way that actually supports your life. Candace shares her journey from teaching and early motherhood burnout to becoming a podcast guesting coach with over 200 episodes under her belt and dozens of guest appearances in a single year.

Together, Natalie and Candace unpack why podcasting feels more sustainable than social media for so many women, how guesting can create long-term visibility without constant content creation, and why alignment matters more than algorithms. This episode is for the woman who wants to grow her business, use her voice, and still have space for her kids, her energy, and her real life.

If you have ever felt pulled toward something new but unsure how to trust yourself enough to go all in, this conversation will meet you exactly where you are.

WHAT YOU’LL LEARN

✨ Why podcasting can be a powerful alternative to constant social media posting

✨ How guesting builds visibility, credibility, and relationships without burnout

✨ The identity shifts that come with leaving stable careers and choosing yourself

✨ How alignment, strategy, and intuition work together in sustainable business growth

WEEKLY CHALLENGE

Take five quiet minutes this week and ask yourself this question:

What part of my business feels energy-giving, and what feels energy-draining right now?

Write down one thing you could do less of and one thing you want to lean into more. No action required yet. Just awareness.

RESOURCES MENTIONED:

✨ Explore aligned visibility through podcast guesting and start your podcast tour HERE

✨Join Candace’s Podcast Matchmaking Community HERE

✨ Interested in increasing retention, reducing churn, and building customer success systems that help clients stick around longer?

Book a call with me and let’s talk through your business, look at what’s actually going on, explore what support might help the most, and see if we’re a good fit to work together. You’ll leave with actionable takeaways either way!  

Book a call here  →  https://nataliebernacchi.com/book-a-call 

GUEST INFO

✨ Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/candacedudley/ 

✨ Website → https://candacedudley.com 

✨ Podcast → The Podcasting Mentor 

CONNECT WITH ME

✨ Instagram → @nataliebernacchi & @lightheruppodcast

✨ Website → https://nataliebernacchi.com/

✨ Get on The Lit List → https://nataliebernacchi.com/newsletter

You can be incredibly responsive, deeply supportive, and still be losing clients.

In this episode, Natalie breaks down one of the biggest misunderstandings founders have when it comes to retention and leadership and why being available is not the same as setting your clients up for success.

Drawing from over 15 years leading customer success and account management teams in tech startups, Natalie reframes what customer success actually is and why it should be a proactive leadership strategy, not a reactive support role. She shares how founders unintentionally create dependency, burnout themselves, and still see clients disengage when structure, boundaries, and clarity are missing.

This conversation is for you if you run a membership, mastermind, or any recurring offer and feel like you are constantly answering questions, always on, and wondering why clients are not staying or integrating the work. This episode will challenge how you have been leading and also give you permission to do it differently.

WHAT YOU’LL LEARN

✨ The true difference between customer support and customer success and why confusing the two hurts retention

✨ Why responsiveness alone does not build confidence, results, or long-term loyalty

✨ How founders accidentally train dependency instead of self trust in their clients

✨ What proactive customer success actually looks like in memberships, masterminds, and service-based businesses

WEEKLY CHALLENGE

Audit one moment in your business after someone pays you.

Look at it through your client’s eyes and ask yourself:

Do they know what matters most right now?

Do they know what success looks like in the first week?

Do they feel grounded or overwhelmed?

Choose one small improvement you can make to create more clarity and confidence. This is not about perfection. It is about intentional leadership.

RESOURCES

✨ Interested in increasing retention, reducing churn, and building customer success systems that help clients stick around longer?

Book a call with me and let’s talk through your business and your customer journey. We’ll explore what working together could look like and where support could make the biggest difference.

Book a call here  →  https://calendly.com/nataliebernacchi/45-minute-call 

CONNECT WITH ME

✨Natalie’s  Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/nataliebernacchi 

✨Podcast’s Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/lightheruppodcast/ 

✨ Website → https://nataliebernacchi.com/ 

✨ Get on The Lit List → https://nataliebernacchi.com/newsletter 

What if your next income level has nothing to do with working harder and everything to do with who you are being around money?

In this episode, I’m sitting down with business and money coach Jillian Minter to talk about the real reason so many women stay stuck in the middle of entrepreneurship. You know the place where you are making money, doing all the things, and still feeling like you cannot break through. Jillian shares her own journey from burnout, scarcity, and feeling broke even while running a business, to becoming a fully aligned entrepreneur who built a business that actually supports her life.

We get into money identity, victim energy, wealth consciousness, and what it looks like to intentionally create a new reality. If you have ever felt like you are doing everything right but still not seeing the results you want, this conversation will feel like a deep exhale and a powerful reminder that you are not behind. This episode was made for the woman who is ready to stop gripping so tightly and start leading her life and business from a new level of trust, alignment, and wealth.

WHAT YOU’LL LEARN

✨ Why working harder is not the strategy that creates wealth and how that belief quietly keeps women stuck

✨ How to identify the money identity you are unconsciously reinforcing and what it takes to shift it

✨ What victim energy can look like in business, even when you are not blaming anyone, and how to reclaim your power

✨ Why a change in environment and community can completely expand your wealth consciousness and results

WEEKLY CHALLENGE

Pick one money belief you have been carrying that sounds like it came from someone else. Then write it down and replace it with a new belief you are choosing on purpose. For the next 7 days, practice catching yourself anytime the old story shows up and intentionally redirecting to the new one. Keep it simple. Keep it consistent. This is how you start changing your reality.

RESOURCES

✨ Join The Launchpad Society → https://theceobesties.com/launchpad-society 

A virtual membership designed for women in the early stages of building a business who want clarity, structure, and support before acceleration. Life-first. Foundation-focused. Community-driven.

✨ Book A Clarity Call → https://theceobesties.com/book-a-call 

Want to make sure the launchpad is the right fit for your next step in entrepreneurship? Book a quick call with us! We’d love to chat and see if it makes the most sense for you! 

GUEST INFO

✨ Instagram → @jillianminter

✨ Website → https://jillianminter.com/

✨ Freebie → Download Jillian’s Free EFT Money Tapping video HERE

CONNECT WITH ME

✨ Instagram → @nataliebernacchi & @lightheruppodcast

✨ Website → https://nataliebernacchi.com/

✨ Get on The Lit List → https://nataliebernacchi.com/newsletter

What if the real reason your business feels unstable has nothing to do with how well you sell and everything to do with what happens after someone says yes?

In this first solo episode of 2026, I’m sharing a powerful shift in how I’m showing up, building, and supporting women in business. After stepping away from a 15-year corporate career in customer success and spending the last year deeply immersed in entrepreneurship, something clicked. The work I thought I had left behind was never the problem. It was the structure around it. In this episode, I merge my corporate expertise with my entrepreneurial heart to break down what customer success actually means and why it is the missing piece for so many memberships, programs, and recurring revenue models.

This conversation is for the woman who is building something meaningful but feels like she is constantly selling just to feel safe. If you want clients who stay, predictable recurring revenue, and a business that grows without burning you out, this episode was created for you.

WHAT YOU’LL LEARN

✨ Why retention matters more than constant selling when it comes to sustainable growth

✨ What customer success actually is explained in clear, human language

✨ How onboarding, engagement, and renewals directly impact recurring revenue

✨ Why messy systems do not mean you are failing and what to focus on instead

WEEKLY CHALLENGE

Take a look at what happens after someone joins your world. Map out your onboarding experience or notice where clients get confused or disengaged. Choose one small place to improve and take action this week. It does not need to be perfect. It just needs to be intentional.

And when you do, come find me on Instagram and send me a DM. I would love to celebrate you, cheer you on, and support you. As a gift, I am happy to offer a quick audit of your customer journey or onboarding experience to help you refine what you are building.

RESOURCES

✨⁠ Design a client experience that lasts

Curious what it would look like to improve your client experience from the moment someone joins your world through renewal? I would love to connect on a quick call and talk through how I can support you. Click the link above or email me at [email protected].

✨ ⁠Join The Launchpad Society⁠ 

A virtual membership designed for women in the early stages of building a business who want clarity, structure, and support before acceleration. Life-first. Foundation-focused. Community-driven.

✨ Apply to The Rocketship Mastermind

Our 2x sold-out mastermind is where ambitious women scale with clarity, confidence, and a crew that matches their energy. Virtual and in-person options available.

CONNECT WITH ME

✨ Instagram → @nataliebernacchi & @lightheruppodcast

✨ Website → https://nataliebernacchi.com/

✨ Get on The Lit List → https://nataliebernacchi.com/newsletter

Have you ever felt like you’re meant for more, but you’re not quite sure how to move from idea to something real?

This bonus episode is a powerful year-end reflection on what happens when women stop building alone and start building in community.

In this conversation, Natalie and Emily, co-founders of The CEO Besties look back on a full year of building together. From one DM to sold-out masterminds, they share the lessons, patterns, and transformations they witnessed while supporting dozens of women at different stages of entrepreneurship. Along the way, one type of woman kept showing up. The woman with real ideas and ambition, but without the clarity, structure, or support to turn her dream into a sustainable business.

This episode unpacks why that missing middle matters, how community accelerates confidence and momentum, and why The Launchpad Society was created as a life-first space for women building their foundation before the acceleration phase. If you are done treating your dream like a side thing and ready to build something that supports your life, this episode was created for you.

WHAT YOU’LL LEARN

✨ How one simple conversation turned into a year of sold-out masterminds and powerful community

✨ Why so many women get stuck between idea and execution in the early stages of entrepreneurship

✨ How community became the fastest accelerator for clarity, confidence, and momentum

✨ Why mindset, strategy, and support must work together to build a sustainable business

WEEKLY CHALLENGE

Take 15 minutes this week to reflect on where you are in your business journey. Ask yourself what support you actually need right now. Not what you think you should need, but what would truly help you move forward in this season. Write it down and let clarity lead your next step.

RESOURCES

✨ Join The Launchpad Society → https://theceobesties.com/launchpad-society 

A virtual membership designed for women in the early stages of building a business who want clarity, structure, and support before acceleration. Life-first. Foundation-focused. Community-driven.

✨ Book A Clarity Call → https://theceobesties.com/book-a-call 

Want to make sure the launchpad is the right fit for your next step in entrepreneurship? Book a quick call with us! We’d love to chat and see if it makes the most sense for you! 

CONNECT WITH THE CEO BESTIES

✨ Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/theceobesties 

✨ Website → https://theceobesties.com

✨ Subscribe to the Bestie Edit → https://theceobesties.com/newsletter 

CONNECT WITH ME

✨ Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/nataliebernacchi  & https://www.instagram.com/lightheruppodcast 

✨ Website → https://nataliebernacchi.com/ 

✨ Get on The Lit List → https://nataliebernacchi.com/newsletter 

What really happens in your first full year of business when you stop building in the cracks and go all in on yourself? In this deeply honest solo episode, Natalie reflects on her first full year of entrepreneurship after leaving a 15-year corporate career and committing fully to her own vision, boundaries, and leadership.

This conversation is a grounded reflection from a woman who showed up, stayed in the game, and built something real. Natalie shares the nine most impactful lessons she learned around boundaries, focus, structure, mindset, community, intuition, and rest. She breaks down what surprised her most about entrepreneurship, what challenged her, and what ultimately created momentum, clarity, and confidence.

This episode is for you if you are in your first, second, or even third year of business, or standing at the edge of starting. It is designed to replace fear with clarity, normalize the quiet seasons, and remind you that growth does not have to be chaotic when you are rooted. This one was created for the woman building something real, even when it feels slow, uncertain, or unseen.

WHAT YOU’LL LEARN

✨ Why strong boundaries are non-negotiable in entrepreneurship and how loving your work can blur them faster than corporate ever did

✨ How focusing on one thing at a time creates clarity, momentum, and confidence instead of limitation

✨ Why structure actually creates more freedom and how to build flexible systems that support your energy

✨ How mindset, community, intuition, and rest compound over time to create sustainable success

WEEKLY CHALLENGE

Choose one boundary to strengthen this week. Decide when work ends for you each day, commit to honoring it, and notice how your energy, creativity, and clarity shift when you protect your time on purpose.

RESOURCES

✨ The Launchpad Society Membership

The Launchpad Society is our virtual membership for women building businesses inside real, full lives. It’s for the woman who knows she is meant for more but has been trying to piece her business together in the tiny openings of her schedule, second-guessing herself, overthinking her next move, or feeling like she has to figure it all out alone.

Inside, you get the structure, clarity, and community to stop treating your business like a side hustle and start building something that actually has legs. The transformation is simple but powerful: you move from scattered and uncertain to focused, supported, and consistently taking aligned action. You stop spinning, start implementing, and build momentum you can actually sustain, and finally see the progress in your business and your revenue!

✨ Journal Reflection Prompts

• What boundary feels hardest for me to hold right now and why

• Where am I trying to do too much at once instead of focusing on one thing

• What kind of structure would actually support my energy instead of draining it

  
  

✨ Like Minded OC founded by Inbal Claudio

An in-person community in Orange County, California of female founders where friends come first and business comes second.

CONNECT WITH ME

✨ Instagram → @nataliebernacchi & @lightheruppodcast

✨ Website → https://nataliebernacchi.com/

✨ Get on The Lit List → https://nataliebernacchi.com/newsletter

What if you could build a community that not only changes lives but also becomes the most reliable and empowering income stream in your business?

In this conversation, I sat down with the incredible Carol Tice, a longtime journalist turned entrepreneur who built, scaled, and ultimately sold her thriving paid membership community for freelance writers. She shares the behind the scenes truth of what it really takes to grow a community, the pivots she had to make along the way, and the mindset shifts that helped her push through uncertainty, tech hurdles, and the fears that every founder faces.

Carol opens up about why community is one of the most powerful and sustainable business models for female founders, how she redesigned her business to create stability for her family, and what she wishes more entrepreneurs understood about building something that lasts. If you’ve ever dreamed of launching a membership, shifting to recurring revenue, or creating a space where people come together to grow, this episode was made for you.

WHAT YOU’LL LEARN

✨ Why community is one of the most reliable and life giving business models for entrepreneurs

✨ How Carol grew her membership from 500 to 1500 members using simple, smart strategy

✨ The real reason pre marketing matters and how to bring your audience along for the journey

✨ What Carol learned from selling her company and how she now teaches founders to build thriving paid communities of their own

WEEKLY CHALLENGE

Choose one offer, idea, or project you’ve been building behind the scenes and share it with your audience in a simple, honest way. Let them into the process. Ask for their input. Invite them to help shape what you’re creating. The clarity and momentum that comes from opening the door is often the exact catalyst you need.

RESOURCES

✨ Community Growth Academy on Skool

A supportive space where Carol teaches entrepreneurs how to build and grow paid communities with intention, simplicity, and heart.

✨ Carol’s Free Case Study

Learn how she built and sold her first paid community, including the exact steps she took and the lessons she learned along the way.

✨ Join The Launchpad Society → https://theceobesties.com/launchpad-society 

Our brand new monthly membership for early stage female founders and entrepreneurs is officially open with Founders Pricing still available. Limited spots are open at this rate, so this is the moment to get in. Inside, you will learn how to create sustainable systems you can actually stick to, build a clear brand message, and grow your audience with confidence. You will get live coaching, weekly accountability, plug and play templates, and a supportive space where you stop trying to build your business alone. This is where you meet your CEO Besties, collaborate with women who get it, and have a community that helps you take action instead of overthinking. If you want clients, consistency, and a real plan you can follow without burning out, this is where that momentum begins.

GUEST INFO

✨ Website → Community Growth Academy on Skool https://www.skool.com/community-growth-academy/about 

Linked In https://www.linkedin.com/in/business-book-ghostwriter-community-entrepreneur-carol-tice/ 

CONNECT WITH ME

✨ Instagram → @nataliebernacchi & @lightheruppodcast

✨ Website → https://nataliebernacchi.com/

✨ Get on The Lit List → https://nataliebernacchi.com/newsletter