In this episode of The Hard Launch, host Natasha Yuhjtman sits down with Julian Leaver, luxury event designer and founder of Julian Leaver Events. Known for his signature blend of hospitality and high design, Julian shares how his background with Rosewood Hotel and Resorts inspired a decade-long career creating some of the world's most extraordinary weddings and events.

Julian opens up about building his brand from scratch, the lessons learned from corporate hospitality, scaling a creative team, and building Loo, a solar-powered generator revolutionizing event design.

Together, Natasha and Julian dive deep into creativity, entrepreneurship, avoiding burnout, and how true success comes from building something bigger than yourself.

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Timestamps:

00:00 – Welcome to The Hard Launch & introduction to Julian Leaver

01:30 – Julian's early love for design and growing up in a family of architects

03:30 – How college events sparked his passion for hospitality

04:40 – The Rosewood Hotels years: lessons in luxury and hospitality

06:00 – Founding Julian Leaver Events and surviving the scrappy early years

08:30 – Getting sober and launching his business with clarity and intention

10:30 – How COVID became a business reset and growth catalyst

11:30 – Building a design team that complements your strengths

13:40 – The importance of data, marketing, and adapting to client behavior

15:30 – Inside Julian's creative process: how design boards come to life

18:00 – Using emotion and "the feeling vendors" to shape a wedding's vibe

22:00 – Taking risks: destination weddings and the art of saying "yes" before you're ready

24:30 – How to avoid burnout and let go of control as a founder

28:40 – The craziest luxury wedding experiences (and the lessons behind them)

32:00 – Introducing LŌŌ: the solar-powered event generator changing the industry

36:00 – From weddings to hardware: what it takes to launch a new product line

40:00 – How to turn creative ideas into scalable innovation

42:00 – Rapid fire: Julian's wedding do's and don'ts

45:00 – Why hotels are the best training ground for future entrepreneurs

46:00 – Final thoughts on leadership, systems, and staying organized

In this episode of The Hard Launch, host Natasha Yuhjtman chats with Caroline Crawford Patterson, the creative behind Everything But the Dress. From going viral on TikTok during lockdown to launching a groundbreaking bridal pop-up, Caroline shares how she turned creative frustration into a thriving business.

They dive into how she challenged outdated wedding norms, bootstrapped her company from scratch, and helped spark a new generation of female-founded wedding brands. If you love stories about female entrepreneurship, creativity, and building something new in the wedding world, this one's for you.

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Time Stamps:

00:00 – Welcome & Caroline's viral wedding story

02:30 – The first TikTok video that changed everything

04:40 – Building community through creativity during lockdown

06:50 – Challenging the outdated wedding industry model

09:20 – Why weddings needed a new generation of female founders

11:40 – The birth of Everything But the Dress and its vision

14:00 – The struggles of bootstrapping a luxury pop-up in NYC

18:30 – Patience, timing, and learning to pivot as a founder

21:00 – Intrinsic motivation and surviving the founder grind

23:10 – How Caroline organizes her creative "buckets" for clarity

30:00 – Building a personal brand as a multi-hyphenate creator

34:50 – Evolving beyond bridal and designing for new life stages

39:30 – The rise of women transforming the wedding industry

43:40 – Advice for women afraid to pivot or start something new

48:00 – Final reflections: "Don't be scared to start."

In this episode of The Hard Launch, host Natasha Yuhjtman sits down with Lilli Donahue, the founder of The Prenup Podcast, to unpack one of the most misunderstood topics in modern relationships; prenups.

From growing up amid a six-year divorce to leaving her job at Capital One to launching a prenup startup, Lilli's mission is to reframe prenups as the ultimate act of love, a tool for financial alignment, communication, and long term security. She opens up about her parents' divorce, her dad's advice that changed her life, and why she believes every couple should have "the hard conversations" early on.

Together, Natasha and Lilli dive into financial transparency, emotional readiness, and how the next generation of couples can redefine what partnership truly means.

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Timestamps:

00:00 – Welcome to The Hard Launch with Allie Dietz

00:30 – Meet Lili Donahue: her journey from Capital One to The Prenup Podcast

02:00 – The six-year divorce that shaped her mission

04:30 – Her father's advice: "Get a prenup" — and why it changed everything

06:40 – Leaving corporate life after grief and heartbreak

08:30 – How divorce trauma fuels her purpose

09:00 – The biggest misconceptions about prenups

11:20 – Why prenups aren't just for the wealthy

13:00 – Real stories from couples who wish they'd gotten a prenup

15:40 – Marriage, money, and communication — the new partnership model

18:00 – When and how to bring up the prenup conversation

20:10 – The truth about prenups, postnups, and financial harmony

22:20 – How financial transparency strengthens relationships

24:30 – The rise of dual-income couples and shifting gender dynamics

29:00 – Why modern women are driving the prenup conversation

31:20 – Balancing career, kids, and finances in a post-COVID world

33:40 – Lessons from building a DTC prenup brand and pivoting to podcasting

37:40 – Her advice on how to start the prenup talk with your partner

40:00 – "A prenup is the most generous thing you can do for your partner."

41:00 – Where to find The Prenup Podcast and connect with Lil

Welcome to The Hard Launch — the podcast where founder life meets the chaos, joy, and drama of weddings, relationships, and real life.

I'm Natasha, a founder, mom, and entrepreneur. This show is inspired by my own journey — from planning my own wedding, to building a career in the wedding industry, to launching GIA, an AI-powered wedding planning app that's changing how couples plan their big day.

In this trailer, I'm sharing why I created The Hard Launch: to have real, unfiltered conversations about what it takes to build something from scratch — whether it's a business, a relationship, or your dream wedding.

Each episode dives into the messy middle of entrepreneurship and love — the behind-the-scenes stories that don't make the highlight reel but define what it means to launch something meaningful. Expect honest insights from founders, wedding experts, and creative entrepreneurs on balancing ambition, burnout, and relationships — and the moments of magic in between.

If you've ever tried to juggle big ideas, love, and life all at once, this is your space to learn, laugh, and get inspired.

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