Nataile Koppel: Conference Champion to CEO
Meet the first guest of our MAE X SPORTS series Natalie Koppel, a former NCAA Division 1 Student Athlete from the University of California, Irvine (2017- 2021). During her time at UCI she helped claim the Big West Conference Title with 46.57 seconds by running the opening leg of the 4x100. She was a Big West Conference Finalist in the 200m and was an All Big West performer in Long Jump.
On March 11, 2023 I saw Natalie Koppel for the first time in 2 years. She sat down to help me record the first episode for MAE X Sports. Now, the Founder and CEO of her company Baroque Candle Co, things look a little different then they had just a few years earlier. We met in 2017 during our freshman year, both of us brand new to college/ college athletics and trying to figure out what the next 4 years would have in store for us. At the time Natalie was an incoming sprinter and jumper for the UCI Track and Field Team and would be someone who I ran into (literally while I ran for the UCI Cross Country and Track Teams) and during business classes throughout the next few years. During those years we would make it through a few injuries, 8am Accounting Classes, and a pandemic. Natalie would even leave with an already viral Candle Company that she would start her senior year in between practices, weights, zoom classes and track meets.
While setting up equipment to record we rehashed our college years. We sifted through memories of what it was like to enter college as a walk on athlete, the first time meeting all of our teammates, and the transition between highschool and college level training. College athletics had been a mystery to Natalie. Having come from a Division 3 High School the pressures of being a college student athlete were brand new. She would make the transition well and went on to help claim the Big West Conference Title in the 4x10 in 2021 during her senior year.
As our conversation shifted to what life has been like since graduating. We touched on a topic that many athletes eventually go through. The process of leaving a sport that up until then your entire life revolved around.
“What has it been like going from an elite competitive athlete with everything laid out for you, to everything ending” I asked. “It has actually been really difficult. I’ll be totally honest. I think I had a lot of post athlete depression.” She said, “I feel like I relied a lot on track for my mental health… Having that escape and then it being gone is definitely a change.”
With the structure of being a student athlete gone, and the identity with it Natalie has turned her full attention to growing Baroque Candle Co. She has hand made over 6,000 candles and has experimented with different processes, scents, packaging, and marketing and Baroque is only getting better. They just hosted their first pop up shop, meeting a few of their 124,000 instagram followers. Baroque Candle Co. will continue to grow and as an avid fan of their candles I can’t wait to see what they have in store for us.
“It’s going to be really hard, you’re going to experience a lot of adversity, but you just gotta hang in there and give yourself the chance to get comfortable and acclimate and I think you’ll really surprise yourself.” Is advice that Natalie gave to those student athletes just embarking on their college sports journey. And you can trust her, the Track team “walk on” to Big West Conference title holder and successful business owner would know.
What is next for Natalie and her Candle Company Baroque Candle Co? Watch here and find out!
Follow Natalie and her company on her socials below