Building Our Own Table: Natalia Sanyal

Hello friends,

Natalia Sanyal came to my attention when I put out the call for Black and Global Majority founders to feature here. I liked the sound of anti-oppressive marketing, and absolutely love the elevator pitch for Get Embodied. Please meet Natalia…

Natalia, tell me briefly about your background prior to founding Get Embodied

Before I launched Get Embodied, I worked as a brand messaging strategist, marketer, and copywriter for corporations like Apple and lululemon, award-winning marketing agencies, and New York Times bestselling authors like Deepak Chopra and Glennon Doyle.

I always loved the creativity and strategy involved in my work. But I hated the harm that marketing generally tends to cause - especially on marginalized people.

Thanks to the BLM movement in 2020, corporations and agencies everywhere realized that prioritizing profit over humanity came with undesirable consequences (negative PR, decreased brand trust, less revenue...etc. *Cue eyeroll.).

Reports were showing that consumers were buying in alignment with their values. That was my sign to say goodbye to conventional marketing and go all in on an anti-oppressive approach.

I started training marketing teams and working with amazing changemakers like Layla F. Saad.

Then, with equal parts conviction and hesitation, I took to LinkedIn to spread the word about anti-oppressive marketing.

Now I teach changemaker personal brands to market themselves the anti-oppressive way.

Give me the elevator pitch for Get Embodied

I teach anti-oppressive marketing to changemaker personal brands. Kinda like Seth Godin meets Malala.

And in more detail?

Everything I teach in Get Embodied is for changemakers who hold marginalized identities.

In the program, participants work on:

• Brand messaging that sparks a movement

• Content writing skills that build trust and create conversations

• An uncomplicated marketing plan that is sustainable, even for the solopreneur

• Offer messaging that invites ideal buyers

• Copywriting skills that sell without the sleaze

Each participant is held and supported through my program content, weekly Q&A calls, body doubling sessions, peer feedback sessions, and a private online community where real friendships form.

Participants have even met up in person after spending time in a cohort together!

The community is something special and I think that's in huge part because the cohorts are a 75% BIPOC majority.

What inequity were you trying to redress/address, and why is this important?

I try to fight systemic issues from as many angles as possible in Get Embodied. A few ways I do that:

1) I serve marginalized identities.

Marketing was not built BY nor FOR the marginalized business owner. They need a different approach—one that DOESN'T force them into acting like a corrupt corporation and DOES allow them to feel safe being visible online.

Online visibility can be quite threatening for marginalized people...especially ones who are fighting status quo.

2) The program is for changemakers.

Changemakers make it their business to dismantle systems, literally. However, conventional marketing is ultimately built on the very systems that my clients are fighting (exploitation, appropriation, exclusion...etc).

Unsurprisingly, changemakers shy away from marketing themselves...which stifles their growth and their impact.

Anti-oppressive marketing on the other hand, gives them the ability to grow their income and impact while keeping their integrity in tact.

3) I offer full scholarships to BIPOC.

BIPOC scholarships level the playing field for those who need to invest in their business but aren't able to, thanks to the systems that are holding them down.

4) I facilitate community care.

The scholarships were made possible thanks to a community care initiative that I experimented with in my last launch.

The results of the experiment blew me away!

Eleven people from my online community (on LinkedIn and my newsletter) provided a combined total of $8300 in scholarships for 4 BIPOC business owners.

It was beautiful seeing the community band together by spreading the word and contributing funds.

If community care became the norm in business, imagine what could be possible.

5) Get Embodied is a BIPOC-majority cohort.

The decision to make my cohort a 75% BIPOC majority was based on my experience at business events and online programs/memberships where I was always 'the only'.

I found it draining, unhelpful, and, anxiety-inducing.

In Get Embodied, I wanted to provide a space where BIPOC didn't feel on-guard or alone. I wanted them to be able to share their struggles and wins openly without having to code switch and such.

How’s it going? What has the response been?

I was really nervous about announcing just about all of those initiatives. But the response has been overwhelmingly positive from the start.

Most Get Embodied participants tell me that those initiatives are what sold them.

People in the program often share that they've never felt so seen and supported in an online business community before.

That's definitely the best part.

The fact that the program gifted me with my first $100K launch in December is incredible, too.

What’s next for Get Embodied?

My goal is to teach anti-oppressive marketing to 140 BIPOC changemaker personal brands in 2024 through Get Embodied.

And I'd already reached 30% of my goal as of January!

The ripple effect of 140 BIPOC changemaker businesses using anti-oppressive marketing to grow and smash status quo is immeasurable. But, if we were to crunch numbers, the direct reach of that would mean from 140,000 to up to half a million people impacted. And that gets me fired up!

Outside of Get Embodied, I'll be teaching anti-oppressive marketing in my free content on LinkedIn and email, in low-cost workshops, and on guest podcasts so that the rest of my community can apply anti-oppressive marketing principles to their businesses, too.

In relation to racism, what is your vision for the future?

Businesses have the power to breed or bust racism - in the workplace, in the marketing, in the user experience, in the ads. Historically, and still presently, businesses default to racist policies.

I envision a future where changemaker businesses dismantle oppressive systems everywhere while leading the charge in anti-racist business practices.

I envision this group leveraging anti-oppressive marketing to grow their movements and leave legacies that build an equitable world for the Global Majority.

Now that’s a goal I can get behind! Please connect with Natalia on LinkedIn, subscribe to her newsletter, or join the Get Embodied waitlist.

Thanks for reading,

Sharon

© Sharon Hurley Hall, 2024. All Rights Reserved.

I am an anti-racism educator and activist, Co-Founder of Mission Equality, the author of “I’m Tired of Racism”, and co-host of The Introvert Sisters podcast.