This conversation with Christian D. Bruun occurred on February 1, 2026.

00:03
Natasha Fisker
I chose Perseus and Andromeda.

00:06
Natasha Fisker
There's a lot of action going on in this piece. The lines, the textures, the movement. It's really beautiful. There's a skull on the ground, some bones. There's a creature in the background coming out of the water. I can feel the movement, whether it's the water or the horse in the background flying, her arms spread across the mountain that she's laying by.

00:26
Natasha Fisker
There's someone riding the flying horse fighting for her or protecting her. She's on some kind of battlefield. But she is prevailing and she is standing tall. I don't know exactly what's going on, but I can feel her through the art, which is very cool.

00:41
Natasha Fisker
The drama in her face. She has a lot of passion in her face, which I can resonate with. I'm very passionate about everything that I do in my life.

00:49
Natasha Fisker
She's in charge. She's standing very confidently, very open with her body. Being a female entrepreneur, starting my own business, this spoke to me. She stands so tall, so beautifully, which really inspired me.

01:13
Christian D. Bruun
My name is Christian D. Bruun. I'm the director of Danish Originals, a podcast series created in partnership with the American Friends of the National Gallery of Denmark. Our goal is to celebrate Danish creatives who have made a significant mark in the US.

01:28
Christian D. Bruun
Today, our guest is Natasha Fisker, a Danish-Brazilian founder in the self-care industry, and a chief growth officer in the fashion resale industry. Welcome, Natasha.

01:40
Natasha Fisker
Thank you. Thank you for having me.

01:42
Christian D. Bruun
Thank you for speaking with us here in your family's home in Los Angeles. Do you wanna tell us a little bit about where we are and what part of town we're in?

01:49
Natasha Fisker
Yes, yes. We are currently in West Hollywood in Los Angeles, and it's currently, I believe, around 80 degrees. It's been so warm out these days and it's mid-winter. We are very blessed. We're here at my family's home and just feeling excited and grateful.

02:05
Christian D. Bruun
Excellent. Let's dive into it here on a Sunday morning. As you said, the sun is shining and it's super nice and warm in LA. Life is not half bad in LA in this weather. Did you sleep well last night?

02:17
Natasha Fisker
I did. I slept amazing and that is because I used my sleep patch and I did my mouth tape, which helps me get a great night's sleep every evening.

02:27
Christian D. Bruun
Excellent. We need to know a lot more about that. You are the founder of a new company called Checked Out, described as "where sleep meets science and mornings begin with transformation." That sounds super nice. Can you tell us more about it?

02:42
Natasha Fisker
With Checked Out, it's basically all revolved around sleep. It's all products that are designed to help you get a better night's sleep. Our saying is wellness that works overnight. Right now, health, wellness, longevity are all key factors that people are really bringing into their everyday routine. And what ties that in is having a good night's sleep.

03:03
Natasha Fisker
Sleep is for the masses, obviously, it's for everyone. We all need sleep and we all need a good night's sleep too. When I decided to start Checked Out, that was something that was very valuable to me. I'm very into health and wellness and getting a good night's sleep is key to overall health.

03:22
Natasha Fisker
I was thinking, okay, what can I do within the health and wellness space to improve sleep? That's where Checked Out came into play. And the name is, you're checked out for the night, you're checked out for the weekend. And it's really about checking out before you go to bed. All the products are designed around helping you get a better night's sleep. And I can get into those products too.

03:42
Christian D. Bruun
Let's definitely talk a little bit more about that. I know that, as you say, everybody is into health these days. A big part of it is with fitness, when you're awake. But anybody who cares about their body, of course, is also concerned about what goes into their bodies. Talk a little bit about some of the science-backed ingredients that are in Checked Out.

03:59
Natasha Fisker
Definitely. What's really great about our ingredients is we're staying away from melatonin, we're staying away from ingesting the gummies and all those things. We have a sleep patch that is applied topically, so that's applied on your skin. You put it on your arm or on your neck. And what's infused in the sleep patch is magnesium, l'theanine, gaba, all natural ingredients.

04:22
Natasha Fisker
Like I said, no melatonin, no having to take any sleep pills, no Xanax. Everything's healthy and everything's all natural. All of our products are made in South Korea and they make the best products in beauty and skincare and health and wellness. And then for our mouth tape, that is infused with collagen peptides, and then it's made with the hydrocolloid material.

04:43
Natasha Fisker
That's actually the same material that's used to make the pimple patch, so you won't break out. 'Cause when you mouth tape, you're putting it over your mouth, and some people have experienced breakouts or rashes. Ours does not do that for you. It instead acts as a lip mask, essentially, and then it's infused with collagen peptides, so it moisturizes your lips. It helps reduce wrinkles and fine lines. There's many benefits to mouth taping while you sleep.

05:09
Christian D. Bruun
I am new to mouth tape. I don't know much about it. So tell me what does it do, and how did that come about?

05:15
Natasha Fisker
Mouth taping recently became very popular in the past couple of years. It's for men and women. Generally, you're not supposed to sleep with your mouth open. So mouth taping helps you sleep with your mouth shut, and that is because when your mouth is open, you're letting bacteria come inside your mouth. There's many benefits to mouth taping. Even just for breathing purposes, it's much better to breathe through your nose while you're sleeping. It helps reduce snoring.

05:37
Christian D. Bruun
I was just going to say that.

05:38
Natasha Fisker
It's actually great for men. I tell all the girls, if you want your man to stop snoring, I would highly suggest this mouth tape. So that's also a benefit. It's a lot of helping with facial structure. It also helps actually define your jawline more as well, because once again, you're sleeping with your mouth shut, your mouth isn't open, and it can stop that double chin squeezing against your neck.

05:59
Natasha Fisker
And then of course it does help with overall breathing. A lot of people get nervous. What if I am congested or I'll stop breathing through my nose? Our mouth tape has a very small hole in the middle, for those who get nervous, so you feel safe.

06:14
Christian D. Bruun
Sounds like a whole new way of staying healthy. So tell me how it all came about. I know that people are into health and we're in Los Angeles, where that is at the top of it. But were you walking down the street one day and said, this is what I'm gonna do?

06:27
Natasha Fisker
I've always been into health and wellness. I eat very healthy, my routines are very healthy. I really wanted to get into the health and wellness space, and potentially beauty as well. And then I just was looking at my overall lifestyle. And I went one day to my stepmom — we're both very passionate about health and wellness — and we were talking. I had mentioned wanting to get into health and wellness, and I was telling her also about my Oura ring that I wear every day and that tracks my sleep.

06:53
Natasha Fisker
And we were brainstorming and I was like, no one's really owning the sleep space right now. There's not one company that you're like, oh, let me go to get my sleep products. There's a lot of beauty companies, there's a lot of makeup companies, there's medical, all these things, but there's not one brand that's really owning the sleep space.

07:12
Natasha Fisker
I was like, why don't we start a company that's revolved around sleep and that's revolved around getting a good night's sleep? Let's make products for sleep. Let's make merchandise for sleep. Let's have fun with it. And she was like, you know what, yes, let's do it. And with my past working and traveling as much as I do, sleep is really integral and that is something that really inspired me as well.

07:34
Natasha Fisker
I was like, when I'm traveling constantly, sleep is super important. So what can help me there? And then in the past, I found that I didn't get enough sleep and that was something that I really wanted to improve in my own life too. And I think many people can relate to that. That's what really inspired me.

07:49
Christian D. Bruun
We are all way too busy and sleep way too little. It must have been exciting to get into this whole thing from a science perspective. How did you find your collaborators and how did you get into the science behind it?

08:01
Natasha Fisker
We found our manufacturer in South Korea through a connection, which we're very grateful for. We did know that South Korea, they really are the best of the best in making these products and in beauty and health and wellness. We did a lot of testing. This didn't just happen overnight. We've been working on this for, I would say, about a year now.

08:22
Natasha Fisker
We did lots of testing with our manufacturer. They tested on hundreds of people, we also had testing here in LA. We went through many iterations. With our mouth tape, it took a very long time to get the mouth tape perfect. There were many moments when the mouth tape didn't stick enough, or it was too sticky, or it was this, that, or it didn't look right or the shape was wrong. We had lots of trial and error.

08:47
Natasha Fisker
And then same with the sleep patch. We really wanted to make sure the ingredients worked as well, which it absolutely does, it works wonders. It definitely took a lot of testing. And as you mentioned, the scientific background, the ingredients, were really core and really important: magnesium, l-theanine — l-theanine is great for longevity, gaba, all these ingredients, naturally sourced ingredients, that was really, really important.

09:12
Christian D. Bruun
That's great. So you have the sleep patch, the mouth tape, and the 3D sleep mask. Are there other things in the package of Checked Out?

09:22
Natasha Fisker
Right now our two hero products are the sleep patch and the mouth tape. And then we have some merchandise products. We have a 3D sleep eye mask and that eye mask blocks out all the light, you can travel with it, you can sleep with it at home. Also, 3D because it doesn't lay flat on your eyes, it doesn't crush your eyelashes.

09:42
Natasha Fisker
Men might not care about that as much, but with women, we just don't want our eyelashes to be pressed flat.It's also just more comfortable. This year we'll also be launching some other products that we're very excited about too.

09:53
Christian D. Bruun
You're very busy, which is a great thing to be. You're also with the fashion app Button that was founded in 2023. What's Button? Tell us about that.

10:02
Natasha Fisker
Yes. So Button. Our co-founder, her name is Molly (Montgomery), she's amazing. We actually got connected through a friend. She started this app called Button. Basically what it is, it's your fashion AI digital assistant. What you do with this app is you go, you sign in, you put your email in, and then basically Button pulls all of your receipts from your email and digitizes your closet for you. It pulls all of your receipts from your purchase history. There, you then can see your closet digitally.

10:31
Natasha Fisker
And then Button also helps you resell. It helps you list these items on Poshmark, eBay, Depop. But it does it for you. I don't know if you're familiar with re-listing, but a lot of women and men resell clothing on eBay, Poshmark, Depop, and it's very tedious. You have to go find it in your closet, take photos of the item, you have to upload it, you have to write the description, the size, yada, yada.

10:58
Natasha Fisker
But Button, what it does is it already makes your digital closet for you. And on top of that, it automatically will help you list that item and it'll input everything for you. So it pulls — oh I bought this t-shirt, it was a Size Small. It pulls all the photos, it pulls the description, does it all for you. You don't have to spend hours looking through your closet, figuring out what's the size, what's the name of this shirt.

11:21
Natasha Fisker
That's what the app does. And then we're also making people's closets be shoppable. You'll also be able to look at your friend's closet and be like, oh, I like that shirt, where can I buy it? And Button will tell you, oh, she bought it here, and you can go shop her closet as well. There's a lot of fun features. It's becoming its own fashion marketplace too.

11:39
Christian D. Bruun
You can tell your friends to update their wardrobe.

11:42
Natasha Fisker
Exactly.

11:44
Christian D. Bruun
I do know eBay listing is super tedious. So this all exists within the Button app universe, so it's all just in there, you buy it directly through the app?

11:53
Natasha Fisker
It's all within Button and Button is a free platform, by the way. We have partnerships with Poshmark, eBay, Depop, which is really great, too, so we're integrated within those. We'll directly connect to your Poshmark account, to your eBay account, and help you quicklist your items so that you can re-sell.

12:10
Christian D. Bruun
That's great. That is very exciting. I want to talk a little bit more about fashion retail. What are the trends? Technology plays a big part not only for the sale of a new item, but also reselling, like you do with Button, for the secondary market. What is your largest customer base and is this a specific age group, specific geographical regions?

12:31
Natasha Fisker
That's a great question. I'm heading up growth for Button and we've been looking into our entire market and we've had a lot of exploration of who our market is. And it's funny, every day we're discovering a new kind of market. For example, originally we thought it was younger females who are in the fashion space, which it is, that's a huge market for us — younger females who love fashion but also need to afford their lifestyles and constantly buying clothes. They're often reselling.

13:01
Natasha Fisker
But then it's also stay at home moms who love to shop and who love fashion, but who also don't wanna waste money and wanna resell and earn cash back. And then we do have actually quite a few males too. They resell their clothes, they might not be as vocal about it, but they do. The market, it's pretty broad.

13:19
Natasha Fisker
But I will say, the "fashion girlies" is the main market that we tap into because they're the ones who also build their social media off of doing this. It's crazy. We have some of our super users, they earn $100,000 a year just from reselling clothes, which I think is pretty crazy, if not more. We have some super sellers. It's incredible.

13:41
Christian D. Bruun
Wow. I made a film about ten years ago about blue jeans and collectors and especially Japanese super collectors and high-end fashion jeans. And we actually started working on an app for all the collectors and especially women who had, at that time, fashion jeans of all kinds. The technology in the market wasn't quite there for it, but I'm certainly aware that collecting and reselling fashion is a huge market and people really care about it.

14:07
Natasha Fisker
It definitely is. Denim is huge. Absolutely. And just going back to the market, females are definitely the biggest shoppers. I think we can all agree on that, so that's definitely a huge market for us. Women are constantly buying. We have some women, they'll wear something once and then they wanna sell it right away, or they've taken a photo in it, or they just don't want it anymore. It's a great way to earn your money back and then also be sustainable at that same time.

14:34
Christian D. Bruun
I was just gonna say sustainable, because you don't just toss things and that ends up in landfills and all that. I like that. Your role with Button is Chief Growth Officer, CGO. What does that term mean and what are you tasked to do?

14:48
Natasha Fisker
So Chief Growth Officer. My role is really growing Button as a company, getting visibility on the brand, growing our user base, which is huge. We are a startup, it's very early days. We need more signups. That brings in revenue, that brings in future partnerships. We want as many people on our app as possible. That's been my role doing all of that, as well as working with the founder on brand.

15:14
Natasha Fisker
Social media is something that I do as well. You can be so creative and you can do it on a budget. I'm also heading up user generated content. That's working with creators and having them create organic content that we put out there as well for growth purposes.

15:27
Christian D. Bruun
And I'm sure there are a lot of opportunities for brand collaborations within the fashion industry, it's not just all user generated.

15:33
Natasha Fisker
Absolutely. We work with a lot of different brands, but then also stylists. That's a big market for us as well, because you have a lot of these stylists who people in the fashion world look to, of course style them, and they know what's good. And it helps the stylists organize their closets, or for their clients and their clientele. They're actually great creators for us in a very organic way.

15:55
Natasha Fisker
I think every partnership we look at, whether it's a brand or person, like a fashion girlie, it needs to make sense, it needs to be organic. It needs to feel like when their audience is watching them, that they genuinely like the app and use the app, and that the app helps them.

16:11
Christian D. Bruun
Right. You've very well versed in the potential of social media in any business venture, not limited to self-care and fashion. I want to ask you a little bit about how social media has changed in the last ten years in this space. It's certainly becoming increasingly saturated. What are the most effective avenues for marketing a product today? Is it Instagram and Facebook and TikTok? What are your main platforms?

16:38
Natasha Fisker
For all the companies and all the things that I do, business-wise and personally, I would say TikTok and Instagram are definitely where it's at. Facebook is kind of, I would say, for the older generation, but at the same time, it's still very valuable. You can obviously run ads through Facebook, but also Facebook brings together community. You'll find a lot of community pages on Facebook, which I do think is very important for brands. That's useful as well.

17:08
Natasha Fisker
But if we're really talking about getting the word out there, getting visibility, TikTok and Instagram are huge. And then TikTok Shop is something that's very big for D2C (direct-to-consumer) sales. For example, for Checked Out, we really wanna go hard on TikTok Shop and get all the sales through there while we start as a business.

17:30
Christian D. Bruun
I see. I'm usually in the film industry and it was a pretty big surprise to learn that the Oscars are gonna be broadcast exclusively on YouTube in 2029. So that signals a change somehow. YouTube was the big user generated content platform. Is it still relevant for you guys?

17:46
Natasha Fisker
Definitely. YouTube is definitely big, and that's something that I want to start getting into is vlogging, that's video blogging, and putting out videos on YouTube. There's YouTube Shorts, which is kind of like TikTok, it's shorter clips. That's also become very popular. It's absolutely huge for a business, for a brand. And then for the Oscars, I'm not surprised 'cause I just feel now it's all streaming, everything's on Netflix, YouTube. So that tracks, definitely.

18:19
Christian D. Bruun
And what about the influencer culture? It seems influencers have now surpassed celebrities in terms of promoting things and being visible to the public.

18:27
Natasha Fisker
I think it's very fascinating, the influencer culture. Anyone now can pretty much be an influencer depending on how committed you are to it. I do believe, though, the key is to be authentic to who you are or to your brand. I think if things seem or feel forced, it can come off as inauthentic. But I do think it's fascinating how yes, influencers have gained huge following and some influencers are "more famous" than celebrities.

18:57
Natasha Fisker
They're very different though. If you're a film celebrity, you're at a different — I don't know if caliber is the right word. If you see Tom Cruise, for example, he doesn't have as big of a following on Instagram as Alix Earle. But everybody knows who Tom Cruise is, he's an icon, he's done amazing films, he's very respected. So they're very different.

19:23
Natasha Fisker
And influencers, they're influencing, right? They're selling products. I think celebrities, they're acting, they have a true talent and that's being on film. Influencers are promoting brands, products, and showcasing lifestyle. They have their niches. It really is fascinating how influencers have come into this whole orbit and built following and all that.

19:44
Christian D. Bruun
And I guess you get sort of a personal glimpse into the influencer's life or their whole platform is basically themselves, as you say, to be authentic. Whereas Tom Cruise, he's famous for playing other people, for being a slightly untouchable movie star in a different universe, where influencers are the people that you're engaging with directly.

20:04
Natasha Fisker
Exactly. I think you nailed it. The celebrity Tom Cruise is almost out of reach. And he's the actor. And then you've got the influencer who is relatable. I think people wanna follow, almost kind of relate, but then also be like, oh, that's cool. And just follow and see what other people are doing in their everyday lives and what products are they using and how do they look the way they look or do what they do.

20:28
Christian D. Bruun
You can insert yourself in that world. Let's go back a bit to the beginning. You are an immigrant to the US with a Danish father and a Brazilian mother and a bonus mom, or as we call it in Danish, or a stepmom in American culture, who's Indian. So I imagine your definition of being Danish is rather multicultural. What was your childhood like and where did you grow up and when did you arrive in the US?

20:55
Natasha Fisker
Yes, quite the mix, my childhood, I was actually born in Germany. At the time, my father was working there and that's just where I happened to be born. We were there for a few years, and then we moved to the US for a couple years, we had to move for his career. And then we moved to the UK, to London, for a few years until I was around ten years old. And then we came to the US where my father started a new business venture, and then stayed here.

21:25
Natasha Fisker
I used to have a British accent. I no longer do, obviously, 'cause I moved here when I was ten years old, but that would be cool if I still had it. You mentioned my mom, my father, my stepmom, they're all very international. It's definitely inspired me in many different ways. And I grew up every summer going to camp in Switzerland, 'cause my mom's side of the family is also Swiss. I think it's really important to be international and to go to other parts of the world. I think that's definitely shaped me as a person in my life.

21:54
Christian D. Bruun
It's good to learn from other people and see other cultures. So now that you are on Danish Originals, did you spend some summers or time in Denmark as a child? What are your memories of Denmark?

22:06
Natasha Fisker
I'm half Danish 'cause my dad is full Danish. I do not speak the language. It is a very tough language, I will say. Whenever he speaks it, I'm like, I don't know what you're saying. It's funny. We went there when I was a baby, so I didn't remember it. But then recently, a few years ago, I went back for the first time. I met up with my aunt, my dad's sister, and she showed me the home that they grew up in as children, which was really sweet. She showed me the main areas of Denmark.

22:35
Natasha Fisker
And I love it. Denmark's beautiful. And it's also, I felt, very health oriented. The food was good. They had a lot of poke, I was very surprised. Just some interesting things that I was like, oh wow. And all the people are very kind. I would love to go back and do a proper longer trip. I definitely grew up with some of the key Danish things. My father, every Christmas he makes risalamande. I don't know if I'm pronouncing that correctly.

23:02
Christian D. Bruun
No, that's good, with the almond —

23:04
Natasha Fisker
Yes. Yes. So the winner, whoever would find the whole almond, would win a prize, usually money, or something creative. And then the flatbread sandwiches, is something too. I never had a chance to learn Danish. Unfortunately here in LA not many people speak Danish.

23:23
Christian D. Bruun
We can work on that a little bit. I'll teach you a few words.

23:27
Natasha Fisker
I will say, at least from my experience, I think Danes are very kind people with a very positive energy, which I've always noticed in my dad. He's very positive, always happy. And I gauged that when I went to Denmark. I'm like, oh, you're all kind of like this, you know?

23:43
Christian D. Bruun
The happiest country in the world, right?

23:44
Natasha Fisker
Exactly. That speaks true. And then also one thing, my father would always tell me about his childhood. He had big dreams and Denmark's a smaller town and he really wanted to pursue those dreams. And oftentimes, people told him, oh, it's not possible. But he did make it happen.

24:03
Natasha Fisker
And I think going back and just seeing a smaller town, a different place, 'cause even living here in LA, it's so international, there's so many different people, it's so big. Seeing, okay, the little house he grew up in, this little town, it's very interesting.

24:19
Natasha Fisker
But it was also very inspiring. I think Danish architecture and design is very beautiful. I actually think Danes, you Danes, the Danish people, you guys are taste makers for design. I really do. I think you guys started the whole contemporary, modern, clean look of things, whether it's furniture, architecture, I think that's something that Denmark really started and has nailed. That's really beautiful in my eyes.

24:45
Christian D. Bruun
Certainly in the last 20, 30 years the country has changed a lot. The best restaurants are now in Copenhagen. All the design, as you say, even film and television is now incredibly successful. It's interesting to hear you as somebody who is half Danish, experience that.

25:04
Natasha Fisker
The food too. Just going off of that as well. I think the food in Europe in general is just amazing, but exactly in Denmark too. It's fresh produce, it's probably from the farm down the road. It just feels so clean, so good. All fresh, natural, organic ingredients, which I love, I'm into health and wellness. That was something too, that the food is exquisite there and very well thought.

25:28
Christian D. Bruun
And just remind me again, when did you move to the US?

25:31
Natasha Fisker
We moved here when I was around ten years old. And then we would go back to Europe every summer and so it's been nice that I have my friends that I grew up with here in Newport Beach in Orange County. But then I also have a whole friend group in Europe as well, which I'm very grateful for.

25:47
Christian D. Bruun
Do you have cousins in Denmark?

25:49
Natasha Fisker
I do. I have cousins in Denmark, so that's my father's sister, my aunt, her kids.

25:54
Christian D. Bruun
That's fun. Have they been to visit in the US?

25:57
Natasha Fisker
My aunt came one Christmas, which was super fun. She came with her husband and their kids, my cousins. And we had a blast. And they were all so excited. Obviously it's very cold in Denmark in the winters, so they were loving the LA weather and the pool. It's nice.

26:12
Christian D. Bruun
That's great, it's good to keep in touch with family back in the old country. Thanks for sharing that. Natasha, this was really fun chatting with you and talking to you about your businesses. Congratulations on all the success and fun things you're venturing out on. And thank you for being part of Danish Originals.

26:29
Natasha Fisker
Absolutely. Thank you. It was so lovely chatting with you.

26:34
Christian D. Bruun
For today's episode, Natasha Fisker chose Perseus og Andromeda, or Perseus and Andromeda, by an unknown artist from 1601–1652 from the collection of the National Gallery of Denmark.