Back From the Dead x3: Dr. Natanya Wachtel’s Unbreakable Comeback

What we talked about.

In this episode, Sunny Ray sits down with Dr. Natanya Wachtel, founder of New Solutions Network, to trace an unlikely path from a globe-trotting childhood to nearly two decades inside pharma and biotech, and through three separate near-death experiences. Natanya describes growing up between cultures with a corporate executive mother, which sparked her lifelong fascination with behavioral science and why people act the way they do. She recounts her early journalism career, her push to humanize patient communication inside heavily regulated pharma systems, and the brutal physical toll of a broken back that left her partially paralyzed while she secretly kept running her companies. She opens up about ballooning to 298 pounds due to an undiagnosed hiatal hernia, relearning to walk after giving birth to twins, and the identity crisis of losing her athletic body. The conversation moves into what she learned about rest, vulnerability, and rewriting her own story after facing death repeatedly. She closes by outlining her mission to blend AI, media, and human connection through New Solutions Network to help people access trustworthy tools for healing and flourishing.

A three-time near-death survivor and ex-pharma insider on rebuilding herself and reimagining human-centered healing.

The questions, and the answers.

Can you describe New Solutions Network in a sentence or two?

I'm resurrecting my network of companies I've been involved with since 2008, focused on human flourishing. We use behavioral science, media, tech and AI, but also real human connection. I'd call us Harvard to hood, we don't fit one box or one way of speaking, and we try to bring real emotion, struggle and triumph into everything we do.

What did you see and learn as a kid traveling the world with your mom?

I was one foot in one world and one foot in another, foreign in the States and the most American among friends in Europe. I learned to read unspoken cultural rules, what's danger, what's friendly, what's hello, in every place I lived, from Asia to South America to South Africa. I felt like I never fit in anywhere, yet I was everywhere.

When did you realize you wanted to understand why people think and act the way they do?

We didn't have labels back then for things like autism spectrum or ADHD, so I was constantly trying to figure out what made people happy, sad, or scared, and what the unwritten rules were. I leaned into behavioral science and psychology early on because I was really just trying to understand myself and fit into the world around me.

What was the pharma and biotech world really like behind the scenes?

I made incredible connections and mentorships and learned a lot, so no regrets, but who I was there is very different from who I am now. I pushed to communicate with patients like human beings around chronic disease and mental health before that was something companies could monetize, and I had to build tech systems to personalize content because pharma was so heavily regulated.

Your LinkedIn says back from the dead three times. Can you take us back to what happened?

Some were more physically dramatic than others. I broke my back and woke up in the hospital facing paralysis in my lower body. The most recent event was the least physically damaging, but it's the one I finally started talking about, because I realized in that altered state I should ask questions and gather information before coming back.

Is it true you hit 298 pounds with a near-immobility diagnosis, and what was going through your mind?

After the back surgery they said I might never walk again, and it took a year to relearn while I'd just had twins and was still running my companies quietly, telling people I couldn't make events. I also had an undiagnosed hiatal hernia affecting my breathing, so I ended up on asthma inhalers and steroids, unable to walk or breathe, which was a huge shock for a former athlete.

What shifted inside you after surviving all of that?

I was pretty fearless about dying at different points and always pushed through, sometimes to my own detriment by forcing healing beyond normal pain limits. This last time I actually learned to rest, to cry, and to say I can't, which I never thought was possible before. Facing life and death made me pay more attention to big decisions and who I associate with.

What is your north star of bridging innovation and empathy, and how does it connect to New Solutions Network?

I've always believed people should decide what tech does, not the other way around, or we lose our humanity in who gets care or opportunity. At New Solutions Network we use media and real conversations, from formerly incarcerated people to beekeepers, as data to build empathy-driven AI tools, especially for high-intensity groups like military and law enforcement facing PTSD and suicide.