The Entrepreneur Who Brought Rhythm and UBUNTU to Corporate America

Entrepreneurship rarely follows a straight line, and few founders know that better than Natalie Spiro. Her journey captures the realities that many entrepreneurs face, like unexpected pivots, rebuilding after setbacks, trusting intuition, and discovering purpose in unlikely places. Today, she leads Drum Café North America, a company built around experiential leadership, human connection, and the unifying power of rhythm.

In this interview, Natalie shares the insights she gained while building a business from scratch, navigating major challenges, and developing a company that serves some of the world’s most recognized brands. She opens up about resilience, growth, creative leadership, and what it takes to build something meaningful in a constantly changing world.

Tell us about yourself and your business.

I like to say I didn’t come to America with a drum. I came with a dream, a degree, and a jewelry line. I arrived from South Africa in 2000 with a Master’s in Industrial Psychology, an MBA in Corporate Strategy and Marketing, and a high-end jewelry brand that had just secured a contract with Nordstrom. Within two years, that business collapsed. My marriage unraveled, my finances disappeared, and I found myself alone in a small house in San Diego, wondering who I was without a plan, a partner, or a safety net.

In the middle of that identity collapse, I began doing deep inner work. A visualization exercise in a Debbie Ford workshop led to a moment I’ll never forget, a quiet inner voice saying, “Natalie, you are the magician.” It was the reminder I needed: the power to transform my life had been inside me all along. Not long after, a friend in South Africa called to tell me about an interactive drumming show that was electrifying audiences, and he said, “You should bring this to corporate America.” I laughed at first. I wasn’t a drummer, but the idea stayed.

Drum Café North America was born shortly after a chance conversation at a party with an SVP from Motorola. I shared this wild idea of executives with djembes, boardrooms turned into drum circles, and leaders learning about collaboration through rhythm. She looked at me and said, “I have a regional sales summit next month in Las Vegas. I don’t want a keynote speaker. I want you.” That was my first corporate drumming event, and I’ve been saying yes to that rhythm ever since. Today, Drum Café North America uses the universal language of rhythm and the African concept of UBUNTU (“I am because we are”) to help teams align, communicate, and remember what it feels like to truly be in sync. We’ve worked with Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Virgin Airlines, Intel, eBay, and countless organizations across tech, healthcare, finance, government, hospitality, and beyond.

How does your business make money?

We make money by designing and delivering experiential team-building and leadership programs for organizations. Practically, that looks like large-scale conference openers and closers, leadership retreats, culture and values rollouts, offsites, sales summits, and employee engagement events.

Every participant gets a drum, and we guide the group through an interactive experience that uses rhythm to break down silos, dissolve hierarchy, and build real-time connection. We also offer virtual and hybrid programs, custom activations for major corporate events, and leadership-focused workshops that blend experiential learning with conversations about culture, collaboration, and inclusion. Companies bring us in when they want something that’s not just “fun,” but actually shifts the energy, communication, and alignment of their teams.

What was your inspiration for starting the business?

The inspiration came in layers. First was the collapse of my jewelry business and my life as I knew it. Losing everything forced me to slow down, listen differently, and ask deeper questions about what I wanted my work to be about. I knew I didn’t want to just “sell” something anymore. I wanted to create transformation.

Then came the drum. The invitation to Motorola’s event was my turning point. I wasn’t “ready” by any traditional standard, but I knew I had to say yes. I flew back to South Africa, sat with master drummers, trained, listened, and let the rhythm move through me. Drum Café North America began not because I had a perfect business plan, but because I followed a feeling, a rhythm that wouldn’t let go.

How and when did you launch the business?

I launched Drum Café North America in 2002, right after that Motorola opportunity. My “launch” wasn’t a big announcement. It was one brave yes. I took that first event in Las Vegas, then returned to South Africa to train intensively, learn the methodology, and understand how rhythm could be translated into lessons on leadership, communication, and collaboration.

From there, I started introducing the experience to corporate leaders, HR teams, and event planners. I did small demo sessions, spoke about UBUNTU, and showed how drumming could be more than entertainment. It could be a powerful leadership and culture tool. One event led to another, one company led to a global rollout, and over time, Drum Café North America grew into a trusted partner for experiential team-building across the U.S. and Canada.

How is the business funded? 

The business has been entirely bootstrapped. There were no investors, no big financial backers, just a lot of grit, resilience, and a willingness to rebuild more than once. I started with very little after losing both my previous business and my financial safety net, so every drum, every facilitator, every event was funded by the work itself. Our growth has been organic, driven by repeat clients, referrals, and long-term partnerships with global brands.

How did you find your first few clients or customers?

My very first major client came from that party conversation with the Motorola executive. I shared an idea; she offered a summit. That one leap of faith opened the door. After that, I focused on letting people experience the work for themselves. I invited HR leaders, executives, and event planners into the room, placed drums in their hands, and let the experience do the talking.

From those early events, word-of-mouth became our most powerful marketing tool. A VP from one company would experience Drum Café at a conference and call us for their own leadership retreat. An employee who drummed with us at one organization would switch jobs and bring us into their new company. We also built connections with global brands that were looking for consistent, high-impact experiences across regions, and that helped us grow beyond local events into national and international work.

What was your first year in business like?

My first year was intense, humbling, and incredibly alive. I was doing everything, selling the programs, designing the experiences, facilitating the events, hiring drummers, managing logistics, and hauling drums around in cars and vans. I was on planes constantly, often going from one city to another with barely enough time to unpack in between.

At the same time, I was still navigating my immigration journey, healing from divorce, and rebuilding my financial life from the ground up. There were moments of absolute doubt, but the work itself kept me going. Every time I saw a group shift, from disconnected and guarded to present, unified, and open, I knew I was exactly where I needed to be. The first year wasn’t “easy,” but it was clarifying. It showed me how much the corporate world needed this kind of human, embodied, connected experience.

What strategies did you use to grow the business?

First, I leaned into experience over explanation. Instead of trying to convince people with slides, I put drums in their hands and let them feel the shift themselves. Once a leader experiences that level of connection and energy, they don’t forget it.

Second, I built long-term relationships with clients instead of treating events as one-offs. We became partners in their culture work, supporting leadership offsites, values rollouts, sales summits, and major change initiatives over multiple years and across regions.

Third, I embraced UBUNTU as both a philosophy and a strategy. I focused on collaboration rather than competition, within my own team, with other owners in the global Drum Café organization (even when the structure made that hard), and with my clients.

Fourth, I stayed resilient and adaptive. The 2008 crash hit live events hard. COVID later shut the industry down completely. Both times, I had to rethink, reimagine, and rebuild, exploring virtual formats, new offerings, and different ways of bringing rhythm and connection to teams.

Finally, I invested in people. The facilitators, drummers, and partners who deliver this work with me are extraordinary humans. Their ability to hold space, read a room, and translate rhythm into insight is a huge part of how and why we’ve grown.

What was the biggest challenge you had to overcome?

There have been many, but one of the biggest has been staying the course through circumstances that could have easily broken me: losing my first business, having my financial foundation taken away, going through divorce, enduring a 13-year immigration process just to get a green card, weathering the 2008 crash, and then having to close the business during COVID.

On top of that, I’ve had to navigate partnerships and business structures that didn’t always align with my values, models that favored competition over collaboration, even as I was out in the world teaching unity and UBUNTU. It was painful at times, but it sharpened my sense of what I stand for.

Staying resilient, hopeful, and rooted in purpose, especially when everything external is shaking. That has been the greatest challenge and the greatest teacher.

What have been the most significant keys to your business’s success?

Resilience grounded in hope has been the thread through everything. I’ve rebuilt more than once, and each time I chose to believe that something meaningful could grow from the ashes.

Another key has been the ability to connect deeply with people, whether it’s a CEO before a big transformation, a team going through burnout, or an individual who hasn’t felt truly seen at work in years. Drum Café is about human connection, and that starts with how I lead and how our team shows up.

Finally, staying true to the core of our work, rhythm, UBUNTU, and embodied, shared experience, has kept us aligned and magnetic. We don’t chase every trend. We do what we do exceptionally well and allow that to speak for itself.

Tell us about your team.

Our team is a mix of core staff and a wider circle of facilitators and drummers across North America. The core team handles client relationships, logistics, operations, and creative design. Our extended team includes performers and facilitators who are not just talented musicians, they are gifted space-holders, listeners, and leaders in their own right.

Some are with us full-time; many have been collaborating with Drum Café for years. What we all share is a belief in the power of rhythm to unite people and a commitment to making every group feel safe, included, and energized. Whether we’re opening a global summit or working with a small leadership team, the care and intention are the same.

How did you make the transition from side hustle to full-time?

There wasn’t one single trophy moment. It was more like a series of quiet confirmations. Getting the call from Motorola for that first sales summit was the ignition. But I really felt the shift when global brands like Google, Virgin Airlines, Microsoft, and Amazon began calling us back year after year, and referring us across continents.

Another turning point was standing in a massive ballroom, watching thousands of people, from executives to frontline staff, drumming in perfect sync, and realizing this wasn’t just a “cool idea” anymore. It was a proven, powerful way to help people remember what it feels like to belong.

What separates your business from your competitors?

We’re not just a “fun drumming activity.” We are an experiential leadership and culture company disguised as a drum circle. We put a drum in every person’s hands, from the CEO to the newest hire, and create a space where hierarchy dissolves, voices are heard, and people feel the power of true alignment.

We also bring depth. Our work is rooted in UBUNTU, organizational psychology, and decades of experience with complex teams and global brands. We’re not there to perform at people, we’re there to transform with them. That combination of heart, rigor, and rhythm is what sets us apart.

What are your future plans for the business?

I see Drum Café North America continuing to deepen our work with leadership, culture, and transformation, especially as organizations navigate hybrid work, burnout, and constant change. We’re expanding programs that blend interactive drumming with coaching, workshops, and follow-up experiences so the impact lasts long after the last beat.

I also see us doing more work around inclusion and belonging, using rhythm to help people experience what it means to truly listen to one another, value each voice, and move together with intention. At the core, the plan is simple: keep saying yes to the rhythm, keep creating spaces where people remember they’re not alone, and keep bringing UBUNTU into rooms that need it most.

What are some of your favorite books, blogs, podcasts, or YouTube channels?

I’m drawn to anything that explores consciousness, leadership, emotional intelligence, and human behavior. Debbie Ford’s work was pivotal in my own journey. Brené Brown’s research on courage and vulnerability, Patrick Lencioni’s work on teams, and teachings from the Conscious Leadership Group all weave into how I think about modern leadership. I also return often to African philosophy and storytelling. UBUNTU isn’t just something I talk about onstage; it’s something I try to live.