28. From Private Equity to a Smoothie Empire | Julia Baldet, Elevate

This week's Muse is Julia Baldet, founder and CEO of Elevate, London's first functional smoothie bar. She opened her first store not in Notting Hill but in the Royal Exchange, picked with a clicker and a hunch. A year in, she's been called London's answer to Erewhon, opened a second location inside Selfridges, and is quietly running one of the most impressive consumer brands the City has seen in years.In this episode, we explore what it actually takes to leave a high-status career behind, from the slow unravelling of her finance years to the moment she finally gave herself permission to go, and the identity shift of going from "I work in private equity" to "I run a smoothie bar."Julia also opens up about the months between leaving finance and opening Elevate, working as a barista herself while raising a £400k pre-seed, the unconventional bet that was the Royal Exchange, building Elevate in public on TikTok, and the peak-hour numbers that genuinely floored me.This conversation is for the would-be founder still sitting in a high-status seat, the consumer brand builder starting from scratch, and anyone quietly wondering who they'd be without the title.LINKSFollow Julia: instagram.com/juliabaldetExplore Elevate Wellness: https://elevatewellness.uk/Follow Seat of the Muse: instagram.com/seatofthemusepodcast