Natasha Case is the CEO and co-founder of Coolhaus, the smile-inducing ice cream brand with a cult following, thanks in part to Natasha’s creative approach to dessert. While earning her masters in architecture, Natasha pulled an all-nighter to make a scale model of a building, yet Natasha’s version was made out of cake. [Note: It was the only all-nighter she ever pulled in the program, a reflection of her passion for the assignment.] Her love for “farchitecture” (that’s food + architecture, if you please) was born, and even after landing a plum job at Disney Imagineering, Natasha was making architectural-inspired ice cream sandwiches with punny names for her colleagues and planning creative, high-concept dinner parties in her spare time. “It makes so much sense to me that food and the visual experience go together. We eat with our eyes, and presentation is so important.”

Recognizing an opportunity in the market, Natasha and her business partner Freya scored a beat-up postal van off Craigslist and sold their cool, creamy sammies at Coachella, generating an immediate following in Los Angeles. Fast forward 10 years, and Coolhaus is sold in thousands of stores, and as CEO, Natasha’s got a lot on her (dessert) plate to keep innovating and pushing the brand forward. “No matter how big the problem is, it doesn’t even come close to how much I love it. Sometimes, you can actually crave the problems, because it gives you a purpose. As a leader, it’s your unique skillset and mindset that helps you solve the problems. But, don’t get me wrong. The beginning was grueling, mentally and emotionally. I don’t know any pop songs that came out from 2009 to 2012...I lived in a black hole!”

Now that she’s a certified success story with accolades like Forbes Under 30 on her resume, what would her childhood self think about her job being the Queen of Ice Cream? “She’d think it was the coolest thing ever. To be able to have a design background and use it in a way to make other people happy, I couldn’t ask for more.”

As a successful member of a growing community of female founders, Natasha makes a point to support other female-founded and led brands. “There’s a thoughtfulness and a certain level of care that women take with their own brands. They know their audience intimately because they are the audience.” So, of course, we had to get a glimpse of what this creative foodie swears by to keep her on point in her fast-paced world. No coincidence, many of her Swears are by and for women, and just as cool as a pint of her Bananas Foster ice cream...