NATALIE MA

entrepreneur. marathon runner. we only live once.

Hi I'm Natalie Ma.I was born and raised in Hong Kong. At the age of 12, I made my first big decision to leave my hometown, spending the majority of my high school years in the West of England before moving to California for college.Growing up in a traditional household meant extremely rigid definitions of success. Doing all the "right things", I graduated from UC Berkeley with an Applied Math degree, joined JP Morgan, worked hard at a unicorn startup, climbed the corporate ladder in big Tech.But curious and ambitious, no jobs were ever enough. After much soul searching and going through 100+ entrepreneurial podcasts, I realized I will never be truly ready. So in 2021, I decided to trial by fire and launched my first company as a side hustle called Hangover Coffee. This led me to found Hooked Coffee in 2023 - a next-gen single-serve coffee platform - working closely with specialty roasters nationwide and partnered with hotels under the Marriott and Hilton brand.Deeply entrenched in the CPG world, I always wondered why the retail and wholesale world is so old school. In early 2025, I partnered up with Aaron Lopez, a long time college friend, and founded Buddy, an AI startup designed to streamline B2B operations for brands and manufacturers.Outside of entrepreneurship, I’m always looking for new challenges - whether it’s running ultra marathons, competing in dance or learning new skills.