If you’ve ever cracked open a can of Ghost Energy or mixed a scoop of their "legend" flavored protein, you’ve seen the branding. It’s loud. It’s colorful. It’s basically everywhere from GNC to your local gas station. But while the founders, Dan Lourenco and Ryan Hughes, are often the faces of the "lifestyle" brand, the actual machinery behind the scenes is run by people like Natalie Richards.
Honestly, people get confused when they search for her. There are a few Natalie Richards out there—one’s a famous thriller author, another works in music tech—but the Natalie Richards driving the ship at GHOST Lifestyle is the Vice President of Operations.
She isn't just some executive sitting in a corner office signing papers. She’s been there since the early days. In fact, her trajectory at Ghost is kind of the perfect blueprint for how you climb the ladder in a fast-paced startup environment.
The Rise of Natalie Richards at GHOST
Natalie didn't just walk into a VP role. She started at the company back in 2018. If you remember what the supplement industry looked like then, it was a weird time. Brands were moving away from "meathead" marketing and trying to look more like streetwear brands. Ghost was at the forefront of that, and Natalie was right in the thick of it as a Marketing Manager.
It’s rare to see someone move from marketing to operations. Usually, those are two very different worlds. Marketing is about the "vibe" and the "story," while operations is about the "how" and the "when."
But she did it.
After a stint as Marketing Manager, she pivoted. She became the Purchasing Inventory Manager. This is arguably one of the most stressful jobs in the beverage world. Why? Because if you run out of cans or a specific flavoring agent, the whole line stops. You lose money. Customers get annoyed. Natalie managed that chaos well enough that she was promoted to Director of Operations and, eventually, Vice President of Operations.
💡 You might also like: Blue Owl Capital Stock: What Most People Get Wrong
Why Her Role Matters Right Now
Operations is the unglamorous backbone of why you can actually find Ghost products on shelves. When a brand scales as fast as Ghost did—expanding from just powders to a massive partnership with Anheuser-Busch for their energy drinks—the logistics become a nightmare.
- Supply Chain Management: Making sure the raw ingredients from various suppliers actually arrive at the manufacturing plants on time.
- Inventory Control: Balancing the demand for limited-edition drops (like those Oreo or Sour Patch Kids collabs) with the "always-on" core flavors.
- Scaling: Moving from a small Chicago-based team to a global powerhouse.
Natalie Richards: Vice President of Ghost and the Human Side of Tech
There’s a lot of chatter online that mixes up this Natalie Richards with a "Vice President of Ghost" in the music and entertainment industry. You might see articles talking about mentorship programs for songwriters or "100% licensing" debates.
That is a different person.
The Natalie Richards we’re talking about is a University of Louisville and Columbia College Chicago alum. She’s a marketing-brained operations expert. It’s an interesting mix. Most operations VPs are "spreadsheet people" who don't understand brand identity. Natalie is different because she spent years at Nfinity Athletic and RIVALUS before Ghost, meaning she understands the athlete and the consumer just as well as she understands the inventory.
She’s basically the "fixer."
If a production run is behind, or a new vendor is causing issues, that lands on her desk. It's high-stakes stuff. In 2026, where global supply chains are still feeling the ripples of the last few years of volatility, having a VP of Operations who can think like a marketer—reacting to trends while keeping the trucks moving—is a massive competitive advantage.
Career Milestones You Should Know
- Sales Roots: Started in sales at Nfinity Athletic, managing a 5-state territory. This gave her the "street level" view of what retailers actually want.
- Marketing Transition: Moved into marketing and athlete management at RIVALUS.
- The Ghost Era: Joined in 2018 and survived the hyper-growth phase, which is where most startups fail because their operations can't keep up with their marketing.
What You Can Learn from Her Career Path
If you're looking at Natalie’s career and wondering how to replicate that kind of growth, it’s not about staying in your lane. It's about being useful.
She didn't say, "I'm a marketing person, I don't do inventory." She took over inventory. She took over purchasing. By the time the VP role opened up, she was the only person who understood how every single department talked to the other.
Actionable Insights for Aspiring Executives:
📖 Related: Class 4 milk futures: Why this boring market is actually wild
- Pivot Early: Don't be afraid to move from a "creative" role to a "logistical" one. The people who understand both are the ones who get promoted.
- Master the Supply Chain: In the modern economy, the person who knows how to get the product made and shipped is more valuable than the person who just knows how to post about it on Instagram.
- Internal Networking: Natalie held four different titles at Ghost before becoming VP. That means she built trust across every level of the organization.
The reality is that Ghost wouldn't be the household name it is today without the operational heavy lifting happening behind the scenes. While the flashy lifestyle videos get the clicks, the operations team—led by Natalie Richards—is the reason the product actually shows up at your door.
If you're tracking the growth of GHOST Lifestyle, watch the operations side. That's where the real wars are won in the beverage industry.