Pourri CEO Suzy Batiz Talks “Alive Ideas” During House of Robb Discussion at SXSW

House of Robb, the immersive pop-up featuring tastings, brand activations and live discussions from Robb Report, returned to SXSW for the 2024 festival in Austin.

The three-day pop-up included panels on a variety of topics with several engaging guests, including a conversation with Suzy Batiz, the CEO and founder of Pourri. Robb Report partnered with The Hollywood Reporter to host the conversation, which was moderated by Robb Report senior editor Justin Fenner and presented by Pourri.

The chat, titled “From Disaster to Triumph, Making Change That Matters,” hit on a wide range of topics, including Batiz’s upbringing, her decision to create Poo-Pourri and her concept of an “alive idea.”

Batiz didn’t shy away from any serious topics. She spoke about her perseverance despite the trauma she faced during upbringing. “When a business problem comes or something, it’s like, well, hell, I’ve been through a lot more than that,” she told the crowd. “When an obstacle comes at you, you’re like, ‘OK, I handled that. Now what do I do?’” she later finished.

The founder and CEO revealed she started studying to figure out how she instinctively knew which ideas would work for her, eventually leading Batiz to the concept she calls “alive ideas.” Batiz said she contacted a cellular biologist and posed the question she had been searching for the answer to: “Are ideas alive?”

Batiz also briefly touched on the topic of her experiences with ayahuasca ceremonies and “hallucinogenic journeys.” The businesswoman also laid out what about her experiences kept her coming back to that kind of therapy.

Check out what Batiz had to say about those experiences and hear the full conversation in the video above.