VINNY's Meets Nat Bogs
Agent, manager, gardener and lifelong New Yorker-at-heart.
Raised between Christianshavn, Christiania and Nørrebro, Nat has spent the last decade helping musicians, actors and directors navigate creative careers through his company, Bogs Agency.
We met with him for a conversation about Qigong, confidence, loafers, plants and finding your place in the world.
Let's start with Qigong. How did you get into it?
I don't know exactly how I found it. Sometimes I think it was my dad. He was kind of mocking my morning routine and some quack new-age yoga thing, and said: "No, look at this old-school Chinese morning workout."
I've always needed something in the morning to get me out of bed. Not too difficult, but enough to get me going.
So now it's simple. I get up, drink water, take my vitamins. No music. No phone. No distractions.
In the beginning you feel kind of silly. You're jumping around, twisting, doing body waves with your arms. But now I can't go a day without it.
It's the best thing I've ever done for myself.
The whole body wakes up.
And it's a small success to start the day with.
Speaking of success. Who are you?
I'm Nat. I'm 34 now. I'm from Copenhagen and I've lived here almost all my life, apart from a small detour to New York in my early twenties.
I grew up between Christianshavn, Christiania and Nørrebro.
Today I run Bogs Agency, where I work as an agent and manager within film and music. I've been doing that for almost nine years.
Why did you choose that path?
I grew up with a dad in music and a mom who worked incredibly hard.
I never really fitted into school. I got good grades, but I skipped class all the time. Through my mom, I got a job in fashion early on. I got my own apartment when I was seventeen and had to take care of myself.
I was good at what I did. I moved up quickly.
But I was bored.
I kept ending up in jobs because I was good at them, not because I wanted them.
Then I moved into design and eventually got sent to New York.
That changed something.
It sounds cliché, but it made me realise I was spending my time doing something I didn't actually want to do.
What happened in New York?
I had these roommates.
One was a crime reporter for The New York Times. One was touring the world with Grammy-winning artists. Another was a self-taught VFX artist working on huge projects.
Everyone had moved there to chase something.
It sounds cliché, but it made me realise I was spending my time doing something I didn't actually want to do.
Growing up, I'd always been around music, film and creative people. My dad's world. Christiania. The whole wave of Danish hip-hop in the early days.
I realised that's where I belonged.
I just had to figure out what my role was.
Why management?
I've played music my whole life, but I'm incredibly stage shy.
Standing on stage is probably the last thing I'd want to do.
So I started asking myself how I could contribute.
Management felt like the obvious answer.
I quit my job and opened my company the day after my last day at work.
And somehow I was able to live off it from day one.
Do you give style advice too?
I'm definitely very honest.
Actors and musicians are different creatures.
Actors are used to dressing up. Musicians often aren't. They just want to sit in the studio with other musicians.
But ultimately it's the same thing.
Most creative people already know who they are.
Sometimes they just need the confidence to show it.
New York or Copenhagen?
Copenhagen.
But there isn't a day where I don't think about moving back to New York for a while.
Dry Martini or Old Fashioned?
Old Fashioned.
Derbies or loafers?
Used to be derbies.
I think it's loafers now.
I have a scar here, and when I got it, Ruth was the first one on the scene. She sat with me and looked after me.
Last thing. Talk to us about gardening.
I think I've always wanted an escape.
I love my job. I'm incredibly lucky that I found my place.
But gardening is different.
It's quiet.
No people. Just plants.
The funny thing is that it's actually very similar to what I do for a living.
You plant something small and then you watch it grow over years.
My oldest plant is twenty years old.
There's a beauty in that.
It's probably the same thing I love about working with people and their careers.
Being part of watching something become what it deserves to be.
Favourite plant?
A plant called Ruth.
Named after an old neighbour.
I have a scar here, and when I got it, Ruth was the first one on the scene.
She sat with me and looked after me.
I must have been three or four years old.
She always had my back.
So the plant is named after her.
