Stylus Changemakers 2023: Five Minutes with Interlude

In this series of interviews, we speak with our 2023 cohort about their businesses, their commitment to creating better futures for their industries, and what they’re most excited to learn and experience during their time as a Changemaker.

Here, we talk to Caitlin Rozario, co-founder of Interlude, a platform that promotes movement, creativity, mindfulness and learning for employees.

What was the reason for starting your business and the driving force behind your mission?

Our mission is simply to make workdays better, and our aim is to become the essential sustainable productivity tool in every knowledge worker’s tech stack. 

Work hasn’t been working for a long time, but the pandemic threw it into sharp relief. My co-founder [Will] and I were each struggling but in different ways: he was burning out, and I was lacking any focus or direction. We realised that whichever end of this spectrum you’re on, the outcome is still a lack of productivity. We also realised that loads of people were feeling similar to us. 

The idea behind starting with breaks came from my own personal experience. When I was 18 years old, just finishing my first term at Cambridge, a freak allergic reaction left me temporarily blind and permanently visually impaired. Luckily, I recovered enough to go back to university, but it was the beginning of a long road of re-evaluating who I was and how I worked. 

“For far too long, we’ve been thinking about work and life as two separate things to balance, but work is just one part of our lives.”

What has been your proudest moment since starting your business?

I think actually launching Interlude was such a huge moment for us. Every start-up has an extreme-thrill-seeker-worthy rollercoaster ride even before launch, and we were no exception. We started working on Interlude in the first lockdown and naïvely didn’t think that there would be another, let alone two more! That stalled filming over and over again. At the same time, Will and I were both working full time, and I was also studying for my MBA, so we were juggling a crazy amount of work. To even get to the ostensible starting line was a huge achievement.

How do you try to ensure wellness is at the heart of everything you do?

 With Interlude, we’re creating a category: productivity through wellbeing. What we’re trying to say is that sustainable productivity simply isn’t achievable without health and wellness at its core. That’s why we’ve included categories like workouts, stretching, yoga and cooking: they’re not just great stress-relievers and energisers in the short term, but they also benefit us holistically in the long term. Add to this the fact that work is one of the biggest stressors, and stress is one of the biggest health concerns – you see the problems! 

“Workplace productivity and wellbeing is incredibly important, but it’s an area that’s still changing rapidly. Having access to Stylus reports and analysis will allow us to keep on top of what’s going on in this ever-evolving industry.”

Below: Meet Interlude co-founder, Caitlin Rozario.