Words and Interview by Alexander Cheves
“The sexiest men I know wear their vulnerability on their sleeves.” Natalie Petek, 27, tells me this in the OXI Garden—a walled-in, open-air space, part of Club OXI in Berlin’s Friedrichshain neighbourhood. Here, Natalie Petek works as head booker, crafting the club’s image in the Berlin music scene.
But this is not Natalie’s first role in nightlife—she’s worked in the scene for several years, and her darker experiences of the past clarified her mission to do something good and affirming here.
We’re sitting by the DJ booth. At mid-morning, the club is quiet and empty. The Garden has a raised dance area surrounded by gravel, some trees, a few wooden tables, and some old, beat-up leather sofas.
“They get wrecked every season,” she says about the sofas. “We replace them each year.”
I tell her I’ve partied here before, and that I always get lost—the inside of OXI is a maze. When you stumble into the garden, with its hidden kitchen off to one side and its casual, outdoor biergarten vibe, it comes as a breath of fresh air after the labyrinthine indoor club.
I tell her the advice a rave buddy told me the first time I visited this club: “There are no dead ends, so just keep walking. Eventually, you’ll find what you’re looking for, but you might have to go through the club twice.”
“Yeah,” she laughs. “We’re working on that.”
Petek books artists, maintains relationships with local promoters, collectives, and party organisers, and shapes the events the club offers. After speaking to her about her work, I realise this job boils down to curation and branding: the parties and events a club hosts reflect the crowd it desires and, by extension, the values of the club itself.
What does Club OXI value?
“Queerness,” she says. “That’s the foundation, and our staff reflects that.”
She tells me that most of the staff at OXI is queer, so when Natalie brings in queer parties and artists, she knows she is welcoming them into a safe space, one she has helped shape for the past year and a half.
What happens on the dancefloor always reflects what’s happening in staff meetings and backstage.
She knows what it’s like to not work in a club that shares her values. Previously, she worked at Club Ost in the Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg district.
“When I brought in queer events to Club Ost, there was resistance. They didn’t understand how to treat people in the right context.”
Before Club Ost, Natalie Petek worked at Watergate—considered by many to be one of Berlin’s most legendary clubs, which closed its doors permanently at the end of 2024. The closure was reportedly a result of financial difficulties, such as high operating costs, increased rent, and a decline in clubgoers, and the club decided not to extend its lease into 2025.
Can we talk about your experience at Watergate?
Natalie Petek joined the Watergate team about two years ago.
“I started at Watergate with the impression that they wanted to make big changes, and they told me I would be responsible for introducing that change. They asked me to bring in new promoters from the scene, especially queer promoters who had credibility.”
She agreed that Watergate needed this change—the club had a bro-y, toxic reputation.
“The only way Watergate could change was to be introduced to the queer community through people they trust.”
The queer community was willing to give the club a chance, she says. “I introduced people I knew and trusted. That was part of the agreement—I brought in promoters literally the first week I was working there.”
What queer parties did you organise for the club?
She brought in some well-known queer parties—Malahunta and Buttons, and others.
“These were people with their own circles and big credibility. They wouldn’t have believed in Watergate if I had not believed in it.”
“But,” she says, “I was naïve.”
She tells me she made the mistake of believing the people there “immediately” and brought “everything I had to the table in the first week.”
She wouldn’t do that again. “I’m more careful now.”
Almost immediately, she received pushback from the other booker on staff.
“We were supposed to be a team,” she says. But that’s not what happened.
Every time I mentioned an artist or someone I wanted to book, the other booker said, ‘No, don’t even try. I’ve tried a million times. Don’t even give it a shot.’ And I thought, well, sometimes people have better relationships with certain artists or agencies. I always try.
“Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t,” she says. “When it did work, he was visibly annoyed whenever I got credit for it, which turned into animosity towards me.”
The animosity grew over several months. “I was setting up good relationships, but he was constantly complaining about me not doing well enough.”
She tells me it “got to a point where I didn’t feel like I could say anything without getting teased and shut down by him in front of the whole team. In meetings, he mocked me. My confidence was completely knocked down.”
What made it worse is that the team did not stand up for her or defend her. “They didn’t do anything about it. And they obviously noticed, because he talked to me this way during meetings.”
What was the breaking point with Watergate?
At this point in our chat, Natalie gets quieter.
“He made sexist comments, too,” she said. One time, he boasted that he had slept with every female employee who ever worked there—and instead of reprimanding him, a male coworker jokingly said, “Natalie, you better watch out!”
That made her realise the environment was truly unsafe—a boy’s club with no repercussions for inappropriate comments or behaviour.
Meanwhile, the stress from the job was impacting her home life.
“My partner told me, ‘This isn’t you anymore.’”
When she got a job offer from a booking agency, she took it as a sign to tell the bosses about her experiences with her coworker.
“They fired me,” she said. “They told me to pack my things, and they let him stay.”
They were so nonchalant about kicking me out and taking everything I worked for. And similar things happened to me before. Sometimes, as a woman, you’re not taken seriously at all in this industry.
At this point, she says, she had brought “everything” to Watergate—all the promoters and agency relationships she had spent years cultivating.
She thought briefly about fighting for her job, but in the end, she felt “convinced they would do this again and again.”
What are the responsibilities of a club booker?
She clarifies that most clubs in Berlin have at least two bookers, but it depends on the size of the club. OXI is smaller than the previous clubs she worked in—but much more organised.
“OXI is very professional,” she says. “Those other clubs did things very freestyle.”
Here, she has a booking assistant named Abi. And she has Ohla, who handles advancing and production. “Ohla is our spreadsheet queen. I’d be lost without her.”
OXI does both in-house events and promoter events, and it really takes a village to make it all happen.
“We have Violet, our intern. Sebastian handles tech for all live performances. Dom handles social media and content. And unlike most clubs, our bosses are involved—they sit in the office with us. That gives me hope.”
She says that, in most Berlin clubs, owners tend to stay disconnected from day-to-day operations. “Most club owners are just investors. At OXI, it’s different. They’re present. They listen.”
What is the Natalie Petek advice for women working in nightlife?
“Don’t stop caring,” she says. “Don’t lose empathy.”
Natalie is emphatic: nightlife is still a bro culture. Because of this, “Women are told the industry is harder for us, and that we have to toughen up. I tried that for a while. I tried to keep up with the men.”
Then, she realised something important.
After a few years in nightlife, I learned it’s a strength to stay soft, to stay empathetic. This industry has so much fakeness and greed. But when you’re real and kind with people, it shows. That’s radical softness.
I tell her how much I love this—how much I value the concept of radical softness, and how I think it’s something healing for men as well as women.
She agrees—she has thoughts on manhood, too. “There’s definitely a masculinity crisis, but it’s a necessary crisis.”
Masculinity is shifting. Men are being asked to re-evaluate what masculinity means. Vulnerability is sexy. Feminism is sexy.
She is also encouraged by the state of womanhood. Lately, in Berlin, relationships between women feel less competitive and more supportive, more community-driven, she says.
Where does the nightlife industry still fall behind?
For women, the nightlife industry has a long way to go, Petek says.
“In Berlin lately, it feels like there is more connection between women. Women are helping each other more now. It feels like an alliance.”
“In nightlife, there are not enough women, especially when you look at lineups,” she says. “You’ll see 10 men and one token woman, and she’s often the one who gets cancelled.”
Berlin has this queer bubble where things sometimes look better, but in the broader nightlife industry, it’s still a boys’ club.
She said men in nightlife need to focus on being allies to women.
“I only ever got chances from men,” Petek says. “I never got a leg up from a woman, because there are just not enough women.”
Women will never get the same chances if no allies give us the same chances they would typically give their bros.
This ties back to our earlier discussion on masculinity. “Yes,” she says. “It’s all connected. We all need to re-evaluate what we think about masculinity and certain roles that men have anchored in their brains since they were little. It’s a hard subject.”
What do you do outside of your work at OXI?
Natalie clarifies that, in addition to her work at OXI, she works at the booking agency Metropole, and she’s the booker for the Berlin-based DJ Kim Swim.
I tell her that the music she plays on her Instagram posts is excellent and ask what music she’s into right now.
“I’m definitely into electronic music, but also old psychedelic rock—60s and 70s stuff. I love Pink Floyd. And I also love futuristic pop—SOPHIE, Arca, Slayyyter, Charli XCX. I’m a hyperpop girly!”
I mention that I saw on Instagram that she went to a Charlie XCX concert in New York. She laughs. “No, that was Manchester, but it was all part of the same big trip. It was amazing.”
We were right at the front of the stage. It started raining, and CharlieXCX was wearing a white top—it hit just right. It was hot and cinematic.
What was your journey to Berlin?
Natalie Petek is originally from Austria. She grew up Catholic in a tiny town and even attended a Catholic housekeeping school. “It was a private girls’ school, meant to teach you how to cook, clean, and find a husband. I was like, hell no.”
Back then, she was, in her words, “a full-blown lesbian.”
Even in catholic school, I was dating girls in the closet. I’m really proud of that.
But the skills from that school stayed with her—Natalie loves to cook.
“I’ve been vegan for about four years and vegetarian since I was ten. I love cooking comfort food, hearty stuff that’s still plant-based.”
She tells me that her father used to make meals that took five hours. “I think that rubbed off on me. I like slow cooking and inviting friends over for dinner.” Her go-to dish, she says, is a hearty vegan lasagna.
I mention that, for many queer people who grow up religious, relationships with their parents can be challenging. But she says her relationships with her parents—with her mom especially—are solid.
“My mom went through a phase of not accepting me. I think she thought I was just a femme girl,” Petek says. “When I started dating a more butch-presenting girlfriend, it was a culture shock for her.
“But we talked about it a lot, and I was patient with her. She’s the biggest queer ally now. I’m so proud of her.”
When her mom came to visit her in Berlin, she told Natalie that she wanted to go to the Schwules Museum in Schöneberg. “She wants to learn everything about queer people.”
Do you ever miss Austria?
Yes, she tells me. “I didn’t appreciate nature so much when I lived there. I had cows in the backyard, lakes, and mountains. After I moved to Berlin, I realised I needed grass. Now I love to go hiking. I go home a lot. Touching nature is vital to me.”
Why did Natalie Petek choose Berlin?
“Everyone in Austria goes to Vienna to study, and in Vienna, everyone hangs out with their high school crew. I didn’t want that. I needed a fresh start. So I came here.”
I ask if Berlin feels like home or just a stop. Petek doesn’t hesitate—“It’s home, definitely,” she says.
“I’ve lived here for almost eight years, and I’ve never lived anywhere this long.”
I’ve had moments where I wondered if I could live somewhere else, but my heart comes back to Berlin.
The city can make it challenging to find a solid group of friends, she says, and in this, she was fortunate—because of Haus17.
Tell me about Haus17.
When she first moved to Berlin, she lived in a “huge house” behind the club ://about blank, called Haus17. It was a large, shared WG, where she says at least 13 people lived together full-time, and more were constantly crashing there.
“It was four flats connected, so sometimes there were 60 people in total.”
Not only did this living experience give her lasting friendships—she’s still friends with many of the people she lived with then—but it was also her gateway to working in nightlife.
“Everyone I lived with was connected to the music scene. There were DJs, producers, and ravers.”
In total, she lived there “about a year and a half.” I tell her it sounds like a utopia—an artist commune. Sadly, it did not last.
“We all had contracts, we were tenants,” she said. “But our landlord had registered the house as an office space. Once this came to light, we got evicted and had to leave within two months.”
Do you feel like your own biggest supporter?
“I’m definitely my biggest critic,” she tells me. “I’m very self-critical, a perfectionist. I try to do my best in everything. That’s something I’m still working on.”
What’s something you’re really proud of?
“Honestly? The Watergate moment,” she says. “As a child, I was really shy. I got bullied a lot. “
When Watergate happened, I retreated to that mental place from when I was bullied as a child. Then I realised what it would mean, not just for me personally but for all the other women who could be in this spot, if I stood my ground and said something.
“I didn’t back down as I would have in the past,” she says.
She goes on: “This is something I’m really proud of, partly because it was so out of character for me to do this.”
Petek is also proud of her career. “I always dreamed of working in the music industry. Now I’m doing it. It makes me happy to see other people happy because of what I do.”
Who most inspires you?
Her answer comes as something of a surprise: Lady Starlight, an electronic artist. I tell her I’m not familiar, so Natalie fills me in: Back when pop megastar Lady Gaga was playing small clubs in New York, she and Lady Starlight were “best friends.”
“When Lady Gaga went full pop, her best friend Lady Starlight stayed in underground electronic music. I booked her for International Women’s Day, and I was fangirling so hard.”
Hearing this, I had to look the artist up and learned that Lady Starlight—AKA Colleen Martin—helped Lady Gaga make her elaborate onstage costumes.
Before Gaga’s meteoric fame, the two hosted a weekly party in the Lower East Side called New York Street Revival and Trash Dance. In their wild onstage performances, they lit hairspray cans on fire and go-go danced. They even performed together briefly in 2007 as Lady Gaga and the Starlight Revue.
Another one of Natalie’s heroes is Berlin’s own artist SPFDJ.
“When I first got into electronic music, SPFDJ was Jesus to me. When I started as a booker, she and I shared a moment, and she gave me some advice.”
Over the course of our chat, Natalie mentions her partner a few times—so I ask about them.
Let’s talk about love.
After all, relationships in nightlife can be tricky, with the late hours and irregular schedules.
Natalie smiles. “I have a boyfriend now! I never expected to date a man, but we’ve been together for five and a half years.”
Her boyfriend also works in nightlife. She doesn’t want to tell me his name or share much about him—private life versus public life—but she tells me he used to work in nightlife, but now has completely left the industry behind. The downsides of the industry were getting to him, and he wanted to pursue something different.
“He was the one believing in me and supporting me from the start,” she says.
Shortly after they began dating, they “started working together right away. We were working and dating after two weeks. It was make-or-break from the beginning. But it worked out. We’ve been through so many phases together, so many jobs, so many seasons.”
But they do not live together, and “I think that’s important,” she says. “It gives us space. We’re both very independent, and I think that’s healthy.”
What did you do before nightlife?
Before her current work, her focus was on working with children, and her last job outside of nightlife was at a kindergarten for HIV-positive kids. She says this was meaningful and rewarding work.
“But one day, I threw a party at Haus17. I booked all the artists. And I realised I love this and I’m good at it. The party was to raise money for a new sound system for the house, and one of the guys I invited to the party owned a venue called Generator Hostel.”
Generator Hostel was where many semi-legal, COVID-era open-air parties happened, she says—SPFDJ, VTSS, and Hector Oaks all regularly played there.
“The guy liked the party so much that he told me they have a spot available at Generator Hostel, if I wanted it. He said I could do my own thing.”
At first, she was reluctant. “I told them no because I didn’t have the money to organise an event. Back then, I had just started dating my partner, and he told me he would help back me up. He told me I could do it.”
Sometimes you just need one person to say, ‘You can do this, and it’s your calling on this planet.’
Now, she jokes that nightlife still feels like working with little kids.
Working in nightlife is like managing a kindergarten sometimes. You want to make sure nobody falls on sharp objects.
We talk a bit about what Natalie Petek’s life is like outside clubs, but Petek is more private about that stuff.
Berlin can be intense—what’s self-care for you?
“Boundaries,” she says. “I don’t work on weekends.”
This is as it should be, she says. A booker’s job should be done well before the party starts. In fact, Natalie tells me she has events planned at OXI all the way to New Year’s Eve and beyond. She likes to plan ahead.
I’ve watched people burn out in the city. I’ve seen people disappear completely. Berlin will chew you up if you don’t protect yourself.
“You have to create your own balance,” she says.
For her, that means hiking, cooking, spending time in nature, and visiting Austria often to see her family.
“Not every night has to be a rave. Sometimes you need soup and a blanket.”
Can you tease anything about what’s next at OXI?
Nope—but don’t expect typical raves and parties, she says.
She is committed to the evolution of OXI’s brand—and protective of it. “The feedback has been excellent so far with the artists we’ve booked. And people like the live performances.”
I want to bend the rules a bit with what you can do as an electronic music club in Berlin. Because I love pop. And I think techno culture takes itself a little too seriously.
Natalie Petek laughs: “People, you can enjoy something gaggy and silly!”
Petek is on a mission—focused, ready. I ask her how she would summarise this mission.
“I want to make space for softness. For connection. And I want to show people, especially women and queer people, that they don’t have to change who they are to succeed.”
