What a Day in the Life of a Fashion CEO Looks Like
The world of online fashion startups is growing at warp speed, and Rathna Sharad is one of the industry’s most innovative leaders. She’s the founder and CEO of Runway2Street, a company that connects emerging independent luxury fashion designers and brands with online shoppers. The company sells pieces from designers across the world and promises shipping within 3-5 business days. But it doesn’t all just come together magically. There’s a major #girlboss behind the scenes making sure everything runs smoothly. Read on to find out what a typical day in Rathna’s life is like. Spoiler alert: She does a lot.
A day in the life of Rathna Sharad
6:00am: I wake up at 6:00am M-F. Start my day with a cup of lemon with warm water, prepare coffee. On weekends, I like to sleep in and wake up around 8:30am.
6:30am: My daily stand-up meetings with my engineering team in India via hangouts. It’s a great way for me to catch up with the team at the end of their day.
7:30am: Get on calls with brands in Europe. Usually, I schedule these for 2-3 days a week. Then I get on emails and triage to look for anything important that needs immediate responses.
8:30am: I shower and get ready. I work from my home office but do like to get dressed for any meetings during the day.
9:30am: Get started with work again in my office, or on Thursdays, I do an all-day sync with my co-founder. I drive 30 mins to do that. I typically hate driving unless I have to — I prefer to hold meetings in a coffee shop about 10 blocks away and usually walk to those.
10:00am: If I am at the coffee shop, I get a latte. I don’t typically eat breakfast. I nibble on nuts or drink a cup of homemade almond milk with turmeric and honey. I leave strategy, creative thinking, preparing decks and planning for mornings when I am at my energetic best. Try not to get buried in day-to-day stuff or email until later in the afternoon.
12:00pm: I usually eat lunch, something I prepared the previous night for dinner.
1:00pm: I usually have meetings scheduled for any brands, partners or operational calls in the US.
2:00 – 4:30pm: I do more tactical things like looking at operational aspects of the business, answering emails and syncing with folks on everything from hiring, merchandising, product, financing to marketing. Yes, you do everything under the sun as a startup founder.
4:30pm: This is when I take my first real break of the day. I start with a meditation session (love Headspace!) — I pick a pack depending on how I feel that day and what I need. Then do yoga for 30-45 minutes. I mix up the session again based on how I am doing physically that day — I may need more stretching or focus on a specific area I need to work on.
5:30pm: I start making dinner. I love to cook and like to make sure I eat good, whole food. This is also the time my husband gets home, so we chat and catch up while I cook.
7:30pm: We eat dinner pretty late in the evening.
8:00pm: I get back online for any calls that are for brands in Asia. Otherwise, I will just get back to work/email.
11:00pm: I get to bed around this time. I learned I need seven hours of sleep if I need to sustain this startup journey, which is a marathon, not a sprint. On Fridays and Saturday nights, I don’t get back to work at 8:00pm. Instead, I like to go out on a date night with my husband or get drinks with friends. Also, I limit work to around four hours on weekends. I like to go running, check out new restaurants or spend time with my sister and family.
Rathna’s Favorite Quote
Rathna’s Best Advice
Have a question for Rathna? Tweet us @BritandCo and @Rathnas!
(Photos via Runway2Street)
