Hey there :)

What advice do you have for striking a work/life balance?

Good work/life balance is crucial for long-term mental health, so I make sure to set aside time each day for my own self-care⁠—whether this be a face mask, meditation or exercise. Even 10 minutes makes a huge difference! It’s easy to get caught up in spending all your time invested in work, but I think if you want to be successful in the long term it’s so important to make time to look after yourself and spend quality time with family and friends.

What anxieties, if any, do you hold about your life/career? And how do you deal with them? 

That’s a great question and I’m happy to admit my confidence still isn’t 100%. I’m learning a lot as I go! I’m lucky to have co-founded Monday with my partner, Nick. Business is his life. If you asked him if he would choose hanging out with me or working on any given Sunday, I’m sure he would choose working! He’s a genius when it comes to building brands and growing businesses. I’ve been a student of ‘The University of Nick’ for two years now and I can’t begin to tell you how much I’ve learnt, which has helped build my confidence. Having his support and his belief in the vision from day one got me over the line to do this.

How has the current COVID-19 situation affected your industry, and your work personally? How have you dealt with it? 

What a time to launch a brand (no previous PR experience could have prepared us for this!)⁠—but we pushed through and I’m so proud of what we have achieved so far. It has proven that now, more than ever, high-quality beauty products should be available at accessible price points. I truly believe that every person, no matter their story, should be entitled to look and feel good. My team and I all had to make major adjustments to how we worked together when New Zealand went into full lockdown⁠—we had A LOT of Zoom meetings and that always comes with its challenges! I think we’ve come out of this stronger and I’m so happy we’re all back together in the office.

What does productivity look like to you and what tips do you have for managing your time?
 Working in an [PR] agency prior to founding Monday has taught me many valuable productivity and organisation skills. You have to be organised when juggling multiple clients at once! There are a couple of strategies I follow:

• Before I sit down I make sure I have everything I need: pen, book, laptop, water, snack (all about the snacks!), so I don’t have to get up and down all the time
• I turn my phone upside down and put it on the other side of the table. If it’s sitting next to me I’m forever looking at the Monday Instagram and reading reviews from followers—it’s a rabbit hole I’ve had to learn not to get stuck in during the day. But at night, that’s where you’ll find me!

Do you have any rituals that help with your work or mental health? 
 Meditation! I try my best to practice five minutes of meditation a day but I must admit sometimes work takes priority. So many successful people I’ve spoken to swear by it and I’m trying my best to prioritise it on my daily to-do list! When things get a bit overwhelming, I like to stop and take a minute to get away from my phone/technology and really focus on my breathing⁠—this helps me to re-centre and refocus on the task ahead.

Can you recommend any resources that have helped you in your career?

The best resource I’ve had is people⁠—I know I’ve mentioned this multiple times but surround yourself with people who are smarter than you are in different areas and learn from them. Don’t feel like you need to know everything about everything. I would recommend finding a mentor that can help guide you through your career and be there to bounce ideas off when needed. And Instagram! Instagram keeps me inspired.

What’s the best and worst advice you’ve ever been given?

The best advice I’ve ever been given is that there will always be critics and sadly people who might want to bring you down, but at the end of the day you are the one putting blood, sweat and tears into everything you do and only you can drive things forward. Forget about those who just want to see you fail! Everything happens for a reason.

The worst advice I’ve been given is to not quit my day job⁠—I took a leap of faith when starting Monday and haven’t looked back since!

How do you navigate social media, any rules or guidelines you set for yourself?

Social media is the best way to communicate directly with your customers and learn from them. I look at every single comment and message we receive and try to understand how we can use these insights moving forward. The best part about social media is getting insight directly from your customer about new product ideas⁠—we’ve had such positive responses from our followers who are really engaged with the brand and interested in what we have coming up next. We always ensure that we’re responding to comments or messages within a few hours at most⁠—it’s critical to be engaged with your customers.
 

However, there are also major challenges with social media. I’ve learnt that not everyone will love your product and I have to try not to take things personally. I always try to respond to anyone who has had a negative experience right away and work out exactly what happened. With beauty, there isn’t going to be a single product that works for everyone.

List five things keeping you inspired and sane right now. 
 Our Monday muses keep me inspired daily. They include:

Who do you nominate for the next interview?

Why?

Any of my muses, as I value their approach to business, their friendship and their support with launching Monday.

Much love, 

Lilith and Arabella

L+A xx

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