Introducing: The Coffee Chat (#1)
My conversation with Sari Azout - A seed stage investor, design-thinker, product strategist, and mother of humans that never sleep.
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Hi there 👋🏽
I started this newsletter less than 3 months back with a dual mission:
Break stereotypes around working parents
Amplify the voice of other working moms and dual-career working parents
I am very excited to share that from today I am launching a mini-series within this newsletter (the original essays will continue) that tackles this dual mission head-on.
I have modeled it after those "Coffee Chats" that we have all been encouraged to do. You know, that meeting where over coffee you are supposed to talk to someone more seasoned than you to figure out their path, the mental models they use, and most importantly how they do what they do.
To kick off this series I am super excited to introduce my first guest Sari Azout.
Sari is someone who I have admired from a distance - She currently heads the Think division at Rokk3r Labs, runs consumer tech investing at Level Ventures and also happens to write one of my favorite newsletters (Check your Pulse) all while being mom to two young boys.
Below is our conversation:
Please tell us a little bit about yourself and where people can contact you
After close to a decade working in tech and startups, I have a difficult time explaining what I do. Words like VC, product strategist, or creative businessperson just don’t cut it. My work involves tech in all its forms but when it comes to technology, I'm less interested in the tech and more interested in the people who make the technology, who use the technology, who benefit from the technology, and whose lives may be impacted by the technology. Currently I am the Head Product for a startup studio in Miami and also run Level Ventures, a fund that invests in consumer startups reimagining everyday living. In my spare time (what spare time?), I write Check your Pulse, a tech and startups newsletter designed to make you feel human. You can find me on Twitter and subscribe to my newsletter here.
I am fascinated by how you manage your energy and find time for self growth and creating kick-ass content that adds so much value to the community. What systems have you created that enable you to do this? How do you manage your energy?
I wish I could say I have it all figured out. The reality is I feel guilty if I’m not spending enough time with my kids and guilty if I’m not spending enough time building myself. I never feel like I am giving enough to either. As women, we are programmed to think that parenting is supposed to be an experience of martyrdom, and I'm learning to change that buggy code in my system. That said, I've also created rules and habits have made me more productive. For example, I take no meetings when emails or a quick call will do and I take no meetings without an agenda. My productivity has gone from a skill to a superpower out of sheer necessity.
After becoming a parent did you adopt any new beliefs, behaviours or habits that have most improved your life?
My secret to staying sane is making lists. I always feel better after making to-do lists. The overwhelming stuff becomes a lot more manageable when you break it down into manageable, actionable things.
Being a parent has also made me a lot more accountable for how I spend my time. I now wonder what I did with my time before I had kids. Sleep, friends, fitness, work, and family – there is physically not enough time for them all. And when you have less time, you are forced to squeeze out the stuff that doesn’t matter and are left with the stuff that does. These days, I have no patience for unproductive meetings, unfulfilling social events, and I've cut down my social life to the bare minimum. I've become much more vigilant about what I spend my time on and the reality is that compression works.
What is one of the best or most worthwhile investment you have made after becoming a parent? (this could be anything from a product for yourself to getting child care support
I realize that I speak from a position of privilege but hands down having a housekeeper to help me with cleaning and cooking during the week. Having a housekeeper frees me from the mental load of having to think about cooking and gives me an extra few hours every day to devote to my work and myself.
Are you part of a dual career household? If yes, then what choices have you and your partner made that has helped you become a dual career household with kids?
Yes. My husband and I are both meaningfully involved at work and at home. We've found a rhythm that works for us. I like to do bedtime, he takes the kids to school in the mornings. I'm in charge of groceries, he makes sure the A/C gets fixed if it breaks. I do a lot of afternoon driving to and from kids classes, he'll take them Saturday mornings so I can catch up on my work.
I took on a disproportionate amount of responsibilities early on in my motherhood journey until I learned to ask for help. As women, we are programmed to believe we have to do it all, and alone. My life changed when I started to ask for what I wanted, directly.
What advice would you give other working women who are on the cusp of motherhood / recently became moms? What advice should they ignore?
I think my best piece of advice, and the one I still rely on during challenging times - is that absolutely everything is temporary. A baby waking up every two hours is temporary. A kid who will only eat chips is temporary. A temper tantrum — temporary.
Also, ignore the labels.
As a woman and mother, the focus is so much on the labels. Is she a stay at home mom or does she have a career? Is she a business-woman or a wife? Does she feed her children pre-packaged foods or organic homemade meals? The truth is that women are many things at once. I am just as enthusiastic about crypto-currencies and consumer technology as I am about baby milestones and up and coming fashion brands. Some days I am in a yoga class at 10am and a kids soccer class at 3pm and other days I’m in back-to-back meetings with some of the most interesting people in business. The most powerful thing a mother can do is embrace her many layers and be all the things that she wants to. Nothing about it is easy – not the making humans, not the raising them, not the building companies, relationships or careers. But we need to stop listening to a society that tells us we can be anything that we want to and then forces us to prescribe to labels and singular identities and instead create our own scripts and rewrite the rules of what it means to be a woman.
Quick-fire Questions:
What’s the best thing you have watched recently?
I've tried meditation so many times before and failed. I've recently begun doing this meditation (on a weekly-ish basis) and it's been transformative.
What’s the best thing you have read recently?
Easy to Love, Difficult to Discipline I picked up this book during a challenging time as a parent and it was everything I hoped it would be.
Trick Mirror by Jia Tolentino is AMAZING. I revisit passages from the book every week.
This article by Morgan Housel is one I never forget.
The Second Mountain by David Brooks was one of my most enjoyable reads this year. It's a book about finding meaning in life by going beyond the “first mountain” desires of status, ego, prestige and focusing on making commitments—to family, community, a vocation, and religion/philosophy.
What’s the best thing you have listened to recently?
I'm obsessed with Poolside.FM - it instantly lifts my spirits. Their recent partnership with Recess is also amazing music and helps with focus.
I would love to hear from you, feedback is always welcome!
And if you happen to know an inspiring working parent who should be featured in a future edition (or if you yourself are one) - please do get in touch.
Disclaimer: All views expressed are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views of my employer.
Introducing: The Coffee Chat (#1)
Nice interesting conversation. Such typical issues for women - like a juggler with so many balls up in the air !
Interesting chat! Looking forward to more such conversations.