06.27.2019
Episode 115: Asha Coco, VP of Sales and Business Development at Givaudan
Summary
It’s safe to say that Asha Coco, VP of Sales and Business Development at Givaudan, is the only WBMB™ guest who has been a Rockette.
She acknowledges how lucky she was to have found her two passions—dance and fragrance—early in life. The challenge was choosing between them. She tried to pursue them both for as long as she could but finally came to that proverbial fork in the road—a job offer from Clarins Fragrance Group that forced her to answer the question, “Which way?” She chose the business route for its long-term possibilities, not realizing that these two worlds would overlap here and there. As she happily discovered, “the world of beauty completely intersects with art and culture, especially in fragrance.”
Though not in a kick line any more, Asha is completely thrilled with her choice, her work and the creative opportunities it offers. Don’t miss her full story and her reflections on crafting the career you want.
Transcript
| Announcer | Welcome to WHERE BRAINS MEET BEAUTY® hosted by Jodi Katz, founder and creative director of Base Beauty Creative Agency. |
| Jodi Katz | Hey everybody. It's Jodi Katz, your host of WHERE BRAINS MEET BEAUTY® Podcast. I am so grateful that you tuned in. This week's episode features Asha Coco. She is the VP of Sales and Business development at Givaudan. I'm obsessed with her name. She's also a former Rockette, and a fascinating woman. And if you miss last week's episode, it featured Maura Cannon Dick. She is the CMO of FitSkin. I hope you enjoy the shows. Hey, it's Jodi again. Before we launch into this week's episode, I want to tell you about an organization called Helpsy. I first came across Helpsy thanks to our Base Beauty team member Julie Chen's Instagram, and she was with her friend walking into Bloomingdale's to see Helpsy containers. And I didn't know what that was and I did a little research, and I really believe in their mission, so we wanted to partner with them for the month of July. So it's hard to believe, but over 85% of clothes wind up in the trash. Helpsy makes reusing and recycling your clothes and shoes more convenient and easier than ever, with over 1800 collection containers and growing. You can find your closest collection container and learn more at Helpsy.co. I hope you check it out. Thanks so much. Enjoy the show. Hey everybody. Welcome back to WHERE BRAINS MEET BEAUTY®. I am so excited to be sitting next to Asha Coco. She's a VP Sales and Business development at Givaudan. Welcome to WHERE BRAINS MEET BEAUTY®. |
| Asha Coco | Thank you for having me. |
| Jodi Katz | I am so excited, because this has been months in the making. We met in September at the Beauty and Money Summit. We were sitting next to each other in the audience, and I actually make a big effort before all these events to be like Jodi, just introduce yourself to people you don't know. Make an effort because it's a little uncomfortable for me, and I turned to you and I introduced myself, and we had such an incredible conversation. |
| Asha Coco | It was serendipitous, because we also realized we had so many connections as well. So we were meant to meet. |
| Jodi Katz | Yeah, I love it. And then today walking into the office, who do I see, but you walking into a coffee shop and we walked in together. It was pretty cool. |
| Asha Coco | It's great. |
| Jodi Katz | So we're going to talk about your career journey, and I'm giggling inside a little because when I go on your Linkedin it's like fragrance, fragrance, fragrance, fragrance, fragrance, a little bit of skin care, fragrance, fragrance. So, let's go all the way to the beginning, your first job in beauty. What was it and how did you get that job? |
| Asha Coco | So, my first exposure to the beauty industry was through an internship where many people start their careers. And actually it was when I was in high school, we had a program in which all the senior students had to do a project for a month. And I was lucky to land a one month internship with Ralph Lauren, which was a part of Cosmair at the time, their cosmetics arm. It was at the time that they were developing the Ralph fragrance, and I was a young 18 year old learning about the industry, and I did my internship and product development and I really spent my time focusing on understanding the market, competitive analysis, and running around to a million different stores to kind of explore new launches and new formats and new textures. And that is really when I was bitten by the bug. I remember being pulled into what I perceived to be a very important development meeting with a lot of senior management, and they were very focused on asking what my opinion was because I was the target demographic, and I felt so empowered and nervous at the same time. It was that moment that I was like, "This is fun. I could really do this for a career." So that was my launch pad. It was a very short experience, but from that, it really helped me open the door to this whole world of beauty. And from there, when I was in college, I spent every summer doing internships at Estée Lauder companies. So back in the day before people were emailing as frequently, I did a mailing and I remember I got my hands- |
| Jodi Katz | Like direct mail? |
| Asha Coco | Oh, direct mail in an 8x10 envelope, really old school. I had mentors at the time who said this was a way to catch people's attention, but I mean let's be real, I really got people's attention with this old school mailing. I got my hands on the Fashion Group International and CEW directories, which were hardbound books at the time, and I went through and combed through and looked at companies I was interested in, and started just blind mailing my resume asking to see if there were any available internships, and Estée Lauder had replied. And that was kind of how I kind of transitioned. |
| Jodi Katz | So that's just showing me that hard work pays off. |
| Asha Coco | Yeah, and I guess it was like hustle before realizing it was how to hustle. |
| Jodi Katz | So who even told you about CEW or who even told you, oh you can look and there's resources? |
| Asha Coco | So, it was my exposure through Ralph Lauren. I had worked for this fantastic woman who was very exposed to the industry, and so she exposed me to all of them, and she said there are all these different organizations. And I remember just being exposed or being invited to an event or going as a guest, and from there I just always planted them in the back of my mind as resources. |
| Jodi Katz | Right. So I love that you were hustling at such a young age, because when I was at young enough and up until just a few years ago I really thought everything came easy to everybody, and it was just relationships that they had through the years, and that things were handed out to people, and I didn't realize that you could work hard and get it. So it's so nice for you to see that at such a young age. |
| Asha Coco | Yeah, I think so. And I think it's really in the moments of reflection, like back on my career or back on the steps that got me into where I am today. But I remember even along the path there have been people are very influential leaders. Women that have kind of instilled this mentality in me that you really need to take the bull by the horns and you've got to do it for yourself, and I probably learned that young. And yes, sometimes there are people along the path that will take you with them on the journey and help guide you, but at the end of the day you need to be the one that forges your own path, and you're the only one who can make things happen. And I really feel like I am trying to live that every day, even in my current role. |
| Jodi Katz | Right. So let's go from internship to, well to internships, right? High School internship, college summer internships. And then, what was that first job that you landed after school? |
| Asha Coco | So when I graduated college, I was going to school in Manhattan. I was at NYU, and I was quite conflicted because I had these wonderful internships in beauty, but I also had this other side where I was pursuing the arts and I was studying dance, and I had been performing. And I was like, "Do I want to be a dancer? Do I want to be a business woman? And what does that mean?" So I was really kind of following both paths until that last like D-day decision making time period. So, I had applied for many, many roles within beauty in different functions because I was really following where I had exposure through my internship, so it was both marketing or PR. And in the end, I landed a role at Clarins Fragrance Group, which was really exciting, but I also was grappling with, "Oh my gosh, what does this mean? Am I going to leave my artistic love behind because I'm going to work in the corporate world?" And it was really hard, but I did decide to take the path that was more corporate. But I'm really happy I did, because what I'd probably didn't recognize at the time was that those two worlds would merge together anyway because that's the world we live in. The world in beauty completely intersects with art and culture, and especially in fragrance. I mean, I'm working with artists every day, with perfumers. So, it was a really interesting time, and I had this internal struggle, and at the end all my loves came together and I was able to kind of live out my dream. |
| Jodi Katz | Well we can just stop this pod now, because it all worked out. I just want to hear the details on what's doing it. |
| Asha Coco | It worked out, but it's still challenging. It's challenging every day. But I think, yes, that first role was really interesting, because at the time Clarins Fragrance Group had some of their own brands that they developed out of Paris. I was sitting in New York City on this team that was really focused on US trade marketing, but they also had a distribution agreement with some of the Proctor and Gamble brands at the time. So, I had exposure to some of the brands that we were developing kind of in house, as well as some of the brands that we were just doing distribution for. So I worked on brands like Azzaro, which is a really classic iconic men's fragrance brand, as well as Lacoste when Lacoste was first entering the fragrance category back in the early 2000s, so that was really exciting to be a part of kind of building the launch strategy. Again, it was my first role, so I was helping manage the advertising comps needed for all the different retailers. I mean, it was really starting at the beginning, but I remember also being able to help build some of the strategy for some of our new fragrance launches and it was tremendous. And, I remember doing everything from sourcing props to kind of set up our ... We had done a launch event at MSG, and I was sourcing all the props to kind of set up and immerse you in a world of these new Lacoste fragrances, to also helping with building the presentation and actually presenting to some of the editors, which I had never done before. And so it was amazing. I had loved working on that team, but at that moment I also recognized I really wanted to create things. In a trade marketing role, you're really creating a different part of the strategy and you're really focused on how it's going to be executed in the marketplace, and it's a very important role, but I want to make the product. So I immediately focused on how am I going to get a role that's going to help me make product? And I recognized that that was going to be a global marketing role, and then I started to apply for roles. At the same time, I had decided that I had this background in the arts, but I really needed to dig deeper into business. And I was like, I need an MBA because I think it's going to help me broaden my skill set, and also give me credit credibility in the business world. So I decided to kind of start applying for business school, as well as look for a global marketing role. And that's how I landed at Unilever. |
| Jodi Katz | So which came first, the business school or the next job? |
| Asha Coco | The next job came first, and then while I was in the next job I was accepted into business school. |
| Jodi Katz | So, were you working during the day and going to school at night? |
| Asha Coco | Yeah. |
| Jodi Katz | For how many years? |
| Asha Coco | I did it for three years. I went to the Fordham Business School, so it was very close, and it was all about how can I do both? It was tremendous. It was a lot of work, but it was manageable. I had previously, when I was an undergrad, also been in school but also working, because at that time I was doing my undergrad work while performing in a show. So, it was again, kind of how to manage my time and divide across these two different needs that I had at the moment, but finding the balance, which is always hard. But, you know, pushed through. |
| Jodi Katz | In school you were a professional dancer? You were like paid to perform? |
| Asha Coco | Yes. I was a professional dancer, and I danced with the Radio City Rockettes for two years. |
| Jodi Katz | Holy moly. |
| Asha Coco | Which is, it's a known secret. You know, my background had always been studying classical ballet and then other dance disciplines, and when I was in college I had a roommate who introduced me to that world, and she's like, "You've got to audition." And I did, and so it was the best part time gig you could have when you're an undergrad student. |
| Jodi Katz | You were part of New York City history. |
| Asha Coco | Kind of. I guess so. |
| Jodi Katz | So, your winter season, so during the end of the first semester you were really busy, right? |
| Asha Coco | Right. |
| Jodi Katz | I guess you were in rehearsals for many months before that, too? |
| Asha Coco | Yeah, it would basically be like the fall semester and the winter, and then usually the spring time period I took off, and then when the summer came around I was doing an internship in beauty. So I kind of had this cycle going that was working for me, and allowing me exposure to different things, which was fun. |
| Jodi Katz | So where did this sense of ambition come from in you? Were you super ambitious when you were younger? |
| Asha Coco | I think that absolutely I was ambitious and quite disciplined. I think when you come from a background in competitive, probably sport or competitive arts, which dance is. I mean, you're auditioning for roles and you don't get everything. I think that it was probably ingrained in me at a very young age, but I also think it's part of my environment. My father, too, is an entrepreneur. He has his own business. So he had started ... I remember growing up, and he was working in Manhattan for a very big Swiss firm at the time, and he's in the commodities business. And then, he had like decided when I was in middle school to start his own business and to build it. He built it from a room in our home downstairs next to our garage, and I watched him, and I remember helping him. I remember filing for him and answering the phone professionally, and this is where I learned my beginning ... all the skills that you need, I guess, for a professional interactions in business, and I watched him. So I think that it's kind of a mix of everything. It was like what I was interested in growing up, but also watching people in my environment. |
| Jodi Katz | All right, so I love that you had your side gig. It was not working in a coffee shop or being a waiter. You were a Rockette, and that is incredible. And will you share pictures with us? |
| Asha Coco | Sure. I have to find them. They're all printed. There were no digital photos. Can you believe it? |
| Jodi Katz | I love this. So you got a job at Unilever also in fragrance? |
| Asha Coco | Yes. So at that time, they had just launched Vera Wang's first fragrance, and I remember it was incredible to interview at Unilever at the time. They had Unilever Prestige Cosmetics. It was Unilever Cosmetics International, their prestige fragrance division, and they had many different brands in the portfolio. I had gone through a series of interviews, and at the end it was really amazing, because they said, "You know, we have two roles open, and do you have a preference which brand you want to work on?", which never happens. So I was so excited, and I chose VR Wang because it was at the beginning of its journey. It was like we got to build something together. So, I joined as a marketing assistant. |
| Jodi Katz | Do you remember what the other brand was? |
| Asha Coco | Yeah, it was Calvin Klein. Oh, I remember everything, because I also interviewed with a woman who I'm still close with today. Lori Singer, who is still at Cody, who's wonderful, and we talk about that. About how she's part of the story of my beginnings. So, I chose the Vera Wang brand at that moment and it was so exciting, and we were developing new brands from scratch. And I have to say, now reflecting back on my career, there are very few opportunities where you're allowed to actually create a brand completely from scratch. So I was so lucky to be a part of that. And so we created, I mean, of course with this bigger team, I was just one of the pieces that helped it on its journey, but Vera Wang Princess, which at the time was a huge success in the early 2000s. It was also the first time that we started to play with social media, because social media wasn't as widespread as it is today. And so we we're using new tools to talk about brands and scent, and we were doing digital communication, and it was just really a special time. |
| Jodi Katz | Right. There were probably still some direct mail pieces at that time. |
| Asha Coco | Well, at the time what we did that was ... I remember in that moment, I remember we had done a special promotion with MySpace. It's like MySpace is completely obsolete, but at the moment it was like the thing. |
| Jodi Katz | Yeah, and that was actually really innovative, because a lot of brands were terrified of social media, or didn't even touch it. |
| Asha Coco | Yeah. So, it's interesting, and even if I think about my following role when I was at Estée Lauder too, I remember that being part of this internal movement, it was when brands were starting to have pages on social media, and having a brand Facebook page. And then we kind of banded together our whole organization as a community, and then we all were friends on Facebook and we were all really supporting our brands. So, it's really interesting to see how social media is impacting our business and it's evolving. |
| Jodi Katz | And in such a short amount of time. Just like thinking back, I mean, my business is only been around for 12 years, and maybe eight years ago ... I can track things back to how old my kids were at the time. So I had just had my daughter, and she's eight now, maybe eight and a half, and we were working with Clinique on their first influencer targeted event kind of thing. We didn't know what to call it then, and it was like, wait, we're used to doing events for the press three months ahead of time, but now we have to do something at launch. |
| Jodi Katz | It was so crazy for the whole team to think about shifting schedules based on the fact that you want to create immediate content. You don't want people to sit on content, right? And it was really hard to wrap everyone's brain around, because for decades they were operating this way, right? And now eight years later, look at what happens in the marketplace around influencer marketing. It's insane. |
| Asha Coco | Yeah, it's interesting. It's like the whole model's been flipped on its head, and so I think as we think about how we just approach the beauty business in general, right? Anything is really possible now, whether it's the communication strategy or the way we develop, we have to really be able to keep an open mind to push the boundaries. And then we're seeing brands doing that. Like, completely disrupting the space. |
| Jodi Katz | Right, and there's room for small players to be here now. I'm sure you partner with some of them, because that's where the most innovation happens, especially in communications. Okay. I want to continue on your journey. We might skip a few. Give us the brands you worked with until you got to where you are now. |
| Asha Coco | Okay, so after Vera Wang, I went to Estee Lauder, and that is where I worked not only on their fragrance business but also the skincare business. And at that time, it was incredible, because it was the dream. I had never worked for ... It's like the mother ship, right? This beautiful brand that had every beauty category, really understanding how the different categories play on each other. I had worked on Pleasures, which was an iconic fragrance brand. I also worked on Advanced Night Repair, which is like the, I think even today, still the bestselling serum. So it was fantastic, in that I understood how these big global brands operated, because it was a completely different mindset and way of supporting and also infrastructure of understanding what's going to work in every market, and it won't always be the same thing. But when I was kind of at the end of my role on the skincare team, I was starting to think about, "Okay, what could be my next challenge?" And I had had an experience at a fragrance house. In fact, I told my colleagues this story on my first day at Givaudan, because my experience was actually at Givaudan. I went to the Givaudan offices, and there was a wonderful presentation that was shared with our brand team at Lauder, and I was so inspired. And I said, "Oh my gosh, this is incredible. These people are creating the future, and how can I be a part of this?" And I remember that I had then asked the head of fragrance development at Estee Lauder for breakfast, and I wanted to pick her brain. |
| Jodi Katz | Was that an easy thing to ask for? That breakfast? |
| Asha Coco | I think I was young in my career, so I felt like I was really probably stepping out of my comfort zone. But we had a relationship and I was very fortunate that she made time for me, and she really was open and talk to me about the role of the fragrance house, and how they really support the development process. And it was really in that conversation, I didn't join a fragrance house for probably over a year later, but it planted a seed in my mind that I was like this is an area I want to explore. And so, that is how I found Symrise. I think at the time they were recruiting, so someone had called me and I said, "You know, I want to see what happens." This is an unexpected path. I can continue to grow within the bigger brands structure, but I was like, I want to do something really different and I want to work with many different types of brands, which that allowed me to do. So my whole fragrance house journey has been from Symrise to Firmenich and now at Givaudan, it's really given me exposure not only two different types of brands, but also different categories. Because if you think about it, scent really touches so many different parts of our industry. And so while my expertise is in fragrance, it does also allow us the opportunity to get to know other categories. I remember even at Symrise, I mean, we were covering understanding the global hair care market, or what's happening in deo. Fragrance is such an important component, and we really have to dig deep to understand those categories. So, it's given me a breath of knowledge that I didn't anticipate, instead of keeping me so focused on one subject. |
| Jodi Katz | So deodorant, laundry detergent. Are there surprising categories that we wouldn't think of having fragrance be a key differentiator? |
| Asha Coco | I think that fragrance is a key differentiator in all products in which it exists. If you think about it, if you think about the haircare category, fragrance can signal even what the benefit would be when you're looking for some specific claim. So, there are all these subliminal signals to a consumer as to what a fragrance will impart because of the scent, but also have cult followings, right? Some of these fragrances in other categories, people love so much that they then spin off and they'll do other formats later in time. I think we've been seeing, I mean everyone's been reporting it including MPD, but like the rise of home fragrance. Everyone is now really interested in how they can kind of create a new environment through scent and layer scents, and all of the sudden there's so much activity in this space. So it's exciting, because scent touches everything. Even skincare. Of course fine fragrances is our true love, but we also see that consumers will use fragrance through other formats. It might be for body or it might be in the shower. |
| Jodi Katz | Right. I actually do have a favorite hair product scent. I'll tell you off recording, but so much so that when I smell it in the air, I'm trying to sniff it out. Right? |
| Asha Coco | Yeah. |
| Jodi Katz | And it's such a fun process when you actually sniff a friend and you're like, "Oh, I know that shampoo or I know that dry shampoo." So, okay, tell me what you do now. What is your role? |
| Asha Coco | So I'm in sales, and I oversee our local and regional accounts, as well as business development. So, I have a portfolio of existing fine fragrance accounts, but some of them play in some other categories, and then we're also looking for kind of the new players that want to enter the category. |
| Jodi Katz | So what does business development mean in your world? |
| Asha Coco | So for us, we're really looking at opening opportunities for both our existing clients and for new clients. I mean, if you think about how the industry has evolved even in the last 10 years, there are brands that never existed before. So it's really taking a broader lens to say, "Okay, how can we help really support founders with dreams to enter the category, and thinking that they could be kind of the disruptors for tomorrow?" |
| Jodi Katz | So you've actually been in the fragrance house world as indie beauty has been expanding, right? You've been following the same path at the same time. Have you noticed that these fragrance houses, which many are very old, right? Mature businesses. Have they had to adapt a lot internally to be able to support a tiny brand in their journey? |
| Asha Coco | I think that what I've recognized is because fragrance houses have such long rich histories, including mine, there are very strong relationships that exist. I think that the one thing that continues to come to the forefront is speed, but I don't think speed is only unique to new brands. I think even our existing brands want speed. I think everyone is trying to get to market with the best product possible. The feeling of acceleration or accelerating innovation is felt throughout every single customer, right? But I do think that we have to think of different ways to work with new clients, because it will be different than working with maybe someone who's more established. For example, a lot of new businesses have never developed before, so they might not know the steps and they might not understand the process. So, we have to really be able to educate new businesses on how we can partner together, and it's just a different way of working compared to maybe a company with an established infrastructure and processes and understanding how to get to the end game. |
| Jodi Katz | Right. So that idea of education actually comes up for me in my business, because yes, when we have brands with marketers who had been through this before or maybe haven't been through exactly this before, but they read about it and they educate themselves on it, it's a completely different conversation then here you are, you're a lawyer who just quit your job and decided to build a brand. Now what advice can you give me? Because it's hard, right? It's hard to take everything that we've known through the past 15 years of growing our brands and our partners, and siphon it into somebody who's never been in the industry before. |
| Asha Coco | So here, I think that there's like no one path, right? And that's what we know, right? When you're working with any type of company big or small, it's really about being able to be agile and just frame the right conversation. Think about what's the challenge at hand, and how can we get to a result? And that there could be two or three different options to get there. So I don't have a regimented speech or things that I say, or every time I'm working with someone new, but I do change the conversation and I try to take a step back and be like, okay, let's start from the very beginning. What are the steps in the process, or how could we approach this? How long is something really going to take? I mean, yes, I know you want to launch in a month, but we know that development takes longer. Plus you have to manufacturer. So it's building a framework, and then being able to be flexible around it in the conversation. And I think being honest too, right? |
| Jodi Katz | Right. I think my stumbles, that I forget. I forget that the person across the way doesn't know the stuff that I know, or even know 10% of it. Right? |
| Asha Coco | Right. |
| Jodi Katz | Now that you said that, I have to remind myself slow down. Let's literally start at the beginning. |
| Asha Coco | And I also think that sometimes it's about transparency, because people don't know sometimes I may over express what I'm going to do to get us to the next step. And it can be something as simple as, "Just so you know, here's how we create. And the first step is we have a system, and we enter a project hypothetically, and then we collaborate with perfumers, et cetera, et cetera." So I kind of walked through what I'm going to do so that we all are on the same page, and we understand in this time in which we may not talk that these things are happening behind the scenes. And you know, it's quite simple with a certain level of transparency and sharing, and then they feel really confident in understanding, "Okay, I know what's going to happen. I know I'm going to wait two weeks or one week or three days or whatever the timeframe is, and whatever the next step that's required." |
| Jodi Katz | So I want to shift gears a little bit, because before we started recording you had to shut off your phone. |
| Asha Coco | Yes. |
| Jodi Katz | Because it was beeping, and now you're off the grid. Nobody can find you, they don't know where you are, an you can't resolve their- |
| Asha Coco | People do know where I am. |
| Jodi Katz | You can't respond to them immediately. Let's talk about those urges, because you're also a new mom, right? So, there's a lot of noise around us as moms and how we figure out where to put our attention. At least that's the way I feel. How do you approach this balance idea? |
| Asha Coco | So, I'm very lucky that my husband and I just are an incredible team, and we try to balance our schedules as best as we can. I think that it's just about, again, being quite structured in my day. So, I thrive on structure. So I like to know, okay, this is the time block I'm going to go to the gym, and this is the time I'm going to hang out with my little one Leo, and this is my work time. So I block it out, and we do a lot of that together, too. Even for kind of our free time, just so we can make sure we're all doing all the things we want. So for example, I had my in-laws visiting last weekend and we had decided we were going to do a trip to Hudson Yards and we were gonna visit Snark Park and have this whole fun, immersive day. But we also wanted to plan it out so that we could plan it against the nap time, and then there was a fragrance lunch event in the evening, and we had to map everything out and make sure it could happen. But having that kind of structure then allows us to really like have the freedom to play. So yeah, a typical day for me is I usually wake up pretty early. |
| Jodi Katz | What's early? |
| Asha Coco | Like around 5:30. I'll go to the gym at 6:00. I'll be back at 7:00, and then I'll kind of get ready. And then Leo will get up, and we'll have breakfast together, and then I'm usually in the office by 8:30. |
| Jodi Katz | So you merged two words in one thought together that I used to not think belonged together. Structure and freedom. So, I used to really resist against this, and maybe it's one of the reasons I started my own business because hierarchy and structure really scared me and made me mad and frustrated. What I've realized over time, and I think running my own business and being a mom helped me get there, is that the more structure I have, the more freedom I actually have. I have more space in my brain, whereas for example, "When am I going to go to the gym this week?" It occupies a lot of space in my head. Maybe it's a Monday, maybe it's Wednesday, maybe it's Wednesday and Thursday, instead of just knowing, "You know what? Tuesday, Thursday, Saturdays are my days." Right? So, I've just learned this literally. I mean, I'm 43 years old. I feel like every day I learn something new, that this type of structure will give me the freedom that I really crave. |
| Asha Coco | Yeah. No, and I think that, going back to my childhood, if you think about it, right? I was competitively dancing and I had to go to school and you had all these obligations, and it's like that's all I know really, is this structured, kind of disciplined schedule, and it works for me. I don't know. |
| Jodi Katz | Yeah. I'm really embracing it, because I was struggling with how do I fit it all in? How do I do things beyond the podcast and my day job and the kids and my husband, that I want to do? Because there's even more, and beyond the gym. And what I have realized in this process is that it's okay for me to give up The Real Housewives for a little while and just have them DVR and catch up with them on the weekends. That there's just not enough hours in the day during the week for me. |
| Asha Coco | Right. |
| Jodi Katz | Thank you so much for being on our show. I'm so grateful that you shared your wisdom with us today. |
| Asha Coco | Oh, thank you so much for having me. It was my pleasure. |
| Jodi Katz | It makes me so grateful that I take a deep breath and make the effort to introduce myself to new people, because you just get to meet really special people that way. |
| Asha Coco | Oh, thank you. I'm so glad I met you. |
| Jodi Katz | So for our listeners, I hope you enjoyed this interview. Please subscribe to our series on iTunes, and for updates about the show follow us on Instagram at @wherebrainsmeetbeautypodcast. Thank you, Asha. |
| Asha Coco | Thank you. |
| Announcer | Thanks for listening to WHERE BRAINS MEET BEAUTY® with Jodi Katz. Tune in again for more authentic conversations with beauty leaders. |
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