Sincerity, Improvements & Achievements: The Cindy Way

Cindy shares, “Our earnestness at Solomomo to help people makes me so proud.  We are stepping into a massive industry, and we’ve worked hard to build relationships with other companies and to genuinely demonstrate how we want to be additive to their businesses.  It always amazes me the reception you can receive when you lead with such a fundamental offering of ‘here is how we want to help you.” The same can be said for Solomomo’s investors.  They have been encouraging and supportive. At the same time Cindy had to deal with the horrific sadness of losing Eric and their team’s ability to keep going, but as Cindy proudly shares, “Eric and I used to have a saying from the movie Creed ‘one step, one punch, one round.’  You just keep going no matter what.”

Cindy has had a long and arduous journey but her ability to keep on learning has helped her grow professionally as Cindy points out, “I love learning.  I read as much as I can each day.  I constantly ask people for their thoughts. When you ask in a considerate way, people are delighted to share their knowledge.  I seek out the best of the best and I get so very lucky that people will answer my questions and share their insights with me. These chats happen early Sunday mornings or whenever someone will grace me with their precious time.” Cindy early in her career and in her leadership, journey had decided that she would not allow the notion that she might get rejected to stop her.  It was a very liberating moment for her and that was grounded in the advice she received from her mom years ago when she was a teenager and giving modeling a try. She would return from a long day of go-sees and didn’t think she had landed any jobs (and she didn’t) but what her mom said to her has stuck with her over the years: “You just weren’t what they were looking for today.  Don’t take it personally,” shares Cindy. “As a start-up CEO you are constantly raising money and talking to companies way bigger than you and often you deal with rejection. You have to stay buoyant, you have to stay confident. Of course, I do get disappointed but at the end of the day I often also hear my Dad’s voice joining my Mom’s sage advice in my head ‘just shake it off and move on’.”

With those lessons in mind, she continued her journey, now at this point in her career she has the Malcom Gladwell ten thousand hours under her belt in the start-up category but she feels her learning is far from over and she has to keep learning, networking, and keep studying consumer behavior because that fuels her innovations. She feels that this learning and the individual catalog of skin insights will drive Solomomo’s success, “As we build our personalized database of skin insights and with the longitudinal nature, imagine what we will learn! And imagine how we can help people. I can barely contain my excitement for the direct correlation of how our technology can determine the precise custom skincare products for each individual.”

Sustainability & Personal Life: The Delicate Act of Balancing

Surprisingly, fulfilling your company’s sustainability goals and finding the correct balance between work and family life requires finesse and panache to be there and put in the effort. Solomomo’s sustainability efforts are directed toward helping customers fine-tune the items that are best for them, thereby reducing waste. More accurate amounts allow individuals to utilize only what they require. Solomomo’s long-term objective is to create bespoke skincare products that may be purchased at local Med Spas making it a single point of collection that helps in minimizing last mile traffic.

And when it comes to her personal life she shares, “I feel unbelievably lucky that I get to do what I do.  As a solo parent, it can get tricky sometimes in terms of how I want to devote my time and I am extremely deliberate about my time management.  I love being with my four kids.  They make me laugh harder than anyone.  But they also deserve the support they need from me to chase their dreams.  Our beloved nanny Alyse also is a huge part of making life outside of my work run smoothly.  She and I are a great team.  I couldn’t do what I do without her.”  Having the dual responsibilities of CEO and single parent Cindy starts her day early at 5 AM and sits at her desk for a few hours. She blocks out time each morning to make breakfast for her kids, talk about their day and drive them to school.  It makes her heart very happy to know that she got to see them head off on their respective days.

Cindy signs off with these inspiring lines, “A great leader must have perseverance, commitment, focus and fun. Within these categories, you must lead with compassion. You must be brave and you must make people feel safe.”