1) To kick things off, could you tell us a little about your career background and current role?

I am the Founder of MarketingCube.co a growth consultancy, where I work with founders and executive teams of start-ups and scale-ups to define and implement their growth path.

My approach is anchored in customer, data, product, brand and marketing to deliver sustainable and profitable growth. I have a portfolio career where on top of my client engagement I am also a startup advisor with Antler VC and sit on advisory boards, as well as being an angel investor.

Prior to that I worked for over 15 years in roles spanning marketing, product & partnerships including at Google and American Express, with 15+ years of experience in the tech industries.

In my last in-house executive role, I was digitising the UK healthcare industry at Pharmacy2U by bringing repeat prescription management online. This mission-driven business delivers a 15% saving to the NHS in medication costs – a 8bn cost line.

Under my CMO leadership, Pharmacy2U grew 5 fold in revenue and secured a brand awareness of 1 in 4. This growth was recognised by the Amazon Growing Business of the Year award in 2018 and making it into the Sunday Times TechTrack 100 in 2019.

2) What does a day in the life look like for you? Can you take us through a recent workday?

I am currently working with an AUS based business, so a few times a week my day starts with calls from down under at about 6:30 am.

From about 7:30 my 2-year old, who loves to say hi to all the faces on video calls, will get on my lap as a reminder that it is time to go to nursery.

I would take a break at 8 am to take her to nursery and have a walk and breakfast.

The rest of the day is divided between personal work time to deliver on projects for my clients, prospects calls and clients calls. I also try to make time for industry news and sharing content with my LinkedIn network.

I always end up multitasking between work and home chores: run a load of laundry, pick up Lia’s toys and other quick chores as a way of leaving my desk for a bit and reducing the chore list for the evening. A new Covid times routine!

About 3 times a week, I do a 45 minute workout via video call with a trainer. I am useless at keeping a workout routine unless I have a trainer or accountability partner.

I wrap up around 5pm and my husband and I will pick up our daughter and go to the park together as a family outing before the evening routine of dinner and bedtime for Lia starts. I also enjoy listening to a podcast or an audiobook while I cook. It feels like quite a treat to find 30 mins for that during the week.

A bit more often than I would like, I do need to log back on after Lia is asleep to meet a pending work deadline. But I would rather work while Lia is asleep than miss spending some time with her before bedtime.

3) Does your current role allow for flexible or remote working? If so, how does that fit into your life and routine?

I have been working remotely for a while, but rarely with a total remote setting where there are no face-to-face interactions that I’ve had for most of last year and ongoing.

I do find that not commuting to meetings or other locations helps me be more productive with my time, but I do miss the real-life interactions and energy of a busy city.

This said, I am really excited about the “remote first” way we have been working this year. I personally think that this will stick. The Co2 impact and the time saved to spend on what matters to you instead of a commute is a massive positive impact! And I am glad to see so many more companies embracing the remote first approach.

4) What does work-life balance mean to you and how do you work to achieve that goal?

I usually talk about work life integration and hopefully my work day reflects that. It includes personal and work elements throughout. It keeps things diverse and allows me to switch attention and makes me more productive overall I find.  

5) In the past 12 months, have you started or stopped any routines or habits to change your life?

On top of being a COVID year, last year was my first year in a portfolio career, so a lot changed!

Food: With home office work, most meals are home cooked, even if some are home meal kits. On the weekend we would often treat ourselves with some takeout. And this is an improvement on the food on the go, barely time for breakfast routine of a commute life.

Working out: I have a very consistent workout routine that is easy to maintain as there is no more “running late for a gym class so skipping it” scenarios. With lockdowns as a family we have embaraced local walks, parks and woods – which makes for muddy walks in some cases so we invested in rubber boots! A first for us.

6) Do you have any favourite books, podcasts or newsletters that you’d like to recommend?

For anyone with hyphenated identities like me or interested in these –  In the Name of Identity by Amin Maalouf – is my favourite book of all time.

Books. More recently I audio booked the below and enjoyed them:

• Obsessed by Emily Heyward
• Untamed by Glennon Doyle
• Trillion Dollar Coach by Eric Schmidt
• Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell
• And anything written by Brene Brown really – The Gifts of Imperfect Parenting – is one that really helped me as a first time parent.

Podcasts:

• Prof G Show with Scott Galloway
• Masters of Scale with Reid Hoffman
• Slo Mo with Mo Gawdat
• Start Here with Mel Robbins

7) Are there any products, gadgets or apps that you can’t live without?

Audible and Google Podcasts, entertainment – Netflix, Amazon Prime.

8) If you could read an interview about work-life balance by anyone, who would that be?  

Brene Brown, I would love to get honest tips from her as a successful working mother.

9) Do you have any last thoughts on work, life or balance that you’d like to share with our readers?

I invite all to not compromise on who they are, and to rise by lifting others.

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This article was originally published in Balance the Grind, the go-to publication to help you ‘live better’ featuring content focussed on celebrity daily routines & habits, work-life balance, across health & wellbeing, social impact & sustainability, careers & entrepreneurship, and personal finance & investments. Want more of Maya's insights? Follow her here.

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