Today’s CEOs are facing innumerable challenges: a global pandemic and a sea change in how and where employees want to show up for work, just to name a few. For leaders, the pressure has never been higher. How do they mitigate it? In our new series, we ask executives about their day-to-day wellness habits to gain insight into the tactics they use to minimize stress and maintain their well-being.
Liz Giorgi is an Emmy Award winner and second-time media entrepreneur. As cofounder and CEO, she brings her career in production and weaves it with the technology vision for Soona. A passionate advocate for women in business, she is a seasoned speaker and an active angel investor and adviser to female-founded startups.
Coffee or tea? And what do you put in it?
Coffee. Black. The best things in life are simple, in my opinion.
What is your go-to breakfast?
My breakfast is a dose of nostalgia. I have a banana with peanut butter or a honeycrisp apple with peanut butter every morning. Crunchy peanut butter only, for the PB aficionados out there.
Tell us about your workout routine.
I have been a fan of “hot girl walks” since long before the TikTok trend took off. I take my dogs on a 45-minute walk every evening. The weekends always include one intense hike in the mountains, as I currently live in Colorado.
How many hours do you sleep on a typical night?
Sleep is essential if you have a lot of stress in your life. It’s fair to say that being a startup CEO brings a special flavor of stress into your day-to-day. As a result, I’m laser focused on getting eight to nine hours of sleep every night. It not only keeps stress levels lower but it brings a whole wealth of other health benefits.
How do you de-stress?
One of the most critical things I believe you have to have in your life as an entrepreneur is a support system that loves you no matter what happens with your business. Too often, the state of the company can become the mental state of the founder. That’s why I try to always make time every week to spend time with friends and family who care about me as a person, not just as a founder or boss. And critically, it’s important to use that time to talk about things in life other than work!
According to your phone, what’s your daily average screen time from last week?
A solid two hours and 29 minutes.
What app do you use the most?
The podcasts app wins my affection. I catch The Daily when I wake up every morning. Check in with a startup or tech podcast like Pivot during lunch or between meetings. And wind down with my dogs on their walk with something that makes me laugh, like WTF With Marc Maron.
When’s the last time you took a day off? What did you do?
I like to take time off for trips, but my most recent day off was to catch up with family. A few weeks ago I took a day off because my brother came to town to make family recipes and just catch up on all things life. When we make our family red sauce (we’re Italian!), it’s an all-day affair. But always, always worth it once you sit down to dinner.
What’s one thing your company is doing to prioritize employee wellness?
Last year we implemented a free mental health program and talk therapy benefit for our entire company. After talking to our crew, we heard loud and clear: There’s a lot of anxiety in the world right now, and we need help managing it. We worked with an online therapy partner to offer our employees free therapy on demand, as a result. While our health insurance always had mental health coverage, this reduction of barriers and “always on” access has been an important step in giving our crew options.
What’s your favorite treat?
There is something about the foods we eat when we are a child that always makes me feel like I’m really “treating” myself. Current favorite is a simple vanilla cone from Dairy Queen. Growing up in the Midwest, there was nothing more special than your parents taking you for a cone after a fun day on the lake.
Show us a photo of your happy place.
