APRIL 2018 COSMOPOLITAN 101Rashmi Daga
Founder and CEO, FreshMenu
FreshMenu is an online food
portal that delivers home-
cooked, gourmet food to
people. It hosts a variety of
different cuisines and has
kitchens all over India to
make sure that the food is
freshly prepared (and hot)
when it reaches you. Today,
FreshMenu clocks in about
14,000 orders, and Rashmi
personally visits each kitchen
to ensure the hygiene levels
match her high standards.MY TIP
“The one thing that helps
me manage my day better is
spending very little time on
e-mails. I keep them either for
the end of the day, or when I’m
on the move. I see that people
really get stuck with e-mails,
and allocating a certain time
for them goes a long way. Also,
don’t try to be superwoman;
use as much help as possible,
whether it’s at home or your
company. You really need your
support system because that
allows you to save a lot of time
every day. As most of my day
is spent travelling to different
kitchens all over the place, I
use that time to observe things
in my industry—from the latest
trends to the people I need to
reach out to—and much more.”Pushpa Bector
Executive Vice President and Head,
DLF Shopping Malls
Pushpa is responsible for leading and managing
all DLF Premium Malls, where she heads the
business units, including marketing, leasing,
finance and operations. Alongside that, she’s
working towards the launch of several spanking-
new malls. “ATM, I’m mostly concentrating on
interacting with tenants on a personal level to see
how they are in sync with our philosophy.”MY HACK
“It’s important to prioritise when you are handling so
many things at once. I put my morning gym session
to extra good use by using that time to make to-do
lists for the day, and think about all the things I need
to prioritise. I usually give business and people-
oriented issues more importance than compliance
issues. It’s extremely important to stay calm while
juggling so many things, yoga helps me tremendously.
I also visit the spa twice a month to keep stress levels
in check, and cash in on some me-time, too.”Adwaita Nayar
Head, Nykaa Retail
Daughter of Falguni Nayar, CEO of nykaa.
com, Adwaita has taken up the challenge to
launch Nykaa’s on-ground stores. She now
handles 16 stores—a number that will rise to
55 by next year. Apart from retail, Adwaita
also plays a pivotal role in brand building
and marketing.MY TIP
“I’m really into to-do lists, and at the beginning
of each week, I make a list of things I need
to achieve in each sector: marketing, projects,
meetings, communication, etc. Then, at the
end of the week, I review all that we’ve done.
I put time blocks around everything! If I’m
doing a particular task from 1pm-2pm today,
I’ll either finish it by then, or stop doing it at
sharp 2pm. Giving yourself a deadline forces
you to finish tasks, and being aware that
you only have an hour or so to do it keeps
you focused. Additionally, every morning I
ask myself this, ‘Out of all the tasks to do
today, which ones would actually make a big
difference?’, and then I ensure that out of all
I’m doing, at least a few are super-meaningful.
I’ve also set this culture in my team where
every meeting we have has to be minuted.
We share these minutes after every meeting,
and allocate specific tasks to each person.”