Weekends are all about downtime. After a week full of work to meet deadlines, everybody needs some breather to relax and recuperate. From watching a favourite web series to planning a vacation, weekends are designated as family and me time. Mrunmay Mehta, chief operating officer, WOW Skin Science, talks to BrandWagon Online about his weekends, favourite vacation destination and more.
What is the one thing you like to do when not working?
Apart from work, my passions centre around 3 things: Family, music and reading. I’ve been a student of music in the past, so catching up with playing an instrument or discovering/rediscovering tracks to listen to, are my escape into tranquility. A lot of time also goes into kids – with my wife and I juggling a 2K2C (2 Kids 2 Careers) situation, getting some time with them outside of the normal schedule is something I look forward to. Lastly, while reading a full book end-to-end in half a day is an indulgence I’ve been missing, I tend to read a high volume of articles/posts when not reading a book – I tend to get into rabbit holes when reading about some topic.
How do you spend your weekends?
Weekends are usually a mix of some bit of work (especially interviews – I find it easier to schedule 1-2 critical interviews over the weekend), and the rest between the kids schedules and a bit of relaxed time on catching up on long walks with my partner.
What are your favorite gadgets?
My 3 favorite gadgets are: my S22 Ultra smartphone – my workhorse, my fitbit sense, and a pair of really good headphones (I tend to pick basis the task at hand – for music, strongly recommend the Sony WI-1000X – while newer models have come in, this one takes the cake on audiophile level sound quality!).
Given an option to choose another career, what would it be?
I often wonder about this – perhaps education and teaching in some shape or form. I’ve been fortunate in working with some excellent folks throughout my career, and mentoring high potential individuals to scaling themselves as leaders is a process I’ve enjoyed – so coaching/teaching – you get the drift.
Which is your favorite vacation spot?
This one is a toughie – I’m a mountains person, wife’s a beach person. So we both extensively keep lobbying for the next vacation spot, and in the end we decide basis the kid’s schools calendar, so locations are often more a function of their logistics.
A TV show, a movie, and an ad campaign you highly recommend watching.
A movie I really enjoyed watching is “The Man from Earth” – written by Jerome Bixby. It is a 2007 science fiction movie, but without any of the usual tropes. The entire movie is shot within one house, in one setting, with one character speaking for most parts. And yet, as an Isaac Asimov fan, the movie just blew my mind.
On ad campaigns, there are too many to count a single favorite! Our recent campaign around ‘WOW Activated Naturals’ that the team has created is a tongue-in-cheek poke at how most beauty brands talk about a problem being solved by looking great.