From battlegrounds and boardrooms to business conferences and political fights, today’s women are making their presence felt. In 2021, the wage gap between men and women may still exist – but with movements like #MeToo women are more influential than ever!
What is it like to be a female startup CEO? Today’s business industry is too curious to know how different (or maybe difficult) it is to become a leader in high heels.
In reality, success is never gauged by growth or numbers. It is more about your unique ideas and the driving force behind making them count. An ideal example of this is the powerful journey of Yunha Kim, the founder, and CEO of Simple Habit. If you are looking forward to the most effective app to get rid of your daily stress – Simple Habit has won awards for it.
How Did It All Start?
Today’s column is not about the creation but the creator herself! While pioneers like Amy Hood, the CFO of Microsoft, like to spend time with family, CEOs like Yunha Kim, meditates. But today’s CEO was not always a meditator, It took her a stressful journey of being an investment banker turned start-up owner.
In 2013, at the age of 23, she quit her job as an investment banker and started Locket, an app for smartphones. When asked about her backstory in an interview, Kim told –
” With the start of Locket, I used to work seven days a week. The burnout was REAL and I tried lots of methods like hitting the gym, being on diets, using essential oils to manage my stress but nothing worked. With time, meditation happened, and it changed my life!”
Her Journey From A Burned Our Leader To A Mindfulness Advocate
Yunha knows what it is like to be a busy and driven girl. She sold her first start-up Locket in her early 20’s, landed on the Forbes 30 under 30 list in 2017, and now leads Simple Habit.
Kim shared – “I never thought about my mental health when I was building up my first startup”. She had to pivot Locket’s advertising model at a certain time. It also caused the laying off of half the employees. It turned out to be a smart move on the business front, but it took a toll on Kim’s emotional well-being.
The entire team of Locket was like family to her. Without them, she started facing an existential crisis and she tried everything to find a way out of the mindset. That’s when her therapist suggested meditation. As Yunha recalls today – ” it was the best thing in the world.“ She had no idea that meditation will change her life in more ways than possible.
A Neverending Saga Of Success
After selling Locket, she moved to California and started attending Standford GSB. During this time, she began Simple Habit as just a passion thingy. But soon she started receiving great feedback from around the globe after launching the app. People kept writing to her about how the app was changing so many lives. That’s when it hit her entrepreneurial card and today, millions are using her products. But, after all these, Yunha still believes she’s just started! It proves that women are truly the hearts of their businesses.
