How I Thrive: Cooper McManus, founder of Hat Attack

How I Thrive: Cooper McManus, Director Of Product Development At Hat Attack

How I Thrive takes an inside look at founders, entrepreneurs and leaders and the behind-the-scenes self-care work they do to in order to live balanced, happy lives. Today's edition is with Hat Attack direct of product development Cooper McManus, who has an impressive email organization system, believes in time away from her kids and takes bedtime very seriously.

Name: Cooper McManus

Age: 36

City: Stamford, CT 

Company: Hat Attack, a women's accessories company.  

Role: Director of product development, marketing and business development.

Beyond the role: Wife, mom of three girls, outdoors enthusiast, cook, exerciser.  

Morning routine:

I wake up at 6 a.m., pack my lunch first thing, and then am out the door for my workout. I mix it up daily: Sometime's I'll do a Peloton workout, other days I'll run, and sometimes I'll do a workout outdoors with friends in the neighborhood, I'm typically back home around 7 a.m. where I'll shower, set the girls up with the nanny for the day. This involves laying out homeschooling work or giving reminders for the day's after school activities if its an in-school day, because we're doing hybrid schooling right now. I'll make coffee and at 7:45 a.m., I head to Bronx to start my work day, and I'll usually pick my mom up along the way. 

The first thing I do after work:  

Go home, see my girls, and get dinner started. 

Dinner ritual: 

During the week, we usually do family dinner three nights. The other two times the girls will eat with our nanny. Monday and Wednesday they eat early and I only make dinner for me my husband and I, Tuesday and Thursday I prep dinner for the five of us, and Fridays we usually order takeout and eat as a family, which includes my parents.

Nighttime routine:

We get the girls to bed by 8 p.m. In our house, the kids can't watch TV shows until they're fully ready for bed. So we brush teeth and put on pajamas, they watch their shows until 7:30, then everything is off and we read books, talk about our days and the next day, and they're in bed by 8 — of course they come out 99 times afterward asking for things!
At 8 my husband and I clean up a bit more in kitchen, watch TV together, or I read while he watches sports. We're not huge TV watchers, but occasionally we'll get into a show. Usually I need to do a bit more work, typically something on social media, so I squeeze that in somewhere at this time. We're typically in bed by 9/930 and asleep at 10. I take my bedtime very seriously!

Self-care guilty pleasure:

I don't see any form of self-care as a guilty pleasure, I believe its an important part of our overall wellness. Getting up early and working out is an important self-care routine for me. I also find it important to take time away from my kids and take breaks that aren't work-related. I like to get pedicures, grab coffee, or go on a quick shopping trip to my favorite consignment shop.

Workday self-care hack: 

Take breaks, even if it's just 10-15 minutes to grab coffee or text a friend. 

How do you define self-care?

Self-care is so important to our overall wellness. Especially as women, with a family or children, we're often so busy worrying about everyone else in the house that we forget to take care of ourselves. It's so crucial to stay rested and have time to ourselves so that we can be our best selves.

Favorite childhood toy or hobby:

As a kid I loved doing projects and creating things. The projects always changed and I loved doing new things, from beading jewelry to sewing and reorganizing my room and closets often—I was always finding new ways to be creative. As an adult I still do the same. At work I'm able to be creative and make new things as ideas come to me. At home, I'm still organizing and moving things around constantly!

 State of your (email) inbox: 

I file everything in my work inbox. I get between 100 and 150 emails a day, and by the end of the day by inbox only has a few items in it that need to be taken care of. I reply to an email, then immediately file it. I flag if needed for follow up. I also print emails that need to be taken care of later in the week, such as influencer requests/gifting, so that its out of my inbox but on my desk as a reminder.

Want to kick your self-care game up a notch? Subscribe to Silk + Sonder today.

Illustration by Megan Behrendt

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