Melanie Masarin

Melanie is the Founder & CEO at Ghia, a non-alcoholic aperitif designed to change the way we think about drinking and socializing. Prior to Ghia, Melanie spent time as Head of Retail at Glossier and Head of Marketing at Dig Inn.

On her morning routine.

I’m usually up by sunrise. I’m incredibly lucky that I have a beautiful view from my bedroom to kick off the day. It never gets old.

Once I’m out of bed I’ll prep some hot water with lemon and water my plants.

It’s become an important ritual that I swear by, primarily because it really helps me be intentional about setting a positive frame of mind.

It’s also incredibly grounding: from being barefoot outside to watching plants grow. With good soil, sun, and a little care, there is magic happening right in front of my eyes, even in the most chaotic times, every morning.

I try not to touch my phone until I’m back in the house. I fail most days!

At that point, I’ll start parsing through my inbox at around 7:30 am unless I’m hitting a morning workout or a tennis lesson, in which case that workflow gets pushed back to 9.00 or 9:30 AM.

On overcoming hurdles.

The entire pre-launch phase was incredibly difficult.

Our team at Ghia had to overcome a lot of hurdles, especially around supply chain, to bring this company to life. 

There were definitely times when I thought this wasn’t meant to be, especially when half our suppliers and restaurants shut down at the start of the pandemic.

That was brutal.

More importantly, given everything going on culturally over the past year, there never seemed to be a perfect time to launch a super joyful aperitivo brand. 

Overcoming those obstacles, even though they seemed borderline insurmountable at the time, just required a lot of focused work and consistent discipline to keep pushing through.

On leading with optimism.

Whenever we hit a roadblock at Ghia, I encourage everyone to take a walk, go out with friends, see a movie, go dancing, or take time to prioritize whatever helps clear your mind. 

I’ve been intentional about trying to create a unique culture at Ghia.

One that encourages joy and a certain degree of lightness, especially given the insanity we’re living through.

There’s also a very upfront and clear optimism in everything that we do, which stems from our focus on creating the extraordinary from the mundane.

That’s my end goal.

Even in my day to day, I get excited by the smallest things. I’m definitely that person that gets distracted and stops to look at flowers while on a hike.

I hope to pass on that perspective through this brand, in turn giving people the freedom and space to appreciate a glass-half-full lens and cherish the small, seemingly mundane things in life.

On priotizing deep work.

Ghia’s about nine months old, so if I’m being honest, everything’s still quite chaotic. As such, I try to be really protective of creative time.

First, I get on a call with my COO to make sure no fires sprung up overnight, then take a few hours to myself prioritizing deep work and internal comms.

I definitely find early mornings to be the most productive for me.

That’s why I try to get in a solid hour of work before I leave the house or get on any calls. After that, back to back calls start flowing in.

On any given day I’m taking anywhere from 4 to 10 calls. It can get tiring for sure. Occasionally I’ll catch a second wind, but by the early evening, I’ll start to fade.

To remedy that, I’ll take a break for a quick meditation and then knock out another hour of emails until 7 or 8 PM. 

At that point, I’ll start to shift into my evening routine.

On winding down at night.

Most days I’ll keep working until I start to fade from that second wind.

Around 7 or 8 PM that wall really hits me and it’s tough to stay mentally concentrated. After that, I’ll do my best to transition into a nightly routine with weekly dinners or watching the sunset.

Cooking, especially from scratch with ingredients in my garden, has proven to be incredibly therapeutic for me in the evenings.

It completely switches off my brain from work mode.

More importantly, it helps me slowly ease into the night and decompress.