Erica Keswin

Let’s Play Bra Trivia! ThirdLove Co-Founders Heidi Zak and Dave Spector on Best Business Practices During Tough Times

You might think being quarantined with your work partner AND your life partner could be challenging, but Heidi Zak and Dave Spector, married co-founders of intimate wear company, ThirdLove, have mastered this balancing act. Erica chats with Heidi and Dave about how they’re running their company and their family together during quarantine. You’ll hear all about their Wellness Wednesday initiative, getting silly with their teams on Doughnut Tuesday, and how quarantine finally encouraged consumers to give online bra shopping a try—something digitally-native ThirdLove was ready for and built for from the ground up.

Quotes

Dave

7:21 – On this new working normal: “The challenge really has been so much of work, certainly in this country, is bumping into people—the water cooler conversations, right? And whether it’s about work or not about work—if it’s not about work it’s that bonding; building a relationship with somebody about their personal life or what they did last night. Or it is about work, or they’re mixed together. And that kind of conversation—the impromptu, the bumping into somebody, the going over to their desk—is frankly a lot easier than scheduling something—a meeting or having to Slack or email somebody. And I think the challenge that we face, like so many other companies—and we’re adapting too—is how do we recreate that?”

11:50 – On Wellness Wednesday: “If we’re giving you the day off, the commitment is you’re not doing work, and you’re having a day for yourself. And if the day for yourself means catching up on Netflix, great. If it means playing with your kids, great. If it means time alone, awesome. But the important thing is you’re taking time for yourself to focus on your mental health.”

Heidi

20:06 – On the rapidly digital relationship with customers: “I think you’re seeing today the shift from offline to online that might’ve taken three to five years occurring in six to eighteen months…I just think people are really thankful to have options that can work and make them feel safe, right? And also with a really high service level.”