At first blush, it seems ironic that a woman who helped grow Facebook would become an advocate for disconnecting and focusing on other areas of life. But after a little digging, you realize Randi Zuckerberg’s onto something—and has perhaps arrived at it even sooner because of her career’s deep dive into all things digital.
In Dot Complicated and her companion children’s book Dot, Randi puts the focus where it should be: away from our smartphones and onto what she’s dubbed a “tech-life” balance. “These devices that we have are amazing, because they give us the flexibility to work, spend time with our family and follow our dreams,” she says. “At the same time, though, it’s so easy to be overwhelmed by them that they come at the expense of the people we love.”
At I Want Her Job, we were thrilled (thrilled!) for the opportunity to Skype with Randi, a former Emmy-nominated, Facebook marketing alum who also boasts credentials from Forbes and Ogilvy & Mather. She’s even been known to get a few calls from the White House, since she was the force behind many of Facebook’s election integrations; from a President Obama town hall orchestrated in mere weeks to launching the social network’s “Global Disaster Relief” page after 2010’s earthquake in Haiti.
Currently, Randi is the CEO of Zuckerberg Media, a tech-savvy media company whose clients have included the Clinton Global Initiative, Cirque du Soleil, Bravo and Conde Nast, among others. She also serves as editor-in-chief of Dot Complicated, a modern lifestyle community that centers on her passion for tech-life balance. Striking balance isn’t easy, and it won’t always look the same week after week, but our chat with Randi proves it’s more than worth the effort.