Since stay-at-home orders have been placed, Cherie has seen a rise of users flock to the platform with more original content being produced around at home spa and beauty treatments. Although there are no current plans to integrate live streaming or video, the app is looking into the possibility of adding more features in the future to accommodate the new way people are consuming content from their homes. Chen further explains how her work TikTok prepared her for launching Cherie.
Risk-taking: Innovation requires pushing boundaries, stepping outside of the comfort zone and having the resolve to do things that have not been done before. Previously, I spent a lot of time and resources on process implementation, cross-functional collaboration, and scaling the business for long-term success.
Optimism: As a leader, you have to stay optimistic, especially during difficult times, because that’s when people need motivation the most. It’s very easy to be negative or feel defeated as building a new product is a long journey full of let downs but negativity never yields a positive outcome, only positivity does. Chen:
There is one rule I live by: Know what you don’t know. I have always been a self doubter. As an immigrant and a female, I always default to “am I good enough?” Then I realized I was never going to be ready to start my own company if I believed I had to run every aspect of the business. I knew what I was good at and where I needed to turn to others. For example, I’m a numbers person, but I am not strong creatively.