Sasha Benz’s life might look glamorous — she’s the founder of the blog All My Friends Are Models and the social networking app Cinq, the creative director of Montauk’s “it” destination The Surf Lodge and her wedding was featured in Vogue — but she’s adamant that she stumbles and that there is no such thing as an overnight success.
When Benz was at one of Surf Lodge’s many events, someone mentioned that she must have an impressive address book from working there for years. “I thought to myself, she is right, but I don’t have some magical black book at all, it’s just a bunch of crumpled business cards, disorganized names saved in my phone or just old email chains to sift through,” says Benz, “I realized that in such a digital age, we have never been so disconnected and disorganized with how we meet people and exchange information.” She started Cinq, a combination of a digital business card and a detailed address book that makes it easy to get someone’s contact information, connect with nearby users and make introductions.
We spoke about her career path and how she gained confidence — even when she felt intimidated and inferior.
What inspired you to start Cinq? What was your career path?
I came to New York from Australia when I was 24 to pursue fashion and worked as a stylist and editor at several magazines. I was always entrepreneurial and wanted my hands full and in multiple projects. I honestly tried to launch two companies in my earlier years but didn’t have the right network or financial support around me at that time so both faded, quite sadly, into the foreground of my life. I continued as a stylist to make ends meet, but just after [Oliver Benz] and I got married, I decided to start the lifestyle blog All My Friends Are Models when I realized that, literally, all my friends were models. So that was my first real stint as a founder and CEO. It was a natural progression for me as I was clearly so starved to do more in every job I was booked on – I always craved full control over every project I did.
The blog took off from day one and became incredibly well-recognized in New York, which led to being offered a job in Montauk at The Surf Lodge as their creative director. Oliver and I had been coming to Montauk on and off for a few years, but the job required us to be there full-time, and life as I know it changed from that moment on.
What has been the biggest challenge and, on the flip side, the biggest reward of starting Cinq?
I think the most challenging part has been pivoting from a world of creatives, which I felt so confident and fluid in, to suddenly being in this ‘alien’ tech world. The language and numbers were so far from anything I knew. All of a sudden, I felt incredibly intimidated and inferior.
Before my first investor pitch, I stayed up all week writing flashcards and researching tech verbiage and listening to different podcasts about the venture capital game – and I remember feeling so overwhelmed and in unfamiliar grounds. When I mentioned this to my colleague just before the meeting, he said something to me that I will never forget. He said, “As nervous as you feel to talk to him, he is just as equally, if not more to talk to someone like you.” Sometimes being out of your comfort zone doesn’t mean you are the black sheep, it means you are the one they are all looking at.
And the most rewarding aspect of starting Cinq has been seeing my progress from stepping out of my comfort zone and into those meetings with some of the most impressive tech guys in the game, to owning the conversation and learning along the way to getting looks from WeWork and setting up the partnership to benefit a group of like-minded people to me – other creators.
Earlier this year, after one of my pitches to an investor, he said to one of my partners, “The idea is great, but I don’t think she will last past the summer. She just doesn’t seem like a CEO who wants to get punched in the face multiple times and get back up.”
That has stuck with me more than you realize. I launched Cinq at the same time as I had my second child, all while still holding the fort at Surf Lodge, All My Friends Are Models and building our new house. I have been hit numerous times and worked harder this year than ever before and still have the same drive. That, for me, is really something to feel proud of. I am the only female on my team, and a comment like that doesn’t make me feel inferior. It pushes me to prove that I have what it takes to disrupt the industry.
You are also the creative director of Surf Lodge. Do you have any tips on balancing a full-time job and starting a company?
It’s not easy, and I definitely have years worth of sleep deprivation stored up, but it is doable.
For me, it is so important to prioritize and be organized so you are present in the moment you are in. If you are working, be focused on work. If you are with your kids, put the phone down and really be with them. Trying to do both at the same time means that you are not giving either the proper attention, and you will never find the right balance.
I also learned to delegate a little better. I found people in my life who I trusted with certain things and learned to let go and let them handle those aspects of my work and life. I am so used to doing everything myself, but for the first time I just simply couldn’t do it all. Between my assistant, my nanny, my Cinq team and my husband, suddenly I created this strong support group who caught the things that I couldn’t balance. Figuring out what you need to do and what others can do really helped me focus on the bigger things.
And then making sure I did things that helped give me clarity of thought – for me that was running. Even when I felt like the day was not long enough to get everything done and there were no windows to breathe, a quick 30-minute run would clear the chaos. I suddenly would come back with better ideas and ways to approach what I was doing.
What’s the biggest lesson you learned at work and how did you learn it?
I heard this quote a few years ago, and it really stuck with me. “Every overnight success takes 10 years.”
This is something that I have found true more than anything. Everything takes time, guts and perseverance. No true success story comes without battle wounds.
The things I have done to get to where I am and the stages I still have ahead of me are mammoth. Every time I reached a small level of success, someone will applaud me or make a comment like, “Wow you are so lucky!” or “You made it!” But in my mind, I think back to all the tears, late nights, times missed with my kids, hours spent researching and reading books and listening to podcasts, time spent traveling to and from the city and energy injected into people who don’t end up engaging. It’s exhausting. Nothing happens overnight, and the real success stories are the ones who failed and got back up. They put their hand up when no one else would, and they didn’t give up when the going got tough.
What is the best advice you’ve ever received?
That relationships mean more than money. Money comes and goes, but building true, honest and loyal relationships is more valuable in business and life than anything you can attain.
What is your business advice for other young professional women?
As women, we are capable of being mothers, wives and friends all under one roof. But when it comes to work, a lot of people think you are only able to take one career path. Humans are capable of many things, and it’s so important to understand that if something feels foreign then it’s worth exploring, not shying away. Every venture I have undertaken was new at the beginning. I could have just thought the easier and safer option would be to stick to what I did best and keep climbing that ladder, but instead, I dove head first. I have had no regrets. Sometimes it meant starting back from the bottom, and it has always been daunting, but it’s taught me so much about myself and my capabilities and the industries I knew little about.
