Being within the C-suite is a high-pressure job with lengthy hours, board tasks, and intense scrutiny. However what’s it prefer to be a prime govt while you’re off the clock?
Fortune’s sequence, The Good Life, exhibits how up-and-coming leaders spend their money and time exterior of labor.
Right now, we meet Malik Ducard, the 52-year-old chief content material officer of Pinterest: the go-to social media platform for 578 million creatives.
Lengthy earlier than Ducard turned govt on the web site curating aesthetic feeds, platforming DIY how-to’s, and cultivating area of interest communities, he was already all-in on his ardour for mixing know-how with content material. As an elementary college child raised within the Bronx, Ducard found his love for creating documentaries, dramas, and comedies together with his VHS video digital camera. The chief was decided to merge his creativity with the medium of the time, whether or not that be storytelling by means of paper flipbooks or studying to program on his Commodore 64 pc.
And Ducard would later pour his imaginative zeal into his many stints throughout MGM, Lionsgate, Paramount, Google, and YouTube, the place he held senior roles. He tells Fortune he’s proud to be one of many leaders who launched and grew YouTube Youngsters: an app during which his personal baby was in a position to trial.
Pinterest’s income hit 17% development year-over-year with its internet revenue reaching $38.76 million
Over his three many years within the enterprise world, the Pinterest govt made his mark on advertising, big-screen leisure, and academic content material. Now, his focus is ready on making Pinterest the easiest social media platform for its 578 million customers.
Final quarter, Pinterest’s income hit 17% development year-over-year with its internet revenue reaching $38.76 million. Ducard says greater than half of the web site’s customers are Gen Z—and surprisingly, round 80% of its members reside exterior the USA. There’s a secret ingredient that makes the enterprise so particular, Ducard reveals; it’s battling an “authenticity deficit” in a social media panorama filled with clout-chasers and covert advertisements, as Pinterest has differentiated itself as a “place for fulfillment and ideas, not followers.”
“The bottom line: our model of positivity is working—and setting us apart in an online world that too often incentivises toxicity and rage-baiting,” Ducard says. “We’re proud that we’re a place young people, especially, come to as an oasis of calm and inspiration.”
By platforming business consultants and passionate entrepreneurs, Ducard helps Pinterest broaden into new arenas. The enterprise simply launched its first co-branded product as a platform: it created a Pinterest trend-inspired espresso mix with entrepreneur and creator Emma Chamberlain. It additionally labored with Colman Domingo’s stylist duo Wayman and Micah for curated content material boards that impressed his Met Gala pink carpet appears. When he’s off the clock, Ducard nonetheless pursues his love for creativity and tech—whether or not that be 3D printing in his downtime, or pushing the boundaries of his dresswear.
The funds
Fortune: In case you have youngsters, what do your childcare preparations appear to be?
I’ve three Gen Z children—23, 20, and 17. We aren’t empty nesters simply but, however getting nearer to it, and childcare preparations are much less of a factor now. And as they become old, I actually am appreciating that I really feel like we’re transferring from a section the place Dad and Mother know near nothing of their eyes to—they’re proactively in search of recommendation and counsel.
What are your dwelling preparations like: Swanky condo within the metropolis or suburban sprawling?
I reside in Los Angeles, just about in the midst of the town. We’re in a bit of pocket that generally feels prefer it’s hidden in plain sight. It’s not swanky, not sprawling, it’s good. We’ve been right here in the identical place for over 17 years.
I carry a pockets. In it, I’ve been carrying the enterprise card of a boutique toy retailer proprietor. Considered one of my hobbies is 3D printing and I design little video games and toys…The enterprise card is a reminder to shut the loop along with her when it’s prepared.
How do you commute to work?
I work remotely and journey to our workplace in San Francisco, in addition to go to our non permanent workplace in Los Angeles. I drive my electrical automobile to work.
Do you carry a pockets?
I carry a pockets. In it, I’ve been carrying the enterprise card of a boutique toy retailer proprietor. Considered one of my hobbies is 3D printing and I design little video games and toys. A toy retailer proprietor mentioned she wished to promote considered one of my designs—I had proven her a prototype of a mechanical tic-tac-toe sport I invented. The enterprise card is a reminder to shut the loop along with her when it’s prepared.
The requirements
What’s the one subscription you possibly can’t reside with out?
Guitar Tab app; I get notation for songs I play on my guitar. Additionally, ChatGPT, Shapr3D CAD design, and the Sunday New York Instances paper.
The place’s your go-to wristwatch from?
Garmin Well being GPS watch.
How do you get your day by day espresso repair? In case you have it at house, what espresso machine do you personal?
Jura.
What’s your go-to espresso capsule?
I exploit totally different espresso beans—I’ve nobody favourite, I prefer to attempt totally different ones.
In the event you seize it out, the place? And what’s your typical order? Do you seize breakfast with it?
Blue Bottle, cappuccino with oat milk. I’ve just lately discovered a restaurant after I was touring in San Francisco: Nirvana Soul. My new journey favourite the place the barista hipped me to cappuccino with macadamia milk—spot on good. I usually make my breakfast; Fried egg and toast; periodically with avocado. Slightly pepper, sprint of salt, generally blended with chopped pink and inexperienced peppers. Very satisfying and a very good protein punch for the day.
What number of coffees do you’ve every week?
15 to twenty.
How typically do you eat lunch out in the course of the week?
1 to 2 instances every week, I do extra coffees all through city.
The place are your go-to locations to seize meals on the go?
Hilltop Cafe in Los Angeles. It’s the cafe of producer and actress Issa Rae.
The place would you go, and what do you order if it’s a sit-down meal with a consumer or peer?
Akasha in Culver Metropolis in Los Angeles: burger or branzino.
The place do you purchase groceries?
Entire Meals.
How typically in every week do you dine out versus prepare dinner at house?
About half and half; half-cook, half-order or eat out.
The place do you store to your work wardrobe?
Coming to work at Pinterest, I needed to elevate my sport—as a result of, Pinterest. Extra colourful, extra surprises, however not attempting to be one thing I’m not. It’s really introduced out the ‘me’ extra: extra self-expression, much less of ‘That will never work on me,’ and extra of ‘Let me see how that will work on me.’ And I’m carrying manufacturers based mostly on how they feel and appear, not simply on the label.
What could be a typical work outfit for you?
Denims, smooth collared shirt like a polo, perhaps a lightweight sweater. Typically button down shirts, generally t-shirts.
The treats
Are you the proud proprietor of any futuristic devices?
3D Printer Bambu X1-Carbon, and VR Quest 3. I’m primarily my son’s sport tester and advisor. There’s additionally the Muse, a scarf that I exploit for meditation. It tracks brainwaves and offers audio suggestions that displays and helps to deepen your state of calm throughout meditation. One other is the reMarkable digital ink pill.
How do you unwind from the highest job?
Run on my Peloton treadmill, meditate and write, and use 3D printing. I additionally play guitar—one thing I picked up in the course of the pandemic, and I like it. In school, I used to be a jazz radio DJ (along with my public entry TV present) and have at all times liked jazz. Now I’m enjoying some.
Take us on vacation with you, what’s subsequent in your trip checklist?
I get pleasure from going again to go to household and associates in New York and New Jersey. Additionally, one facet of my household is from St. Croix, US Virgin Islands. I am going again to go to household each few years. Once I was little, I used to be despatched there for stretches of time in the course of the summer season and I’d complain. Now I want somebody would ship me there for stretches.
What’s subsequent: Probably Greece!
What number of days of annual go away do you are taking a yr?
One of many many unbelievable advantages we provide at Pinterest is our limitless PTO.
