Meet Vipe Desai | Executive Director

We had the good fortune of connecting with Vipe Desai and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Vipe, have there been any changes in how you think about work-life balance?
When I was younger, I was surrounded by this notion of “hustle culture”. Where you have to out work everyone else because that’s what you had to do to be successful. You’d see others working, or appearing to work long hard hours and flaunt their material belongings like houses, cars, private jet travels, etc. But as I got a little older and listening to my mentors who taught me that I needed to work smarter, not harder.

This simple statement changed the way I looked at how I wanted to live my life and balance my career pursuits.

This transition from “hustle culture” to a more balanced work/life was perfect timing for when my son was born. I was already trained in balancing my daily load and switched to make it more favorable to being the best parent I could. I worked hard when he slept and played hard when he was awake.

This really helped to reduce stress and made me a happier person and also allowed me to pick and choose what tasks I needed to focus on most during those precious moments.

My son is now 13 and I’m still living with the same structure of balancing my life around his schedule and its working out better than I had ever planned or hoped.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I’m very fortunate to be in the role that I am in today where I serve as the Executive Director of the Surf Industry Members Association, the trade association of the surf industry here in the U.S. where I oversee and work with all the amazing business and organizations that contribute to the industry. From brands, retailers, board builders, surfing’s governing bodies, etc, I get to be part of this tribe of people that are helping share the stoke and build the brand of surfing.

Looking back, this role requires me to have a broad spectrum of experiences that when combined help me to navigate out industry’s challenges and opportunities.

What I learned along the way is that we have to live in a learning mindset – always be learning. I am constantly reading articles, books, listening to podcasts, etc from different industries to try and pick up on any bit of learning that widens my perspective of the macro world. I think this is where others sometimes fail in that they become comfortable, and this when complacency could start to set in.

If we’re not moving forward, we’re stalled. And that’s not a good place to be in the day and age when things move so quickly and require those in leadership be nimble and open to change.

I’ve also paid extra attention to what I call my ABC’s – always be communicating. I’ve learned to write better, talk better and listen more intently. This has been an instrumental part of my journey and I don’t think everyone pays close attention to the aspect of their career journey.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I love taking short trips and my favorites places to visit this past year have been the Lake Arrowhead region, whether it’s Lake Gregory, Blue Jay or Lake Arrowhead Village. It’s the perfect little mountain community.

I also enjoy traveling up the coast to Buellton and Solvang. There’s a place up in Buellton called Flying Flags and it’s really a place to experience for anyone that needs a little fresh air and experience for overnight stays. Trust me, look it up and go!

My other go to place is Catalina Island. Just short boat trip and I feel like I’m in another part of the world.

All these places offer quick getaways, with locally owned businesses and thats all I need to refresh and recharge.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
There are way too many people to thank in my journey but I will share two simple reads that were pivotal to preparing me for success. The first is The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success by Deepak Chopra and the other is The Art of War by Sun Tzu.

Combined these two books helped put my mind at ease and allow the world to unfold around me, control what I can and don’t get out of line for things I couldn’t but also think strategically of where I wanted to be and what I needed to do to get there. It was reverse-engineering the outcomes that I wanted and keeping a clear head along the way.

Website: SurfIndustry.org

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vipedesai

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vipedesai/