Cora Buel is the chief revenue officer of ThredUp. She’s also a Women in Retail Leadership Circle (WIRLC) member! In this member spotlight, we asked Buel a series of questions about both her professional role and personal life, including the woman that inspires her, her leadership style, her advice for the next generation of female leaders, and much more.

1. What’s the best book you’ve read recently?
“I Thought it Was Just Me (But it Isn’t): Making the Journey From ‘What Will People Think?’ to ‘I Am Enough’” by Brené Brown. Our women’s employee resource group (ERG) chose this book to read together and then we met to discuss. One of the key takeaways is that allowing shame to control our thoughts and feelings wreaks havoc on our health and happiness. Brown contends that to live a happy, empowered life, you must combat shame by practicing empathy toward yourself and others. As someone who puts a lot of pressure on myself, when you can identify when you’re feeling shame, acknowledge it, and understand some of the root causes, it helps break free from a potential spiral and move forward. I find this extremely helpful when I make a mistake.

2. What’s a tip you have for productively leading a remote or hybrid team?
Building trust is key. People work for people, not companies. Bringing people together in person and finding ways to organically connect and inspire the team to rely on each other even when not in person is helpful with building community and productivity. Then, setting expectations and holding your team accountable to responsibilities and outputs. Getting the job done is expected; where and how you do it can flex as long as business performance isn’t compromised.

3. What’s the toughest part of being in charge?
In general, I’m a pretty positive person, but we all have bad days. Finding ways to be inspirational or motivational for the team can be hard when balancing your own personal needs and insecurities. I think practicing self-grace is so important, but we don’t always give it to ourselves.

4. What’s the best way you motivate team members?
I motivate my team first and foremost by building trust and showing them I’m their teammate — whether we’re in the trenches or celebrating together. I do what I say I’m going to do. I don’t make promises I can’t fulfill. I also put in the work. I’m a hands-on, in-person leader who thinks we should work hard and play hard. I care about people and have great passion for our company and hope my enthusiasm for both helps motivate people on the team.

5. What woman inspires you right now and why?
Taylor Swift. She is pure gold! She’s thoughtful, so talented, ambitious, stands up for what is right, and has a tremendous impact on the world. Additionally, she’s someone that my 19-year-old daughter and I both love and has created a lot of mother-daughter opportunities — from standing in line at 2 a.m. in Central Park for a 7 a.m. “Good Morning America” show, to multiple concerts, making friendship bracelets, to “Tay-gating” at shows we couldn’t get tickets to. Is there anything she can’t do?? #Swiftie4life

6. What are you looking forward to the most for the industry over the next year?
With climate change on the global agenda, retailers and brands are facing more scrutiny and accountability. I’m looking forward to seeing how we can collectively and individually work to reduce fashion’s impact. At ThredUp, this is all about inspiring the world to think secondhand first and enabling as many industry players as possible to adopt circular business models through resale. When we begin to close the loop, we’ll start to see trickle-down effects such as less production and less overall waste.

7. What’s one thing you look for when interviewing a job candidate?
I look for someone who shows a lot of curiosity and passion for our mission. Did they spend time on our website or even try out our service? What new ideas do they have? How have they connected with our purpose? There are a lot of people who are usually qualified from a technical or experience side, but I look for people who will enjoy coming to work and put their best efforts in because they care about more than just the core responsibilities of the job.

8. What’s something that you learned about yourself in the past year?
That I’m more affected by the recent loss of my mother than I even thought was possible. Losing someone so close to you can invade your thoughts at any time and you never really know when it’s going to hit. It makes me appreciate the time we had and shapes how I interact with my own daughter, ensuring she knows how much she is loved on a daily basis.

9. What’s your favorite podcast?
I tend to read more, but the “New Heights” podcast has really caught my attention. Those Kelce brothers are hilarious!

10. What values are most important to you as a leader?
Integrity and transparency in service of building trust. Building trust with the team drives more engagement and an environment in which everyone thrives.

11. What’s the most important thing people should know about you?
I care deeply for others and am always looking for ways to enjoy life surrounded by good friends and building strong connections with colleagues.

12. What practices or boundaries have you implemented in your personal life to create more work/life balance?
This is a work in progress! I’m somewhat of a workaholic and really love the work we’re doing. Now that my daughter is in college, it’s even more tempting to jump onto my computer. Some small things I do are schedule my Peloton workouts on my calendar, make plans outside of the house away from my computer, and move my Slack app icon to my second page screen on my phone so I don’t see the notifications. I’d love to hear more ideas from others!

13. How would you describe yourself in a single sentence?
I am a dynamic, business-driving executive leader who applies passion for efficient collaboration and solution-based problem solving while advancing women in the workplace and inspiring the world to think secondhand first.

14. What’s your favorite app?
When I need to clear my mind and not think so much, my go-to-app game is Gummy Drop. It might sound crazy, but it’s a distraction and helps me clear my head!

15. What do you do to recharge?
I love to be pampered! Things I do monthly include mani/pedis and monthly subscriptions to Zeel (in-home massages), the Blo Bar, and Cinemark’s Movie Club. I find that by subscribing I “force” myself to relax and recharge. It’s really hard for me to sit still!

16. What’s your biggest accomplishment?
My 19 year-old daughter, Haley. She’s my absolute favorite human and has grown into this amazing, smart, talented, independent and thoughtful person who I crave spending time with. I had to make tradeoffs during her childhood as a working mother but I found balance and connection through introducing her to ballet, theater, travel and other activities we could do together and build upon things we have in common. The world is a better place because she’s in it and I’ll take a little credit that I had some influence on that.

17. What advice would you give to the next generation of female leaders?
Surround yourself with people who fight for you in a room you’re not in. Build relationships with people before you need anything from them. And remind yourself that you can do hard things.

18. What gets you up in the morning?
The sound of my senior rescue dogs moving across the hardwood floors, anxious to get them outside before they have an accident! On a more serious note, getting to do the things I love surrounded by smart, hardworking people who help me do the best work of my career.

19. What do you like most about being a member of Women in Retail Leadership Circle?
Having a forum for building connections and uplifting women!

Interested in connecting with women like Cora Buel? Apply today to become a Women in Retail Leadership Circle member!