A day in the life of Facebook's VP

Julie Zhuo is vice president of product design at Facebook, which Glassdoor named the most desirable place to work in America.

Zhuo has been at Facebook for more than 11 years. When she joined, her team had just 100 people. She worked on products like the News Feed, the “like” button, and user profiles. She now oversees the design of many of Facebook’s core user experiences and manages a team of 250 employees.

Zhuo recently shared a day in her work with Business Insider, as well as discussed the strategies she uses to get work done and have a balanced life.

On weekdays, Zhuo wakes up around 7 a.m. To start her day, she exercises for about 10 minutes, then takes a shower. She often goes for a run while listening to a TED talk, an audiobook, or music. “I like the idea of ​​starting the day by doing something, even if it’s very small,” she says. Zhuo says the first thing she thinks about in the morning is her plan and tasks for the day.

Her husband, Mike Sego, Facebook’s engineering director, prepares breakfast for the family. Today it’s eggs and coffee for Sego and Zhuo; milk and snacks for the two kids. They get the kids dressed, and a nanny picks them up at 8:30.

Zhuo's daughter.

Zhuo and Sego are at the office by 9 a.m. She tries to take some time to plan meetings. “I try to be in control of my time. It’s easy to get into the habit of reacting to what’s going on throughout the day.”

Zhuo often passes by these art walls on his way to meetings.

Zhuo spends a lot of time in meetings with her teams to discuss product design and development. She keeps up with her busy schedule by having a clear plan. “I go into every meeting with a clear idea of ​​what I want to do or say. That makes it easier when you’re switching between different things.”

Zhuo meets with a team about Facebook Groups functionality.

Zhuo said that sometimes there are days when her department is launching a new feature and there is a lot of work to be done that day. But there are also days when she just sits around and brainstorms early-stage ideas.

A wall in Facebook's Menlo Park office.

Zhuo is also responsible for recruiting and ensuring her team fits into the company culture. “The culture and health of the team is the most important thing to me,” she says.

Instagram's office in Menlo Park.

For Zhuo, one of Facebook’s biggest draws is its sense of community. “What we do every day is build a product that builds community and brings people together. That’s really hard to do if our internal community isn’t strong.”

Many of the artworks at Facebook headquarters follow the company's mission.

As a result, the headquarters in Menlo Park, California, is filled with art, including many employee-created “posters.” “It’s meant to remind us of the work we do. It’s meant to remind us of our community. It’s meant to give us a voice.”

Posters on the wall of Facebook headquarters.

Facebook also runs a platform called Workplace to foster a sense of community. Zhuo is a member of internal groups like Women @ Facebook, Facebook Design, Moms in Tech, and Parents @ Facebook. These groups, she says, do a great job of “supporting, mentoring, helping people collaborate and work better.”

A colleague of Zhuo's is preparing for a live interview on Facebook.

Workdays at Facebook can be hectic, so Zhuo says she tries to keep her energy up by snacking and refueling with lots of tea in the afternoon. “There’s a saying at Facebook: every day feels like a week.”

“I love working with all the people I interact with every day,” Zhuo said. “I think the relationships we build—the ways we choose to solve problems, work together, and have tough conversations—are all about who we are as individuals.”

Zhuo meets with a designer.

Zhuo and Sego get home around 6 p.m. She said her family cooks a lot on weekends and eats throughout the week, supplemented with salads and take-out. Dinner usually starts around 6:40 p.m. After that, she and her husband play with the kids.

Dinner with family.

Every night they have different activities. Sometimes they go to Menlo Park or go out to dinner. Sometimes they stay home and watch a TV show or read a story. “We don’t touch work at this time,” Zhuo said. “It’s time for us to spend with the kids and share our day and play with them.”

After the kids go to bed around 8:30, Zhuo spends time with her husband, does housework, reads or catches up on work before going to bed at 11.

According to VNN