Caroline Ghosn

Founder and CEO

Levo League

Tell me something about yourself that we don’t know already.

I am actually quite shy, despite being the oldest of four children, and have observed a lot about how introversion and extroversion affect working styles and the way that people interact in a professional setting.

What is your favorite color?

White

What is your guilty pleasure? (Real Housewives,Chocolate, 50 shades of Grey, etc)

Game of Thrones. I’m absolutely addicted.

How did you finance your business when it was in the early stage? (Self-Funded, Crowd-Funded, Angel Investor, VC)

Amanda and I burned through our savings and then (thankfully) raised an Angel Round

How do you define success?

Distinctive creation – the kind that you feel absorbed in and is uniquely shaped by your vision

What year would you say was the best year of your life? Why? How old were you?

Every year I experience is the best year of my life; I am a “bon-vivant” and celebrate life’s phases and strive to live in the moment. It is a constant life goal to get closer and closer to fully appreciating each moment when it happens. It sounds like such a simple principle, but simplicity can deceptively hide great difficulty.

Describe a time you failed. What did you learn from that experience?

I fail at things constantly. I set an extremely high bar for myself, sometimes to the point of setting myself up for failure. I’ve learned that it’s important to celebrate the achievement of small attainable goals for yourself and that you can’t be merciful with others if you aren’t merciful with yourself first.

What do you do for fun?

I love to cook (in line with the “bon-vivant” characteristic above), and I love to explore: meet new people, understand alternative ways of living, take a step back and think about what it all means at the end of the day.

Do you have a hidden talent?

I am quite private so most people don’t know that I love to paint, photograph, or sing. I feel shy about these talents!

Where is your favorite place to go shopping?

I love boutiques or young designer markets – every find feels like a treasure. Otte in NYC is bad news for my wallet, as is The Young Designers’ Market.

What do you do to help focus?

I need quiet to truly focus, but once I’m focused, I can keep my mind still for hours. It’s a sense of absorption that I am always trying to hone and improve.

Cool Kid or Nerd in High school?

Only foreigner in a Japanese Catholic high school (graduating class of 30) in Yokohama, captain of the Brain Bowl team …you do the math. I absolutely relished it though – my intellectual curiosity has always come first, and it always will.

Keep up with Caroline Ghosn: Twitter

Caroline’s Interview conducted by WIM intern, Jessica Hubert