If you’ve got a jar of chili crisp in your pantry, there’s a good chance it’s Fly By Jing. It’s on nearly every best-of list, and as a marketer I’m fascinated by this brand’s cult-like following.
Jing Gao is a chef, an entrepreneur and a mom. She started Fly By Jing as an underground dinner club before welcoming her son.
So I asked which one stretched her more, becoming a mom or becoming a founder. Her answer without question: motherhood. “It’s such an internal transformation,” she said. The business asked a lot of her externally. Her son asked her to let go of the identity she’d built her career on. Sound familiar?
What she built in its place is what she refers to as recalibrating her ambition around sustainability, which is not the same as wanting less of it. The calm that came with it, which you can feel with every word she says, is the part I keep thinking about, and if you’re anything like me, it’s the part you’re still working on.
We also got into the very real stuff running her life: her 5 AM wake-up, the meal delivery service she leans on, why she took only two months of maternity leave, and the one trade-off she’s no longer willing to make, no matter what it costs the business.
The system behind the system
Jing talks about the meal delivery service that she leans on, and about splitting the load with a partner who has more schedule flexibility than she does. My home system revolves around a house manager. Outside of childcare, she’s the budget line I’d protect the hardest. She comes daily: cleaning, laundry, meal prep, organizing.
Sage Haus does the sourcing and vetting to find your perfect house manager. Use code NEWMODERNMOM for $100 off matching. Book a free 30-minute info call now.
In partnership with Sage Haus
🔥 Rapid fire with Jing
I text every guest the same questions. Here’s what she sent back.
Professional superpower: Seeing what doesn’t exist yet, and having the conviction to build toward it before it’s obvious.
Cooking: Black Sesame Tangyuan
Reading: Currently a mix of history, philosophy, and business focused books.
Listening to: Podcasts that sit at the intersection of business, culture, and geopolitics.
Wearing: A simple uniform I don’t have to think about. Relaxed tailoring (I like Roucha,) good knits, and comfortable sneakers.
Daily routine: Expand Meditation App even for just a few minutes
AI she’s testing: ChatGPT and Claude
Non-negotiables: Morning quiet before phone, movement, family dinner without screen, and CEO time blocked weekly for long-term thinking.
You can’t optimize everything. Jing didn’t try to. She just got very clear on the one or two things she wasn’t willing to compromise on, and let the rest be messy.
Start here.
ICYMI
I dropped an entire episode on how to use AI to make this school year easier featuring Hitha Palepu and Moms Build AI. Listen to it now on Spotify or Apple. The second Toolkit episode drops in two weeks. Subscribe where you listen so you don’t miss it.
Catch up on the latest podcast releases:
