Amid the raging work-life balance debate and as Infosys co-founder NR Narayana Murthy reignited the 72-hour workweek row, two-time founder Nicole Bernard Dawes believes employees should unplug from work.
Speaking to Fortune, on success with her businesses, building her $100 million company and pushing through economic downturns, Dawes said that her employees are encouraged to have work-life balance. The reason? “They didn’t sign up to be entrepreneurs”.
Dawes founded two companies, Late July (a non-GMO tortilla chip brand) in 2003, which was bought for $100 million by Campbell’s in 2017; and Nixie (a zero sugar, packaged soda brand) in 2018. Nixie attracted $27 million early in 2025, with products sold in more than 11,000 grocery stores in the United States.
Constant work ‘a self-inflicted situation’
Explaining her thought process, Dawes told Fortune that she herself finds it hard to disconnect from work. “I think I probably am a little bit of a hypocrite, because I don’t unplug. I never do. I never want to be the person that’s holding up a member of our team,” she added.
“Never unplugging is my life. I signed up for this. I am the entrepreneur; I did this to myself—a self-inflicted situation. (My employees) didn’t sign up to be entrepreneurs. I am very comfortable taking downtime, but also making sure I’m available,” Dawes added.
‘Important to be passionate about mission, products’
Dawes added that experience with her own family’s business obligations and work timings have shaped her views on work-life balance, noting that not all leaders may agree with her thoughts on the matter. “I think that where a lot of [leaders] differ, is extending that to their team. I feel very strongly that it should not extend to the team,” she said.
Dawes shared that growing up her father missed a lot because of work, and she was determined not to do that, adding, “I wanted to be present at things for my kids, and I wanted [it] to be okay for our team to be that way, too.”
Working at her mother’s health-food store as a child also built up her experience with what to expect while running a business, she told Fortune, adding that passion is key. “When you decide to become an entrepreneur, there’s a lot of people [saying], ‘It’s stressful, it’s lonely, it’s all these things.’ And that’s true, but this is where I was really fortunate: I grew up in this business, so I entered eyes wide open. That’s why it’s really important to be passionate about your mission, passionate about your products. Because you do have to sacrifice a lot on the other side,” she added.
How does a million-dollar founder balance work with family?
Dawes in the interview highlighted the importance of prioritising matters. “You have to choose what’s the most important thing in that moment. I don’t think as an entrepreneur—at least for me—I’ve never really, truly, been able to shut off completely. But I also make time to have family dinner almost every night. There were things that were priorities to me, and I still make them priorities, like going out for a walk every day or exercising,” she explained.
“Sometimes when I wake up in the morning like, ‘I can’t even believe I’m this lucky that I get to do this job’. And because I feel that way, it doesn’t feel like working. I’m getting to do something fun all the time,” she added.