Rebecca Minkoff, the 45-year-old fashion designer and cofounder of the Female Founder Collective, maintains a public image of glamour that belies the demanding, routine-driven reality of her daily life. In a detailed account, Minkoff describes a schedule that blends high-level business responsibilities with the mundane tasks of motherhood, from taking the subway to work to acting as a short-order cook at breakfast.
The former "Real Housewives of New York City" cast member asserts that much of her work, even two decades into her career, involves "nitty-gritty dirty work," including personally tracking down sales representatives and sending emails for her women's business network.
A Morning of Supplements, Coffee, and Childcare
Minkoff's day typically begins when her three-year-old son, who sleeps in her bed, wakes her around 7:15 a.m.. After brushing her teeth, she takes hormone replacement therapy, a regimen she started in 2024 after tests revealed health issues, leading to weight loss and improved emotional stability. She also takes approximately 30 different supplements, including ashwagandha and methylated B12.
Her "first mission" is coffee: a large Americano with Lakanto monk fruit chocolate powder to avoid blood sugar spikes. While her husband makes the children's lunches, Minkoff prepares breakfast, gets her youngest dressed, and makes a "perimenopause drink" containing protein, gut supplements, creatine, and colostrum to take to the gym.
The Commute and Core Business Work
Minkoff attends the gym for an hour five days a week, focusing on heavy weights, before taking the 25-minute subway ride to her office. She has largely abandoned cars to avoid unproductive traffic, using them only when required to be "fully glammed up." On the train, she sometimes hands out "RM spotted" cards with discount codes to strangers carrying her brand's bags.
At the office, she dedicates specific 30-minute windows to emails rather than checking them first thing. To manage her "frenetic" brain, she relies on analog to-do lists, preferring the satisfaction of physically ticking off tasks. She usually fasts until noon, often sipping bone broth, and lunches on takeaway salads or bowls.
Leading the Female Founder Collective
At 2 p.m., she meets twice weekly with her FFC cofounder, Alison Koplar Wyatt, to set priorities. Founded in 2018, the collective provides free education and paid events for women-owned businesses. Despite its growth, Minkoff emphasises that many tasks, such as personally drafting invitation messages for their higher-tier community, The Cabinet, cannot be automated. "Helping other women fuels my soul," she stated, acknowledging the tedium of sending thousands of emails.
On days without meetings, she records episodes for her podcast, "Superwomen with Rebecca Minkoff." She typically leaves the office by 5 p.m., when a babysitter collects her children from school.
Evening Family Time and Wind-Down
The evening routine is dominated by family logistics. Minkoff and her husband alternate taking their four children to after-school activities, while the other handles dinner and bathtime. Meals are repetitive, featuring roasts, pasta, and salads. The family spends three nights a week watching TV—currently "Fear Factor"—and two nights playing games like Rummikub or learning poker, with a 9:30 p.m. bedtime for the children.
To unwind, Minkoff drinks peppermint or ginger tea, eats ice cream, and watches shows such as Amazon's "CEO Club." She aims to be asleep by 11 p.m. but often "doomscrolls" on Instagram until midnight, her feed filled with content about AI, perimenopause, and marketing.
While travel disrupts her routine of healthy eating and workouts, Minkoff says she ends each day looking forward to the next, particularly her morning coffee and gym session, which she describes as her "happy place."