Tonya J. Long: 0:03

Welcome friends. I'm Tonya Long and this is RESET. Each week, we share conversations with thought leaders, innovators and the dreamers and doers who are reshaping the future of work, technology, longevity and purpose. So settle in and let's explore what happens when purpose meets possibility. Hello everyone, this is Tonya Long. Welcome to RESET with Tonya. And today in the studio here in beautiful blue, sunny Los Gatos, we have my good friend, Reena Miguani. Reena and I gosh, we are heart-connected; We are mama's girls. I met Reena's mother, who is 82, at an event and just fell in love with her mama, and have known Reena for a few years now. We were part of a women's networking organization and the first time I met Reena we were at Benu's at a Christmas party.

Reena Miglani: 1:00

And at that time.

Tonya J. Long: 1:00

Reena was a big-time executive in a huge company here in the Bay Area, but Reena knew that she had her own RESET coming.

Reena Miglani: 1:08

Yeah.

Tonya J. Long: 1:09

She understood that she was looking at what that looked like, and Reena and I went through those transitions together.

Reena Miglani: 1:15

I remember being on camping trips, driving and talking with you about some of the opportunities you looked at.

Tonya J. Long: 1:20

But in the end, I think Reena followed her heart. She opened up the most exquisite restaurant. So remember, think about this big sales executive for Oracle, because we'll wind up saying it during the fall and then transitioned to creating experiences for people, to create memories for people, to receive comfort, comfort, and it's just of the most. Amara is the most lovely. There are two other restaurants in your family that are, in their own right, beautiful and elegant, but Amara is just. There's nothing quite like it. So, Reena, welcome to RESET with Tonya. Thank you.

Reena Miglani: 1:59

Thank you, so excited to be here. Thanks for the opportunity.

Tonya J. Long: 2:05

Ah, early in the morning and talking about myself, I don't care what time it is, you are not much good at talking about yourself, so we're going to have to ask some questions for you. Juiced and Coffeed.

Reena Miglani: 2:16

Up so I've been more than two decades. A Bay Area resident Definitely feel every morning when I get up and see the beautiful California skies I feel so blessed. Then I forget about how much the property costs here or anything else, but it's just so beautiful and we're lucky to be here. We also live a very hard life. We've built so much in Silicon Valley. It comes with its own stress, and I lived through that working in Silicon Valley. And it comes with its own stress, and I lived through that working in corporate career. And when I got the chance to RESET and transition out of it, I wanted to build a space where we can all slow down, Not one day when you're on a vacation in Europe, but perhaps a few times in the week. And that's why I built Amara and we'll talk more about it. But it's as I like to tell people. It's little paradise found in the Bay Area, but not for some day, but for every day Not for every day.

Tonya J. Long: 3:13

When you say paradise, I think of my time there. You have these lush gardens that are adjacent to the restaurant which can accommodate people, but I think, a paradise. Typically, I think most people are conditioned to think about palm trees and flowing water, beautiful blooms, and you incorporated all of that into the design of that space. You've done a lot of design.

Reena Miglani: 3:36

I've done. It was actually quite interesting, from looking at software UX to transitioning into designing a big space. Amara is a large restaurant with our outdoor indoor space, almost 7,000 to 8,000 square feet, and when we took over the space it was a large space and I was when I would close my eyes. I'm not a designer. I didn't go to interior design school, so I really don't know how to do renditions, but it all, it was all in my brain, all the sketching and everything.

Reena Miglani: 4:12

And I was envisioning a space that, without use, without saying anything to anyone, when you enter the space, you come in stressed, or there's 10 things, 100 things on your mind, but somehow the sensory experience just lets your shoulders drop and you feel like you've transitioned into a different space. And how do I do that? And how do I take this big space? Keep the vastness, keep the openness, but still create intimacy? And that's where my design process came in that you have different nooks, you build the space in a way where you treat every area with slightly different textures and colors, and all those are sensory experiences which you don't really need to spell out, but it connects with you when you walk in. So Amara, where it is situated. It's not on a busy street, it's actually in a strip mall, which is great because you don't have to worry about parking and when you walk in, nobody's expecting it to be the way it is. It's a beautiful space, open on three sides, overlooking the garden. Lots of glass.

Tonya J. Long: 5:27

Lots of glass right.

Reena Miglani: 5:29

And then you get hit in your. You smell something beautiful because you have a custom. You have a custom scent for Amara. He's hard at making my candles.

Reena Miglani: 5:38

Hopefully soon with the holidays coming. And so you get that. Then you've got the lighting, so visually, and you're smelling this, and then you get seated in one of those beautiful nooks and start to see the different textures, with marble and leather and beautiful furnishings, street patterns yeah, exactly, exactly, exactly, exactly. And so you get hit with all these senses and then you start to interact with our wonderful, hospitable team members that really believe in to human and these wonderful people. They will make you feel like you belong, they will make you feel that they care about how your day is going, what you feel is going to nourish you today, and they'll make the right recommendations. It's not about upsells, it's not about making you eat the special of the day. It's really an authentic human interaction. So with all of that, I hear from people hey, what have you built here? I came in feeling one way and now I'm so relaxed and that's just music to my ears. That's why we built it.

Tonya J. Long: 6:59

Yes, I remember the night I was there for dinner with you and I watched your patrons and there was a couple near us. It looked like they were on date Adults our age. And then there was a loud group down in the corner celebrating a birthday or an anniversary and it just felt like a really high-end, exquisite neighborhood experience. Yes, it's not pretentious at all, so I think you've designed it for people to want to bring people there, special occasions for gathering in community, want to do self-care.

Tonya J. Long: 7:36

I think being in small communities is self-care. Your most intimate close friends Right.

Reena Miglani: 7:41

And I would say that not just about how you feel, but Amara is also about self-care.

Reena Miglani: 7:48

One of the things that I'm a big proponent of is, yes, you can be, go and achieve, but if you can find a time in your day to slow down, that really helps your nervous system, that really helps your brain, your mental health, your physical health, and that's why I built this space. I consider Amara almost like cheers of Belmont surrounding area yeah, exactly, definitely a little bit brighter, but a place where, when you come in, they know your name and we really strive for that and, of course, we use good CRM systems to bring in that digital technology to help with that, but definitely want you to feel that you belong and we are farm to table. We go to the local farmer's market, we work with the local San Mateo County farmers. So it's also about nourishing, and sometimes people might come back and say, hey, it's expensive, but we are really sourcing high quality ingredients. And for me it's about everybody's, as we're getting older, eating less and less. But why not eat really high quality ingredients? Because that's really going to help nourish your body and your soul.

Tonya J. Long: 9:02

So, yeah, this was a transition for you Two years ago.

Reena Miglani: 9:09

I think it's been a year, but two years ago you were in the middle of the RESET. You're right.

Tonya J. Long: 9:13

I see that you brought your personal values to this. What did you bring in terms of values that you learned in your 20 years ago? Because, I'm sure there has to be, and not just tech.

Reena Miglani: 9:29

You just mentioned that you have a CRM, so restaurants with a CRM.

Tonya J. Long: 9:30

That's clearly from your tech-linging met. You want to be able to track better service for customers. But what other values do you think that you brought that make you, as a restaurateur, unique because of the journey that you had before?

Reena Miglani: 9:41

I would say the biggest thing that I bring is quick experimentations that we do in tech quick experiment and fail, try something new. So bringing that agility, I would say, is one of the biggest lessons that I brought from how tech founders work, whether you're a large company that's still innovative or a new founder, how you quickly experiment, see how things are working and the ability to pivot. That would be a big lesson that I brought from there in terms of building things.

Tonya J. Long: 10:16

I imagine your staff loves that because they don't get stuck into something. That's because it was your baby.

Reena Miglani: 10:22

We've all seen that. We've all seen that in certain leaders. But I this is my idea I'm still wedded to people who can't experiment with things and try things on when it doesn't work.

Tonya J. Long: 10:33

I think people like working in those environments because they get to be part of trying and trying to make it work.

Reena Miglani: 10:41

And then some little bit more around process. Probably If you have a big party, ivo, I don't want it in people's heads last minute to stress so if it's going to be a big banquet or a raw bar, okay, this dish is going to be plated here. Let's quickly even use chat GPT and create a little table setting rendered so nobody's confused, everybody's on the same page. So just bringing some of that thoughtfulness and organization detail.

Tonya J. Long: 11:13

You reached out to me a couple of days ago because I have an event at Amara next week, but you reached out to me ahead of time to check my intentions, what they would want to eat those kinds of things. And then you took the burden off me, because I frankly don't care what they eat, and you recommended how about, if we do this, that's taken care of a full week before anyone?

Tonya J. Long: 11:33

in my party arrives at your door, I think that level of organizational detail and not leaving things to chance and me, as a meeting leader, not having to get there and be bothered by do we want this versus that? And then asking people when it's just when it comes to you. It allows your guests to focus on why they're there. Just spend time with each other.

Reena Miglani: 11:53

And it's been really fun doing that because we've done some really interesting events or with local tech companies being their board meetings, and you can see the stress that the executive admins have. They carry so much burden and everything needs to be flawless and they are reporting to high achievers, so our team takes off a lot of that burden off them and once they've done an event with us're like wow, you all know what wine to recommend, what food my team will. If somebody comes up with a last minute request, you take care of it. I like that because it not only gives joy to the people that are eating there but the organizers too, because they feel responsible right, I think that's because when everybody wants purpose, they're not just schlepping food, they are curating an experience.

Reena Miglani: 12:47

Well, their work is elevated. I love it.

Tonya J. Long: 12:49

So you had a 20-year career at Oracle. So that's a big pivot and a RESET from large enterprise tech to small, intimate hospitality. On that journey, how did you start to realize that this amazing 20-year career was not serving you anymore? What was your process in recognizing you wanted to make a transition and starting to do that?

Reena Miglani: 13:15

I would say multiple things led me to this. I, earlier in my career, I worked really hard and you are at least. I was always looking for doing my best and giving more than 200%, and I ended up in a place where my body told me you need to sleep, you need to take better care of yourself, and around 2018, I got really sick and I had my body forced me to take time off. Once I started resting a little bit, I had to take a few weeks off from work. Nobody told me this is what a burnout is. I, once I could get back online, I researched and I found out oh my God, this is what a burnout is. My doctor didn't tell me they're sending me to physical therapy, this that I actually ended up finding a chiropractor that is focused on neurology and he helped me heal and gave me practices. So even I know now, when I'm like just doing too much, how to RESET, how to RESET, take a break. But so that? And then, once, I became an empty nester. And then COVID.

Reena Miglani: 14:35

I think all of those things gave me time to reflect and at this point, somehow my husband Ajay and I reached a consensus that we were younger parents. We were in grad school when we had our first child. We've done so much run run Not that running three restaurants slows you down, but maybe we'll run together. So we decided to make this move, to work together and do this. But with this transition I had to learn something really different, which is being an entrepreneur and working for yourself. You don't have a boss, and though in corporate I worked harder than what was expected of me, all of a sudden you needed to be accountable to yourself, and that was a different mind, different way of thinking, a mind shift where I can work 24 hours or I can work two hours, nobody's going to question me. How do I find that motivation every day? And I think took me some time to get find that balance.

Tonya J. Long: 15:43

What I see and have personally when I move into entrepreneurship is we don't have the forces pulling. We don't have the pulling us into things. So our lives were set. Our lives were dictated by sales kickoff yeah, a big user conference with 10,000 people, and then in between were all the product roles, and for me, I led products and you led sales. But we still are focused on what's coming out. What do we need to do?

Tonya J. Long: 16:15

Yeah, I built it, you communicated it with customers and when you move into entrepreneurship you don't have those cadences that you're moving toward.

Reena Miglani: 16:25

All about what you want to move toward People think that's like freedom For me.

Tonya J. Long: 16:29

It wasn't, because I couldn't just grab five people into a conference room, go through some ideas, whiteboard it, get validation and validation is motivation and then go do things. It was very different. Relying only on myself.

Reena Miglani: 16:44

Totally agree. Yes, it's harder.

Tonya J. Long: 16:46

Yeah, I think it's harder to have those resources and people to collaborate with. And I still miss. I think the communities that we are involved in have found new and different ways to collaborate. I know you and I have had a few conversations about Amara, when you were thinking about new ideas for service.

Reena Miglani: 17:04

Yeah.

Tonya J. Long: 17:04

And I've talked about my different pieces of the journey with you.

Tonya J. Long: 17:08

As I've moved along, I think we found new ways of getting that motivation structure Right. That's right. As we continue, I'm going to step away to do a quick station ID. Going to step away to do a quick station ID. You are listening to KPCRLP 92.9 FM out of Los Gatos and KMRT LP 101.9 FM out of Santa Cruz, and we have a giveaway for supervillains on August 22nd. Supervillains is reggae. Now I don't know any superheroes that played reggae, but we have supervillains doing reggae grooves in the forest. So if you join the Signal Society at kpcrorg, slash join, you can join our Signal Society and register for a chance to win tickets, and we will announce the winners a couple of days before, on August 20th. So thank you for being with us.

Tonya J. Long: 18:13

And this is Tonya. Here was Reena Mabloni, the restaurateur and hospitality guru of Amara Restaurants. So, Reena, family is super important to you and I mentioned as we started that I had met your mother and you are a mother and I think those are important attributes that you bring to how you show up. It makes you a natural nurturing person. How have you used those assets of yours? How do you see those assets showing up in how you lean?

Reena Miglani: 18:43

It's interesting that you call it as an asset. I don't even consider that a liability or an asset. It's what you grow into and being as a mother you learn so much intuitively when to step back and when to discipline, when to totally let somebody fail and when to discipline when to totally let somebody fail. It's a choice, yes, and I think that's something that, as leaders, it helped me grow as a leader. It's something that I won't even say use. It was just who I was when I was leading big teams during my tech career and it naturally comes in when I am now, where I am and now that I'm older, I'm working with so I have one kid who's my older daughter, who's a millennial, the younger one, Gen Z, and I would say 90% of my staff in my restaurants, 90% of my staff in my restaurants. They fall in that category. So I can totally see, oh, they're saying this, but I know what's going on, what's behind the veil, so it's maybe made you more relatable, if you will, to the teams.

Reena Miglani: 20:01

Yeah, exactly, and some of them just relate to me as mom because they're maybe away from their parents. So they actually literally some of them say, oh, like, when no guests are around, it's nice. It's nice, my kids are away too, so I don't mind having kids calling me that. There's a guy in the kitchen, his name is Jonathan, we call him Johnny, and sometimes I'll say hey, johnny, and he goes yes, mama, that's going to the nursery rhymes. I think it just makes for a close-knit family at work and we all uplift each other and there is no relationship where you're the boss or whatever, just all are working towards the same goals to make this successful, make every customer interaction, every customer happy.

Tonya J. Long: 20:59

And, based on my limited experience in the restaurant, I also saw and and you were teaching and growing them into more, more understanding, and it was unique whether it was your sommelier or the person who was taking care of our table. I saw you approach them differently, I think, with a mindset on how to help them grow, and that you definitely pull from your corporate career to help them grow, and that you definitely pull from your corporate career and you do it with a maternal element to you. That, I think, makes it a very enjoyable experience to be on your teams, thank you.

Reena Miglani: 21:31

Thanks for noticing that Because, as I said, I'm not actively trying. Probably it becomes second nature.

Tonya J. Long: 21:38

We're very lucky because a lot of us have to work on it. We really have to work at it. It's not inauthentic. And to your point earlier about how busy we all get, I know the busier I am, the less time I'm able to take for people, the less time I have to give to the nurturing process and I have to consistently remind myself to slow down so that I can, because at the end of the day it's about the people. You're not serving the people.

Tonya J. Long: 22:03

You're right the people Right, both your client people and your employee people Then you're not going to move forward. We know this.

Reena Miglani: 22:10

Then even just cooking personally for yourself when you're in a bad mood, the same simple sandwich is not going to taste good.

Tonya J. Long: 22:18

We've talked about that Right. So I want to match you, matching people Exactly Better tasting meals, yeah.

Reena Miglani: 22:24

So, whether it's meals or writing software, it's so important that, as leaders, whatever you're suffering from in your mind or in your body, you've got to leave that when you show up, it's curtain, stop time and the energy you bring it's going to either permeate and uplift everyone. You are down, you bring negativity. It's actually going to multiply and bring everybody further down. Then what's going to happen to the product, whether it's food or code or selling or whatever? It's going to suffer. So being a leader comes with that responsibility and I guess I've been in leadership roles for so long. Now it's become second nature, but something I had to learn and I actually just saw an article in Harvard Business Review, something talking about that that, as leaders, the energy that we bring, the positivity, is one of the most important things that we can do for the team, yeah, and you and I have been around a long time.

Tonya J. Long: 23:25

I want to see Right. Negativity, the inability to make people happy, and it's a chore to be in those environments.

Reena Miglani: 23:35

We've seen the impacts that we value creating environments People want to show up and do their best work, exactly Right, and you can be a leader without you got to let go of your ego. I think that's the other important thing, because when you let go of the ego, you're able to learn so much from others.

Tonya J. Long: 23:55

Yes.

Reena Miglani: 23:56

Because and then you don't have the need to be always so you actually multiply the intellect on your teams, because people are then not afraid to give suggestions or, as I said, do small experiments and fail because you've provided the space. And that happens when you let go of your ego and thinking that my idea is always the best. So that's, yeah, I love it.

Tonya J. Long: 24:23

I think what you just said is gold.

Reena Miglani: 24:25

It really is gold.

Tonya J. Long: 24:25

This concept of letting go of ego. Use that for just a moment. I talk to a lot of people who are suffering that's a strong word, but they're suffering from the loss of status when they move down from a big corporate role being a consultant, and they had all the reasons in the world for choosing to make that RESET, but it's easy to miss being on the main stage right. What was that like for you and how did you manage the change in status, the shift in, maybe the way you show up with, how people identify you by where you work and what you do, and they declare their value of you based on that. How did you manage that, coming out of Oracle to Amara?

Reena Miglani: 25:15

I need to give it a little bit thought. I would say I was. I do tell people that I was lucky because I had the support of my family and sometimes corporate is your identity and that's if people don't see that you don't know what you, what identity you hold. But I think my kids and my husband really supported me through the transition and that really helped because I saw that I still have 70% of the other identities that are so much more important. You have a corporate career but at the end of the day everybody goes to earn money so they can raise their family. I think that's the biggest, most important thing, that if you lose that part, then that's different. But that was always important to me because my family validated who I am outside of corporate. I think that was very helpful. And then I did have a launching pad with our existing businesses to bring that goodwill, that name that Michelin credits to this new Strongyville. So I would say it's not easy for everybody but maybe I was lucky to have that foundation.

Reena Miglani: 26:28

And then things you do struggle with stuff. It's not all hunky-dory. First of all, how do you work as an entrepreneur? I touched on that earlier, even today sometimes I'll be.

Reena Miglani: 26:40

You might approach some guests and you can tell instinctively that they think of oh, this is somebody in hospitality. You're talking about such important things, so this AI and that AI. When I hear that I know what you're talking about. I come from tech and not that you have to be from tech to know what AI is. I know plenty of small businesses that are using AI very well, but I think there's a little sense of elitism. When you are even a small business owner, you actually own your destiny. Your destiny is owned by on a spreadsheet. Tomorrow you are out of budget for somebody and it can change. So I don't know why people build their identities just around that and forget that other people are important or as smart or bring some other smarts. But, as I was going back to what I was saying, that you'll approach some guests and you can feel that intellectual elitism where you can tell the thing that oh, this is somebody who's not so smart.

Reena Miglani: 27:51

So, yeah, I'm like, okay, yeah, go get me this thing and please get out of my way. You're not important enough to talk to. But I guess with years of experience, as you're older, you go like that. It almost makes me chuckle inside that. Why are we building ourselves to be better than somebody else?

Tonya J. Long: 28:15

Probably age. It's probably internal confidence that continues to gain in wisdom. But for me, when I run into those situations, I'm absolutely confident those people don't matter to my future. So the people who would behave in that manner are well, let me take care of what they need, but I don't need to convert every point into understanding my inherent value.

Reena Miglani: 28:39

I need some people like that for my internal comedy so I can laugh. That's a little chuckle.

Tonya J. Long: 28:45

Now I'll tell you what I saw in you as we did that journey, because you didn't immediately make the decision to go into restaurant. What was it? Maybe six or eight months, but what I saw was I really saw you lean into the creativity you were going to get to do in this design and build. Yes, your family had other restaurant roots, but this was yours. I don't want to call it a project because that minimizes it, but I saw when you made your pivot, when you made the decision, I saw how much joy you had in being refreshed by doing something new. Yeah, and that's what I take away from your experience on behalf of others, because it goes back to that mindset thing You've leaned into what you get to do instead of what you weren't showing up for what you weren't showing up for Right and I think that made just like your examples of happy people make tastier food.

Tonya J. Long: 29:41

You were really happy doing the work. I build it in my shows Right and all the care comes from how you feel when you walk into a tomorrow?

Reena Miglani: 29:51

Definitely no, I totally agree, and probably I grew some other brain cells in some other part of my brain.

Tonya J. Long: 29:57

What did you learn that was new, that surprised you?

Reena Miglani: 30:01

Being able to design something like that, and both my kids are in creative fields and I used to wonder where did they get that from? And now I know there is that dormant creativity that laid in there, but probably due to the pressures that my husband and I grew up with, that there's certain careers that you kind of gravitate to.

Reena Miglani: 30:24

Yeah, you are supposed to pursue and that's what success means. So I think I'm glad that I, later on in life, got to try that. And now I'm really excited about the journey of launching Amara to now what we want to build it to be a community space. I'm really leaning into events that resonate with a different age group. That's like the next chapter. Next six months will be focusing on that. We started with some live music. We're starting with some art classes. I really want to build At Amara. Yes, art classes. Yes, fascinating. Yes, the first one is coming up calligraphy and you sip wine and you meet other women. Men are welcome too, but wow, Okay.

Tonya J. Long: 31:15

And your live music? What kind do you do?

Reena Miglani: 31:18

So we started with once a week bringing in DJs Again, different music because I feel that everyone should just enjoy life and not just be stuck in the 80s music just because I'm Gen X and all that. So we're doing things across the board. I'm bringing in in a couple of weeks DJ that plays Afro, funk, arabic music. Okay so.

Tonya J. Long: 31:41

I was expecting acoustic, a guitar in the corner or jazz.

Reena Miglani: 31:48

We are going to do jazz, I'm planning to do jazz brunches, but I want to help our local jazz bands at high schools, so I'm going to bring local high school bands, bring them in and then make a donation to them. They come to play, the neighborhood shows up and then we give part of the proceeds from that day to them. That's coming too, but slowly building that. We're starting with Friday night DJs. So, as I mentioned, we've got an Afro, funk, arabic music. We've got EDM, we've got an Afro, funk, arabic music.

Tonya J. Long: 32:20

We've got.

Reena Miglani: 32:20

EDM. Oh wow, yes, latin. Actually, a Spaniard who's playing Latin beats. So all different kinds of stuff.

Tonya J. Long: 32:25

Your daughters, may have had something to do with these playlists.

Reena Miglani: 32:28

I know a lot about music too. In fact, some of my staff members go oh, how do you know this artist? I'm like I'm not dead yet I love it. I like to listen to current music. I'm not stuck just in my 80s 80s, not age 80s music.

Tonya J. Long: 32:46

Exactly, I grew up on 80s music too.

Reena Miglani: 32:48

And I love it, I love it, yeah, yeah.

Tonya J. Long: 32:50

Good, we're going to do a quick radio station ID. You're listening to Pirate Cat Radio, kpcrlp 92.9 FM at Los Gatos and KMRT LP 101.9 FM out of Santa Cruz. We also have a new itty-bitty baby station, and I shouldn't say it that way, but I'm just so enamored with it. We've opened a station in Portland, as in Oregon, so we have a brand new station, kbbe LP 91.1 FM. If you're up in Portland, we're happy to have you today. Back to RESET with Tonya featuring Reena McGloney.

Tonya J. Long: 33:27

I've got to come up with a snazzier description for you Restauranteur, hospitality guru and happy pivoter, because I think that you have reinvented yourself when you think about the work you were doing in 2015 versus the work you're doing in 2010 is not anything you would have probably forecasted. So that reinvention process. What did you learn that? How do I say this and be I want to know what you wish you hadn't learned, hadn't had to learn. What was the hardest learning for you in reinventing this new era of Reena?

Reena Miglani: 34:08

You've asked me the toughest question because I'm such a glass half full person and I'm not inviting any negative.

Tonya J. Long: 34:16

That's a good call out for you, okay, yeah yeah, I will simmer in negativity sometimes.

Reena Miglani: 34:21

Yeah, as I said, I will simmer in some negativity, but you don't. But then, like in a few hours, I'm like, yeah, just move on. Yes, yeah, exactly, there's things to worry about. I always say that I have a lovely home. I live in California, as I started out earlier. I have 25 chefs on my beck and call. I can eat the fanciest food to the simplest meal I want. What's there to worry about?

Tonya J. Long: 34:50

I've learned that. I derive more value out of my quiet time Working, processing time than I thought I did. I'm a pretty strong extrovert, but I've learned that there's a lot of my thinking happens with just me and in the silence of my home office. So that's something that is very different than my operational personnel in corporate. So that was for me. As my reinvention occurred, I became a lot more introspective.

Reena Miglani: 35:25

So I would say some things haven't changed, because in my corporate career it was go. You're interacting, especially in sales and supporting large global teams. You're always talking on the phone, on the Zoom, so for me my deep thinking was always late night. That's why I sleep very little and now I'm used to it. If I sleep more than six hours for two nights in a row, then I'm up at 3 am.

Reena Miglani: 35:49

But it's just fine, okay, but definitely my deep thinking still happens at night. That's just how I think. But one thing that I've come to realize is I don't try to drive myself with my task list or a daily task list. I build a broader horizon, maybe weekly, like a monthly horizon, and a weekly horizon Focus on strategic, and then I kind of work based on my energy. So now, different than corporate, my Saturdays and Sundays are not off, because that's when the whole world is going out to have fun. So I have a restaurateur working, so my days off are on Monday. But then in the beginning, when I was taking my Mondays off, people are on my different technology partnerships that I have. They want to meet on Monday and I was booking my Mondays off. People are on my different technology partnerships that I have. They want to meet on Monday and I was booking my Mondays and then I was. That was supposed to be my day off.

Tonya J. Long: 36:47

Then I was waking.

Reena Miglani: 36:48

And then my Tuesday is my Monday. Then I was waking up really tired because I didn't give myself a chance to refresh, so I needed to block Mondays off. Now I realize Tuesday morning is my Monday morning, so I take it slow. I removed all my meetings from. I had my management meeting set up for Tuesday morning. I'm like, no, I'm not going to do that. So I think I've, because I'm my own boss. I've learned to also manage my energy better and then align my energy to what I need to do and figure out what days work better, what hours work better for what kind of tasks. For me.

Tonya J. Long: 37:28

Eleven we keep unintentionally dancing around this notion of being overscheduled, overstimulated. What do you think you've learned coming from hyperdrive tech enterprise to modeling for the environment? You want to create slower, more intentional. What have you learned that you think would be good advice for people who are looking to make the same shift?

Reena Miglani: 37:59

So, as I touched upon energy, I think when you start realizing your own energy and how you feel and then at least be able to influence what you're going to do where you have influence, I think really helps. And also starting to understand when your body and your mind tells you that it's time to slow down, do that.

Tonya J. Long: 38:24

I had this conversation just yesterday. Yeah, I'm not good at listening.

Reena Miglani: 38:30

But your body tells you before it gets to a point of where it's going to get sick, because then it's forcing you to so doing. That is important and I believe just stop ordering DoorDash. That's what I will tell you as a nothing against DoorDash. Get out of your house and meet people, and that's what restaurants provide. They don't provide a meal. They actually provide you a space to be with other humans.

Reena Miglani: 39:01

As far as I remember growing up and hearing from my dad which he missed with big cities when he moved to New Delhi from a small city in the western border of India that in the evening women never made bread at home. They had a communal tandoor where they would bring their dough and they would all chat and gather, exactly, and sitting in front of the TV, you're taking that away from yourself. Put on some pants and shoes and get out and be communal, and that's what helps you slow down and then put that phone away, because you have to really realize people who are rich today are the ones that can actually control their attention span, because it's being robbed from us. So force yourself to do that and you'll actually connect and enjoy and recharge and be ready for the crazy next day where you are meeting customers and debugging bugs, or coming with the next billion dollar idea.

Tonya J. Long: 40:00

But society's working against this concept with DoorDash, with one of the investments that my funds looked at was a robotics in food, high-end food truck with walks that cooks exquisite food. We're not talking about cheap chicken and rice, we're talking really like high-end lobster and scallops.

Tonya J. Long: 40:19

As the truck is en route to your home. So it's delivering a very high-end, restaurant grade, high-end meal, but to your house, and part of me sees the value in that. But then I see the loss of community because like being at Amara and seeing people celebrating a birthday, people on a date, you're out, you're gathering that energy of other people and like what's the point in delivering lobster to my house if the kids are out in the backyard on a swing set and the husband's working on you know he's watching a football game? What good is that exquisite meal if you don't have the environment that supports being a community?

Reena Miglani: 41:03

So I'll give you a quirky and funny example. I was watching this movie from the 80s, a rom-com, which one I'm forgetting. I think it was something with Meg Ryan, I think.

Tonya J. Long: 41:15

Oh, that could have been 10 different ones. Yeah, yeah, okay, ryan.

Reena Miglani: 41:17

I think, oh, that could have been 10 different ones.

Tonya J. Long: 41:19

Yeah, yeah, okay, so you're watching a rom-com.

Reena Miglani: 41:20

I'm watching a rom-com and I tell my husband look at their teeth, they're natural, they have flaws and they all have their own.

Tonya J. Long: 41:29

How interesting.

Reena Miglani: 41:30

They all have their own unique faces because there's something imperfect with their teeth. I think having flaws, even with your food once in a while, I think that's what it is. Not having perfect teeth, but everybody having a little quirk is what's human and that's what makes your unique smile yours, versus a perfect, perfectly white, beautiful big teeth. I think you've got to get away from perfection and realize a meal is not about yes, some days you want that three Michelin star experience, but every day should be more about connecting around the table, around food, and sometimes our customers tell us you guys always do such a great job. Every time I have a great, every time I come in I have a great meal. And I really laugh because my husband always tells them the same thing You're not dining with us enough because we cook plenty of bad meals too. But I think that's what it is to be human to make mistakes and have flaws and have bad days when you do something not so perfect.

Tonya J. Long: 42:34

And your husband has a tremendous amount of humility Right.

Reena Miglani: 42:40

Humor and humility it does.

Tonya J. Long: 42:41

Both make people more accessible, exactly. So what have you noticed with the way you serve people, building community? Have you started to see that impact, how your business cadence is run by people, groups of friends, that all come on Thursday night. Or I had one of those groups in Tennessee. Every Thursday night we went and had dinner together for two or three years and it was great to different places. And have you noticed community building around the experience that you curate?

Reena Miglani: 43:16

yet A lot. So one is like formal that we introduced a membership club and we're building a community there and there's a little bit of exclusivity because they get access to these events ahead. As we change the menus, we want to invite them in more, not because it's exclusive, not just because it's exclusive, but we also think that as members they are rooting for us to be successful. So why don't you get the first taste and give us feedback before you make it available to everyone?

Tonya J. Long: 43:50

I don't know if I'm right or wrong, but it feels like country clubs have gone. They're not as useful anymore. I guess, I was a member of Silicon Valley Capital Club. That was downtown and it was a great place Whenever I was out with friends and we'd done something. I didn't have to wait for a table on a Saturday.

Reena Miglani: 44:08

I could just text them.

Tonya J. Long: 44:09

When I got there with my friends, they had the table ready take people two or ten, but I can take people somewhere and people are going to greet me by name. People are going to know what I usually have to drink which is not alcohol, and my guests are going to be made to feel like guests in my home. They're going to come there reputedly, and so you having a membership club and personalization that I think people are looking for. There's beauty in variety, but I think most of us eat out a lot with work. I would rather go somewhere that's familiar, because I really don't care what I'm eating. I care about how I feel.

Tonya J. Long: 44:48

And I want my guests who have been here before to have that experience as well.

Reena Miglani: 44:52

The thing is we try to do that with each guest. So how do we make it exclusive? Because I mentioned CRM, and not just that, because our team members stay with us for a long time, so they naturally start to recognize and then they get asked by name by our guests hey, can so-and-so be there the day I am there? So how do we build exclusivity for our members? So we've opened up some other privileges. So, for example, one of our members he has his own company and his board meeting was happening on a Monday and we are closed, and he requested can I bring my board in? I'm like, oh, we're closed, but I've got to check with the chef, maybe he'll be okay with that. And chef goes, check with the chef, maybe he'll be okay with that. And chef goes, of course, anything for him. And the chef didn't even know he's part of this membership club.

Reena Miglani: 45:49

But the fact that he comes there all the time, exactly. So there's that. And then Saffron. Our first restaurant has been around for 20 plus years. We've seen some couples actually propose at the restaurant. Then they got married, they had kids and once the kids were ready to eat out, the kids got a chance. And these are not Indian families, these are non-Indian families bringing in their two years old eating butter chickens. I'm like, wow, I have a kid who loves Indian food now for life. These kids go away to college. When they come back home, their first stop is saffron.

Tonya J. Long: 46:26

Oh, I love that Because they've been craving. They've been craving butter chicken or whatever their dish is.

Reena Miglani: 46:31

And then on the other end, now I can count three people that have had saffron as their last meal. They requested One meal was actually flown across the country. Oh my goodness, wow, yes, so I don't know if I. Yeah, it's kind of it's an honor. It's sad, but it also speaks to people wanting comfort. Yes, wanting to lock some memories that were built over a lifetime.

Reena Miglani: 46:59

Exactly exactly. And then, when we were looking to expand, we did look on the East Bay. We went all the way up to Sacramento because people were talking about the opportunities. But we felt that our community was the Bay Area, because this is where we raised our families. Our friends live here, our customers are here. Some of them have become our best friends. We just couldn't relate. So we ended up staying here and now, with three restaurants, I feel like we're building a community where people are almost saying, hey, do I want North Indian today?

Reena Miglani: 47:34

No, I think I want Mediterranean or I want a dosa today, I think I want Mediterranean or I want a dosa today. And within our own ecosystem we built this community where people get a certain feel wherever they go, because they know they'll get great food, great service. They know the people that work there. Some of our team members have been there within Saffron from the beginning. So a lot of people don't know us as the owners. They think they are the owners. So it's like that community. I don't know. It's almost gives me goosebumps and like a warm feeling that our customers, the love they've given us. And that's the community and it's been building for now two decades.

Tonya J. Long: 48:15

I see this need for connection with all the people. I'm out. A lot People are seeking and this is I've not thought about this, so these words aren't going to be pretty People are seeking standardized connection, connections they can count on. I grew up in the South, so in the South everybody goes to church.

Tonya J. Long: 48:33

But you go to church because that's how you're called, but you also go to church because it's your time with community, Of course, On Sunday mornings, Wednesday nights you can be with your community and I think that people are going back to those values of needing to be with their community to feed their soul and you happen to feed them otherwise. I love it. What's your prediction for the next big trend in dining and hospitality?

Reena Miglani: 49:03

I feel that we've become very performative in terms of how we represent food and by that Instagram and it took food to this level of again, perfection, beauty, and then the first person that went viral. Everybody copied them and took away from being authentic, or it's still taking away from being authentic to everything being the same and this is not just hospitality, it impacts other sectors too. I'm predicting that people are getting tired of that too. I'm predicting that people are getting tired of that, and I feel it's going to be. We'll still be on social media presenting what we do, but I think it's going to be more authentic and less on trend versus what I do, and I believe how people will rise above that will be storytelling. Storytelling in every sales has been very important. I believe it's going to get even more important because that's where people will know, because if I'm doing this, the second person follows the same way of plating, the third person does the same. It's my unique value, then.

Tonya J. Long: 50:26

Third person does the same with my unique value, then I see that in your social media presence, because there is a narrative evolving about the environment, about the place and space that gives to people. So I hadn't considered storytelling to be an element of that, but now that you've said it, I absolutely see it in how you position Amara as a service to others.

Reena Miglani: 50:48

So I feel that across hospitality, going back to, instead of trying to be on trend, probably people will go back to why I'm unique, what's my signature in what I do. And I believe that as we shed those fears of COVID and going out becomes more important which already is becoming, especially for younger generation I think restaurants will lead the trend for building community because, as you mentioned, country Club Narg is not something that's affordable, approachable for everybody. It's not something that's affordable, approachable for everybody and it does not provide that short-term ability to gather.

Tonya J. Long: 51:35

So I think restaurants will fill that, continue to fill that need and build more around events and bringing entertainment and bringing lectures and different types of experiences and different types of experiences and, as you've demonstrated, you're there to and this is not come out well either, but you've demonstrated that you're in service to your customers.

Reena Miglani: 51:56

So when someone wanted to come in on Monday for a really good reason you did it, how you've curated menus for different events.

Tonya J. Long: 52:02

It forces us to get out of our, but I have this my menu is hamburgers, fries, milkshake. That's what I do. You're being extremely flexible and accommodating. What can we do?

Reena Miglani: 52:14

for you.

Tonya J. Long: 52:14

And I think that's a mindset that will pay dividends for you as you continue to grow People that know about them, thank you, thanks for noticing that. Let's do a quick lightning round.

Reena Miglani: 52:24

I like lightning rounds of beer.

Tonya J. Long: 52:26

We can just answer several questions with quick answers. And I think some of the answers become very interesting. So the first question one Silicon Valley habit what?

Reena Miglani: 52:45

was the one Silicon Valley habit that you had to RESET when you went to hospitality. I touched on something where I said quick experiments and fail. But I would say my quick experiments and fail were very driven by what my customer needs, not what I feel is needed. So that was a switch and, to be a little bit witty, I had to drop saying all those acronyms.

Tonya J. Long: 53:07

All right, All right, all right. So what she means for those things that aren't necessarily inside the tech machine everything in the world is a four-letter acronym, like we can speak acronym. Our people say I'm headed to LAX, we know that's Los Angeles. But other people are like I'm headed to LAX, yeah, we speak in our acronyms in tech, so that's Los Angeles. But other people are like I'm headed to LAX, yeah, we speak in our acronyms in tech, so that's pretty funny. That is pretty. What's a dish that instantly RESET your mood?

Reena Miglani: 53:39

Basmati rice with moong dal Always takes me back to no, no, just the lentils and rice. Simple lentil and rice, the comfort food that every mom in India cooks, and it might be a little bit varied as you move across different regions within India, but it's always a staple comfort food.

Tonya J. Long: 54:04

I'm so glad you didn't say biryani. I had a whole team who wanted me to love biryani. Good stories, good stories. We talked about a habit you shed when you came into hospitality. I'm glad acronyms was Thank you. What's a habit that you think Silicon Valley leaders need to learn from hospitality? Customer orientation. But we think we have a lock on that.

Reena Miglani: 54:32

I think we need to observe our customers more and not just feel that I'm building this new thing and the customers need it, and especially as tech leaders, we are not just impacting one or 10 customers. We're impacting a whole generation of customers. So let's be mindful. Am I building for wealth or am I actually building it for my customers? So what impact is it going to have? Because it's not going to impact just 10 people. It's going to impact the whole society and don't forget, you are part of society too. So what you are building back the whole society, and don't forget, you are part of society too. So what you are building, it's going to come back and impact your families, the world you live in. So let's be mindful. Preach.

Tonya J. Long: 55:18

Preach Love it.

Reena Miglani: 55:35

So I love your wisdom, I love your mindset. Are there any books or podcasts that you really enjoy, that you think contributed to how you engage, to who you are? Multiple things, but I believe I read Brene Brown her Dare to Lead. Yeah, it really helped me become shed some of the fears about being authentic.

Tonya J. Long: 55:47

Big fan of Renee.

Reena Miglani: 55:48

Yes, what else? I would say some of the science fiction, like the Foundation series, oh interesting. I don't know about the Foundation.

Tonya J. Long: 55:58

That's.

Reena Miglani: 55:58

Isaac Asimov's book series.

Tonya J. Long: 56:01

Obviously, I know Isaac Asimov.

Reena Miglani: 56:03

Yes, his Foundation series. I go back and read or even listen to it, because imagining what's happening today back then gives me because I'm a very imaginative person. But for me, if you can imagine it, it can happen, you can build it. So yeah, I would say it's not really a leadership book, but it does help me expand my mind and be very brave.

Tonya J. Long: 56:30

I see how it would right and books transport into new environments, science fiction, environments that may not even exist.

Reena Miglani: 56:39

One of the things I went back and listened to the first in the series a few weeks back and of course, they're living in the future and the world is run by science. But one of the things the scientists say is that many thousands of years back we decided that we invented everything we need to, so science became unimportant. Makes you feel that how sometimes leaders can shape this because they want people to stagnate and feel that, okay, everything is right. Yes, exactly, and some of those things we are going through right now. So it's very interesting to get that perspective from somebody who wrote that 50, 60 years back.

Tonya J. Long: 57:19

I think it's important that you're interested in that perspective. Okay, one tough question to end with.

Reena Miglani: 57:25

Oh my.

Tonya J. Long: 57:26

No, it's insightful. It's insightful If you could RESET one decision that you've made in life. That'd be what would you do over?

Reena Miglani: 57:35

I wish I'd done some more RESET.

Tonya J. Long: 57:39

I love that and I think that's authentic. That was the first thing on the top of my head.

Reena Miglani: 57:43

I wish I'd done more RESET, but again, I was busy raising children so I needed more consistency and I feel RESET are like remixes, because you learn so much and then you bring that and remix it with what you're learning right now. So it's my fusion living.

Tonya J. Long: 58:02

I love it. All right, Reena. Where can people learn more about Amara Love?

Reena Miglani: 58:08

it. All right, Reena. Where can people learn more about Amara? Definitely our website, amararestaurantscom. Or follow us on Instagram, where most of the storytelling is happening, again at amararestaurantscom. Or connect with me on LinkedIn. Reena Miglani and we can have a conversation and I would invite people to come experience it.

Tonya J. Long: 58:28

Come meet me, come say hello and experience what we've built your Instagram account, too, for Amara has some beautiful visuals. You've really found you may be doing these, but if you're not, you've found people that really capture the essence of what it is in your Instagram post. It's just beautiful and it creates it's that storytelling that we talked about.

Tonya J. Long: 58:49

Yeah yeah, I love it Definitely. So when we finish up an episode, we do this. Give me a heart Excellent. So we're giving a heart to the audience that's out there on our video and, Reena, you've got so much heart and I'm so glad we had this time together.

Reena Miglani: 59:06

Thank you.

Tonya J. Long: 59:08

I You've got so much heart and I'm so glad we had this time together. Thank you, my friendship with you has been so impactful to me over the last three years. The things that I've learned, the Band-Aids that you put on my skinned knees.

Reena Miglani: 59:18

You both have helped each other get to this remix.

Tonya J. Long: 59:21

It has been a wonderful journey. I feel like we're both like right now. We're enjoying it. There will be more.

Reena Miglani: 59:28

There will be more RESET?

Tonya J. Long: 59:29

Yes, and I'm so happy to know that people like you are out there to engage with and you're growing that next generation into the same behaviors. Thank you, such a pleasure, such a pleasure to be with you today.

Tonya J. Long: 59:41

Thank you Everyone. This has been RESET with Tonya, with the inimitable Reena McGloney on. Are you ready for it? Kpcrlp 92. I know it's M in Los Gatos. And KMRT LP 101.9 FM out of Santa Cruz. And, of course, I've already mentioned our newest addition to the family, kbbe LP 91.1 FM from Portland. Everyone, have a marvelous day. Go find your own patch of sunshine while Reena and I enjoy the one here in Los Gatos. Take care everyone. Thank you, goodbye. Thanks for joining us on RESET. Remember, transformation is a journey, not a destination. So until next time, keep exploring what's possible. I'm Tonya Long and this is home. This is RESET.