By Anne Stych

As president, COO and owner of Hughes Marino, an award-winning commercial real estate firm specializing in tenant representation, Shay Hughes spends her day in and out of meetings. But she makes sure she takes mental breaks throughout the day to re-energize, maybe taking a few minutes to browse for design, marketing and style inspiration on Instagram and Pinterest.

“A little creative break always rejuvenates my mental energy and gets me fired up with new ideas for us to implement,” she said.

She enjoys meeting with clients in the San Diego-based company’s various offices on the West Coast as well as with brokers around the country and sharing insights on her family company’s culture and core values at community events and universities.

To stay healthy for all that travel, Hughes works out in her home gym in the mornings and goes to yoga on the weekends.

1) First job? 

As soon as I turned 16 and was legally allowed to apply for a job, I started working at a clothing store, where I worked all day Saturday and Sunday.

I am pretty sure they made more money from me shopping there than I took home. I spent every dollar I made there and then some.

2) Favorite children’s book? 

My mom read all of the Richard Scarry books to me when I was little and I loved them, especially all the illustrations of the adorable, perfect world he illustrated. But my most memorable book was “The Giving Tree” by Shel Silverstein. I reference it at work sometimes and it still makes me tear up to read.

3) Yoga or spinning?

Yoga, especially hip-hop yoga to loud music. It makes me feel better than any other type of exercise I’ve ever done.

4) Choose three people, living or dead, for your personal board of directors. 

I can’t limit it to three!  Firstly, I would choose my husband and children. But I’d also love to include Oprah, Sarah Blakely, Nicole Kidman and Taylor Swift if you’ll let me. All are genius women I deeply admire.

5) Beach or mountains? Where?

Both! Cabo San Lucas and Aspen, but if I had to choose one, it would be Aspen.

6) Sushi or steak? 

Sushi

 7) Favorite hack?  

Snapping photos and screenshots throughout the day of things I need to either do, save for future inspiration, or that simply make me happy. The photos on my phone are a funny visual overview of my daily random thought process and busy schedule.

This article first appeared on bizjournals.com.