Best way to make children read books? Be a role model: SUGAR Cosmetics’ Vineeta Singh

"When children see me read, they get inspired to read," said SUGAR Cosmetics CEO Vineeta Singh.

Vineeta Singh, co-founder and CEO SUGAR Cosmetics seems to do more things on a given day than most people do in a lifetime. An avid runner, Singh has participated in over 14 marathons. She has also participated three times in Comrades, an 84 kilometers ultra marathon held in South Africa and won a bronze medal in one of the races.

In between this, she also loves reading and finds that many books even help her run her company, which was valued at $100 million recently.

In a new episode of Moneycontrol's All About Books, SUGAR Cosmetics CEO Vineeta Singh spoke about her favorite books, reading hacks, and how to get her two young kids to read.

Edited excerpts:

About 'Born a Crime by Trevor Noah

It's about his childhood days in South Africa. The reason this book is called 'Born a Crime' is because he was born to a Black mother and White father, which was illegal at the time of his birth. The kind of things they go through like near-death situations, obviously a lot of crime in South Africa at the time, this was just after Apartheid, the government removed Apartheid, but the transition is tough, and the complex situation of being a person of color where you don't identify as a Black or a White, and the Blacks think that you are privileged and so don't want to be with you the Whites think that you don't belong to them either. His mother is the one who single-handedly deals with the system from day one. It's a must-read for everyone out there.

Does she read more non-fiction in general?

Generally yes, I used to read a bit of fiction growing up, but in the last ten years, I have read mostly non-fiction, and I am not a fast reader, so I do a lot of things to keep the habit of reading up. So when I pick up a book, I think about something that's going to help me at work.

Making time out for reading

I know the passionate readers out there feel very strongly against not trying to have a goal related to reading. For me, nothing gets done without putting a goal around it, so when I am reading a book and in the zone, I love it, so I love reading a book, but when things get in the way and for me to get back into the habit and pick a book again takes some effort that I do put in the effort. So I read half an hour at night, 9:30-10 PM before going to bed, so that will give me some 100 odd hours of daily reading hours, which means like 20-25 books.

The luxury of dropping books midway

I give myself the luxury of dropping books if I don't like it in the first two hours of reading it. Earlier I used to think a hundred times before buying a book because I hadn't read three books bought earlier and how do I deserve the right to buy another book. But then I read somewhere that the joy of having those books around and being able to switch between and reading two books at the same time and that keeps you going.

How does she retain lessons from business and biography books?

I do make notes, but honestly, I don't think I have gotten back to it at all. When it comes to books, I don't have the best of memories. I feel the best way to retain what you read is making notes and going back to them.

Takeaways from Psychology of Money from Morgan Housel

It is an easy read as there is a story and a takeaway. For me, the interesting thing was the perspective of freedom and money. When he talks about the most important way to get happiness is having freedom over your time and the freedom to do what you want to do. One of the biggest takeaways from the book was that whatever gives you the freedom to have control over your time, that's the greatest power of money.

How do you make your kids read, and what do you read to them?

When they see me read, they get inspired to read, especially my older one. If the older one sees me reading a book on the weekend, he picks up a book. Whatever book I read, he is very curious and will want to read some pages; he makes me buy kids books on Kindle and tries reading them. So I think the best way is by being the role model because they get inspired and genuinely curious instead of being pushed into it. The other is letting them choose what they want. I let my older son pick up whatever book he wants from Amazon or a bookstore.

Did she travel with a Kindle pre-pandemic?

I do have a Kindle and the app on the phone. I read it when I am standing in a queue or standing in the airport's immigration line. Those places are great to start reading on a Kindle; that continuity is great. But now, on my trips, I would rather carry two books and have the option to switch. I think the whole idea of not having a device, especially during a flight or on vacation, is very meditative.

What are some books that she has left reading?

There are many. Recently, I bought A Promised Land by Barack Obama, but I thought it was too heavy and boring. Another book I left is Fear of Yes by Shonda Rhimes. I love strong

women love reading their books, but somehow I think you get the summary of the book early on, and I just skimmed through it and decided that I was done with the book.