Who is Rowena Tsai?
A beauty YouTuber who actually walks the minimalist talk. 500K+ subscribers watching her break down skincare routines and intentional living practices.
Rowena started uploading back in 2017, carving out space in the beauty community for people tired of 47-step routines and product hoarding. Her channel mixes beauty content with productivity philosophies, showing how you can care about both mascara and mindfulness without contradiction.
The authenticity shows in view counts. Videos on morning routines pull 200K+ views, and her takes on sustainable beauty hit harder than most algorithm-chasing content ever could. People stick around because she's not selling you on buying more stuff.
What makes Rowena different is the follow-through on simplicity. Most creators preach minimalism while using 15 productivity apps. She actually lives it, which is why her tech stack is stupidly simple.
Everything below comes from her YouTube videos and social posts where she's shared glimpses of her workflow. Fair warning: if you're expecting some complex system, prepare to be underwhelmed in the best way.
The One Tool Rowena Uses for Everything
When people ask about Rowena Tsai tools for staying organized, there's literally one answer: Sunsama. Not a whole suite of apps. Not different tools for different parts of life. Just Sunsama.
She's mentioned in videos from late 2023 how switching to Sunsama killed the app-switching fatigue that was burning her out. Content calendar lives there. Filming schedule lives there. Personal wellness time blocks live there. One dashboard for the whole picture.
The timeboxing feature is clutch for creator work. When you're editing a sponsored video for a brand deadline, it's way too easy to let that bleed into the rest of your week. Sunsama's drag-and-drop time blocking keeps filming days from eating into the personal time that prevents burnout.
Daily shutdown ritual at the end of each workday is another thing she uses constantly. Closing loops on what got done versus what's rolling to tomorrow. For someone preaching intentional living, having that forced reflection moment every evening just makes sense.
She tried other tools before landing on Sunsama. Google Calendar felt too basic. Notion was too fiddly for quick planning. Motion's AI scheduling didn't vibe with her need for manual control over how days look. Sunsama hit the sweet spot between structure and flexibility.
How Rowena Plans Content Without Overwhelm
Content creation is weirdly chaotic unless you build systems. Rowena's approach inside Sunsama keeps the chaos manageable without turning into productivity theater.
Monday mornings get blocked for batch filming. Two to three videos shot back-to-back when energy is highest. Wednesday afternoons are editing blocks where she locks in with noise-canceling headphones and knocks out rough cuts. Friday mornings handle thumbnail creation and upload scheduling.
What doesn't happen is random task-switching throughout the day. No checking analytics at 9am, then filming at 10am, then responding to brand emails at 11am. Batching similar work keeps her brain from constantly context-switching, which is where most creator burnout actually starts.
She's talked about how seeing the whole week laid out visually prevents overcommitting. When a brand pitches a sponsored video with a tight deadline, she can literally see if there's space for it or if accepting would mean sacrificing personal time. That clarity is worth the $20/month Sunsama subscription alone.
The minimalist philosophy extends to how she uses Sunsama too. No fancy integrations with 8 other apps. No automation workflows that break every other week. Just tasks, time blocks, and the daily shutdown ritual. Simple systems beat complex ones that you abandon after two weeks.
Why Rowena's One-Tool Stack Actually Works
Using just one productivity tool sounds limiting until you realize how much mental overhead comes from managing multiple apps. Rowena's Sunsama-only approach kills that overhead completely.
There's no syncing issues between calendar and task manager. No wondering which app has the updated sponsor deadline. No rebuilding systems when one tool updates and breaks your workflow. Everything lives in one place, which means zero time wasted hunting for where you wrote that video idea last Tuesday.
The constraint forces clarity too. When you can't rely on 47 different tools for different scenarios, you get really good at using one tool well. Rowena knows every keyboard shortcut, every feature, every workflow inside Sunsama because she's not splitting attention across five apps.
Honestly? This approach isn't for everyone. If you're managing a team or running complex projects with dependencies, you probably need more tools. But for solo content creators who value deep work over administrative busywork, Rowena's minimalist stack is a masterclass in doing more with less.
The Rowena Tsai tech stack proves you don't need to optimize every corner of your workflow. Sometimes the best productivity system is the one that gets out of your way and lets you actually create.
Frequently Asked Questions About Rowena Tsai's Stack
What productivity app does Rowena Tsai use?
Sunsama is her only productivity tool. She uses it for content planning, daily time blocking, and that shutdown ritual at the end of each workday. Back in late 2023 she mentioned ditching the multi-app setup for this single-tool approach, and it's been working ever since. The timeboxing feature helps her batch filming and editing without letting work bleed into personal time.
How does Rowena Tsai stay organized as a content creator?
One tool, batched workflows. Mondays get blocked for filming multiple videos back-to-back. Wednesdays are editing days. Fridays handle thumbnails and uploads. Everything lives in Sunsama's weekly view so she can see the whole picture and avoid overcommitting to sponsor deadlines. The constraint of using just one app forces clarity instead of app-switching chaos.
Does Rowena Tsai use Notion for planning?
Not anymore. She tried Notion but found it too fiddly for quick daily planning. The setup overhead of building systems in Notion didn't vibe with her minimalist approach. Sunsama's pre-built daily planning flow won out because it requires zero customization to start using effectively.
What makes Rowena Tsai's tech stack minimalist?
She literally uses one productivity app. Most creators juggle 5+ tools and spend half their time syncing data between them. Rowena's approach kills that overhead completely. No syncing issues, no wondering which app has what info, no rebuilding systems when tools update. Just Sunsama for everything work-related.
Can you be productive with just one tool like Rowena Tsai?
If you're a solo creator, absolutely. Her setup proves you don't need complex stacks to run a 500K+ subscriber channel. The constraint forces you to actually learn one tool deeply instead of surface-level juggling five mediocre ones. Won't work for everyone though. Teams and complex projects probably need more tools, but for individual deep work it's clutch.