Stairway to CEO

In This Episode You’ll Hear About: How she discovered, that she really loved retail and how that was helpful as she began to build BOXFOX How wanting to send a thoughtful and comforting gift box to a friend who was sick sparked the idea for BOXFOX when Chelsea and two good friends saw that there wasn’t really a great way to do this yet How the three Co-Founders work together and get a long and how...

In This Episode You’ll Hear About: How growing up with an entrepreneurial dad helped him experience the ups and downs of business at an early age and how being on the water polo team, even though he wasn’t good at it, taught him perseverance and time management How his time in investment banking after college went and why he was thankful to move on to something else after being laid off, but then...

In This Episode You’ll Hear About: How his parents’ business and his upbringing created the drive to work hard and how Amit’s always been an entrepreneur What he learned in college at Penn, why he went into investment banking upon graduation, and what got him back into being an operator  What valuable business lessons he learned while in private equity working with a variety of companies and proce...

In This Episode You’ll Hear About: How growing up in Whiteland, Indiana and going into public school after his parents’ divorce led to years of bullying, fighting, and eventually juvenile detention Why goal setting and processing what he could do differently led Dylan to a complete turn around in high school and beyond How his grandparents were examples of entrepreneurship and why working with his...

In This Episode You’ll Hear About: Why as a kid she thought she’d one day be involved in the fashion industry and what kind of dreams and aspirations that desire led to How her parents, who are both doctors, were instrumental in the mindset Nina grew up with of listening to the body and taking care of yourself in as many natural ways as possible How she gained a wide array of experience with inter...

###In This Episode You’ll Hear About: How being born and raised in New York City and growing up as a gymnast gave her a drive for setting big goals, handling challenges, and working hard Why walking into the wrong room by accident during a Harvard Crimson information session changed her life trajectory because it was there that she fell in love with branding, marketing, and finance as career optio...

###In This Episode You’ll Hear About: Why growing up on a farm in a very small town led her to New York City to try an acting and modeling career What brought her to Chicago, led to a career in hotel management, and then brought her out to San Francisco where she saw so much innovation and was inspired by entrepreneurship How the idea for Farmgirl Flowers came about and why she knew this idea was...

###In This Episode You’ll Hear About: Why Coral moved from China at the age of five and what her childhood was like in a beautiful bicultural home in the US Why she felt called in a different direction after a summer internship in investment banking How she met her husband and also started working with Bain and was based in the Hong Kong office where she worked on projects throughout Asia How the...

###In This Episode You’ll Hear About: How she always had an interest in fashion and just knew she wanted to be a part of the industry somehow one day Where Sarah worked in her early years and how she got the chance of a lifetime to work for Tory Burch when Tory’s business was brand new and still being run out of her apartment Why Sarah left Tory Burch after over 10 years and then went into consult...

###In This Episode You’ll Hear About: How she grew up in a family of sisters with parents who were great at setting high expectations but also providing lots of freedom to learn and grow How even as a kid, Dawn was very entrepreneurial and had businesses throughout childhood and into adulthood that provided good memories of making money How she went from a retail sales associate after college at E...

###In This Episode You’ll Hear About: How being born in Israel and raised in New York City in an entrepreneurial family shaped a lot of how she approaches life and work How learning to stand out in the real estate market in New York City taught her skills and ways to think about standing out in the cereal aisle of a grocery store Why working with her husband on his advertising agency, helping big...

###In This Episode You’ll Hear About: How Andrea grew up in Barcelona in a family of entrepreneurs, which made her comfortable with the lifestyle and why she always knew she wanted to start a business Why she wanted to create a product that would change the world and always knew that one day she would Why observing how Americans used hand sanitizer even though they didn’t like anything about the e...

###In This Episode You’ll Hear About: How growing up in Laguna Beach, CA with a strong, supportive family led to an early confidence in creating and developing ideas, such as a documentary he made about local skimboarders that made him some money and planted seeds of entrepreneurship in his teens How his time at Boston University was an important experience that led him to the world of Silicon Val...

###In This Episode You’ll Hear About: How being homeschooled in a house and neighborhood full of kids gave Bailey a love for learning and time to be creative, while also getting lots of experience in seeing how her parents’ jobs as first responders mattered and affected them Why she loved her time at Santa Rosa JC and then UC Berkeley, providing more opportunities for her love of learning and earn...

###In This Episode You’ll Hear About: How as the son of a dentist and entrepreneurial parents who founded the company Go Smile, Julian learned a lot about building a business, oral health, and wellness, which later led to he and his brother founding Twice How sports played a big part in his life and why he studied business and finance at Cornell University, where he also played lacrosse and had a...

In This Episode You’ll Hear About: How Alix got the language bug early on and was able to travel abroad in exchange programs while in middle school and high school How her time at Dartmouth went and how she realized that entering the world of finance was not actually what she wanted to do Why serious reproductive health issues in her mid-twenties created a huge shift in her perspective on what bei...

###In This Episode You’ll Hear About: How Liz grew up in New Jersey with great parents and a naturally talented salesperson father who was a mentor to her Why, even though she had a great home life, she ran away from home with a friend when still a young teenager and what she learned from that experience How she studied at an art school in Florence, Italy and why that was a transformative time in...

###In This Episode You’ll Hear About: How growing up in New Jersey/New York with an entrepreneurial father laid the groundwork for both he and his brother to become entrepreneurs as well How he learned to be adaptive and find the good in change after his mom became an entrepreneur following a major shift in his home life Why he left college to work with his dad to learn what real life business exp...

###In This Episode You’ll Hear About: How her supportive parents and an excellent makeup artist helped her fall in love with makeup and education at an early age How she went from working behind the Chanel counter in Syracuse to working behind the Estee Lauder counter in New York City, to working with a new company called Stila Why her study at Syracuse University in elementary and special educati...

###In This Episode You’ll Hear About: How growing up in rural Maryland and discovering a personal passion for water quality in her community led to a love of science and a desire to work in that space where science can make a difference in public health How she started her first company while in high school and landed a scholarship to Wake Forest University to study science and business with the r...

###In This Episode You’ll Hear About: How even as a kid living in difficult circumstances in New Jersey Steve was always driven to survive, carve out his own path and conquer challenges How an in-school suspension led to the opportunity to teach himself code in the computer lab, which led to a new business using Google to sell mortgage leads How he went to several colleges and even took college fo...

###In This Episode You’ll Hear About: How growing up in a multicultural home that valued high level professional careers led to a period of trial and error for Isharna, helping her to learn what types of jobs were not a good fit for her Why she wanted to be a park ranger but went to Australia National University where she studied law and economics instead How she worked in government in Australia,...

###In This Episode You’ll Hear About: How he grew up in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania with supportive middle class parents who came from different economic backgrounds How John made his way to California with a dream of being a part of the film industry where he worked in the mailroom at Paramount Studios and worked on the sets of movies, television, and commercials How his time on set led to an interes...

###In This Episode You’ll Hear About: How growing up in Scotland and watching his dad grow his own successful business planted early seeds of entrepreneurship in Ross’ life Why he dropped out of college after only one year How he built a successful menswear business in the Middle East after finding a gap in the market How becoming plant-based in his eating and meeting Elliott Kessas on business in...

###In This Episode You’ll Hear About: How Kristel grew up playing tennis in Holland, came to the States for college, and met the love of her life, Michael Why an internship at Deloitte helped her realize that even though she was studying finance at university, she was not interested in a future career in finance How that realization led to a Masters degree program in London where she studied busin...