Finding “space” with meaning.
The past year has been hard for everyone, but it’s been especially difficult for women in the workplace. If you’re a woman of color, the odds are even more stacked against you. But the pandemic only exacerbated what was already true: men dominate leadership roles on the board and in the C-suite, while a disproportionately large number of women are forced to choose between focusing on their careers and childcare.
I was welcomed into a strange club in 2014: I became one of only 22 women ever to found and lead a company to an IPO. 22. That’s it. I’ve dealt with people mistaking me for an analyst at Care.com, and like many other female founders, I faced challenges raising money, but for some reason, that number — 22 — was what hit me the hardest. And as an Asian-American seeing increasing hate towards our minority group, the punch in the gut felt even worse this week and this past year.
Before lockdown, I was asked by someone at a speaking engagement what was next for me after 13 years of founding Care.com, taking it public, and then selling it to IAC.
My answer was: it’s time for me to find the space to pause.
I’ve been on the go since getting pregnant in college between my sophomore and junior years. My drive and ambition led me to found a successful company, but the climb towards profitable growth quarter-in and quarter-out while raising a family and looking after elderly parents were exhausting.
Care.com’s mission is what kept me going all those years, knowing that we were helping women worldwide achieve their dreams by providing them support for their most treasured gifts: their family.
No part of me could’ve guessed that the time I was planning to take off for myself would coincide with a global pandemic, but regardless of how I got there, this “pause” has given me a year to reflect on what so many women were going through and what mattered most to me.
Landing
I’m a planner. I always have a plan. But last year during my professional sabbatical, I decided it was finally time to be spontaneous and open to seeing where life could take me. The people I surrounded myself with over the past decade are talented, creative, driven, loving people. However, instead of talking business, we started talking about what inspired us, what made us cry and what pissed us off.
On one of my mornings meditating and reading, I came across a story about The Wing. I recalled visiting their beautiful space in 2018 and its mission of helping uplift and empower women. When I saw that they were going through a complex crisis, I had an urge to help them navigate challenges brought on by a period of transition and the pandemic.
As a female founder, I understood immediately what a space like The Wing could do for other women wanting to pave a career path like mine. After speaking with the co-founder, Lauren Kassan, about our shared experiences founding companies, we discussed how she could use the time while their doors were closed to enact real change within the company. I offered to advise her, the Board and the team informally.
Eventually, I became a Strategic Advisor in Q3 of last year. Though I had mentally committed to a full-year sabbatical, I couldn’t say no to such a unique opportunity to join Lauren and the team in their mission of helping women thrive and doing it in a way that rebuilt the company on a foundation of inclusion and diversity.
Why The Wing?
My conversations with Lauren led me to realize I didn’t need to start all over — just because I sold my business didn’t mean I sold my value or my experience. Helping women worldwide achieve their goals by providing support for their family is what drove me at Care.com for 13 years, and it’s still driving me now.
Lauren and I talk a lot about The Wing’s future and what we’ve learned from this very difficult year. There is a sense that the pandemic has taken so many things from us: our loved ones, our public spaces, our celebrations, our arts, our corporate offices. But Lauren and I found ourselves talking more about what the experiences of the past year have given us. We agree that even as we stand on the edge of life going back to “normal,” and as The Wing prepares to re-open its spaces this summer, we won’t go back to the way things were before. We can’t.
It’s become clear that while The Wing grew and expanded rapidly, it did so at the expense of the company’s most important part: the employees. It’s also become clear to me that The Wing’s team has used the last year to reflect on the feedback from former employees, members and advisors as they work to build a culture at The Wing that truly fosters inclusivity, thoughtful conversations, systems and operations that value all people equitably.
After spending months with the team, Lauren, the Board, and The Wing’s new major investor, IWG, asked me to formally join The Wing as Executive Chairwoman. Now, my role is to ensure equity, diversity, and inclusion extends to the C-suite, the Board, the employees, the members and beyond. My experience as a woman of color is not just relevant, it’s part of what the company values.
A Renewed Focus On What Matters
2020 was a year of transformation for everyone — particularly in how we physically separated and found new ways to come together. As we sheltered in place, we became more aware and sensitive to the spaces around us. Space can be powerful. It can motivate you, it can feel like home, and it can even help build you into who you want to be. In my most profound moments of self-reflection, I realized that space is a gift.
I was drawn to the vision of what the Wing could be for women again. I suspect, for so many women coming back to The Wing, space will take on a new deeper meaning too — finding the space to be themselves, surrounded by other driven, successful, supportive women.
Women leading, founding and creating in a shared space is a force to be reckoned with. That’s why the Wing is so special. The female founder behind it is also special — one on a difficult journey of learning but also one who continues to stay true to her heart’s mission. I truly believe The Wing has the ability to be the sanctuary we all want: a place to focus, to be productive, to recharge and re-energize, but most importantly — a place to be authentically bold. We have work to do, and we’re on our way there.
As the Executive Chairwoman at the Wing and a Venture Partner at NEA, I’m using what I’ve learned from founding, growing and scaling a company to help other female founders. What mattered to me every morning for 13 years at Care.com was the impact we made on millions of families’ and caregivers’ lives. I realize now that the greatest impact I can have in my newest chapter is to support passionate female founders like Lauren, and the millions of female founders and leaders The Wing will serve globally. They, in turn, will impact many more lives.
In the end, I was right — the space I needed away ended up leading me to a space with meaning.
