Steph Korey

Stephanie Korey is an American businesswoman and co-CEO and executive chairman of Away, a luggage retailer.[1][2]

Steph Korey
Born
Stephanie Korey
Known forCo-founder of Away
TitleCo-CEO and Executive Chairwoman of Away
Board member ofAway
Spouse(s)
Pedro Goodwin
(
m. 2017)
Children1

Early life

Korey was born in the United States and grew up in Ohio, in a 55,000-square-foot historic mansion with an indoor swimming pool and three dining rooms.[3] Her father was born in Lebanon and her mother was born in Romania. She grew up traveling to visit her family in Europe and the Middle East.[3] Korey studied international relations at Brown University and received her MBA from Columbia University.[4][5]

Early career

After graduation, she worked at Kate Spade and Bloomingdale's.[6]

By 2011, Korey joined Warby Parker and led the company's supply chain, production, and fulfillment work as its Head of Supply Chain.[7] She met Away co-founder Jennifer Rubio during her time at the company.[6] In 2014, she left the company and received her MBA,[5] while also working as a consultant for supply chain and merchandising strategy at mattress company Casper.[8]

Away

Korey co-founded Away, a direct-to-consumer travel company, with Jennifer Rubio. By 2017, Korey and Rubio had raised $31 million, making it one of the highest-funded female-founded startups.[9]

Korey has led an online course on management and leadership principles on Skillshare,[10] and has contributed to Entrepreneur.[11]

In June 2018, she received the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year 2018 New York Award.[12]

A late 2019 investigative report[13] revealed a toxic workplace at Away and prominently featured Korey's role in creating a culture of staff mistreatment and public humiliation. In an apology, Korey said that she was "appalled" to read her own messages and listed steps taken to improve the company's work culture in the last year.[14] On December 9, 2019, Korey was to be replaced as CEO of Away by Stuart Haselden. She would continue to serve as Away's executive chairwoman.[2] On January 13, 2020, a New York Times article broke the news that Korey had reversed her decision, and would instead serve as co-CEO along with Haselden. This decision was announced with the support of Away's 4 Board of Directors, only 1 of whom is external to Away. [15]

In late June 2020, while on maternity leave, Korey posted several Instagram stories attacking digital media companies. Employees told Haselden and Rubio in an anonymous letter that it showed Korey had learned nothing from the events of December 2019, especially given that her comments were made during Pride and the height of the Black Lives Matter movement. On July 2, 2020, Haselden and Rubio announced that Korey would be stepping down as co-CEO, and that Haselden would take over as sole CEO "within the year".[16]

gollark: <@184468521042968577> I fail to see why you'd want that horrible type unsafety.
gollark: <@237328509234708481> I shall write a paper on potatOS.
gollark: Also, half the packages use native libraries which sometimes fail to build, and most stuff produces cryptic errors if it breaks.
gollark: Also, the whole 2/3 split.
gollark: The fact that you need to create an entire virtual environment to manage packages is kind of bad.

References
  1. Garcia, Ahiza. "The founders of Away changed the luggage industry after a travel mishap". CNNMoney. Archived from the original on 2018-08-05. Retrieved 2018-10-21.
  2. Schiffer, Zoe (2019-12-09). "Away replaces CEO Steph Korey after Verge investigation". The Verge. Retrieved 2019-12-09.
  3. "Portrait of a Girlboss: Away Co-Founders Steph Korey & Jen Rubio". Girlboss. 2016-10-18. Archived from the original on 2019-04-03. Retrieved 2018-10-21.
  4. "Founder Fridays: Stephanie Korey '09, co-founder of Away - Jonathan M. Nelson Center for Entrepreneurship". Jonathan M. Nelson Center for Entrepreneurship. Archived from the original on 2018-10-22. Retrieved 2018-10-21.
  5. Elkins, Kathleen (2018-02-12). "Columbia MBA and multimillion-dollar start-up founder: Here's what business school can't teach you". CNBC. Archived from the original on 2018-08-04. Retrieved 2018-10-21.
  6. "Pack For Your July Fourth Getaway In the New 'Away' Luggage". Observer. 2016-06-30. Archived from the original on 2018-10-22. Retrieved 2018-10-21.
  7. "The Boss: The Founders of Away Have 3 Tips for Female Entrepreneurs". Time. Archived from the original on 2018-11-02. Retrieved 2018-10-21.
  8. Dunn, Laura Emily (2016-09-01). "Women in Business Q&A: Jen Rubio and Steph Korey, Founders, Away". Huffington Post. Archived from the original on 2017-03-24. Retrieved 2018-10-21.
  9. "This CEO Is Leading a New Wave of Female Entrepreneurs". Fortune. Archived from the original on 2018-07-05. Retrieved 2018-10-21.
  10. "Steph Korey - Skillshare". Skillshare. Archived from the original on 2018-10-22. Retrieved 2018-10-21.
  11. Korey, Steph (2018-06-20). "Why Embracing Failure Is Good for Business". Entrepreneur. Archived from the original on 2018-10-22. Retrieved 2018-10-21.
  12. EY. "EY Announces Winners for the Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2018 New York Award". www.prnewswire.com. Archived from the original on 2018-06-15. Retrieved 2018-10-21.
  13. Schiffer, Zoe (2019-12-05). "Emotional baggage: inside the toxic work environment at Away". The Verge. Retrieved 2019-12-21.
  14. Bellstrom, Kristen (December 6, 2019). "Away Founders Use 'Inclusivity' to Respond to Toxic Culture Claims". Fortune. Archived from the original on December 6, 2019. Retrieved December 7, 2019.
  15. "Away C.E.O. Is Back, Just Weeks After Stepping Down". 2020-01-13.
  16. Schiffer, Zoë (2 July 2020). "Away says co-CEO Steph Korey will step down this year after her attacks on the media". The Verge. Retrieved 3 July 2020.
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