Career Path Of A CEO And Co-Founder At Wild One

Starting with college, I went to the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. I graduated in 2007, which was a very interesting time. I had a great college experience in a wide variety of areas. Academically, I majored in economics and minored in math, which had some overlap with economics. That's how I was able to get that in there. I also minored in Spanish.

I ran track for the varsity team as a middle-distance runner in the mile and the half mile. It was like a second job with very intense practice and competition schedules. I really enjoyed that whole experience and made incredible friendships and had teammates that have carried on throughout my career and life.

I was also a photographer and photo editor for *The Daily Pennsylvanian*, our student newspaper. I won some awards for my mostly sports photography, which was really fun and interesting to do. I even thought about a career in sports photography; my dream was to be a *Sports Illustrated* photographer.

I also led the program for a new student orientation backpacking expedition. New students would come in, and we'd go backpacking for a week before school started. I did it as a freshman participant and then went on to lead the program. Those were a few of the extracurricular activities I did.

I also did a few smaller internships. I had a financial analyst internship at an aviation company, which helped set me up for my career path after college. I cast a broad net for that while I was in school. Penn has a robust undergraduate recruiting system where many companies, banks, and consulting firms come to campus for interviews and information sessions.

I considered going the finance route but chose to go into management consulting after school at a firm called Alvarez & Marsal. I was attracted to that industry because of the breadth of exposure and the skills and knowledge you gain, including a broad range of analytical skills and business strategy. I wanted that broad exposure because I didn't know exactly what I wanted to do long-term. I thought it was a great way to learn a lot, gain skills, and meet smart people.

I graduated in 2007 when the economy was still on the upswing. Shortly after, in 2008, the Great Recession happened. At Alvarez & Marsal, we had a large bankruptcy restructuring practice, so I switched into that practice and worked at Lehman Brothers after they went bankrupt. It was the biggest bankruptcy in history, and we administered what remained of the company.

It was a super interesting process, very intellectually demanding and stimulating, and an intense environment, though not always fun or uplifting. I had always wanted to do something more entrepreneurial, more at the startup end of the corporate lifecycle, as opposed to the very end when something has gone under.

So, I applied to business school and went to UCLA Anderson in California, focusing on entrepreneurship and finance. I had a phenomenal experience at business school. I spent four years at Alvarez & Marsal. The first couple of years involved general management consulting, working with companies on projects to improve their operations and finances. I traveled all around the country for that.

After four years, I went to business school. I wanted to get into startups again, but I didn't have a super strict idea of what that would be. I networked with a ton of people in tech, marketing, and entertainment. I connected with the founders of Warby Parker and interned there in 2012, just about a year or so after they had launched.

I went back to New York for the summer between my two years at business school and worked at Warby Parker on the finance team, helping raise additional startup capital for our Series B round. I then returned to school and did some other internships at a venture capital firm and another startup incubator, just getting as much variety of experience as I could.

Ultimately, I decided to go back to Warby Parker and moved back to New York. I loved LA, but I knew Warby Parker was a phenomenal opportunity with a great growth trajectory. I worked in strategy, finance, and supply chain. I spent a lot of time in China developing our factory partner relationships, our supply chain, and our infrastructure. Domestically, I helped set up all of our warehouses and optical lens manufacturing facilities. Eventually, I built our own facility in New York State for Warby Parker.

After six years at Warby Parker, I left to join a couple of folks coalescing around the idea of starting a direct-to-consumer pet brand for pet lifestyle accessories. We launched Wild One in 2018 as a true lifestyle brand for fashion-forward dog accessories, kind of like the Lululemon for pets. We have a broad range of products, including collars, leashes, harnesses, toys, treats, and travel and home products. We've grown tremendously since we launched.

We are an omnichannel business, selling on Amazon and Chewy, and we are in all Petco stores. We've been in Target and are talking to Walmart and Pet Sense, and many other pet stores, broadening our distribution through retail partners. I am the CEO of our company and work with our team to continue growing the business.