Chief Executive Officer & Co-Founder, Rent the Runway
Jennifer Hyman: Biography at a Glance
- Jennifer Hyman is the Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of Rent the Runway, an 11 million-member startup that pioneered dynamic ownership in the fashion industry by enabling women to rent designer clothing.
- Rent the Runway, one of only 20 female-led "unicorn" companies in the U.S. to achieve a $1B valuation, went public.
- She leads a team of 1800 people that is 93% female and non-white, honored as a top company to launch one's career, and identified as one of "The Best Places to Work" in New York.
- Hyman is one of the most accomplished startup leaders in the U.S., having raised over $525M from top venture capitalists and honored with recognitions like the TIME "100 Most Influential People in the World", Forbes "12 Most Disruptive Names in Business", Fortune's "Most Powerful Female Entrepreneurs", "Trailblazers", "40 under 40" and Fast Company's "Most Creative People in Business."
- Founded the Rent the Runway Foundation, a non-profit organization to empower and scale female entrepreneurs; serves on the Board of Directors of The Estee Lauder Companies, the Women.nyc Advisory Board, and is a Founding Member of the NYSE Board Advisory Council. Advisor and Investor in many high-growth startups throughout the U.S.
- She is also one of 100+ high-profile entrepreneurs that have joined BFF, an open-access community with a mission to help women and non-binary people get educated, connected, and empowered in web3 and the metaverse.
Media
TIME 100 Most Influential People: Jennifer HymanRentTheRunway.comNY Times Op-Ed: "Treating Workers Fairly at Rent the Runway"ProjectEntrepreneur.orgNY Times: "The Transformational Bliss of Borrowing Your Office Clothes"NY Times: "Rent the Runway Now Valued at $1 Billion With New Funding"NY Times: "Treating Workers Fairly at Rent the Runway"The New Yorker: "Rent the Runway Wants to Lend You Your Look"Fortune: "Rent the Runway CEO Jennifer Hyman on Hitting Unicorn Status While Nin...Fast Company: "Rent the Runway is now a unicorn"MSNBC: "Rent the Runway takes on work force issues"CNBC: "Rent the Runway CEO: People should think about their closets like stock p...
Videos
Biography
Jennifer Hyman serves as the CEO of Rent the Runway (RTR), which she co-founded in 2009 while a business student at Harvard. RTR is transforming the way modern women get dressed by enabling women to rent clothing. RTR has not only become a $1 billion business—a valuation fewer than 20 women-owned companies in the U.S. have ever reached—but also did so when Jennifer was nine months pregnant. Jennifer is a mission-driven leader and has built Rent the Runway from an idea into a high-growth company with one of the most beloved brands in the country. Her proudest accomplishment has been to equalize benefits for her salaried and hourly workers and to become a national advocate of business leaders' responsibility to become moral leaders. Ms. Hyman serves on the Board of Directors of The Estée Lauder Companies and Zalando, and is a Founding Member of the NYSE Board Advisory Council, which champions increased board diversity.
Topics
To Hell and Back: Leading with Resilience
In February 2020, Rent the Runway had just come off their biggest sales year ever. Not only was it now a $1 billion business—it was a valuation fewer than 20 women-owned companies in the U.S. have ever reached.
Suddenly COVID hit the U.S. and people sheltered at home. With no need to get dressed for work, special events, or anything for that matter, nearly 70% of RTR customers paused their subscriptions overnight.
From the stage, Jennifer shares the story of how she saved her company, positioning the business strategically, financially, and culturally for a post-COVID world. She went on to successfully take Rent the Runway public just a year later, in the first-ever IPO led by a female CEO, COO, and CFO.
Jennifer managed to keep her team together and united with deep resilience and passion for the business, fighting against macro factors outside of the their control. Her story is loaded with leadership lessons that can help any team overcome even the most difficult times.
How to Grow in Recessionary Times
The companies that win during difficult macroeconomic climates have an extreme focus on the customer experience. This speech will dig into how to create a customer experience mindset across every division of your company.
High Stakes Decision Making
Every executive is faced with countless decisions to which there are no good answers and often the business lies in the balance. As a founder and CEO, Jennifer Hyman will share her insights and will review some of the biggest decisions she had to make as a leader, how she made them, and the lessons she learned in the process. Through anecdotes and clear cut takeaways, she gears this conversation towards anyone thinking deeply about how to be a better leader.
How to Have a Big Career AND a Big Life
There is countless debate about work-life balance and whether it is possible as an executive. We saw more women leave the workforce during COVID than at any point in recent memory. As a founder of a high-growth company, CEO of a public company, and Board member of three public companies, Jennifer Hyman will discuss how she managed to do this while also getting married, having two kids, raising a family, and building a community.
Experiential Marketing – The New Frontier
- The Material Economy vs. The Experience Economy
- The Experience Economy & Expanding the Market
The Dress is just the Beginning – Building a Lasting Relationship with Your Customer
