Jen Rubio

Last updated
Jennifer Rubio
Born1986or1987(age 37–38)
Philippines
Education Pennsylvania State University (dropped out)
OccupationBusinesswoman
Known forCo-founder and former CEO of Away
TitleExecutive chair of Away
Spouse
​
(m. 2020)​
Children2

Jennifer Rubio (born 1986or1987 [1] ) is an American businesswoman. She is the co-founder, executive chair, and former chief executive officer of Away, a luggage manufacturer and retailer. [2] Rubio was head of social media at Warby Parker [3] [4] and global director of innovation at fashion company AllSaints. [5]

Contents

Early life

Rubio was born in the Philippines, and moved to New Jersey when she was seven years old. [6] She grew up traveling, and lived in seven cities on three continents. [5] [7] When she was young, Rubio bought a lemonade stand from another child who lived on her street for $20 which she borrowed from her father. She has called it her first merger and acquisition. [2] Rubio later went on to attend college at Penn State University, where she pursued a supply-chain management major. She was placed at Johnson & Johnson as part of Penn State's co-op program. [8] After discovering her desire to be a businesswoman, Rubio dropped out of Penn State just a few credits shy of graduating, in order to pursue a full-time role at Neutrogena, a company with whom she did another co-op.

Career

In 2011, Rubio joined Warby Parker, leading the company's early content and partnership work as its head of social media. [9] She met Away co-founder Stephanie Korey during her time at Warby Parker. [10] In 2013, she left Warby Parker and went to London, [11] [12] where she was global director of innovation for clothing brand AllSaints. [4] [13] [14] She spent much of a year traveling for the position. [15]

Before Warby Parker, Rubio held different marketing and social media roles, working for brands on the agency side and in-house. [16] She also taught social media as an adjunct professor at Miami Ad School. [17] She has been a guest lecturer at Hyper Island, New York University, Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, Northwestern University, and Harvard University. [18]

Rubio co-founded Away, a direct-to-consumer travel and luggage company, with Stephanie Korey, who also worked at Warby Parker. [14] By 2017, Rubio and Korey had raised $31 million, making it one of the largest seed financed female-backed startups. [19] She was CEO of the company from 2021 to 2025, when she transitioned to the role of executive chair. [20]

Personal life

In May 2019, Rubio got engaged to her boyfriend, Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield. [21] They married in 2020 and share two children. [22]

References

  1. ↑ Gibbs, Cara (2019-12-12). "A Day in the Life of Away Luggage Co-Founder Jen Rubio". The Wall Street Journal. ISSN   0099-9660 . Retrieved 2025-08-28.
  2. 1 2 Garcia, Ahiza. "The founders of Away changed the luggage industry after a travel mishap". CNNMoney. Retrieved 2018-10-21.
  3. ↑ "Inside Away's Instagram strategy - Digiday". Digiday. 2017-08-14. Retrieved 2018-10-21.
  4. 1 2 "Save Your Money, Skip The MBA, And Go To Startup Grad School Instead". Fast Company. 2016-08-31. Retrieved 2018-10-21.
  5. 1 2 Dunn, Laura Emily (2016-09-01). "Women in Business Q&A: Jen Rubio and Steph Korey, Founders, Away". Huffington Post. Retrieved 2018-10-21.
  6. ↑ "Portrait of a Girlboss: Away Co-Founders Steph Korey & Jen Rubio". Girlboss. 2016-10-18. Retrieved 2018-10-21.
  7. ↑ "Away Travel". thestyleline.com. 9 March 2017. Retrieved 2018-10-21.
  8. ↑ Raz, Guy (18 March 2019). "How I Built This Podcast". NPR. National Public Radio. Retrieved 2 April 2019.
  9. ↑ "Away: the Glossier of the travel world". Evening Standard. Retrieved 2018-10-21.
  10. ↑ Magazine, Wallpaper* (2016-01-12). "On a roll: Away is the new start-up putting a design spin on luggage". Wallpaper*. Retrieved 2018-10-21.
  11. ↑ BAOMOI.COM (2017-11-28). "Khởi nghiệp từ chiếc vali". BAOMOI.COM (in Vietnamese). Retrieved 2018-10-21.
  12. ↑ VietnamBiz (2017-11-28). "Cô gái nảy ra ý tưởng 'triệu đô' khi vali hành lý vỡ tan | VietnamBiz". VietnamBiz (in Vietnamese). Retrieved 2018-10-21.
  13. ↑ "2016 Fellows - NYC Venture Fellows". nycventurefellows.org. Archived from the original on December 20, 2015. Retrieved 2018-10-21.
  14. 1 2 "Former Warby Parker execs take it away with direct". www.bizjournals.com. Retrieved 2018-10-21.
  15. ↑ Avins, Jenni (21 May 2016). "Two Warby Parker alums created an affordable, phone-charging carry-on and it's great". Quartz. Retrieved 2019-06-06.
  16. ↑ Beauchamp, Megan. ""My Career Path Hasn't Been Linear by Any 'Traditional' Standards"". MyDomaine. Retrieved 2018-10-21.
  17. ↑ "Jen Rubio - Digital Strategist at Carrot Creative, Co-founder at GourmetLend - We Are NY Tech". wearenytech.com. Retrieved 2019-06-06.
  18. ↑ "Jessica Toonkel". SXSW 2019 Schedule. Retrieved 2019-06-06.
  19. ↑ "This CEO Is Leading a New Wave of Female Entrepreneurs". Fortune. Retrieved 2018-10-21.
  20. ↑ Deighton, Katie (2025-05-15). "Away, an Original Internet Darling, Will Sell Its Luggage in More Places". The Wall Street Journal. ISSN   0099-9660 . Retrieved 2025-08-28.
  21. ↑ Perino, Marissa (30 January 2019). "Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield is newly engaged to a woman who runs a $1.4 billion startup. Inside the relationship of Silicon Valley's newest 'it' power couple". Business Insider. Retrieved 2019-07-02.
  22. ↑ Clarke, Katherine (February 9, 2023). "Silicon Valley's Newest 'It' Couple Is Going Big on Real Estate. Here's How They've Spent $140 Million". The Wall Street Journal.
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