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Levo (formerly Levo League) was a network for millennials in the workplace. The company provided young professionals with resources to help them navigate and advance their careers. [1]
Launched in 2012, Levo was founded by Caroline Ghosn (daughter of auto tycoon Carlos Ghosn) and Amanda Pouchot, as well as two other women, Kathryn Minshew and Alex Cavoulacos (see Controversy). The founders met at their first corporate jobs working for the management consulting firm McKinsey & Company in New York. [2] At McKinsey Ghosn and Pouchot discussed the limited opportunities and resources available to young women professionals [3] in their office and in 2011 the two women left McKinsey to found Levo. [4]
The start-up raised over $8 million in funding, [5] adding $7 million from its round of Angel funding in early 2014. [6] Prominent U.S. investors in Levo include Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook, Susan Lyne, Chairman of Gilt Groupe, and Gina Bianchini, CEO of Mightybell. [7]
Levo claimed over 9 million users [7] and conducted interviews with some of the world’s top executives and leaders, including Warren Buffett, Sheryl Sandberg, Jacqueline Novogratz, [8] Nanette Lepore, Soledad O’Brien and Kevin Spacey [9] as part of the company’s “Office Hours” program. [10]
Levo granted its members digital access to mentors, a community of professionals, job postings, and live chats with prominent business role models. [11] In addition to its online community the group also operates 30 local chapters [12] worldwide to help its users to connect to opportunities offline. [13]
Levo was founded as Pretty Young Professional by four women who worked in the NYC office of McKinsey & Company: Caroline Ghosn, Amanda Pouchot, Alex Cavoulacos, and Kathryn Minshew, with an equity structure that reflected ownership by all (Minshew 7.1%, Pouchot 5.5%, Cavoulacos 4.4%, Ghosn 1.5%). [14] Minshew was the first full-time employee and Editor in Chief, and eventually CEO.
After a dispute between the founders, Ghosn and Pouchot secretly re-launched Pretty Young Professional as Levo League and ousted founders Cavoulacos and Mishew, who went on to found The Daily Muse. [14]
Ryne Dee Sandberg, nicknamed "Ryno", is an American former professional baseball player, coach, and manager. He played sixteen seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a second baseman for the Philadelphia Phillies (1981) and the Chicago Cubs.
Carlos Ghosn Bichara is a Lebanese, Brazilian and French businessman and former automotive executive. Ghosn was the CEO of Michelin North America, chairman and CEO of Renault, chairman of AvtoVAZ, chairman and CEO of Nissan, and chairman of Mitsubishi Motors. Ghosn was also the chairman and CEO of the Renault–Nissan–Mitsubishi Alliance, a strategic partnership among those automotive manufacturers through a complex cross-shareholding agreement. The venture has held approximately 10% of the total market share since 2010, and as of 2017, was understood to be the largest automobile group worldwide.
Sheryl Kara Sandberg is an American technology executive, philanthropist, and writer. Sandberg served as chief operating officer (COO) of Meta Platforms, a position from which she stepped down in August 2022. She is also the founder of LeanIn.Org. In 2008, she was made COO at Facebook, becoming the company's second-highest ranking official. In June 2012, she was elected to Facebook's board of directors, becoming the first woman to serve on its board. As head of the company's advertising business, Sandberg was credited for making the company profitable. Prior to joining Facebook as its COO, Sandberg was vice president of global online sales and operations at Google and was involved in its philanthropic arm Google.org. Before that, Sandberg served as chief of staff for United States Secretary of the Treasury Lawrence Summers.
Nanette Lepore is an American fashion designer based in New York City. New York magazine has said that "her gypsy-influenced designs are feminine and youthful. The looks are full of bold colors and bright prints, with ruffles and lace that manage to look good-time-girly but not overly frilly."
Claire Elizabeth Foy is a British actress. She is best known for her portrayal of the young Queen Elizabeth II in the first two seasons of the Netflix series The Crown (2016–2017) for which she won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series.
Tory Burch is an American fashion designer, businesswoman, and philanthropist. She is the Executive Chairman and Chief Creative Officer of her own brand, Tory Burch LLC. She was listed as the 88th most powerful woman in the world by Forbes in 2020.
10,000 Small Businesses is a philanthropic initiative launched by Goldman Sachs and the Goldman Sachs Foundation in November 2009 that pledges $500 million in various aid to small businesses in the United States, United Kingdom, and France. The initiative aims to provide 10,000 small businesses with assistance – ranging from business and management education and mentoring to access to capital and business support services. Goldman Sachs' CEO Lloyd Blankfein, Berkshire Hathaway's Warren Buffett and Harvard Business School professor Michael Porter are the chairs of the program's advisory council. The program was launched in the face of mounting criticism over Goldman Sachs' large bonus payouts after repaying $10 billion in TARP funds it received from the U.S. Treasury. According to the company, the small business initiative had been in development a year before the initial launch, and is modeled after its 10,000 Women Initiative, which has helped educate female entrepreneurs in 43 countries. According to a January 2013 report by Babson College, 63.7% of program participants in the United States reported an increase in revenue and 44.8% added new jobs following graduation.
Financial Times Business Book of the Year Award is an annual award given to the best business book of the year as determined by the Financial Times. It aims to find the book that has "the most compelling and enjoyable insight into modern business issues". The award was established in 2005 and is worth £30,000. Beginning in 2010, five short-listed authors each receive £10,000, previously it was £5,000.
Penelope Trunk is an American writer and entrepreneur.
Anna Maria Chávez is an American attorney, inspirational speaker, writer and community leader. Most recently, Chávez served as the Chief Executive Officer of the Girl Scouts of the USA (2011–2016) and was the first woman of color to head the organization.
The Muse is a New York City-based online career platform founded in 2011 by Kathryn Minshew, Alexandra Cavoulacos, and Melissa McCreery.
Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead is a 2013 book encouraging women to assert themselves at work and at home, co-written by business executive Sheryl Sandberg and media writer Nell Scovell.
Francesca Hauser is a startup investor and advisor, funding and advising consumer-focused companies such as HelloGiggles, Levo, Mogul, The Wing and Gem&Bolt. Formerly President, Digital for Time Inc.'s Style and Entertainment Group, she is also a philanthropist and advocate for women in business.
Jessica Bennett is an American journalist and author who writes on gender issues, politics and culture. She was the first gender editor of The New York Times and is a former staff writer at Newsweek and columnist at Time.
Caroline Ghosn is an American businesswoman. She is the eldest child of former Nissan and Renault CEO, Carlos Ghosn. In 2011, she founded Levo, a professional network dedicated to helping millennials navigate the workplace, and has been managing its development since then.
Ellevate Network is a Global Community of women committed to fostering and promoting gender equality in the workplace. The organization provides women and femme-identifying, non-binary individuals with a community to lean on and learn from through networking, online and offline education, inspiration, and opportunity. Founded in 1997 to bring high-achieving women in finance together, the network now serves women across industries and around the world. Its CEO is Maricella Herrera.
LeanIn.Org is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded by Meta Platforms chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg in 2013 dedicated "to offering women the ongoing inspiration and support to help them achieve their goals." The organization desires to support women in three main ways: community, education, and circles, or small, coordinated peer groups that meet to share their experiences and learn together. Launched after the release of Sandberg's bestselling book, Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead, the organization views itself as the next step in an effort to change "the conversation from what we can’t do to what we can do." Since its launch, over 380,000 women and men have joined the Lean In community, creating 34,000 Lean In Circles in over 157 countries to date.
Ling Zihan is a Chinese business executive and entrepreneur. In 2015, she founded TechBase, a Beijing company designed to encourage women to create online technology enterprises, the first of its kind in China. She was selected by the BBC as one of 30 young businesswomen around the world highlighted by their "30 Under 30" initiative.
Caroline Wong is an American chief cybersecurity leader who has worked to advance software security programs and promote the mission, vision, and values D&I in cybersecurity. Throughout her career, Wong has been working to "boost the number of women in the field" and advocate for workplace equality. She regularly speaks at industry events and in publications such as The Washington Post and CBS News, and publishes editorial articles on topics such as DevSecOps alignment, infosec best practices, diversity in cybersecurity, and women in tech.