Katrina Lake

Katrina Lake, founder and former CEO of Stitch Fix, a fashion company that provides personalized fashion boxes to subscribers.

Lake started the company while doing her MBA at Harvard Business School, kicking it off from her apartment in Cambridge.

Stitch Fix uses a smart recommendation system based on deep learning to suggest clothes to stylists. These stylists add a human touch before sending out the tailored fashion boxes. Recently, they've also incorporated OpenAI’s GPT-4 into their feedback system for better recommendations.

In 2017, at the age of 34, Lake took Stitch Fix public, becoming the youngest female founder to lead an IPO at the time.

Lake has been recognized by:

→Fortune’s 50 World’s Greatest Leaders in 2019
→Forbes’ America’s Richest Self-Made Women in 2019
→Fortune 40 under 40 in 2016

Beyond Stitch Fix, Lake has made her mark as an investor, putting around $100m into startups like Career Karma, Digits, and Zubale. She also appeared as a guest ‘shark’ on Shark Tank in 2020. 

In 2021, Lake briefly reached billionaire status, joining the ranks of only 19 self-made women billionaires in the U.S., alongside figures such as Oprah Winfrey, Doris Fisher (co-founder of Gap), and Sheryl Sandberg (Facebook COO).

Lake also serves on the Board of Directors for prominent companies like Recruit Holdings (owner of Indeed.com), Grubhub, and Glossier.

Currently, she serves as the executive chairperson at Stitch Fix, focusing on sustainability and marketing.

▶ Lake’s journey from starting a company in her apartment to becoming a billionaire and advocate for women in tech is truly remarkable. She has also made a significant impact within Stitch Fix, with nearly 82% of the organization being female.

Last Updated: May 2024