Chief’s Lindsay Kaplan is 'reframing' the environment—and the future—for female leaders

Lindsay Kaplan, co-founder and chief brand officer of the executive women’s network Chief, created the private network in 2019 after a career in communications. She raised the organization’s profile through viral posts and high-profile speakers such as Michelle Obama and found herself surprised at the network's rapid growth, largely because she'd been hit with initial questions about whether people would actually want to join. The organization is now at 15,000 members and earlier this year it raised $100 million in investment, bringing its total valuation to $1.1 billion. Kaplan’s work through the network has included launching a campaign during Women’s History Month in March that reframed the period as “Women’s Future Month.” See all of Ad Age's 2022 Leading Women here. It also worked with the National Women’s History Museum last year to install a glass portrait of Kamala Harris in the National Mall in the days after her inauguration as vice president. “Every Women’s History Month we look backward,” said Kaplan. “We wanted to reposition our thinking toward the future.” What advice would you give your younger self? Continue to persevere through challenges. Every setback will strengthen your resilience. Buy Apple. What’s the biggest risk you’ve ever taken? Leaving my previous role at Casper to launch Chief with my co-founder, Carolyn Childers, was a giant leap. I was a young mom, and leaving a known and growing venture was a financial risk for my family. It was also daunting to consider having to start from scratch on building a new brand over again, in a totally new category, and with such an important mission. If you weren’t doing your current job, what would you be doing and why? Breaking glass in a late-night show’s writers' room. What should the industry do to encourage more women and people of color into its ranks? The industry needs to not just encourage, but actively recruit, promote and retain marginalized people into more senior roles to affect change from the top down. It’s not complicated, but it does require intention and commitment. See all of Ad Age's 2022 Leading Women here. What is the biggest lesson you have taken away from the pandemic? Thousands of women in the Chief network managed through the pandemic separated but together, united by the shared experience of leading through crisis. Character is defined in intense moments like these, when it is most important to step up and do the right thing as a brand, as a leader and as a human.

Chief’s Lindsay Kaplan is 'reframing' the environment—and the future—for female leaders

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