Fortune - How Katrina Lake learned to think big

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March 29, 2021

Good morning, Broadsheet readers! We mourn author Beverly Cleary, Betsy Cohen is leading the SPAC boom, and Stitch Fix CEO Katrina Lake reflects on how she learned to think big. Have a great Monday.

– Peer leadership. When Whitney Wolfe Herd led Bumble’s initial public offering earlier this year, she cited mentors who helped her become the youngest woman to take a company public. At the top of that list was Katrina Lake, the founder and CEO of Stitch Fix.

The Bumble founder’s answer wasn’t a surprise; before 31-year-old Wolfe Herd took on the ‘youngest’ title, Lake held it herself after leading her company’s 2017 IPO at 34. The two solo founder-CEOs have even more in common: both held their young children by their sides as they launched their companies onto the public markets.

I spoke to Lake last week in a long interview about Stitch Fix’s journey through the pandemic, covering everything from how the company adapted when, for example, people stopped buying men’s work shirts “just like that” a year ago to the flexible, data-informed strategy that has allowed Stitch Fix to succeed compared to some struggling retail competitors this year.

But I also asked what it felt like for Lake to pass on that ‘youngest’ title. “I was very eager to pass that title along,” she said, noting—perhaps unsurprisingly—that holding it led to mixed emotions. “Given the state of the world, I was happy to have that association, but at the same time it was so sad that it took so long,” she said.

Katrina Lake, CEO, Stitch at Brainstorm Tech 2019. Stitch Fix CEO Katrina Lake speaks at Fortune Brainstorm Tech in 2019. Stuart Isett for Fortune Lake offered some advice to the next young, female public company CEO who comes along: lean into authentic leadership. “Authentic leadership is especially accessible to women because there’s no point in putting on a pantsuit and pretending to be a guy,” she said. “We can all chart our own paths of what leadership looks like.” And remember to think big, something Lake said was a challenge for her to adapt to: “I’ve always been very pragmatic. I have to learn, I do have big goals, I do have big aspirations, and unless I’m saying those things out loud I can’t bring people along on that.”

The Stitch Fix founder is glad to have Wolfe Herd by her side now as a peer public company chief executive. “People talk about the CEO job as being a lonely job. And you look around, and you see how few women are in those public seats, and it’s an even lonelier job,” she says. “The benefit for me of getting to know someone like Whitney is having that connection and greater sense of community—feeling like we’re in this together.”

Read more from Lake about Stitch Fix’s business—and big opportunity ahead—here. And if you missed it on Friday, read Lake’s contribution to Michal Lev-Ram’s piece about Asian-American business leaders’ reflections on rising anti-Asian racism.

Emma Hinchliffe
emma.hinchliffe@fortune.com
@_emmahinchliffe

The Broadsheet, Fortune’s newsletter for and about the world’s most powerful women, is coauthored by Kristen Bellstrom, Emma Hinchliffe, and Claire Zillman. Today’s edition was curated by Emma Hinchliffe.

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ALSO IN THE HEADLINES

- Beverly forever. Beverly Cleary, the beloved author of the classic Ramona Quimby children's book series and more, died at 104 last week. Cleary introduced the everyday American middle-class experience into children's literature, after growing up reading only books about wealthy British kids or "poor children whose problems disappeared when a long-lost rich relative turned up." Her books sold more than 85 million copies. New York Times

- SPAC attack. Since well before the beginning of the SPAC boom, Betsy Cohen has taken nine special purpose acquisition companies to market. Her latest is for Robinhood, the trading app. Only 30 of 512 active SPACs are run by women—and that number includes Cohen's. The 79-year-old has been making her deals from her home in Florida this year. Wall Street Journal

- Stay strong. In honor of Women's History Month, Vice President Kamala Harris sat down for an interview with USA Today. The vice president offered a message to American women hit hardest by the pandemic: "Know you are not alone. ... You are strong." USA Today

- Vaccine boom. Fortune's Phil Wahba examines what CVS, led by CEO Karen Lynch, and Walgreens, led by CEO Roz Brewer, stand to gain from the vaccine rollout. CVS forecasts a profit of about $400 million from administering COVID vaccines in 2021. (For more on CVS and the vaccine rollout, read this profile of Lynch.) Fortune

MOVERS AND SHAKERS: President Joe Biden nominated Gayle Manchin, an educator and the wife of West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, as federal co-chair of the Appalachian Regional Commission. Citigroup hired Goldman Sachs chief diversity officer Erika Irish Brown as chief diversity, equity, and inclusion officer. The bank also promoted head of investor relations Liz Lynn to lead finance officer for banking, capital markets, and advisory. Ethicon U.S. president Nefertiti Greene and former women's basketball coach Muffet McGraw join the board of the Women's Sports Foundation.

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IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

- Political face-off. Elections began on Saturday in West Bengal, India, where Mamata Banerjee has run for office and served as chief minister for a decade. She's now seen as one of the fiercest critics of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, fighting back against his Hindu nationalist policies, supporting the recent farmers' protests, and objecting to his citizenship law. Modi is campaigning against her as his party attempts to gain a stronger foothold in the state. Bloomberg

- Macaroni mogul. Ever wanted to know more about Annie, the woman behind Annie's Mac and Cheese? Annie Withey (who's also the creator of Smartfood popcorn, by the way) sold her brand to Solera Capital and then General Mills. She doesn't engage much with the company or the press these days, but Withey, who lives on a farm in Connecticut, took up a pen-pal correspondence with one journalist. San Francisco Chronicle

- Pandemic periods. The stress of the pandemic—and for deskbound workers, the less-than-stellar ergonomics of working from home—have manifested in all sorts of aches and pains this year. One more effect? More than half of women surveyed report experiencing changes in their menstrual cycle over the past year, from longer cycles to more severe mood changes. The likely culprit is stress. Guardian

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