this founder had a broken suitcase but instead of buying a new one she built a billion dollar company around it

this founder had a broken suitcase but instead of buying a new one she built a billion dollar company around it. welcome back to my series founder files where i dive into founders and their stories. jen rubio was born in the philippines, raised in new jersey and dropped out of penn state after landing a full time job at neutrogena. she freelanced in la doing social media gigs and then joined warby parker as its first 15 employees leading branding and socials and that's where she met her soon to be co-founder steph corey in 2013. she became head of innovation at allsaints london and in 2015 her suitcase embarrassingly burst open at the airport. she was searching for a replacement when she realized there was nothing durable, high quality, stylish and affordable. she and steph raised 150k from family and friends to start away and in 2016 they launched a 225 dollar carry-on with a built in battery that quickly went viral and vogue even called it the perfect carry on. first year they hit 12 million dollars in revenue, expanded into larger suitcases and even opened retail stores. by 2019 away raised over 100 million dollars was selling over a million suitcases annually and hit a 1.4 billion dollar valuation. in 2019 an exposé was published about the toxic work culture specifically related to steph's management and when covid hit their sales dropped 90%. in 2021 jen stepped up to be ceo. she pivoted into road trip friendly gear, pet carriers and home travel accessories. she paused marketing, led wellness days and doubled down on dei and by 2023 away was back on track. 2025 jen actually transitioned into becoming executive chair and now she serves on the board of yahoo, scripps research and the whitney museum. she's also invested in startups and has donated 25 million dollars to unicef. comment who i should do next.