Katlyn Gao of LOVB: Building Sustainable Female-Centric Brands Requires a Ground-Up Community Approach

As a part of our series called ‘Five Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Became A CEO’ we had the pleasure of interviewing Katlyn Gao.

Katlyn Gao is the CEO and co-founder of LOVB. An alum of Northwestern, Harvard Business School, Bain & Company, Coach, Sephora, and Lululemon, Katlyn has a depth of experience leading iconic female-centric consumer brands. In 2020 she founded LOVB, a nationwide volleyball community bringing together a network of junior clubs across the country and creating a professional women’s volleyball league in the US. With LOVB, Katlyn and the team, are building a sustainable business model that increases the opportunities for women in sports.

Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory”? What led you to this particular career path?

I have spent the last 20 years of my career building and scaling female-centric brands while personally, my passion has been working to help advance women. I was very lucky in my life to benefit from a strong female role model in my mother who brought us to the US because of her work in physics.

While both of my parents were in the sciences, I was drawn to the world of business early on as a dynamic and interdisciplinary field. It seems meant to be that I ended up in consumer/retail early on in my career because both of my grandparents were merchants in China.

After starting my career at Bain & Co., I worked at a broad range of retailers, including lululemon which really stood out from the rest in the way it builds the brand from the community up rather than relying on tops down from traditional marketing.

That work is what ultimately drove me to start LOVB, alongside my co-founder, former coworker, and friend. At LOVB we are building a first-of-its-kind volleyball community, with a network of junior clubs across the country and a professional women’s volleyball league. We’re taking that same ground-up approach, starting with local volleyball clubs around the country to propel U.S. volleyball to new heights and create a new sustainable career path for women in sports.

To be able to combine both my professional passion for female-centric brands and my personal passion for the advancement of women is incredibly meaningful to me.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company?

LOVB was just a couple of months old when the COVID-19 shut down happened. That was an adventure I never could have anticipated.

Like so many companies we questioned if now was the right time to move forward or if we should pause and wait for the dust to settle, especially because LOVB is ultimately a company centered around in-person connections and events.

It became clear quickly that pausing wasn’t an option. As everyone took a step back to think about what they value, we heard more than ever from our community that they value the idea of belonging, personal connection, and building a community.

That actually gave us the fuel to go even faster, knowing that there was a need and desire out there for this community centered around volleyball.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

The team accomplished so much while being completely remote during the first 18 months that we had almost forgotten the incredible level of connectivity and productivity you experience from in-person time. When our LOVB community came together in Hunting Beach CA over the summer of 2021 we were reminded of how big of a difference being in person makes. It was immediately clear that it would be a mistake if we kept going as a remote-only company. We’re planning a much more frequent cadence of in-person time for our team.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

I wouldn’t be where I am today without my parents’ support and as my role models. Both of my parents were great examples of showing me what true partnership looks like in a marriage. They’ve also always been extremely supportive of whatever I wanted to pursue, even if it meant being outside what they understood from their own professional experiences.

You don’t often hear immigrant parents automatically wish for their child to found a startup. Instead, they often encourage their kids to pursue more established routes like Medicine and the Legal profession. I’m thankful that my parents supported me as always and have seen the value of LOVB creating a community where other women can find the mentorship, inspiration, and support that I had.

As you know, the United States is currently facing a very important self-reckoning about race, diversity, equality and inclusion. This may be obvious to you, but it will be helpful to spell this out. Can you articulate to our readers a few reasons why it is so important for a business or organization to have a diverse executive team?

Diversity in all forms is essential to running a successful business. We’re seeing this first hand right now at LOVB. Our team is diverse in demographics and also in our life and professional experiences. We wouldn’t be where we are without that kind of diversity of opinion and experience.

As a business leader, can you please share a few steps we must take to truly create an inclusive, representative, and equitable society? Kindly share a story or example for each.

One of the key steps we can take is to create the conditions for the agency. I don’t believe that you can give people agency, rather you help create the conditions for them to be able to deploy their agency. Having leaders that come from diverse backgrounds is a key ingredient in creating those conditions and allowing a range of people to thrive in one environment.

I also think that exposure is a key piece to creating an inclusive and equitable society. It’s difficult to imagine something when you haven’t seen it, which is why representation is very important. Personally, I don’t think I would have thought I could achieve as much as I have without seeing my mother do it with grace and strength.

That is exactly what we are working to build at LOVB — a professional women’s volleyball league in the US that represents the opportunities available for women to create a career out of sports.

Ok, thank you for that. Let’s now jump to the primary focus of our interview. Most of our readers — in fact, most people — think they have a pretty good idea of what a CEO or executive does. But in just a few words can you explain what an executive does that is different from the responsibilities of the other leaders?

As a CEO you are ultimately responsible for setting the vision of the company and connecting the dots. That includes connecting the dots between teams as well as connecting the vision and mission of the company and the day-to-day work.

As a GM or other leader on the team you are responsible for your sector of the company, but what I’ve noticed as CEO, and what I enjoy most about my role, is creating those connections across teams to drive the company forward.

What are the “myths” that you would like to dispel about being a CEO or executive. Can you explain what you mean?

It’s not glamorous. But it is meaningful.

What you feel is a responsibility, for the wellbeing of the team, the business, the community, and much more. That translates not just to the PR moments but mostly the hard work and coordination behind the scenes. What makes the CEO journey especially meaningful is when you build a team who is in the trenches with you, marching towards the same vision same goal of making a real difference.

What is the most striking difference between your actual job and how you thought the job would be?

Coming from 20+ years in a corporate environment, I certainly have expectations of what a CEO job in that environment looks like. But because I made the jump into a startup I really didn’t have expectations of what this role would entail, except that change is constant and we need to stay nimble — that much has definitely proven to be true.

Do you think everyone is cut out to be an executive? In your opinion, which specific traits increase the likelihood that a person will be a successful executive and what type of person should avoid aspiring to be an executive? Can you explain what you mean?

The trait that you need the most to be an executive is empathy. Being able to relate to the customer, your team, and the different functions of the business is key to connecting the dots and ultimately driving success.

I also believe that there are many opportunities to be a leader without being an executive. You can be an important individual contributor and leader in various situations without the title.

What advice would you give to other business leaders to help create a fantastic work culture? Can you

What I’m learning in my career is that you get the best work from people when they feel comfortable showing up as themselves. The way to create that is through authenticity, relationships, and creating a safe environment where people are comfortable expressing their true selves.

At one of my previous work communities when we set yearly goals you also shared your personal goals that had nothing to do with work. It was amazing because you knew someone was trying to be a triathlete or saving to buy a home, so when they showed up, you knew the context about what they are focused on. I think that blend is really healthy and demonstrates trust within a team.

How have you used your success to make the world a better place?

My whole career has been leading to starting LOVB. Our mission is to create a better future for all current, future and past volleyball fans — increasing access to youth athletics for girls, building a career path for professionals, providing mentorship with world-class athletes, scholarship and networking opportunities, and so much more.

There are over 38 million current and former volleyball players in the US. It’s one of the top 10 most-watched Olympic events and one of the only female-first sports. Yet the market has been almost entirely overlooked, leaving a gap in opportunities for the amazing women in the sport. I hope through LOVB we can make both the volleyball world, and the world at large a better place.

Fantastic. Here is the primary question of our interview. What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started” and why? (Please share a story or example for each.) share a story or an example?

1. Less than 5% of all venture money in the US goes to female founders — I’m actually glad no one told me this before we started LOVB, sometimes too much considerations of the challenges can keep you from just jumping in.

2. You’re only as good as your team — One of the reasons I think LOVB has been so successful from the start is we placed major value on the team. Surrounding ourselves with the best people has been instrumental to our success.

3. Build a diverse team in thought and background — We started LOVB with a very intentional mix of people from different disciplines. At LOVB we made the conscious decision to hire talent from a mix of sports and business backgrounds. It’s not been without complexity but it’s been a really rewarding combination.

4. Shared values are unbeatable — When it comes to working with a team from diverse backgrounds shared values are a necessary commonality. At the end of the day, we are all trying to make the world a better place, and aligning on those values together pushes the business forward. It goes back to empathy and being able to relate to people regardless of their background.

5 . Take a chance –If you are deploying talent only from a pool of people who have the exact same experience for the exact role then you are perpetuating the status quo. In order to really advance diversity, you have to take leaps of faith on candidates that may not have the exact experience you need and help them step into the role.

You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good for the greatest number of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.

I feel incredibly passionate about sleep.

It seems so simple when you think about it but it is often overlooked. We all know that when your kids sleep well they show up differently. I think that’s true in everybody but as adults, we learn to hide it. At the core, we all need good rest, and giving up adequate sleep to work is a very short-sighted way of looking at success. I think the world would be a better place if everyone got more sleep.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

Invest in relationships.

In family, friends, colleagues, your community. Putting in the time and energy into those relationships have already shaped my life in a positive way.

We are very blessed that some very prominent names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them

I would love to sit down with Mellody Hobson.

We share a background in the way academic success led to building a professional career that may not have been otherwise possible without those educational opportunities. I wouldn’t be here without the educational opportunities I’ve had and I really admire the way she has worked hard throughout her career as a student and now professional to drive success.

I admire that she is using her influence and platform to help others in a meaningful way. I remember watching her talk about having imperfect conversations about social injustice and that fueled the motivation for me to facilitate those difficult-to-have conversations within my own communities.

She is also from Chicago, where I spent my most formative years, and I always feel a deep kinship towards fellow Chicagoans!

This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for joining us!