She Pivots with Shelley Zalis
Shelley Zalis grew up assuming she'd be a stay-at-home mom, just like her own mother. Then a job interview she thought was at an ad agency turned out to be for market research—and she took the job anyway. That accident launched a career that put her decades ahead of her industry, dragging market research onto the internet before most people had email and building a company she'd eventually sell for $80 million. On this episode of She Pivots, Shelley shares the 2 a.m. idea she had while feeding her newborn, the boardroom moment where every man in the room got picked for her own project, and why she turned down money from her family when she needed it. She also shares how inviting five girlfriends to walk the floor at the Consumer Electronics Show sparked The Female Quotient, now a community of 8.5 million professionals with lounges from Davos to the Super Bowl.