Before Jennifer Fleiss joined the boards of Yale Ventures, luxury behemoth Lanvin and photo service Shutterfly, she was a Harvard Business School graduate attempting to start a company with classmate Jennifer Hyman. The year was 2009, and the two aimed to teach consumers to rent designer clothing via subscriptions to a new ecommerce company they called Rent the Runway.
Fleiss acknowledges the significant mental health hurdles she faced throughout her tenure at the New York-based company’s helm, and says that the relationship she shares with cofounder Hyman was vital to helping her persevere.
