Steph Korey and Jen Rubio are the co-founders of Away, a premium travel brand founded in 2015 after the two women believed there was a gap in the market for quality, stylish luggage. In its first year, Away surpassed $12 million in sales and has raised over $81 million in venture capital funds. The likes of The Wall Street Journal, Vogue, Business Insider and Elle have covered the brand.
Korey studied international relations at Brown University and started her career on the executive development program at Bloomingdale’s in the buying department. From there, Korey became an assistant buyer at Kate Spade, which led to her role as the head of supply chain at Warby Parker in 2011. Korey met Rubio at Warby Parker, who was head of social media. After working for the eyewear company for two years together, Korey went to study an MBA at Columbia Business School while working as a merchandising consultant for Casper, a bedding start-up, while Rubio went to work at All Saints as their global head of innovation. The two launched Away in 2015 with a direct-to-consumer approach.
Away named Rubio chief executive officer in April 2021, after she spent two months in the role on an interim basis.
Both Korey and Rubio were named in Forbes 30 Under 30 lists in 2016 — Korey for retail and e-commerce and Rubio for marketing and advertising.
