The chapter starter—Candice Carpenter Olson
Part of the business owner to business owner series, ‘Flight paths’
See why Candice chose entrepreneurship over corporate life
See why Candice chose entrepreneurship over corporate life
Candice began her career as a mountaineering instructor. This may have helped her keep a cool head as she faced large-scale business risk, years later. When Candice applied to graduate school, her leadership roles on extreme wilderness expeditions helped secure a place at Harvard Business School. A corporate marketing job followed, where she climbed, again—up the ranks.
In 2000, Candice became one of the first women to lead an IPO1 as one of the founders of iVillage.com. Today, she’s thriving in Colorado running Local Coffee House, alongside her daughter's design business.
Candice is one of the entrepreneurs who shares her story with us for our special video series, 'Flight Paths." Watch highlights from her interview.
Eye on business resilience: Adjusting to COVID-19
Eye on business resilience: Adjusting to COVID-19
Has the pandemic changed how you run your business?
We formed very close relationships with our competitors, surprisingly, realizing that Aspen's success is our success. We also kept every employee on payroll and gave them advanced training. I got closer to my customers, too, by investing in learning the stories of all the Here House members. I want to strengthen our community and keep this closeness with competitors, customers, employees.
What concerns you now? And what’s exciting you?
As most businesses were losing money and people were wringing their hands, we invested and made Here House and Local more special and more beautiful. (I believe that faith in the future pays off.) After the dot-com crash of 2000, when I should have been scrimping and worrying, as a single mother with no safety net, I invested in a gorgeous little convertible, then met my now-husband a week later. We had countless adventures with my two little girls, and I still have the car to remind me to keep having faith, even in bleak moments.
How to approach risk: Don't look down
How to approach risk: Don't look down
Career milestones
Career milestones
Graduates from Stanford in 1975
Becomes full-time wilderness and mountaineering instructor
Harvard B-School leads to Wall Street
Rises to VP of Marketing in strategy division
Gets hired by a mentor and media titan
Learns how to build companies
Gives birth at age 42
Welcomes daughter, launches cable network
Helps start iVillage.com in 1995
Becomes one of the first women to lead an IPO, chairs private school board1
Thriving is a family affair
Opens popular coffee house in Aspen with her daughter
I’m not a big believer anymore in ‘just have an idea and jump.’
At one point in her career, Candice started calling on famous media titans and visited five of them. One hired her. With an executive coach’s help, she left her job on her own terms with an excellent reputation and a significant exit package. She was beginning to understand how to navigate her chapters.
Deliberate on how you’re living in each chapter, and know what should change with the next chapter.
One day, Candice realized she had become an “Upper East Side society lady” and felt horrified. She shed that role and “detoxified” by ghost-writing a satirical novel. At the same time, she earned a Master’s degree at Teachers College of Columbia University. With that, and her entrepreneurial skills, she helped co-found a school that now serves over 3,000 students.
A change of heart brings a change of strategy
A change of heart brings a change of strategy
Why growing quickly can be a curse
Why growing quickly can be a curse
