- 2 days ago
Richelle Parham, Managing Director of WestRiver Group—a venture capital firm—is well-known for her extensive experience and legacy as a marketing guru. In high school, while others her age were trying to figure out what to do with the rest of their l
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00I'm currently here with the beautiful, lovely Rochelle Parham, who is a managing director at
00:10a venture capital firm. How are you doing, Rochelle? I'm doing great. Thank you so much
00:15for having me. This is so fun. I'm so happy and excited to get into this conversation with you.
00:21So let's just get straight to it. For those who don't know who you are and all of the amazing
00:27work that you're doing, let's start at the beginning. What do you do for a living and why
00:32is your role so crucial? Yeah. So most people know me as a career marketer. I was chief marketing
00:39officer of eBay and I've had this long career as a marketer, but now I'm in venture capital.
00:45So I'm a managing director at a venture capital firm called West River Group. And what is actually
00:51interesting about what we're doing, and it really plays into kind of the thesis of what you care
00:57about is each one of our funds is co-led by a man and a woman. Okay. So we're really turning
01:03diversity on its head and thinking about allocating capital in different ways by different types of
01:09people. That's so important, especially. I find I like diversity in terms of gender. So I love that
01:17they're treated very equally. So when was the moment that you knew that you just had to be in this space
01:25and in this industry? So it's so funny. So I, I always wanted to be a marketer. So in high school,
01:32I knew that what I saw on TV and what I saw in magazines, I knew that that's what I wanted to
01:38do. And then I didn't quite know that that was marketing, but I knew that that's what I wanted.
01:44And so when I went to school to Drexel University, I was a marketing major and I knew I wanted to also
01:51do something in fashion. And so I did all of my co-ops in the fashion industry, working for Valentino
01:58in New York. And so the majority of my career has really been in marketing and with the last big role
02:06in marketing as CMO of eBay, which was a phenomenal experience. And, you know, I was a part of that
02:12iconic turnaround, but when I left eBay, I knew I wanted to do something else. I wanted to do
02:18something different and I wanted to have a different kind of impact. And when did you leave eBay in
02:25particular? I left in 2015, in the beginning of 2015. And, you know, I was frankly just trying to
02:32figure it out. I was, you know, on my path, but it was a time in my path where I was stopping and
02:38really taking stock of the things that I really cared about and what I wanted for the next part of
02:43my journey. And I sort of landed in venture capital because I knew that I wanted to help companies and
02:50help CEOs and being a part of kind of that equation and being able to allocate capital became so important
02:58to me. And so I started at one private equity firm called Camden Partners and really kind of learned
03:05everything there. And thanks to the kind of tremendous leadership there and people who really just cared
03:12about helping me. And then I most recently joined West River Group. So I've been at West River since
03:17October of 2019. And it's just a different experience. It's very, I get to help with marketing. I get to
03:24help our CEOs and CMOs and executive management teams of our companies and our portfolio. But I'm not
03:32a marketer anymore. I'm all about investing. That's amazing. Especially because like, I think it's great
03:38that you are able to kind of use your previous experience, you know, as just the groundwork for
03:43something bigger that you didn't even initially, it sounds like, think about getting into.
03:49It really wasn't in my original thesis. I thought that I would do marketing for the majority of my
03:54career. You know, I was, I was interested in doing, being a CEO, and I looked at a bunch of CEO
04:00opportunities. And, you know, landing into venture capital has been really fun and interesting. And,
04:06and for me, you know, I just think it's important that you have to keep learning and getting better
04:11and getting smarter. And it was a way for me to really learn another kind of tap into another skill.
04:16Yeah. And to trust the process. I mean, so it sounds like earlier, I heard you mention that,
04:23I think you're at Camden still, that you got some help along the way. Can we dig into any mentorship
04:29experiences that you've had in the past? Or, I mean, we talk a lot about just the importance of
04:37having people, whether it's a sponsorship or a mentorship on your career path. And I do think
04:44whether you're giving mentorship or you're receiving it is definitely an important,
04:49like aspect of your career. Yeah. So, so, so I talk a lot about mentorship and sponsorship when
04:56I give talks and, and you know, this better than anyone mentors speak with you, sponsors speak about
05:02you. And for the majority of my career, I had sponsors. I had people who advocated for me,
05:09who saw my work, saw my work ethic and helped me to, to move forward in my career. And I was blessed
05:16with that because often women don't have sponsors. Often women have lots of mentors. I really didn't
05:22get mentors until later in my career. Wow. And what I ended up doing in 2007 was I formalized my
05:31personal board of directors. And so I've had this personal board of directors since 2007. I have a
05:37chairman of my personal board of directors and they helped me decide to go to visa. They helped me
05:43decide to go to eBay. They helped me decide on my public boards that I'm on and they actually helped
05:48me decide to leave eBay. And so they've been instrumental in all of the key decisions from
05:54a professional standpoint for me since then. And one of the things that I think is also important is
06:00we also have to switch up our personal board of directors. So, you know, just like on a corporate
06:05board, depending on the long-term strategy of the business, that's how you determine who you're
06:10going to need on that board. And you have to think about your career the same way. So I've been blessed
06:16with incredible board members who my mom always jokes. And she says, you know, they, they just pick up
06:23the phone when you call them no matter the time. I'm like, yeah, that's what they do. And I'm just
06:28blessed. And now I'm paying it forward. I'm on the personal board of a few people as well.
06:33I love that. I love hearing that. Because I don't, I actually, I don't hear enough about
06:40mentorship early in someone's career, to be honest, at least on the corporate side. I do hear about
06:47that more, you know, the higher up that ladder that you go. So I think that's a really, that's a
06:51really good observation and interesting detail. So we talk a lot about leaving a legacy. And I think
07:00often that term is applied to entrepreneurs. As someone who's climbed the ranks of the corporate
07:08ladder very successfully, what does legacy mean to you? And is it possible to leave a lasting legacy
07:15within an existing organization?
07:19So, so I'm glad you're asking this question, because I don't know that I've ever really talked
07:24about this. But when I got to eBay, you know, so I was joining as an executive, a part of this team
07:31to turn the business around. And my first week, I was, I was talking to other executives, I just wanted
07:37to meet the other executives, spend time with them, understand what their priorities were. And in one of
07:42these meetings, one of the executives, a woman sat down in front of me, looked me at my face, and she
07:48said, so our last CMO was here for seven weeks, how long are you going to be here? And that's that CMO's
07:58legacy, their legacy is seven weeks. And from that moment on, I realized the importance of building
08:06your legacy every day. You have to put points on the board, you have to have key accomplishments that
08:14people will remember. And, and so that's what I do. I focus on making sure that I am making an
08:20impact. So at eBay, it was, you know, being a part of that turnaround team, it was rebranding eBay,
08:28it was optimizing all of our marketing channels, it was leading our women's network.
08:34Come on, let's see. I love it. I love it.
08:37I have now, I want to say four of my direct reports who are now CMOs at other companies. And so
08:45like, so that's the kind of stuff that ends up mattering. And so you do have to think about what's
08:51the impact that you're going to make on a business. And, and, and that's your legacy. Yeah, I think
08:57it's possible to leave a, like a lasting impression on a company that you may not even be with.
09:03And, um, I love that you said a lasting impression on the business, because of course that's important,
09:09but it sounds like you're leaving a lasting impression on people and they're taking that
09:13to other businesses. And it's just, you know, it's an amazing cycle with a lot of, a lot of
09:18different legs. I'm here for it. I'm inspired. I'm inspired because, you know, it's because
09:25businesses, it's people, it's, it's, uh, you know, like I'm going to add to that. So there's one of the
09:32guys on my, um, that was on my team at eBay. His name is Robert. He's a CMO. And every once in a
09:38while he'll text me and he'll be like, so Rochelle, I did blah, blah, blah, blah. And I channeled you
09:43the whole time. So proud because, you know, I am, I care about the people who are on my team and I care
09:51about being able to help them and make an impact and I want them to be successful. And so it just
09:57makes me so proud to see, um, these members of my team doing such great work outside of,
10:04you know, the world that we were in together. And I'm just, it just warms my heart to know that I was
10:09a part of their life for a time. I love that. Um, let's, let's talk a little about a little bit
10:14about transition. So if you ask me, 2020 is definitely, um, a season, a theme, uh, for transition.
10:24Um, I think we all know that change comes, whether we expect it or not. Um, can you kind of give us an
10:32example of how you adapted and then thrived during an unexpected change?
10:40First of all, I think we all need change. I think it's really easy to become complacent and just
10:46kind of get comfortable with your world the way it is. And the challenge with that is oftentimes
10:53you have your biggest growth during times of change. And, um, and I, I get how comfortable
11:00it is to stay where you are, but sometimes you need to shake it up. And with change comes an
11:06opportunity to learn new skills, to learn new industries and to create a new platform for
11:12yourself. And so, you know, I've had the benefit of having, you know, pretty significant change in
11:19the tail end of my career. You know, so I was at one company, I was at Digitas for 13 years and, um,
11:26and it was a great experience. I learned so much. I had great mentors and sponsors there,
11:30but frankly, you know, my, a lot of my rise came later and I had to be kind of brave enough to step
11:38out there and, and be, um, to take a new step in my career and, you know, it's paid off. You know,
11:46it's scary. Absolutely. But, um, but it usually works out. You just have to figure out what's the
11:52right way. And often what I tell people is you don't have to know the path. You just have to have
11:58to have an idea of where you're trying to get to. So, you know, I, you know, I would ask my teammates,
12:03like, what do you want to be? Do you want to be a CEO? Do you want to be a COO? Do you want to be a
12:09CMO? Like, what do you want to be? Because once we know what you want to be, then we can start to
12:15develop that path together. We can figure out the people that you're going to need in your life.
12:19So I've been fortunate enough to be able to, you know, particularly in learning kind of this new
12:26industry for me to meet new people, to have people to guide me, to have people make introductions
12:32for me. Like I have been blessed and privileged to have that, but it's helped me to learn my new
12:39industry better and to be part of the equation. And so I believe in transitions and, you know,
12:47not even if it happens upon you versus you instigating it, um, then make some good lemonade
12:54out of those lemons. That's the key. Um, speaking of transitions and 2020 and, you know, things that
13:03are new, I know that you have a startup. Can you talk a little bit about that? Yeah. So, so when I
13:10was at Camden Partners, we did a lot of work with one of our portfolio companies and decided to spin out
13:16a direct to consumer oral care company out of it. And so, um, it's incredible. The company's called
13:22shine, shine.com. So S H Y N.com. It's direct to consumer oral care. We have one of the best
13:31power toothbrushes on the market at a great price. And, um, and we have a black CEO. So you have a,
13:39we have a black CEO and a black executive chairman. I'm the executive chairman on, like,
13:45that's a new skill. I've never started a company and to be able to help the CEO as we kind of figure
13:52out what works from a marketing perspective and understanding our customers and just digging into
13:57those nuances of the things that they care about and making sure the product is right for them. So
14:03it's just fun. And again, a new muscle that I'm actually being able to, um, to form. So it's been
14:09great. I appreciate you asking. Yeah. And you're also, uh, it's, it goes back to that advice you gave
14:14earlier about, you know, getting out of your comfort zone. So, and doing that at every level
14:19of your career, I think that's amazing. So congratulations. What advice, Richelle, can you
14:25offer ambitious women, um, who are trying to climb that corporate ladder right now? And also,
14:32can you just, just briefly kind of dig into maybe one of the hardest lessons that you've learned
14:37in your corporate climb? Know your business and what you do better than anyone, like just be an expert
14:46in your craft and just know it inside and out and make yourself indispensable. However,
14:54don't make yourself so indispensable that you get trapped. So you always have to teach the next person
15:01coming up. You need someone else to know how to do your job because you need to make room for you to
15:08be able to move up. It's so easy to get stuck because you're the only one. You're the best. You're
15:16the greatest. We rely on you. Like all the things that we hear from companies, you don't have
15:21someone that you're training along the way and teaching them how to, um, to do the job. You're going
15:29to get stuck and not move up. Yes. You know, one of the lessons that's been, um, something that I've
15:36paid a lot of attention to for my career is don't be afraid to learn something new and don't be afraid
15:46to ask questions. So, you know, a lot of people feel like if I ask questions, do I look at, you know,
15:52I don't look so smart or I don't look like I understand. And I actually find that the person
15:57who's willing to ask questions in the room, um, is seen as inquisitive, creative, innovative,
16:05and is able to kind of start to see the world in a different way. And so you want to have that
16:11healthy curiosity. And it's also crappy to walk in a room and not know what anyone's talking about.
16:18And so it's important to like, feel comfortable asking the question. The other thing that asking
16:25the question can do, sometimes we actually know the answer, but you're someone else's perspective
16:30on the question to get someone else's viewpoints is so critical. You can't go in this world,
16:37believing that our answer is the only answer. And even if our answer is the best answer,
16:43being able to enrich that by hearing other voices in the room is so important.
16:47I love that. Well, my next question for you is, can I keep you for about 40 more minutes? Cause I'd
16:54love to. You tell me how long we need. We got this. So I have two questions that, um, I do love to ask
17:05all of my guests. Um, of course the name of the podcast is Unbossed and I like to ask everyone
17:12simple question. What does the word Unbossed mean to you? And also tell me about someone, uh, that,
17:19you know, dead, alive, or even fiction who's Unbossed and inspires you.
17:27So I think Unbossed is the story behind the story. And it's so important to know the origin story,
17:34to know where people came from, how they got to where they are, who influenced them along the way.
17:40Like, those are the questions I like to ask because when you understand someone's history,
17:45it gives you more clarity into how they've made the decisions that they're making and,
17:49and also how they're thinking about their future. And so, um, that's how I see Unbossed is the story
17:55behind the story. And as for people who've influenced me, you know, my mom has been an incredible
18:02influence for me. She was, you know, an executive when I was growing up and I got to see her in action.
18:08I got to see her, she worked in, she's a cemeterian. So I got to see her do what she does for people
18:15in one of the hardest times in their life when they're marrying a loved one. And she's always
18:21brings such love and such humor to everything she does. And so she's probably the first person.
18:28The second person I'd say is, um, a woman, Sandra Sims Williams. And I don't give her enough credit
18:35for all that she's done for me. So I met her in an elevator in 1994 when I was starting at
18:42Bronner's Lossberg Comfrey, which became Digitas. She looked at me and she said, who are you?
18:49And I said, you know, my name is Rochelle. I just started. And she said, uh, do you know anyone
18:54in Boston? And I said, no, I just moved here last week. And she said, well, now you know me.
18:59And, you know, she has been one of the inaugural members of my personal board of directors.
19:06She is with me all the time. You know, she's dedicated her life to people. She led diversity
19:13and inclusion at Publicis. She now leads that at Nielsen and she just cares about women and in
19:20particular women of color. And, uh, and so she's been just a tremendous force for me and so wonderful
19:26for me. That's amazing. And just the elevator encounter. Well, Rochelle, thank you so much
19:36for your time, uh, for your wisdom. And, um, you know, I hope to keep hearing updates from
19:43you about all the amazing things that you have going on. And, um, yeah, please, please do stay
19:49in touch. Well, I look forward to having another conversation. This was a lot of fun. Thank you.
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