Irene Chen: Cofounder of Parker Thatch

Irene Chen is the cofounder of the functional luxury brand Parker Thatch. Before founding her own brand, Chen graduated from UCLA with a degree in political science and began her career in financial consulting. After a couple years in this field, she decided to pivot to fashion, an industry she'd always been drawn to. She first worked for Calvin Klein in its licensing department before transitioning to Donna Karan, where she worked her way up to become the director of product development. Upon meeting, she and her business partner and husband Matthew Grenby decided to start a business of their own, an e-stationery brand called iomoi. This brand went through multiple iterations—from e-stationery to physical stationery to homeware—before they landed on something that stuck. After the success of their first bag, Chen and Grenby decided to focus on functional luxury handbags and rebrand the company to what it's known as today: Parker Thatch.