Her Startup Is Customizing The Career Path For A Thousand Young Women: Lisa Tatum Story.

When Lisa Skeete Tatum felt succumbed in her career path she addressed to other women and learned she wasn’t alone in feeling stuck and uncomfortable. Tatum and her Harvard Business School classmate, Sheila Marcelo, cofounded Landit, a personalized career management resource for women, in 2014.

I knew what I didn’t want to do, but it wasn’t clear how I was going to marry my passion, interests and experience with my next step. Everyone — including myself — expected me to have all the answers and it was really uncomfortable.

-she recalls.

She cofounded Landit as a result of my own personal experience, to increase the success and engagement of women in the workplace, and to enable companies to attract, develop and retain high-potential diverse talent. Tatum used her experience feeling stuck to help other women navigate their own career paths.

She  says:

I found myself at an inflexion point after over a decade as a venture capitalist and found the process of trying to figure out what’s next to be really challenging.

I knew what I didn’t want to do, but it wasn’t clear how I was going to marry my passion, interests and experience with my next step.

Everyone — including myself — expected me to have all the answers and it was really uncomfortable.

The more she talked to women in all aspects of life (from fellow alumnae to friends at her sons’ school), she realized that she was not alone in feeling a bit stuck on where to start and how to figure out this next chapter. She found that there are abruptly over 40 million women who will find themselves at an inflexion point, whether they are looking to excel in their current role or company, feeling stuck and looking for a new opportunity or looking to re-engage in the formal workplace.

They all face and ask the same question: Where do I start?

-says she.

The challenge is not one of motivation, capability, track record or skills — it’s uncertainty on where to begin the process. Specifically, there is really no place to turn where you can find a solution that is personalized for you and have a safe and trusted place to manage the continuum of your career.

One of the biggest barriers Tatum saw was that people don’t want people to know that someone has already figured it out or that someone is feeling a little less than completely confident. And thus, Landit was created to increase the success and engagement of women in the workplace and to enable companies to attract, develop and retain high-potential diverse talent.

I began my career as a chemical engineer working for Procter and Gamble in engineering, product development and then moving to product supply. I worked on brands such as Pantene, Tide, Covergirl and Hugo Boss. I was recruited away to join a cosmetic joint-venture startup in New York to launch a full cosmetic and skincare line. That’s when I caught the entrepreneurial bug.

-said Tatum.

She then started her own consulting business working with medium sized consumer product companies. Through this endeavour, she realized how much she loved working with different companies to solve diverse problems.

As she began to explore what’s next, Tatum discovered the world of venture capital and went back to Harvard Business School to pivot to venture capital.

During my two years at Harvard Business School, I interned at GE Capital and continued to run my consulting business. Upon graduation, I became a Kauffman Fellow and joined Cardinal Partners, an early stage healthcare fund. I focused on healthcare technology investments and served on a number of for-profit boards.

-she said.

She had always been committed to giving back to the community and increasing access to others by actively being involved and serving on a variety of non-profit boards.

Our goal at Landit was to unlock the potential of millions of women around the globe by providing each member with a personalized playbook that empowers them with the tools, resources, know-how and human connections needed to more successfully navigate their career path.

-says Lisa.

However, one of the biggest challenges she faced was finding the right talent. One had to screen for both skill and fit. It can take a long time but it was to be worth it for Lisa strongly believed that a great team and the right culture is the key to any successful venture.

Tatum, today as a CEO include setting the vision for the company and enrolling the team, members of the Landit platform, investors and partners in our mission to change the world.

We are able to establish a trusted relationship and enable our members to more successfully own and manage their careers. What can be better than that!

-She said.