Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jul 9, 2026

Jen Rubio

Jennifer Rubio is an American businesswoman. She is the co-founder, executive chair, and former chief executive officer of Away, a luggage manufacturer and retailer. Rubio was head of social media at Warby Parker and global director of innovation at fashion company AllSaints.

Last revised
Jul 9, 2026
Read time
≈ 3 min
Length
799 w
Citations
26
Source
Wikipedia ↗
Jennifer Rubio
Born1986 or 1987 (age 38–39)
Philippines
EducationPennsylvania State University (dropped out)
OccupationBusinesswoman
Known forCo-founder and former CEO of Away
TitleExecutive chair of Away
Spouse
​
(m. 2020)​
Children2

Jennifer Rubio (born 1986 or 19871) is an American businesswoman. She is the co-founder, executive chair, and former chief executive officer of Away, a luggage manufacturer and retailer.2 Rubio was head of social media at Warby Parker34 and global director of innovation at fashion company AllSaints.5

Early life

Rubio was born in the Philippines, and moved to New Jersey when she was seven years old.6 She grew up traveling, and lived in seven cities on three continents.57 When she was young, Rubio bought a lemonade stand from another child who lived on her street for $20 which she borrowed from her father. She has called it her first merger and acquisition.2 Rubio later went on to attend college at Penn State University, where she pursued a supply-chain management major. She was placed at Johnson & Johnson as part of Penn State's co-op program.8 After discovering her desire to be a businesswoman, Rubio dropped out of Penn State just a few credits shy of graduating, in order to pursue a full-time role at Neutrogena, a company with whom she did another co-op.

Career

In 2011, Rubio joined Warby Parker, leading the company's early content and partnership work as its head of social media.9 She met Away co-founder Stephanie Korey during her time at Warby Parker.10 In 2013, she left Warby Parker and went to London,1112 where she was global director of innovation for clothing brand AllSaints.41314 She spent much of a year traveling for the position.15

Before Warby Parker, Rubio held different marketing and social media roles, working for brands on the agency side and in-house.16 She also taught social media as an adjunct professor at Miami Ad School.17 She has been a guest lecturer at Hyper Island, New York University, Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, Northwestern University, and Harvard University.18

Rubio co-founded Away, a direct-to-consumer travel and luggage company, with Stephanie Korey, who also worked at Warby Parker.14 By 2017, Rubio and Korey had raised $31 million, making it one of the largest seed financed female-backed startups.19 She was CEO of the company from 2021 to 2025, when she transitioned to the role of executive chair.20

Personal life

In May 2019, Rubio got engaged to her boyfriend, Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield.21 They married in 2020 and share two children.22

References

References

  1. Gibbs, Cara (2019-12-12). "A Day in the Life of Away Luggage Co-Founder Jen Rubio". The Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2025-08-28.
  2. Garcia, Ahiza. "The founders of Away changed the luggage industry after a travel mishap". CNNMoney. Archived from the original on October 24, 2017. Retrieved 2018-10-21.
  3. "Inside Away's Instagram strategy - Digiday". Digiday. 2017-08-14. Retrieved 2018-10-21.
  4. "Save Your Money, Skip The MBA, And Go To Startup Grad School Instead". Fast Company. 2016-08-31. Retrieved 2018-10-21.
  5. Dunn, Laura Emily (2016-09-01). "Women in Business Q&A: Jen Rubio and Steph Korey, Founders, Away". Huffington Post. Retrieved 2018-10-21.
  6. "Portrait of a Girlboss: Away Co-Founders Steph Korey & Jen Rubio". Girlboss. 2016-10-18. Retrieved 2018-10-21.
  7. "Away Travel". thestyleline.com. 9 March 2017. Retrieved 2018-10-21.
  8. Raz, Guy (18 March 2019). "How I Built This Podcast". NPR. National Public Radio. Retrieved 2 April 2019.
  9. "Away: the Glossier of the travel world". Evening Standard. Retrieved 2018-10-21.
  10. Magazine, Wallpaper* (2016-01-12). "On a roll: Away is the new start-up putting a design spin on luggage". Wallpaper*. Retrieved 2018-10-21.
  11. BAOMOI.COM (2017-11-28). "Khởi nghiệp từ chiếc vali". BAOMOI.COM (in Vietnamese). Retrieved 2018-10-21.
  12. VietnamBiz (2017-11-28). "Cô gái nảy ra ý tưởng 'triệu đô' khi vali hành lý vỡ tan | VietnamBiz". VietnamBiz (in Vietnamese). Retrieved 2018-10-21.
  13. "2016 Fellows - NYC Venture Fellows". nycventurefellows.org. Archived from the original on December 20, 2015. Retrieved 2018-10-21.
  14. "Former Warby Parker execs take it away with direct". www.bizjournals.com. Retrieved 2018-10-21.
  15. Avins, Jenni (21 May 2016). "Two Warby Parker alums created an affordable, phone-charging carry-on and it's great". Quartz. Retrieved 2019-06-06.
  16. Beauchamp, Megan. ""My Career Path Hasn't Been Linear by Any 'Traditional' Standards"". MyDomaine. Archived from the original on 2018-10-22. Retrieved 2018-10-21.
  17. "Jen Rubio - Digital Strategist at Carrot Creative, Co-founder at GourmetLend - We Are NY Tech". wearenytech.com. Retrieved 2019-06-06.
  18. "Jessica Toonkel". SXSW 2019 Schedule. Retrieved 2019-06-06.
  19. "This CEO Is Leading a New Wave of Female Entrepreneurs". Fortune. Retrieved 2018-10-21.
  20. Deighton, Katie (2025-05-15). "Away, an Original Internet Darling, Will Sell Its Luggage in More Places". The Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2025-08-28.
  21. Perino, Marissa (30 January 2019). "Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield is newly engaged to a woman who runs a $1.4 billion startup. Inside the relationship of Silicon Valley's newest 'it' power couple". Business Insider. Retrieved 2019-07-02.
  22. Clarke, Katherine (February 9, 2023). "Silicon Valley's Newest 'It' Couple Is Going Big on Real Estate. Here's How They've Spent $140 Million". The Wall Street Journal.