Mariam Naficy
Mariam Naficy is an American entrepreneur who is the founder and CEO of Minted, an online design marketplace that has products in 70 million homes. In 1998, Naficy co-founded Eve.com, the first major online retailer of cosmetics. Education. Naficy was born to Iranian and Chinese parents who are graduates of Georgetown University and were stationed abroad throughout Africa and the Middle East. Her parent was a United Nations development economist, and she spent her childhood in six countries, including Egypt, Tanzania, and Iran. She earned a degree in political science from Williams College, and then proceeded to  pursue her master's degree from the Stanford Graduate School of Business in 1998. Career. Naficy worked as an investment banker at Goldman Sachs early in her career. While in business school, Naficy published "The Fast Track: The Insider's Guide to Winning Jobs in Management Consulting, Investment Banking, & Securities Trading," which has sold 50,000 copies. She started Eve.com in 1998, at the age of 28, along with co-founder Varsha Rao. In 2000, Eve.com was sold for a reported $110 million to Idealab, then four months later all employees were fired and operations ceased on October 21, 2000 . Subsequently, certain assets including Eve.com's customer list and website name were sold to Sephora. After that, she served as Vice President and General Manager at The Body Shop, launching their first e-commerce business in 2004. The next year, she was promoted to Global Head, whilst maintaining her role as GM. Under her management, the overall company saw a 6% increase in sales. Naficy founded Minted.com, an online stationery store, in 2008. The company began by offering familiar retail brands online, with a small section for crowdsourced, competitively chosen designs. Her idea initially came from the rising power of  the collaboration and the crowd in shaping the media. This prompted her to think about crowdsourcing as a way to gather product design and later on in the process, to provide custom stationery. Naficy's goal and the core value of Minted.com is to build a meritocracy: a system that gives power to the most talented designers. In fact, in an interview, Naficy noted that one of her sources of motivation in starting the business was institutional issues regarding women in technology. This marketplace was to provide a space that gives equal opportunity to designers of all backgrounds. Hence, the  company allows independent designers from 100+ to submit their work, after which that same community will vote to decide on what designs the company should print and sell. Products offered include customized wedding invitations, holiday cards, and home decor. The business stalled at first, but the custom designs gradually proved popular, and grew to dominate sales. She raised $89 million in venture funding. Raising $208 million in 2018, it was the largest funding transaction that year involving a startup led by a female founder. In 2019, Pitchbook said Minted's valuation was $733 million. Previously, Mariam  Naficy was on the boards of Yelp and Polyvore and currently, on that of Every Mother Counts. Personal life. Her husband, Michael Mader, also works at Minted. They have two children.