OhHello - Patty Wu

"Take the first step!!"

It's Episode 54 of the OhHello.io 🌞☕️ pod/vod - and the theme/advice from this business icon is just that..."take the first step!"

After re-watching this vod, the advice is fitting given our next guest's storied career, thus far. Our featured “Hello” (aka a mentor on OhHello.io) is the former President of buybuy BABY, the leading Baby specialty retailer in NA (part of the Bed Bath & Beyond family of brands). This exec and her team, of nearly 4K people, were responsible for returning the buybuy Baby business back to growth and to record level sales, profit, and baby registries during her tenure; she successfully led the sale of the Baby business to private investors in the summer of ‘23.

With extensive leadership experience in the DTC, Retail, and CPG space, this 'Hello" was Chief Commercial Officer at both Beautycounter and The Honest Company, VP/GM of China for Mattel, Inc., and held executive roles across Walmart and The Clorox Company. A BSBA from Washington University in St. Louis, an MBA from Harvard University, and all around wonderfully empathetic person that we're thrilled to feature amongst our growing community!

“Take the first step. Reach-out. Find a mentor. What I love about the OhHello concept and community around mentorship is that mentors have really helped me find my career path. Mentors, and former bosses, have always brought me in to THEIR roles. Make sure to stay connected and be open. You don’t know how big your career will be unless you go for it.” -Patty Wu

In this episode, Patty speaks about "the notion of chemistry;" sometimes, you have bosses where you have great chemistry. Great bosses understand what motivates their team(s) and individuals. What helped Patty rise to the top was understanding what secret power each of her mentors and managers had, and then leaning in to develop those positive traits.

Her advice:
1)"Be open and let mentors and managers know what you want to do. The best mentors will help you get there."

2)"Mentorship is all about the mentor and mentee asking one another other the right questions. It’s all about being truthful." A big shout out to Paul Leinwand, one of Patty's mentors, who has helped her throughout their 20+ yr friendship.

Super grateful for this wonderful discussion, and we're so excited for you to be part of the OhHello.io tribe, Patty Wu!

OhHello.io's soft launch is wrapping-up. The feedback from the first Ohs and Hellos have been great, and we can't wait to open the gates to more awesome mentors like Ms. Wu!