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Brooke Michelson
Professional with diverse experience
Brooke Michelson is currently the Lead of Growth at Shopify, based in Santa Monica, California. She has a strong educational background, having attended the University of Pennsylvania - The Wharton School, where she completed her studies from 2013 to 2017 and again from 2020 to 2022.1
In her role at Shopify, Michelson focuses on strategies that drive growth for the company, leveraging her expertise in business development and marketing. Prior to her current position, she has also served as a success coach at Colorado Mesa University and has been involved in various entrepreneurial ventures.3
Michelson is fluent in English and actively engages with the community through her LinkedIn profile, where she shares insights about her professional journey and experiences within the tech industry.12
Highlights
LinkedIn told me I’ve been here ten years, so it's time for a post. I have news, but it requires sharing a hometown story.
2008 in Motown was a hard year. GM and Chrysler faced bankruptcy. Detroit Lions claimed the NFL’s first 0-16. Many forget this was also a year of rebirth. Wings won the Cup. Lions won the #1 draft pick, bringing them a baby-faced Matt Stafford. My aunts and uncles (Paul Renusch, Pam Renusch, Debra Berman) had babies, my beautiful cousins Payton and Reese. The OEMs were bailed out. My cousins turned 0... and 16 this year. Today, they’re happy Lions fans, cruising Motor City in a Jeep.
In '08, I had my learner’s permit, eagerly driving home from soccer at the Pontiac Silverdome to browse Safari on my iPod Touch. I had a singular obsession with what was then being dubbed “m-commerce”. An '08 article (The Wayback Machine link below) is the first time I heard the name Shopify. Tobias Lütke had launched it from his snowboard shop 18 months prior. At $24/month, Shopify put the idea in my young mind that I could monetize my creativity online.
When my cousins were born, I crafted hand-painted nursery gifts. Friends of my aunts asked where they got them. I couldn't sit on demand! I launched my first Shopify shop…largely to crickets. Failing to account for opportunity costs of reffing or babysitting, or my outsized Michaels Stores COGS, I can’t say I was ever cash flow positive. Chalk it up to learning.
Fast-forward to 2024. Stafford and I live in Los Angeles. The Silverdome (where I played soccer and the Lions had their last playoff win 32 years ago) has been torn down...to make way for an Amazon DC. Things change quickly. My cousins now live in a time when anyone with an idea and WiFi can build it in 0 - 16 minutes. I call that a winning season.
I’m excited to be joining the growth team at Shopify. It certainly feels like a full circle moment. McKinsey & Company has been home since I was 21-years-old, and leaving is hard (especially saying goodbye to those who helped me grow—Kandarp Shah, Stefanie Zipf, Alex Gersovitz, Camilo Becdach, Sheldon Lyn, Kate Lloyd George, Jordan Bar Am, Mher Panossian, Warren Teichner)—but '08 in Detroit taught me that a lot of good can come from new beginnings.
Shopify's mission is to help people achieve independence by making it easier to start and grow a business, believing the future of commerce has more voices, not fewer. Thank you to Archie Abrams and Ankur M. for having me on board.
The biggest thank you to my dad, Jamie Michelson who got me that Gen1 iPod Touch, and who used his summer tennis money to buy the first Apple in 1984, renting it out to his college buddies...at $24 an hour. Thank you for encouraging me to spend that first $24 on my own little shop, and for teaching me that true entrepreneurship has countless faces, with room for everyone. Here's to '24.
https://lnkd.in/gwymBJ5e
