How Coral Chung and Senreve Became an Icon in the Fashion Industry by Asking What Women Wanted
Coral Chung is a self-made entrepreneur. Before she began her journey in the business sector, she worked as a strategy consultant and a technology executive. Among her most significant achievements in the entrepreneurial industry is the co-founding of Senreve. Coral launched the company with the modern woman in her mind and heart. Senreve handbags are an accessory for celebrities, women influencers, and female executives. As a strategy consultant at Bain, Coral Chung was a retail strategy advisor to various Fortune 500 companies. The idea of launching Senreve did not come out of nowhere. For the longest time, she had an interest in luxury retail and other consumer brands.
Coral Chung followed her passion and joined various designer brands, where she began her marketing and commercialization career alongside the CEO and COO of Prada. She also worked at Medallia and built her career working next to leading global brands, such as Nordstrom, Sephora, and Apple. Coral graduated with a BA in the field of international studies and a BS in economics from Pennsylvania University and the Wharton School. She is also an MBA graduate from Stanford School of Business. Working alongside Coral Chung to help in the launching of Senreve is co-founder and COO, Wendy Wen. Wendy is an investor at Anthos Capital and TPG Capital.
According to Coral Chung, her parents’ struggle in starting business ventures in America motivated her to work hard and become a global leader in the business sector. Her parents were Chinese immigrants who put their best foot forward to ensure that their daughter led a comfortable life in a foreign land. Both Wendy Wen and Coral Chung have similar stories of their upbringing. Wendy’s parents were immigrants from China too, and because of these same experiences, they were able to team up and create Senreve Company. Coral Chung knew that she would one day own a famous brand. However, her journey towards launching Senreve took a long while to materialize. In the meantime, she gained experience working as a retail strategist for several famous brands in Asia and Silicon Valley.
Coral Chung’s role as a retail strategist gave her plenty of insight into the marketing world, and her experience at startups, such as Medallia and Solazyme, gave her the necessary expertise to manage and grow a company from scratch. Also, working at Prada exposed Coral Chung to the world of traditional luxury brands. This exposure allowed her to formulate the idea for Senreve and bring it to life after several years. According to Wendy Wen, launching Senreve has been challenging. First, in terms of bringing together various limited resources to expand the rapidly growing business in several directions.
Despite the challenges, the co-founders are happy Senreve has found a way to the hearts of the modern woman. The fact that celebrities and top executive women in large companies are wearing their handbags is such an overwhelming feeling. Some of the female executives who have taken a liking to Senreve handbags include Priyanka Chopra, Emily White, and Selma Blair. Wendy Wen urges all women who feel they have the potential to create a significant influence in the business sector and society to get out of their comfort zones.
According to Coral Chung, potential women investors should not be afraid of failure, but they should use these challenges as a stepping stone towards success. Women in business still face a lot of prejudice from the public, according to Wendy and Coral Chung, and it becomes quite challenging for the modern woman to balance work and family. Both ladies admire various top female executives in the business sector. Tony Ko, the founder of NYX cosmetics, is Coral Chung’s mentor. Wendy Wen’s role model is Emily White, the COO of Snapchat. <WE>
