Shan-Lyn Ma is the founder and chief executive officer of Zola, an online wedding registry, wedding planner, and retailer.
Early life and education
Shan-Lyn Ma was born in Singapore but grew up in Sydney, Australia. Growing up in Sydney, she recalls her Singaporean-born mother telling her to get an MBA in the United States, although their family didn’t know anyone who had an MBA.
Shan-Lyn holds a degree in Bachelor of Commerce with First Class Honors from the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia. After studying at UNSW and working in a local startup community, Shan-Lyn left Australia in 2004 to study full-time in the United States. She studied Master of Business Administration from 2004-2006 at Stanford University and worked for Yahoo before joining Gilt, an online flash sales website.
Career
From June to September 2005, Shan-Lyn worked as a Product Marketing MBA Intern for Yahoo. From August 2006 to December 2007, she was promoted as Product Marketing Manager, and later on, became the Senior Product Marketing Manager in the same company for eight months.
After she left Yahoo, she then worked for Gilt Groupe from July 2008 to December 2010. Their products lead on Core Gilt.com experience, and mobile products including Gilt Ipad app, iPhone app, and Gilt Android App; new product development for new business launches including the launch of Gilt MAN, Gilt City, and Gilt Noir. She got hired as the first product person at Gilt Groupe, promoted from a Director to Senior Director. From December 2010 to June 2012, she became the General Manager and Founder, Gilt Taste. As a General Manager, she hired a team in Engineering, Design, Merchandising, and Wine business, Gilt Taste, launched Web and Mobile products, nominated for multiple food editorial awards, and a member of Gilt Groupe Executive team.
In June 2012, she started working as a Chief Product Officer in Chloe + Isabel Inc, another e-commerce company and lasted until May 2013 before she finally decided to build something that she can call her own.
Zola
Shan-Lyn wants to make every girl’s dream wedding to go as smoothly as possible. For girls, the wedding is one of the most joyous days of their life. It can also be the most stressful too. The idea for Zola was born out of personal needs. Shan-Lyn was frankly appalled at how terrible and impersonal the wedding gift shopping experience was. Nobu, on the other hand, remembered how terrible the registry experience was from the couple’s perspective. The two had always wanted to start a company together and thought that this could be a great opportunity for them. After some research, they saw that the wedding industry in the US is valued at $90 billion, and $19 billion of that is spent on wedding gifts. So they knew right then that given their combined experience in product and design they could create the best solution for this problem.
The birth of Zola was founded by Shan-Lyn Ma and Nobu Nakaguchi in May 2013. Zola was launched as an online wedding registry, which for the first time allows couples to register for gifts, experiences, and cash funds. As well as additional gifts from other stores, all in one place. The registry allows couples to choose when the gifts to ship and exchange gifts digitally before they ship it. Zola has received $140 million in funding, and the most recent being $100 million in 2018. In 2017, the company expanded from being a wedding registry to also offering wedding planning services through the Zola Weddings. The free service includes guest list, RSVP tracking, wedding websites, and customizable checklists. It introduced customized wedding invitations and save dates in 2018.
In October 2018, Zola and the home decor retailer Crate & Barrel initiated a partnership. This allows the Zola users to register for more than 3,500 Crate & Barrel products. In December 2018, the company announced it would be opening its first ever brick-and-mortar location in New York in early 2019.