Michelle
Cordeiro Grant

Ten years ago, Michelle had her first dose of startup life while at Thrillist Media Group, where she sat as the VP of Merchandising. And once she had her first taste, she was completely hooked, ultimately fusing her knowledge of the lingerie business (thanks to four years at Victoria’s Secret) with her mastery of building a brand from the ground up.

So in 2016, Michelle launched LIVELY, one of the first D2C lingerie brands on the market, changing the design of bras to suit women (and not the other way around) and help them feel passionate, purposeful and confident inside and out. And she grew LIVELY from concept to acquisition — starting with $15 million in funding to selling for $105 million to Wacoal in just three years, beating the odds of POC female-founded companies.

To date, LIVELY has gone from fully online D2C, to having four brick-and-mortars, and can now be found in the aisles of Target. Her success at LIVELY has led Michelle to share her success on the audio “stage,” with her podcast No Makeup Needed, where she talks with female entrepreneurs with bold visions for the future of women in business.

As a member of the Female Founder Collective for several years, Michelle has seen firsthand the power of women supporting women — especially women of color in business. As someone who’s constantly learning herself, Michelle knows that her experience and knowledge are most valuable when used to help even more women like her rise up.