Christina M. Wallace, Harvard Professor, Entrepreneur &Author

I was always a bit of an oddball and a loner but didn’t worry about fitting in.
Christina M. Wallace

Christina M. Wallace, Harvard Professor, Entrepreneur & Author, shared the story behind her title with us on July 5, 2023.

A self-described “human Venn diagram” CHRISTINA WALLACE has crafted a career at the intersection of business, technology, and the arts. She is currently a Senior Lecturer of Entrepreneurial Management at Harvard Business School, where she co-leads HBS Startup Bootcamp, and is an active angel investor and startup advisor. Her latest book, The Portfolio Life: How to Future-Proof Your Career, Avoid Burnout, and Build A Life Bigger Than Your Business Card will be published in April 2023 (Hachette).

She co-authored New To Big: How Companies Can Create Like Entrepreneurs, Invest Like VCs, and Install a Permanent Operating System for Growth (Penguin Random House, 2019) with David Kidder, co-founder of growth advisory firm Bionic, where she worked as the Vice President for Growth before joining the HBS faculty. Early to the podcast scene, she co-created and co-hosted The Limit Does Not Exist, a podcast about portfolio careers produced by iHeartRadio with 125 episodes over 3 seasons and millions of downloads by passionate listeners.

Prior to joining Bionic, Christina founded BridgeUp: STEM, an edtech startup inside the American Museum of Natural History, was the founding director of Startup Institute New York, and the co-founder and CEO of venture-backed fashion company Quincy Apparel. She was also, very briefly, a management consultant with the Boston Consulting Group and began her career at the Metropolitan Opera. Wallace holds undergraduate degrees in mathematics and theater from Emory University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

She regularly speaks, writes, and consults on a wide range of topics, ranging from failure and resilience to corporate innovation, from K12 computer science education to her viral TED talk detailing her unique approach to hacking online dating. Mashable called her one of “44 Female Founders to Know” and Refinery29 named her one of the “Most Powerful Women in NYC Tech.” She has been profiled in Elle, Marie Claire, the Wall Street Journal, and Fast Company, among others.

Originally from Lansing, Michigan, Christina is pleased to serve as a mentor for several accelerators, including Techstars Anywhere and the NEW INC accelerator for startups at the intersection of art and technology. A lifelong musician, she earned her high school diploma from Interlochen Arts Academy, where she studied piano, cello, and classical voice. In her free time, she sings with various chamber choirs, embarks on adventure travel, including summiting Mt Kilimanjaro and trekking to Everest Base Camp, and is an endurance athlete, with 22 half marathons, 3 triathlons, and 3 marathons under her belt. She lives in Cambridge with her husband Chas Carey and their two children.

SUE SAYS

Christina grew up with a love of both music and math. While she thrived academically, she also had a love of the arts. When she combined the two she would learn that the perfect route for her was to become an entrepreneur. Many twists and turns that took place in her life led to her latest book, The Portfolio Life which details the importance of diversification in both finance and life.