24 Apr CEO Woman: Entrepreneurship Is in Her DNA
As founder and CEO of luxury athletic-wear company Alala, Denise Lee has built a multi-million-dollar business
By Pat Olsen
Denise Lee funded her company at age 31 with help from friends and family. Finding success producing athleisure apparel that is at once stylish, comfortable, and high performance was a high bar for a new fashion brand, yet Lee accomplished that masterfully with a small, all-female staff. A few years after launching the company in 2014, she shifted the brand heavily to e-commerce during the pandemic, boosting its meteoric rise and its ability to attract celebrities and others in the media spotlight.
Harper’s Bazaar has called her “the activewear darling,” and in 2021, she received a Well+Good Changemakers award. In 2023 and 2024, her activewear won a Women’s Health Fitness Award.
With the company doing so well, Lee is considering moving all manufacturing to New York. And as she has revealed on Instagram, her next steps include partnering with a growth marketing agency, assembling an advisory board, and seeking outside investors.
Diversity Woman: You grew up in Singapore, where your father owned a clothing manufacturing business. Did you work in the business?
Denise Lee: No, but I was always around it. I’d go and see him at the factory for lunch, for example. I got part of my love for fashion from him because he always had an appreciation for the construction and crafting of garments. My mom, who was in the art world, in private sales at Christie’s, taught us a lot about appreciating art and beauty. So I really got my appreciation of fine fashion from both parents, and I’ve always wanted to be an entrepreneur.
DW: What did you learn from working at firms like Armani Exchange and Burch Creative Capital, Chris Burch’s company, which invests in and helps launch fashion companies like Tory Burch?
DL: Armani Exchange had a really small marketing team, which meant that even though I was the youngest and most junior person on the team, I was given a number of opportunities to try new things. We were exploring digital marketing, and there was a lot of leeway for me to learn. I call working for Chris Burch my second business-school experience because I learned everything about retail and branding and running a brand in a real-world setting. I also helped determine what companies he might be interested in investing in.
DW: What inspired you to start Alala?
DL: The search for really well-designed, interesting activewear at the time. I was not finding anything in the market that really resonated with me.
DW: Do you believe your age when you started Alala helped or hindered you?
DL: I was definitely very green, even though I’d had a lot of experience from working with Tory Burch and observing how she did things. I probably entered the space knowing more than a lot of people would at that age, but I do think being younger and not having much to lose was a good thing. I thought, “Well, I’m going to try this and if it doesn’t work, it’s fine. I don’t have a lot of [other] responsibilities, so I can always get back up and do something else.” So it did help to be a little more naive about what I was getting into.
DW: : What’s something you wish you’d known back then?
DL: I wish I had done more work on personal development. When I started Alala in 2014, I wasn’t very comfortable being in front of the brand. I understood it was important, but I don’t think I fully understood how important, or how beneficial it would have been for the brand.
DW: : What advice would you give a young woman looking to start her own business?
DL: Oh, so much! One thing is that you need to learn how to trust yourself. As women, we always second-guess what we’re feeling, or we’re people pleasers who don’t want to upset or contradict anyone. The more you get to know yourself and the more you tap into your own intuition as a young business owner, the better it serves you. It also helps you stand out from everybody else, which is so important in business these days.
DW: : Your company has done extremely well. What keeps you grounded?
DL: It’s all about our customers. For me, what are they saying, how are they reacting to what we’re producing, to our customer service, to all that stuff?—at the end of the day that’s what’s important. I want to have that feedback loop with customers and make sure we don’t get into our own heads too much. Instead, let’s keep thinking about what our customer would want and how we can best serve her. That always grounds me and helps us focus.
DW: : What lessons have you learned?
DL: A lot of business owners, especially first-timers, find it easy to focus on making their product the best, but it’s a lot scarier and more challenging to focus on the sales and marketing aspects. Having a great product is only part of the success equation. You need to learn to be comfortable as a great marketer and a great salesperson as well, and mastering those skills is as important as, if not more important than, mastering the product you’re selling.
DW: : How have you handled work-life balance?
DL: That’s something I’ve always been very conscious of, especially in the last couple of years. Burnout is real, and being a business owner is hard enough. If you don’t have good boundaries with yourself and other people, and you don’t take care of yourself, it can get so challenging. I’ve certainly been in situations where I just don’t want to do it anymore. You want to blow it all up, go back to getting a paycheck, and not have to worry about all this stuff. You need to be honest with yourself and understand what you need—what your body, mind, and spirit need. As entrepreneurs, those are really important lessons we learn.
DW: : How did you come to join the board of Take the Lead, which prepares women leaders in business?
DL: One year I shot a clothing campaign called Legalize Equality, and one of our partners suggested we invite Gloria Feldt, president of Take the Lead, to join us. She’s also the former president of Planned Parenthood and has been an incredible champion of women’s rights over the years. We really hit it off. We built a friendship, and she asked me to become a board member at Take the Lead. I’ve been on the board for several years now.
DW: : You have a sideline advising other young female entrepreneurs. What are some of the challenges you help them with?
DL: When you’re starting a business, you’re in the swamp and wondering, “Where am I going? How am I getting there? Why am I going so slowly?” I try to provide clarity on whatever business problems they are facing at the time. DW
Pat Olsen is a business and health writer whose work has appeared in the New York Times, Harvard Business Review, Family Business, and other publications.