This is an interview with Kelly Hoey about her shift from a linear legal career in Canada to entrepreneurship and influential roles in tech and startup networks. Early transcript covers her accolades, Canadian roots, and how management roles and participation in a global business network for women—plus a resource-constrained assignment to build a global alumni program—catalyzed entrepreneurial thinking. The conversation emphasizes acting entrepreneurially within professional roles, being resourceful, and actively engaging in networks to create new opportunities.
Chapters
Can you as a career professional make the leap to entrepreneurship? The answer may surprise you. Chances are you're already executing like an entrepreneur. Today's guest is going to walk us through her journey of starting a career as a lawyer in New York City to today being recognized as one of.
The most influential Women in Tech.
3, 2, 1.
Today on Founders journey, we've got an amazing woman, an entrepreneur, a author, and all around great human being, Kelly Huey. She's the author of Build you'd dream, Forging powerful relationships in a hyper connected world. She's been lauded by Forbes as one of five women changing the world of VC and entrepreneurship. Hold on, there's a lot more accolades coming here. Fast Company, one of 25 smartest women on Twitter. Business Insider, one of 100 most influential tech women on Twitter and Inc's one of 10 most well connected people in New York City startup scene. She's also EBW's 2020 included on the list of 100 Most Influential Global leaders empowering women worldwide. Not only is she a woman of distinction, but like I said, she's an all around amazing human being and my friend. Please welcome Kelly Hui to our show.
Hey Ray, don't forget, I'm Canadian too. Not just that New Yorker stuff.
A proud Canadian fighting the good fight in New York. Helping entrepreneurs, helping women, building venture capital, building a better world for everybody. What else are you not doing?
Oh gee, how long do we have to talk about what I, you know, no time for looking back and saying what you're not doing. You can only focus on the staircase ahead of you and the adventure around the corner.
Thanks to you, I was invited to this new burgeoning conference in Aruba. I forgot what it was called.
Is it tech atec?
Atec. Still going strong and really opened my eyes to a lot of the activity that's happening in entrepreneurship in South America and just some of the great people around the world. That was one of the catalysts that helped me start getting around the world and talking to different startup ecosystems. I was always very insular and focused on Vancouver in particular and then focusing on the West Coast. But that, I gotta thank you, was one of the opportunities that really got me going and wanting to go around the world and connect with startup leaders and tech leaders, investors in smaller markets and undiscovered markets.
Well, you just realize how much we have in common when you do that and some of the challenges that are the same. But also, I don't know, kind of gives you an encouragement for what you're doing at Home. And I'm also thinking about it because I think we really connected because the. Yeah, the Canadian Consulate got me to Vancouver and we sat next to each other at a dinner. And then the Canadian Digital Media Network got me back to Canada, going to various startup communities and sort of, as a Canadian, I'm thinking, oh, man, it's the only reason I've gotten to places like, let me see, Edmonton, got back to Winnipeg. Let me think, let me think. I did. Maybe I got to Sault Ste. Marie. Yeah, I got up to the Sault. I got to St. John's Newfoundland.
I mean, yeah, I remember falling following your Instagram stories while you're out there.
But there's a lot of things that people have in common and sort of having those shared experiences, but at the same time discovering what they're doing differently and why they're doing things differently so that you can sort of synthesize and figure out what you should be doing in your own community.
Yeah, I definitely want to talk about a lot of the entrepreneurs in your network and the people that you've helped. But first off, I want to talk about you and your entrepreneurial journey. It's been an interesting one. Like, you've got this amazing book. It's a bestseller. I've seen you doing a lot of talks and workshops. But what got you here? What is the journey that is Kelly.
Huey, who knew that studying law at the University of British Columbia and being in a very lockstep kind of linear career path, graduate from high school, get a degree, get another degree, get a job. I never imagined that I would be where I am now, but sometimes life throws you those opportunities. And the biggest opportunity for me to see a bigger version of my career and bigger opportunities for me came from being involved with a global business network for women. So I think about people who might be watching this and thinking, oh, gee, I want to get, you know, I'm looking for something new or I'd like to try something entrepreneurial. You know, think about the role you're in and how you can. You can think and act entrepreneurially in your company. Like, I really did kind of probably sort of surprise to people, kind of like develop some entrepreneurial skills and approach. Because of my years as a lawyer, you know, in terms of the client relationship, in terms of the marketing. And then when I was working in management for a global law firm, I was often given really big, tough program projects with no resources, no staff. Like, here's the idea. Make it happen. Okay, how am I going to do this? Right. And as an entrepreneur, you need to be resourceful. You know, you don't, you have big ideas, but you don't have everything to make it happen. How do you make it happen? But.
Or the vice of that is as a business leader, you have been forced to be entrepreneurial. Yeah. You never journeyed out to be an entrepreneur. And this is a lot of our audiences is from Asian communities and I know from an Asian background, there's a lot of pressure and expectations of, no, you gotta be a lawyer, you gotta be a doctor, you gotta be an accountant, and you have to work this linear career. But as we both know, a lot of the best professional entrepreneurs that we know. Sorry, entrepreneurs that we don't have, started off as a professional journey and realize that they don't want to sit in this box anymore and they want to venture out.
Right. Well, and also too, within those professions, you often have to be entrepreneurial. Like if you want to make partner, you know, in a professional services firm, you have to build a book of business that's being entrepreneurial, like head down. Doing the good work is not going to get you very far. You know, in any corporation, in any organization anymore, you have to think entrepreneurially. You think about the charity Red and they operate entrepreneurially. You know, it's probably why they have been so massively successful. And you think, oh, Red, right, The iPhone that you could get and then part of the proceeds went to that, you know, charity. Well, yeah, even even not for profits, have to think entrepreneurially and have to think about operating differently. But for people thinking, oh, where can I get a chance to maybe see if there's something bigger for my career, for my possibilities? For me, like I said, it was being involved in the global business group for women, but it's because I rolled up my sleeves and got involved. I didn't just become a member and show up and listen to some talks and hope someone picked me and thought maybe I had potential. I really got involved. And that opportunity and someone seeing something else in me, really, for me, Ray cracked open the opportunity to, you know, think about something other than continuing on a management track career.
And what was there? What was the inspiration within that group? Was there somebody that mentored you or did you see other people performing? And it's like, hey, I can do that. Why shouldn't I be the one doing that? Or what was the catalyst that got you?
Yes, so. So as I said, I was in this management role. I was like, when I was in management and I was in a management role. I was given a really big responsibility to build out a global alumni program for a law firm. And I was given no staff and no resources. Swear to God, like, it was like, here, Kelly, it's the most important thing. No staff, no resources. And failure. And saying I can't do this were not an option. So I needed to look around and say, right, where has someone built, you know, a successful, vibrant, alumni type community based on the enthusiasm of the membership who has done it with limited resources? Because that's the model I need. Because I can't build a business model of an alumni program that relies on having a lot of staff or having a lot of resources. Can't build this based on having, like, a lot of staff, a lot of resources. I didn't have, you know, budget to send, you know, swag. I did not have, like, anything. So I had to see, right, what does the customer want? So I had to go and interview, you know, all my alums for this law firm and see what they wanted. And then I want to say I was, like, looking for parents.
