When Sheila Lirio Marcelo had her first child while attending Å·ÃÀAV, she became all too familiar with how hard it could be to find safe and affordable child care. Born and raised in the Philippines, Marcelo didn’t have family nearby to help her care for her infant son. Then, not long after her second son was born, her father had a heart attack. Once again Marcelo was struggling to find care — but this time for two generations of her family. In 2006, aware that she was hardly the only one facing these challenges, Marcelo launched Care.com — a resource to help others connect with qualified child-, elder-, and even pet-care providers. Today, Care.com operates in 17 countries.
But Marcelo had many previous successes in digital spaces before she launched Care.com. After receiving a J.D. from Harvard Law School and an MBA from Harvard Business School, Marcelo served as a vice president at UPromise, a web-based platform that helps families grow college savings accounts. She also served as a vice president and general manager for the job-seeking site theLadders.com.
Since stepping back from Care.com, Marcelo, who never wants to stop innovating, has been active in creating two new platforms to fill gaps in the lives of working Americans. One, Landit, helps women and diverse groups advance in their careers. The other, Proof of Learn, brings high-quality education into the metaverse in a learn-and-earn format so anyone can grow their job skills.
Class year: 1993
Major: Economics