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Alexandra Chong

Alexandra Chong
Alexandra Chong at TechCrunch Disrupt SF 2015
Born
Spanish Town, Jamaica
Alma materLondon School of Economics
Occupation(s)Founder and CEO of Jacana; Founder of Lulu
Spouse
Jack Brockway
​
(m. 2015)​

Alexandra Chong is a Jamaican entrepreneur. She is the founder and CEO of Jacana,[1] a global cannabis company. Jacana cultivates, develops and distributes medical cannabis internationally and in a historic move, it was the first company to export Jamaican medical cannabis flower internationally. [2]

She was previously the founder and CEO of Lulu, a mobile app for dating intelligence. Business Insider[3] and AdWeek[4] have recognized her as one of the top entrepreneurs in New York. She launched Luluvise in 2011[5] and Lulu was released in the US by 2013.[6] It was nominated as TechCrunch's 2013 "Fastest Rising Startup".[7] Lulu was acquired in 2016 by Badoo.

Chong was born in Jamaica to a Canadian mother and Chinese-Jamaican father,[8] who won the lottery and started a successful tourism company with the money.[9] She grew up in Ocho Rios.[10] In the 1990s, she played tennis in the women-only Federation Cup.[11] She attended Florida International University on a sports scholarship,[8] and Florida was one of the main sites for Lulu's launch in the US.[12] She is a former member of the Jamaica Fed Cup tennis team[13] and has a law degree from the London School of Economics.[14]

After graduation, she worked in the legal department of a music licensing start-up.[14] Before founding Lulu, Chong had a position in Upstream, a London-based mobile marketing firm.[15]

Lulu was a highly controversial app, with its functionalities frequently described negatively in the popular press as "sexist and objectifying",[16] "nonconsensual",[17] and "shallow and mean".[18] The release of Lulu caused notable social "recoil"[19] and received significant negative coverage in the press for its violation of Facebook's policies on the use of user data.[20]

In February 2016, it was reported that Lulu had been bought by Badoo, which is the biggest dating company in the world. Chong had known Badoo's CEO, Andrey Andreev, since 2011, which is before Lulu had launched. Chong became Badoo's president as part of the deal and moved back to London.[21] The app was subsequently shut down, and she left Badoo in July 2016.[22]

  1. ^ "Jamaican Global Cannabis Company Jacana Raises 20 million". New Cannabis Ventures. February 28, 2019. Retrieved February 28, 2019.
  2. ^ Mundle, Tanesha (March 8, 2019). "Jamaica ships medical cannabis to Canada for testing". Jamaica Observer. Retrieved March 8, 2019.
  3. ^ "10 Young Entrepreneurs Share Their Best Career Advice". Business Insider India. Retrieved November 17, 2015.
  4. ^ Goldman, Sharon. "Watch Out Guys—Lulu's in Town: Alexandra Chong, Founder, Lulu". Adweek. Archived from the original on November 18, 2015. Retrieved November 13, 2015.
  5. ^ Venkataramanan, Madhumita (March 8, 2012). "Why Alexandra Chong built Luluvise, the ladies-only social network". Wired UK. Retrieved November 17, 2015.
  6. ^ Butcher, Mike (February 5, 2013). "Lulu Raises Another $2.5M From Yuri Milner And Angels For Its Girls-Only App To Rate Guys". TechCrunch. Retrieved November 17, 2015.
  7. ^ "7th Annual Crunchies Awards". TechCrunch. Retrieved November 13, 2015.
  8. ^ a b Gilpin, Lindsey (December 23, 2014). "Alexandra Chong: Lulu co-founder. World traveler. Former tennis pro". TechRepublic. Retrieved November 17, 2015.
  9. ^ "Should Men Really Care What Women Say About Them On Lulu?". StartupBook. Archived from the original on January 31, 2016. Retrieved January 23, 2016.
  10. ^ "London-Rock Connection". Jamaica Observer. February 5, 2012. Retrieved January 23, 2016.
  11. ^ "Why Alexandra Chong built Luluvise, the ladies-only social network". Wired. March 8, 2012. Retrieved January 23, 2016.
  12. ^ "Lulu, The Girls-Only App for Dating Intelligence, Launches in US Colleges". PRNewswire (Press release). Retrieved November 17, 2015.
  13. ^ Schoeneman, Deborah (November 20, 2013). "What's He Really Like? Check the Lulu App". The New York Times. Retrieved November 17, 2015.
  14. ^ a b Pham, Tiffany (November 20, 2014). "How She Did It: Alexandra Chong on Founding Lulu, the Private Network for Girls". Forbes. Retrieved November 17, 2015.
  15. ^ Stone, Madeline (April 24, 2015). "How the CEO of guy-rating app Lulu organizes her pink-filled work space". Business Insider. Retrieved November 17, 2015.
  16. ^ Jupp, Emily (6 February 2013). "Luluvise: Nobody—male or female—comes out of this boyfriend-rating app looking good". The Independent. Retrieved 21 November 2013.
  17. ^ Hess, Amanda (7 February 2013). "Rating Men on Lulu Isn't Empowering. It's Creepy". Slate Magazine. Retrieved 20 November 2013.
  18. ^ Strasbaugh, Werner (7 May 2013). "Lulu strikes OSU". The Daily Barometer. Retrieved 20 November 2013.
  19. ^ O'Connor, Maureen (13 November 2013). "The Nice Girls of Lulu, So-Called 'Yelp for Men'". New York Magazine. Retrieved 20 November 2013.
  20. ^ Scott, Tom (8 February 2012). "Luluvise's date-rating site shows where your Facebook data can end up". The Guardian. Retrieved 21 November 2013.
  21. ^ Kosoff, Maya (February 9, 2016). "Lulu, the app that lets women secretly rate men, just got bought by the biggest dating company in the world". Business Insider. Retrieved January 18, 2022.
  22. ^ O'Hear, Steve (February 9, 2016). "Lulu, The App That Lets Women Rate Men, Acquired By Badoo". TechCrunch. Retrieved January 18, 2022.