Mei Xu

Mei Xu is a Chinese American entrepreneur. The founder and CEO of three global companies, Yes She May, BlissLiving Home® and Chesapeake Bay Candle®. Xu successfully negotiated the sale of Chesapeake Bay Candle to Newell Brands in 2017, a conglomerate with a $14 billion portfolio of consumer goods. Mei is now focused on helping women-owned consumer product companies grow and prosper with the Yes She May product platform.

Born in Hangzhou, China in 1967, Xu came of age during China’s transformation to a more open, market-oriented economy following Chairman Mao Zedong’s death in 1976. At age 12, Xu attended an elite language immersion boarding school designed to train diplomats for Foreign Service.

Xu continued her education at Beijing Foreign Studies University, but her goal of entering the diplomatic corps was never realized, due to the 1989 Tiananmen Square uprising. At great personal and financial hardship, Xu moved to the United States to begin graduate school at the University of Maryland College Park. After completing her master’s degree, Xu moved to New York to work for a high-tech, medical company that exported equipment to China. Unsatisfied with meager salary and position, Mei, and her then husband, David, turned to entrepreneurship. Capitalizing on the beginnings of Sino-American relations, Xu began experimenting with making candles in her basement using Campbell’s soup cans as molds. She then launched her consumer lifestyle brand. Her satiny and smooth fashion candles launched her brand to surprising success, and during her career she pivoted into the home fragrance and wellness industries.

After selling the company to Newell Brands, Mei created Yes She May to give women-owned brands a platform to reach a larger audience. It is the only online platform where consumers can shop for fashion, beauty, wellness, and home from women-owned businesses around the world. Each product is carefully curated so that no two brands compete in the same product space.

Xu’s entrepreneurial success story has been reported on by major news organizations, including the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, NPR, the Baltimore Sun, CNBC, MSNBC, among others.   Xu is an engaging story-teller whose personal journey to entrepreneurship inspires others. She is frequently invited to speak at universities, including the Wharton Business School, the Robert S. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland, Georgetown University, Tsinghua University in Beijing; by business groups, including Fortune’s Most Powerful Women and Horasis Global Visions Community; and government agencies, including the White House, where she was a panelist at the “Insourcing American Jobs” forum hosted by President Obama. Xu’s presentation topics and areas of expertise include women’s global economic empowerment, entrepreneurship, made in America/re-shoring initiatives, consumer lifestyle trends, the importance of a global education, and business development in China. Xu has also shared her story of entrepreneurial success with the host of the Ted Radio Hour and “How I Built This” Guy Raz: NPR

Xu’s business achievements have repeatedly been recognized by prominent organizations. She has been honored by, amongst others, Smart CEO with the Brava Award; the World Trade Center Institute with the Maryland International Business Leadership Award; the Asian American Chamber of Commerce with the Business Leader of the Year Award; the Asian Women in Business Organization with the Entrepreneurial Leadership Award; the Washington Business Journal with the Women Who Mean Business Award; the Maryland Daily Record with the Most Admired CEO Award; and the University of Maryland with the Philip Merrill College of Journalism Distinguished Alumnus Award. Xu was also inducted into the Enterprising Women Hall of Fame and named twice by Inc. Magazine as CEO of one of America’s Fastest Growing Privately Held Companies.

Xu plays an active role in community, philanthropic and civic organizations, serving on boards of both for-profit and non-profit organizations, including: Sandy Spring BanCorp, Inc. (2012-2015); the University of Maryland, Baltimore Foundation; Meridian International; the World Affairs Council; the Halcyon Incubator Fund that invests in socially impactful ventures; and SoGal Ventures, the first female-led millennial venture capital fund investing in diverse entrepreneurs in the U.S. and Asia. Xu is a member of the Committee of 200 (C200), an invitation-only organization of the world’s most successful women entrepreneurs and corporate innovators; the Aspen Institute’s Society of Fellows; and the U.S. China Business Council. She is a delegate to Fortune’s Most Powerful Women Summit; a mentor with the Fortune/U.S. State Department Global Women’s Mentoring Partnership; and a WE Connect Founding International Ambassador.

Xu and her family live in Bethesda, Maryland.