Full Name
Carolee Lee
Job Title
Founder &CEO, Access Circles
Company
WHAM! (Women’s Health Access Matters)
Speaker Bio
AccessCircles was founded in June of 2008 by Carolee Friedlander, the former CEO and founder of Carolee Designs, one of the world’s leading accessories brands. Carolee’s vision is to create a by invitation network to enrich the health and wellness, financial expertise and life balance of women through
informative gatherings, transformative knowledge, unique experiences and access to leading authorities and alliance partners in the fields of health and wellness, financial expertise and life balance.
In July 2018, WHAM! was launched by Carolee Lee as an initiative of AccessCircles (a 501c3) to focus on increasing awareness of women’s health issues, investing in women’s health research and implementing strategies that will improve the inequities and bias in research while accelerating scientific discovery. The Connors Center at Brigham/Harvard is WHAM!’s Lead Scientific Partner.
As founder and CEO of Carolee Designs, Carolee led her organization through all business life cycles, from early stages to a highly respected, recognized brand. During that time, Carolee was considered the trendsetter in both design and marketing of fashion accessories worldwide, creating collections with distribution in over 700 premier retail stores internationally. This quintessential entrepreneur had grown businesses through global expansion, product diversification and a keen understanding of the changing needs of women today.
In 2001, Carolee negotiated the sale of Carolee Designs to Retail Brand Alliance, a privately held retail company with sales of $1.5 billion. She remained with the company until 2005.
Throughout her career, Carolee has embraced mentoring and leadership roles in many diverse business organizations and is active in numerous civic, philanthropic and educational organizations. Some of those include:
The Women’s Leadership Board at The John F. Kennedy School of Government; Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT); Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA); Women’s World Bank; The Society for Women’s Health Research; The Museum of Arts and Design in NY.
She is a past president of the Committee of 200, the organization of preeminent businesswomen and also served as the Chair of its Foundation Board. Carolee serves as a director on the board of DSW, Inc., a major footwear retailer and The Breast Cancer Research Foundation, where she is a founding board member and has served since 1996..
Carolee has been recognized with numerous awards and recognitions for her professional and philanthropic achievements.
informative gatherings, transformative knowledge, unique experiences and access to leading authorities and alliance partners in the fields of health and wellness, financial expertise and life balance.
In July 2018, WHAM! was launched by Carolee Lee as an initiative of AccessCircles (a 501c3) to focus on increasing awareness of women’s health issues, investing in women’s health research and implementing strategies that will improve the inequities and bias in research while accelerating scientific discovery. The Connors Center at Brigham/Harvard is WHAM!’s Lead Scientific Partner.
As founder and CEO of Carolee Designs, Carolee led her organization through all business life cycles, from early stages to a highly respected, recognized brand. During that time, Carolee was considered the trendsetter in both design and marketing of fashion accessories worldwide, creating collections with distribution in over 700 premier retail stores internationally. This quintessential entrepreneur had grown businesses through global expansion, product diversification and a keen understanding of the changing needs of women today.
In 2001, Carolee negotiated the sale of Carolee Designs to Retail Brand Alliance, a privately held retail company with sales of $1.5 billion. She remained with the company until 2005.
Throughout her career, Carolee has embraced mentoring and leadership roles in many diverse business organizations and is active in numerous civic, philanthropic and educational organizations. Some of those include:
The Women’s Leadership Board at The John F. Kennedy School of Government; Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT); Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA); Women’s World Bank; The Society for Women’s Health Research; The Museum of Arts and Design in NY.
She is a past president of the Committee of 200, the organization of preeminent businesswomen and also served as the Chair of its Foundation Board. Carolee serves as a director on the board of DSW, Inc., a major footwear retailer and The Breast Cancer Research Foundation, where she is a founding board member and has served since 1996..
Carolee has been recognized with numerous awards and recognitions for her professional and philanthropic achievements.
Speaking At
