From board room to baby's room: local entrepreneur inspires women with the ambition to do both
From star track athlete to CEO and mom of four, local entrepreneur Chen Levanon makes it look easy, but this an illusion.
A lot of work has gone into creating space for Levanon to perform at the highest levels within multiple demanding roles.
Levanon is the CEO of Zeebuz, an app platform that allows teenagers to build financial literacy while also building a tangible business.
Teens create a profile on which they can market their goods or services, such as selling T-shirts or babysitting. Payment can be sent through the app via a unique QR code without the need for sharing any personal information. Zeebuz is secure, requiring a legal guardian to approve the release of any funds from their digital wallets.
Levanon currently has two passion pursuits – improving Gen Z’s financial literacy and empowering women. Zeebuz directly supports the former. As for the latter – she’s learned a lot about empowering women through her own journey as a CEO and a mother. During the early days of her career in investment banking, she was often one of the few if not the only woman in the room, and she said she didn’t ‘lean in,’ to quote the term coined by Sheryl Sandberg, former Chief Operations Officer of Meta Platforms.
“I told myself that once I am successful, I will always vouch for women,” Levanon said.
She made good on her promise when she founded her first company, ClicksMob, in 2013. The ClicksMob team was 70 percent female.
By giving women who are handling the logistics of being mothers and who may have large gaps in their resumes a chance, she said she earned loyal and passionate employees.
Levanon, who ran the 400-meter hurdles as part of the Israeli National Track Team, has applied her focus to finding balance between the roles of wife, mother and CEO, which she said has taken her many years to achieve.
“It is hard, but it is doable,” she said. “It is suitable for anyone who wants to do it. The most important thing is to give ourselves slack and not expect to be perfect at everything because we can’t.” Levanon, who was named to the Silicon Valley Business Journal’s "40 Under 40" list in 2019, credits her husband for being a supportive partner in her endeavors and a highly involved coparent. She said she could not have done it without him. Her advice to women who have always had a dream of developing a product or service is to go for it, but to ask for help and use their networks. “Life is short,” she said. “Just do it.” In the arena of parenting, Levanon thinks it is critical to lead by example and then empower our children to also ‘go for it.’ She believes Gen Z children have many positive characteristics making them ripe for success if they are channeled properly and taught in a hands-on manner. Her aim is to do this with Zeebuz by encouraging entrepreneurial spirit through education. To check out Zeebuz, click here. | 
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