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The Away Game

Steph and Jen’s direct-to-consumer luggage brand Away had competitors reaching for beta blockers when it first entered the space with built-in phone chargers and a unicorn valuation. Now, after surviving a travel-crushing pandemic, a new C.E.O. (yes, another one) is answering the call to re-differentiate the brand in a much more saturated market.

Jen Rubio Jessica Schinazi
To guide Away through its next phase, Jen Rubio, left, moved up to executive chairman of the board and tapped Jessica Schinazi, right, as the company’s next C.E.O. Photo: Olivier Simille/Courtesy of Away
Sarah Shapiro
May 20, 2025

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The D.T.C. boom of the mid-to-late 2010s was a heady time for retail brands, and few companies are more closely associated with the era than Away Travel. Co-founded by Steph Korey Goodwin and Jen Rubio to undercut a premium luggage market dominated by Tumi and Samsonite, Away’s multicolored, hard-shell rolling suitcases came equipped with a phone charger—enough of an innovation to win over upwardly mobile millennials and score a $1.4 billion valuation in 2019.