Lisa Carmen Wang is an American rhythmic gymnast, entrepreneur, investor, author, and artist. A four-time U.S. national champion and 2007 Pan American Games champion, she represented the United States at three World Championships and was inducted into the USA Gymnastics Hall of Fame in 2014. She later founded SheWorx and Bad Bitch Empire.
Background
Lisa Carmen Wang grew up in the Chicago metropolitan area and attended Adlai E. Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire, Illinois. She began rhythmic gymnastics in 1998 after encountering the sport during a third-grade fine-arts day. Her parents, Ping and Cindy Wang, were identified by USA Gymnastics as important role models, and she has a younger brother, Jordan.
Wang developed as an athlete at Rhythmic Gems and later trained at the North Shore Rhythmic Gymnastics Center. Her competitive career unfolded within the American rhythmic-gymnastics system, where national-team athletes represented the United States in international championships and multi-sport competitions.
Education
Wang attended Adlai E. Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire, Illinois, graduating in 2007. She deferred her admission to Yale University for a year while continuing elite gymnastics training, including preparation for the 2008 Olympic qualification cycle.
She graduated from Yale University in 2012. USA Gymnastics identifies her degree as American studies, while later professional biographies describe her academic background as literature. Yale, founded in 1701, is a major American research university whose liberal-arts education and residential-college tradition shaped the setting of Wang's undergraduate years.
Wang began rhythmic-gymnastics training in 1998 and joined the United States national team in 2000. She won a junior U.S. national championship in 2001 and later became a three-time senior U.S. all-around champion, winning consecutive titles in 2006, 2007, and 2008. She represented the United States at the 2003, 2005, and 2007 World Championships and at the 2003 World Games.
At the 2007 Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro, Wang won the all-around title and contributed to a five-gold-medal record that included the ribbon, club, and rope events and the team competition. At the 2008 U.S. National Championships in Houston, she won the all-around title, all four individual events, and Athlete of the Year recognition. She narrowly missed qualification for the 2008 Olympic Games after placing twenty-eighth at the 2007 World Championships, which served as the Olympic qualifier. She retired from competitive gymnastics in 2008.
After Yale, Wang worked as an analyst in the hedge-fund industry, including at Balyasny Asset Management. She then founded Fooze, an on-demand food-technology company incubated in the second class of Food-X, an international food-business accelerator.
In 2015, Wang founded SheWorx, a platform and community supporting women entrepreneurs through mentorship, investor access, and education. By 2019, SheWorx had grown to approximately 20,000 members in seven cities and had helped women founders raise more than $50 million; Republic acquired the company that year. Wang later served as Republic's global head of brand and communications before leaving to develop her own investment and coaching work.
In 2022, she founded Bad Bitch Empire, a venture platform, media brand, and community focused on women's financial power, entrepreneurship, and investment. She also works as an investor, executive coach, and speaker. Under the artistic name Baddie Li, she has expanded into music and performance while continuing to write and speak about women's economic independence and professional identity.
Wang became a four-time United States national rhythmic-gymnastics champion, winning one junior title and three consecutive senior all-around titles from 2006 through 2008.
At the 2007 Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro, Wang won the all-around title and five gold medals, including the ribbon, club, and rope events and the team competition.
Wang represented the United States at three World Championships, in 2003, 2005, and 2007, and also competed at the 2003 World Games.
As founder and chief executive officer of SheWorx, Wang built a women-focused entrepreneurial community that expanded to approximately 20,000 members and helped women founders raise more than $50 million before the company was acquired by Republic.
(Wang's 2023 book presents guidance for women seeking grea...)
2023
Views
Wang's entrepreneurial and writing projects emphasize women's autonomy, financial literacy, access to capital, and the rejection of social expectations that encourage women to minimize ambition or defer authority to others. Her work presents personal reinvention as compatible with professional achievement, investment, creativity, and self-defined identity.
Quotations:
A woman steps into her full power not when she is finally given permission to do so, but when she realizes she never needed it in the first place.
Membership
Wang is a member of the Fast Company Executive Board, a professional community associated with the business publication and its network of business leaders, entrepreneurs, and innovators.
Wang performs and releases music under the artistic name Baddie Li.
Connections
Wang's parents are Ping Wang and Cindy Wang, and her younger brother is Jordan Wang. During her gymnastics career, she was coached by Lana Lashoff of Rhythmic Gems and Natasha Klimouk at the North Shore Rhythmic Gymnastics Center.
Father:
Ping Wang
Mother:
Cindy Wang
Brother:
Jordan Wang
References
USA Gymnastics Hall of Fame biography: Lisa Wang
Documents Wang's national championships, Pan American Games medals, World Championship appearances, coaching, Yale education, and Hall of Fame induction.
Lisa's Story
Documents Wang's public identity as Lisa Carmen Wang and Baddie Li, her entrepreneurial and investment work, Bad Bitch Empire, coaching, writing, and artistic activity.
Lisa Wang profile
Documents Wang's founding of SheWorx, its work with women founders and investors, her Yale education, and her entrepreneurial recognition.
Wang won one United States junior national rhythmic-gymnastics championship and three senior U.S. all-around championships in 2006, 2007, and 2008.
Wang won one United States junior national rhythmic-gymnastics championship and three senior U.S. all-around championships in 2006, 2007, and 2008.
Athlete of the Year,
United States
Wang received Athlete of the Year recognition at the 2008 United States National Championships after winning the all-around title and all four individual events.
Wang received Athlete of the Year recognition at the 2008 United States National Championships after winning the all-around title and all four individual events.
USA Gymnastics Hall of Fame,
United States
Wang was inducted into the USA Gymnastics Hall of Fame in 2014 in recognition of her achievements as a rhythmic gymnast.
Wang was inducted into the USA Gymnastics Hall of Fame in 2014 in recognition of her achievements as a rhythmic gymnast.
Forbes 30 Under 30,
United States
Wang was recognized on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list for her entrepreneurial work.
Wang was recognized on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list for her entrepreneurial work.
