Mary Lou Song

Mary Lou Song is a Korean-American entrepreneur and was eBay employee number three. She joined the company, formerly AuctionWeb, in 1996 after being recruited by its founder Pierre Omidyar and Jeffrey Skoll.^[1] Song is credited with concocting the myth behind eBay's origins, which involved a conversation between Omidyar and his now wife, Pam Omidyar, who sought to find a way to collect more PEZ dispensers.^[2][3]

Career

Song graduated from Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism with a B.S. in Journalism and a M.A. in Media Studies from Stanford University.^[4]

eBay

In his book "The Perfect Store: Inside eBay," Adam Cohen recounts the conversation between Song and Skoll, who she met at a Stanford Business School party. At the time, Song was working for a public relations firm, but agreed to have lunch with Skoll and Omidyar.^[5] Song agreed to come on-board and was tasked with "bringing mainstream media attention" to the site.^[6] Additionally, she managed the company's public relations and community and product management teams.^[7][8] During the early days at eBay, Song is also credited with building the platform's community, tools and strategy to grow from 15,000 members to 20 million.^[9] There are several books that cite or credit Ms. Song during her time at eBay.^[10]

Friendster

Song joined Friendster, a social networking company, after a six year stint at eBay. She was brought on as their Director of Community Development and responsible for managing their user base.^[11][12]

Tokoni

Labeled as a story sharing platform, Tokoni was founded in 2007 by Song and her husband, Alex Kazim. The company closed its doors in 2010.^[13][14]

FuelX

Song co-founded FuelX, a San Francisco-based video advertising start-up, with her brother Paxton Song.^[15][16]

References