Meet Stacey

Stacey Servo is the Founder of New2Lou, a social resource for newcomers and founding member of Wild Accelerator, a micro-accelerator and idea & early-stage startup initiative geared towards female entrepreneurs. She is an engineer by trade and natural problem solver specializing in marketing & growth strategy, community & brand engagement, thought leadership, social impact optimization, stakeholder engagement and partnership strategy. Never afraid of a new challenge, she dives deep into her work to discover not only solutions for her client’s toughest challenges, but also new opportunities.

This Q&A will help you get to know what experiences Stacey Servo brings to the Open Eye team.

We’ve all come to Open Eye from diverse backgrounds. What are some of your career or personal highlights to date?

Stacey Servo: One of the highlights on my engineering career was working on Masdar City in Abu Dhabi, who’s goal was to be the world’s first zero carbon, zero waste city. I worked on a team who built a custom application to track and analyze city-wide resources and predict future demand.

My second career highlight was as an entrepreneur. I built a social-driven startup called New2Lou to help and engage newcomers and expanded to multiple markets. In Louisville alone, we built up a network of over 15,000 active and engaged young professionals within 5 years. I always tell aspiring entrepreneurs to find a need and fill it, especially if it aligns with your personal experience and passion.

Outside feedback is enormously important for businesses. What’s some feedback that you’ve received personally that helped you grow?

Stacey: Build a network of people with similar goals and aspirations and find mentors to help you achieve your goals. Work with companies that inspire you and are aligned with your goals and passions. Actively engage with your community. It not only builds long term relationships, but also feels great and helps connect you to your community – a win-win.

*Stacey: *We all try to bring a lot to the table at Open Eye. On the Open Eye team, what’s your superpower?

Stacey: I’m a super connector. I build long term relationships with people around the world and love making connections to help build teams, partnerships and products. I’m also great at identify gaps and coming up with creative solutions.

We’re fond of the saying, “If you can not measure it, you can not improve it.” What’s one thing you think an organization should immediately start measuring that they likely aren’t?

*Stacey: *Community engagement and social impact. These can be difficult to measure which is why many companies are struggle, but once you establish your goals and metrics and align these to your overall company goals, you quickly can see the impact.

What do you love doing in your spare time?

Stacey: I grew up in Northwestern Montana just outside of Glacier Park, so love spending time outdoors. I enjoy hiking, paddle boarding, skiing, yoga, camping and reading a good book in a hammock in the trees.