Who?
Amanda Bradford, founder and CEO of The League app
Where?
San Francisco
What?
Bradford created The League, an exclusive dating app that seeks to change the online dating experience. The League uses an advanced screening algorithm to confirm that users are really who they say they are, teaming with LinkedIn and Facebook to look for potential connections. In addition to allowing users to set specific preferences for potential matches, The League also sets up events for users to socialize and mingle.
I recommend reading…
Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike by Phil Knight. It’s about Nike’s path to success, and about all of the turmoil and hardship that Knight had to go through to build that company. I was inspired by Knight’s level of determination. He could have given up a lot of times.
I love my…
iPad mini. I’ve kind of started using it as my mini-computer.
Words I live by are…
“Twenty years from now, you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”
My favorite feel-good movie is…
My Best Friend’s Wedding. It has a practical view on relationships, and it’s a little less romanticized.
One person you have to follow on Twitter is…
Dave McClure (@DaveMcClure). I don’t agree with what he says most of the time, but I appreciate the light he brings to issues. He’s constantly raising different issues that I don’t think would get raised otherwise. That’s sort of the beauty of Twitter—that you see things you wouldn’t have seen on a local news station broadcast.
My favorite pick-me-up is…
An ice cream cookie sandwich from Cream. You can have only one, but it’s pretty much like heaven in your mouth.
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I’m currently Netflixing…
House of Cards, Season 5.
One thing everyone should try at least once is…
Investing a little bit of money in a personal project. I think people are typically scared to invest their own money in a hobby. There’s a lot of entrepreneurs who want to start a company, but they won’t invest in it. Doing that, even if it’s painful, gets you really committed. It’s a really interesting experience to be so committed to a project because you’re personally invested in it. Try to invest your money in something you’re going to learn something from.
My secret weapon is…
That I can really adapt to different environments. I’m pretty adaptable, and I attribute that to moving around a lot as a child and having to make friends with different people.
The best career advice I have ever received is…
Look for the best-in-class company in the field you want to go into. I can’t imagine doing this job if I didn’t work at Google and Salesforce. You can go to business school and learn a little bit, but at the same time, I’m drawing mainly on my network and my early experiences.
My aha moment was…
At 31, I realized the reason I’m doing this is because I want to make an impact. It’s less about the money. I ask myself, Would I do this if I weren’t getting paid? and my answer is 100 times yes. Having clarity on your mission as a person is something everyone is looking for, and I found it.
Related: My Way: 14 Things That Spark My Success
This article originally appeared in the December 2017 issue of SUCCESS magazine.
