Korey was born in the United States and grew up in Ohio, in a 55,000-square-foot historic mansion with an indoor swimming pool and three dining rooms. Her father was born in Lebanon and her mother was born in Romania. She grew up traveling to visit her family in Europe and the Middle East. Korey studied international relations at Brown University and received her MBA from Columbia University.
Early career
After graduation, she worked at Kate Spade and Bloomingdale's. By 2011, Korey joined Warby Parker and led the company's supply chain, production, and fulfillment work as its Head of Supply Chain. She met Away co-founder Jennifer Rubio during her time at the company. In 2014, she left the company and received her MBA, while also working as a consultant for supply chain and merchandising strategy at mattress company Casper.
Away
Korey co-founded Away, a direct-to-consumer travel company, with Jennifer Rubio. By 2017, Korey and Rubio had raised $31 million, making it one of the highest-funded female-founded startups. Korey has led an online course on management and leadership principles on Skillshare, and has contributed to Entrepreneur. In June 2018, she received the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year 2018New York Award. A late 2019 investigative report revealed a toxic workplace at Away and prominently featured Korey's role in creating a culture of staff mistreatment and public humiliation. In an apology, Korey said that she was "appalled" to read her own messages and listed steps taken to improve the company's work culture in the last year. On December 9, 2019, Korey was to be replaced as CEO of Away by Stuart Haselden. She would continue to serve as Away's executive chairwoman. On January 13, 2020, a New York Times article broke the news that Korey had reversed her decision, and would instead serve as co-CEO along with Haselden. This decision was announced with the support of Away's 4 Board of Directors, only 1 of whom is external to Away. In late June 2020, while on maternity leave, Korey posted several Instagram stories attacking digital media companies. Employees told Haselden and Rubio in an anonymous letter that it showed Korey had learned nothing from the events of December 2019, especially given that her comments were made during Pride and the height of the Black Lives Matter movement. On July 2, 2020, Haselden and Rubio announced that Korey would be stepping down as co-CEO, and that Haselden would take over as sole CEO "within the year".
