By Rebecca Aizin
Rachele Louis
LifeWeb 360 Co-Founder & COO
In high school, Rachele Louis used to skip lunch to draw.
A self-proclaimed introvert, Rachele has loved tinkering her whole life. Growing up with two immigrant parents from Haiti changed how she understood and looked for things. As a child, Rachele created her own toys out of paper, making an assortment of objects from 3D boxes to catapults.
This passion for making designs led Rachele to a career in architecture, and a daring move to California from her hometown of New York City.
“My interests have always lied within creating spaces that are human centered,” Rachele said. “That wasn’t really the pulp of the work I was doing as an architect, I wanted to be more on the decision making side.”
This desire led Rachele to pursue her MBA at Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management. While her first semester at business school was one of the hardest times in her life, it was also one of the times she grew the most.
As someone who likes to keep a steady balance in her life, the amount of things coming at her at once in that first semester was overwhelming.
“Coming from a design background, having to refigure how I think about things to be more on the financial and business framework was difficult,” Rachele said. “The amount of work, feeling a lot of imposter syndrome and the social life was really challenging [for me].”
Rachele in her architect days
In one of her classes, she met co-founder Ali Briggs and together they founded LifeWeb 360, initially as a class project. The two went on to expand their business after graduating in 2019.
For Rachele, LifeWeb is not just about taking her career in a new direction- it’s about the impact she’s making on those who share their stories on the platform.
“We’re in a space that whether you like it or not you will be impacted by the loss of someone close to you or adjacent to you,” Rachele said. “Knowing that there is an opportunity to have this impact and touch people at this time in a very positive way is something that drives me.”
Knowing that there is an opportunity to have this impact and touch people at this time in a very positive way is something that drives me.
The last year and a half has been a whirlwind for Rachele, from graduating business school to rapidly expanding her business during a global pandemic. Despite the stress, the special moments at LifeWeb have made the experience a positive one.
“Any time we get really good feedback from a customer about how this has really helped their experience and time grieving their loved one [I’m proud],” Rachele said. Knowing what we’ve created has made a difference and specifically when they talk about a specific feature- those are great moments.”
LifeWeb 360 allows Rachele to continue tinkering- something she has craved and adored since her youth. From tinkering with designs for buildings to designs on a digital platform, Rachele can’t be put in a box.