Building Resilience and Driving Impact: Luxi “Lucy” Huang

With a track record of scaling startups through major growth stages, Luxi (Lucy) Huang, CFA , Chief Technology & Product Officer at TuneCore, has built a career on her passion for solving problems, creating meaningful products, and empowering her teams. Today, she reflects on the experiences that have shaped her and the importance of cultivating a trusted network to navigate leadership challenges.?

Can you share a bit about your background and career path?

Luxi: I came to the U.S. with my mom at 11, which was a huge transition for me, but I think it really helped me build resilience and adaptability. I was very musical, but my mom always encouraged me to find a career that would provide stability, which led me to finance. After school, I started at EY and Goldman Sachs, which was a great first role. Over time, though, I started to think maybe I was more of a builder and creator. The only way to prove my hypothesis was to go and do that, so I took the leap and started in a customer success role at Marketing Evolution.

At the time, product management was still in its infancy in New York. I didn’t even know what a product manager was! All I knew was that I wanted to build things systematically, be close to both the customer and the engineers, and create solutions that could work for many users, not just one. I later transitioned into product management because it aligned perfectly with those interests, but it wasn’t about a specific title. It was about pursuing the functional work that interested me.?

What role has ongoing learning played in your career development and leadership?

Luxi: I’ve never approached my role as, “Go and do the job and then go home.” I’ve always been interested in going to industry events seeking out people on a similar journey. There are a lot of opportunities to learn, but learning also looks different early in your career. When you’re an IC or a senior IC, you’re learning more about the technical side of things and specific job functions. That learning is a lot more structured. There are courses, books, events you can go to, and of course, you’re also learning on the job. But over time, it becomes a lot more people-based. In management, a lot of the problems you’re solving are people problems, and those aren’t always problems you can discuss openly within your own company. That’s why it can help to find others in similar roles you can learn from and problem-solve with.?

What drew you to Sidebar?

Luxi: The thing about networking events is that they’re usually very surface-level. It’s hard to show up to an event, go to someone you’ve just met, and say, “I’m going to talk to you about these very tough problems I’ve been having.” They don’t have context on you or your challenges, and that kind of trust takes time to develop.?

I joined Sidebar because I was looking for a place where I could just show up, build that trust, and have real, honest conversations with like-minded people. It’s been helpful to have people who can validate my thinking when I’m facing a big decision or point out things I might not have considered before. Having that built-in support also keeps me from overloading my family with work-related challenges, so in that sense, it’s been helpful for my personal life, as well.?

Can you tell us about your views on mentors and your experience with mentorship?

Luxi: I love this question, because my idea of mentorship has evolved over time. Ten years ago, I would have said mentorship was about finding one or two people to turn to regularly, but I’ve ended up with several dozen people I can go to for advice on different topics. Some of them are ahead of me in my field, and others are peers. I remember feeling some imposter syndrome when I took on more engineering responsibilities in addition to my product role. I turned to Sidebar to see if I could learn from other people with a similar set of responsibilities; Through Sidebar, I connected with Sandra Peterson, Ida Cools, and Allison Caley. Sandra generously shared her playbook for managing both functions. We’re on a similar path in our careers, and I would consider her a peer mentor.?

I have a few different people I mentor, as well. We’ll maybe talk a couple of times a year, or they’ll come to me to have a sounding board for their toughest problems. But the other thing I’ve been exploring as a mentor is, how can I scale this? In one of my roles, I organized these different groups where we would read relevant books or watch relevant videos about specific topics. As I’m managing bigger and bigger teams, that’s been a great way to make learning and development accessible to as many people as possible.?

Any advice for other leaders, or lessons you wish you’d learned earlier in your career?

Luxi: One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned is about having the right approach in times of uncertainty. Businesses will go through ups and downs, right? When things get tough, a lot of leaders want to get deep in the weeds, deep in the details. That’s important, but you don’t want it to be coming from a place of fear or mistrust. You want to be working side-by-side with your team, not hovering over them, so you can get through the rough patches together.?

What are your favorite personal or professional accomplishments so far?

Luxi: Two things come to mind. From a product perspective, I think back to when I was at CB Insights. In five years, we were able to scale from under $10 million in revenue to $75 million. We were really in the thick of that primary growth stage, and when I look back at the platform today, I see that 95% of what we built is still there and evolving. It’s really cool to be able to say, “Wow, not only did we build this thing, but now, five years later, it’s still providing value to the company and the end customers.”

On the people side, I would say my favorite accomplishment is the network I’ve built. I know it might sound a little corny, but it’s true. These are people I’ve been on the battlefield with. I’ve helped them, and they’ve helped me, and even years and years later, we’re still connected to each other. On my deathbed, it’s not like I’ll be thinking about all these products I’ve built. I’ll be thinking about the people I’ve met and the types of relationships I’ve had. Those relationships are my most satisfying achievement.?

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