# Melody McCloskey

> Melody McCloskey is the founder and CEO of StyleSeat, the largest online marketplace for beauty, grooming, and wellness services, connecting over 350,000 independent beauty professionals with 10 million+ consumers across the United States. She co-founded StyleSeat in 2011 alongside Dan Levine, bootstrapped the company for 18 months before raising $40.7 million in venture funding, and has helped power over 200 million appointments while generating $12+ billion in total revenue for small businesses. A San Francisco native who studied French and International Relations at UC Davis, McCloskey built StyleSeat out of her own frustration with booking beauty appointments, turning a personal pain point into a platform that fundamentally reshaped how independent beauty professionals run their businesses. She is also an angel investor and Cleo Capital scout, focused on backing female-led startups at the pre-seed through Series A stages.

- **Role:** Founder & CEO at StyleSeat
- **Organizations:** StyleSeat, Cleo Capital
- **From:** San Francisco, United States
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** Double major in French and International Relations, University of California, Davis
- **Known for:** Built StyleSeat into the largest online marketplace for beauty, grooming, and wellness in the US, Generated $12+ billion in total revenue for independent beauty professionals, Powered 200+ million appointments since 2011

## Career timeline

- **2006** — Graduated UC Davis; initially planned to return to France
- **2006-2009** — PR Manager at an early-stage tech company in San Francisco
- **2009-2011** — Worked at Current TV, Al Gore's cable network
- **2011** — Co-founded StyleSeat with Dan Levine; self-funded for 18 months
- **2012** — Raised $775K seed round from Ashton Kutcher, Sophia Bush, and other angels
- **2014** — Raised $10.2M Series A led by Lightspeed Venture Partners; named Fast Company Most Creative People in Business
- **2015** — Raised $25M Series B led by Fosun Kinzon Capital
- **2017** — Married Charlie Ebersol
- **2018** — Daughter Amara born
- **2020** — Made Seed investment in Playbook as Cleo Capital scout
- **2024** — StyleSeat surpasses 200M appointments powered; 350K+ professionals on platform

## Achievements

- Built StyleSeat into the largest online marketplace for beauty, grooming, and wellness in the US
- Generated $12+ billion in total revenue for independent beauty professionals
- Powered 200+ million appointments since 2011
- Named Fast Company Most Creative People in Business (2014)
- Raised $40.7 million in total funding across five rounds
- Grew average stylist revenue 70% in first year on the platform
- Scaled StyleSeat to nearly 16,000 cities and 10 million+ users
- Wrote essay on sexual harassment in the workplace for TIME Magazine
- Active angel investor and Cleo Capital scout backing female founders

## Latest updates

- **2024-01** — StyleSeat surpasses 200 million appointments powered since founding
- **2020-06** — Made seed investment in Playbook as part of Cleo Capital scout program
- **2018-01** — Welcomed daughter Amara

## Links

- Website: https://www.melodymcc.com
- LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/melodymccloskey
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/MelodyMcC
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/melody/
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/styleseat

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/melody-mccloskey
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-05-25