Zipporah Allen

The Marketing-Exec-Turned-Marathon-Runner Who Made Big Deals at Strava

When Zipporah Allen was hired as the Chief Marketing Officer at Strava in 2022, she hit the ground running, literally. Coming from executive marketing and digital roles at Pizza Hut and Taco Bell, the mom of two took up the sport in her 40s so she could better understand the social fitness app. Mission accomplished: Within a couple of years, she was named Strava’s Chief Business Officer and ran the New York City Marathon. As the app gained popularity — more and more people are turning to Strava to track their marathon training, join celebrity run clubs, and find a date — Allen capitalized on it by securing partnerships with companies outside the traditional sports world (though Adidas and Nike are on the list). A recent integration with Spotify allows Strava users to listen to music while tracking activities and, in the last year, companies like Cash App, Chipotle, and Clif Bar have hosted fitness challenges with giveaways on the app.

By Audrey Goodson Kingo