The Real Pathway to the Boardroom

The Path Is Not Linear. It Is Strategic.

At e.l.f., we are purpose led and results driven, and that stems from our belief in leading with inclusivity and a diverse group of voices and perspectives.

Believing isn’t enough. We need to create access and opportunity so everyone can have a seat at the table. That’s why we’ve set out to Change the Board Game. We have the receipts to prove a diverse board has a positive impact on the success of a company.

The boardroom shouldn’t be a mystery and access to the knowledge of how to get there shouldn’t be a privilege. This article by executive recruiter Deepali Vyas pulls back the curtain on a pathway that too few people know how to navigate and that’s the kind of conversation e.l.f. is here for. Bold. Real. And unapologetically for everyone.

Read on. Your seat at the table is closer than you think.

This space is for every eye, lip and face! 👁️💄🙂

The Real Pathway to the Boardroom

In Part 1, I established a foundational truth that sits at the center of this entire conversation. The issue is not a lack of qualified talent, it is a lack of board literacy and intentional positioning. Once you understand that board seats are not an outcome but a strategy, the next logical question becomes how this actually works in practice.

Despite what most people assume, there is no single, formal path to the boardroom. There is no application process, no standard promotion track and no moment where someone taps you on the shoulder and declares that you are ready. What exists instead is a progression that is rarely spoken about openly, yet consistently followed by those who ultimately secure board seats. It is a pathway built on exposure, credibility and network proximity, and it tends to unfold across three distinct stages.

Understanding this pathway changes how you think about your career long before a board opportunity ever presents itself.

Deepali Vyas explains The Pathway to the Boardroom

The first stage is nonprofit board involvement, which is often underestimated and misunderstood. Many executives view nonprofit boards as charitable work or something to consider later in their careers, but that framing misses the real value. Nonprofit boards are one of the most powerful entry points into the board ecosystem because they provide access that is difficult to replicate anywhere else. These boards bring together operating executives, investors, philanthropists and experienced board members in environments where governance is real and relationships are built over time. You gain visibility into how boards actually function, how decisions are debated and how influence is exercised at the highest levels.

More importantly, you build proximity to individuals who already sit on corporate boards and who understand how those seats are filled. This is where many first board opportunities are seeded, not through formal processes but through repeated exposure and credibility built over time. The executives who leverage nonprofit boards effectively treat them as strategic platforms rather than passive commitments. They prepare, they contribute and they use the experience to develop both governance fluency and relationships that extend well beyond the boardroom.

Another often overlooked way to build both board literacy and proximity is through formal director organizations such as National Association for Corporate Directors or Private Directors Association. These organizations provide structured education on governance, but more importantly, they place you in rooms with individuals who are already sitting on boards. That proximity matters. Board opportunities are often driven by familiarity and trust, and becoming a known, credible presence in these environments can accelerate how quickly you are considered when opportunities arise.

The second stage is advisory and private company boards, which serve as the bridge between exposure and validation. This is where you begin to build a track record that is directly relevant to board service. Advisory roles and private company boards provide opportunities to engage with founders, investors and leadership teams in dynamic environments where your ability to think strategically is tested in real time. You are no longer observing governance, you are participating in it.

This stage is where your positioning begins to shift. You move from being an operator with experience to someone who has been trusted in a governance or advisory capacity. That distinction is critical because it signals to future boards that you are not new to this environment. It also provides tangible proof that you can operate at a higher level of abstraction, guiding decisions rather than executing them.

This is also where you need to be far more proactive than most professionals are comfortable being. Waiting for advisory opportunities to appear is a passive strategy that rarely produces results. You should be actively identifying companies that would benefit from your expertise and positioning yourself accordingly. One of the most practical ways to do this is by focusing on the startup ecosystem, where companies are scaling quickly and need strategic guidance but may not yet have formal boards in place.

You can begin by looking at organizations such as Y Combinator or by using platforms like Crunchbase to identify companies that have recently raised capital at the pre seed, seed or Series A stage. These companies are often operating in high growth environments with limited governance structure and a real need for experienced operators who can provide strategic input. This is where you can step in with intention.

Reach out to founders with a clear articulation of how your experience aligns with their immediate challenges. Position yourself as someone who can contribute to growth, decision making and strategic direction. Offer to engage in an advisory capacity, even if the role is informal at the outset. These opportunities are not always structured or advertised, but they are incredibly valuable in building your board narrative.

Over time, as these companies grow, raise additional rounds and reach critical mass, their governance structures evolve. Advisory roles can transition into formal board positions, and in some cases, these companies become public. When that happens, you are no longer an outsider trying to break into the boardroom. You are someone who has grown alongside the company, contributed to its trajectory and is already embedded in its governance story. That progression is what makes the transition to a public board feel natural rather than forced.

Deepali Vyas

The third stage is the public company board, which is often viewed as the destination but should be understood as the result of everything that came before it. Public boards operate under a higher level of scrutiny, with greater regulatory requirements and fiduciary responsibility. The expectations are elevated and the tolerance for risk is significantly lower when it comes to bringing in first time board members.

This is why public boards prioritize candidates who have already demonstrated their ability to operate in board environments. They are not looking to train individuals from the ground up. They are looking for individuals who can contribute immediately, with a track record that reduces uncertainty and builds confidence. By the time someone is considered for a public board seat, their experience, relationships and prior governance exposure have already done the work of positioning them.

What makes this pathway challenging is not its complexity, but its invisibility. Most professionals are never taught that this progression exists, and as a result, they aim directly for public board seats without having built the underlying credibility, relationships, or governance experience required to be seriously considered. This is where frustration begins and where the question of why not me starts to surface. The answer is not capability, it is sequence. The executives who successfully break in understand that nonprofit boards create access and exposure, advisory and private boards build validation and experience, and public boards require both. They also recognize that this is not a rigid, linear path, but a strategic one that requires intentional decisions about where to invest time, how to build proximity, and how to shape a narrative that signals readiness.

This is where the mission of changing the board game becomes real. If the goal is to create more inclusive boardrooms, then access to opportunity must be matched with access to knowledge. The question of why not me is not answered in a single moment, it is answered through a series of intentional moves that build credibility over time. It is answered when you step into your first board experience, when you build relationships beyond your operating role, and when you begin to see yourself as someone whose judgment, perspective, and influence belong in the boardroom. I am Deepali Vyas, your Elite Recruiter, and what I want you to internalize is simple. There is a path, and it is accessible, but it requires you to stop waiting for permission and start positioning yourself with clarity, strategy, and conviction.