About The Founder
Meet Gracie Lane
Gracie Lane is the Founder & CEO of The Middle. She began working as a personal assistant in 2013, supporting multiple clients part-time and gaining firsthand insight into the needs of busy professionals. Over time, she recognized a gap in the market: there was no dedicated way for clients to find high-quality part-time support.
So she built what she wished had existed: The Middle, a curated service connecting busy people with part-time personal assistants in ongoing positions.
EDUCATIONUniversity of Southern California, Marshall School of Business, M.S. Entrepreneurship & Innovation
University of California, Los Angeles, B.A. Theatre - Acting
Gracie’s experience began in 2013 when she started working as a personal assistant to busy professionals. Initially, she sought out personal assistant work as a way to apply her natural organizational skills, efficiency, and genuine enjoyment in task-based work to a steady job with a flexible schedule while she pursued acting in Hollywood.
For seven years, Gracie carved out a niche for herself working as a part-time personal assistant to busy individuals and small business owners across several industries: film & television, healthcare, private practice, consultancy, sales, food & beverage, and philanthropy. Services included administration, personal support, household management, errands, project management, and everything in between. She was promoted to General Manager of one of her client’s seed-stage startup, which exposed her to more formal business practices and operations.
From a young age, Gracie seized opportunities to generate business in whatever capacity she could (including charging her younger sister for hand-me-downs!), and working closely with founders and small business owners re-ignited her passion for entrepreneurship. She also recognized a fundamental truth about personal assistants: they are the often the ones keeping business owners and businesses running smoothly. Frustrated by her career in Hollywood hinging on someone else giving her an opportunity, she pivoted as any good entrepreneur would, and applied to business school. A couple months in, the concept of a platform for part-time personal assistants that had lived in the back of her mind for the better part of a decade applied to a school project. Before she graduated, and after winning multiple pitch competitions, The Middle was officially founded in 2020.
Perspective Behind The Middle
Gracie treated her work as a part-time personal assistant as her business, and encourages The Middle’s personal assistant candidates to do the same. She strongly believes that experience only bolsters the success of a personal assistant, but is not required. Being a successful personal assistant comes down to work ethic, ability to follow-through, and attention to detail. After all, that’s what she started with— and the experience followed.