Her credentials couldn’t be more top tier: A senior position at Goldman Sachs, a degree from Yale University and a stint working at the White House. Yet Joanna Jin never hides her humble background. “My father moved to New York from China in 1993 with $50 and worked as a delivery guy. My mother worked as a waitress,” she said. “I was born here but lived with my grandparents in China until I was four, so English is not my first language.” She said her parents sacrificed so much for her that she feels a need to pay it forward. In the workplace, Jin does that by promoting diversity and inclusion, and encouraging discussions of those topics, including race. “Even if awkward, those discussion have to get woven into regular discourse, not saved for a few minutes at the end of a meeting or for a brief chat down the hall,” she said.
In her role as global chief of staff in Goldman’s new consumer and wealth management division, Jin is working to build a digital bank that aims to help people across underserved backgrounds achieve their financial goals. She also co-founded the nonprofit PosiCOVIDity and spearheaded its Innovation Challenge, which attracted interest from 200 students across the country and provided more than $30,000 in cash, rebates and incentives from GoFundMe and sponsorship efforts to help launch business ventures focused on Covid-19 relief. “Now that the pandemic is winding down, we’ve ended the program, but it was a great success and we continue to mentor the students,” Jin said.
— Evan Cooper