Saanya Ojha W’16
Email: sojha@coatue.com
What did you study at Penn and when did you graduate?
I graduated in 2016. I was a French target in the Huntsman program (BA International Studies / BS Economics) with a dual concentration in Finance and OIDD and minors in French and Psychology.
What do you do now and where are you based? What past positions have you held?
I started in New York at a hedge fund within Goldman Sachs focusing on chemicals, industrials, and oil and gas. After one year, I moved to Hong Kong for a year, investing in everything from Korean skincare to the auto industry, a much wider spectrum, and moved my coverage area to that side of the world.
I wanted to transition from public investing to private investing. While in public investing you make educated bets and move on, in private investing you get to build companies from the ground up. I moved over to growth equity within the Goldman back in NYC, and last year moved to San Francisco and took a job at Coatue leading fintech investments.
What advice do you wish you had known when you were an undergraduate?
Networking felt disingenuous, but I realized over time, it can be genuine and valuable. The most interesting jobs you get come down to meeting someone and connecting with them. Network plays a very big role in getting a job; particularly after you move past your first job, your network becomes more and more important.
What has been the biggest challenge of your career and what are you most proud of?
The biggest challenge of my career so far has been working on drastically different geographies and themes. I started in NYC investing in industrials and chemicals then moved across the world to Hong Kong where I completely changed asset classes, then I returned to NYC working in private equity, then switched to venture in SF. Through these major career shifts, I’m proud of being able to adapt.
How has being a woman affected your career trajectory, if it has?
Finance is not an industry that is known for its diversity. There are so many times when you're the only woman in the room. It annoys me and motivates me to change that by actively working with and mentoring younger women in my organization. In terms of impacting me day to day, it has affected my participation in meetings. I received feedback that when I do speak, 100% of what I say makes sense whereas for others it’s 40%: on the one hand, women don't need to be perfect, and on the other, workplaces need to understand that women work differently than men.
What advice do you have for our members as they begin exploring careers and internships?
Artificial constraints are not relevant. If you want something, you should go after it with hustle. With OCR, you apply on portals, interview, and wait to hear back; we have a framework and you can default to it. But, if you take initiative and are proactive, there is nothing stopping you from hustling to get what you want.
Anything else you want to share?
Freshmen, lighten up.
Favorite place in the world:
Chandigarh city in North India.
Best thing you've read lately:
The Beautiful and the Damned. I love to read fiction because my day job is so much news and keeping up with trends.