Allison Sheehan had been an analyst at Goldman Sachs for four years when the bank’s compliance team told her that the word ‘investment’ on her social media was a problem. Her account @investment__baker, where she documented her cake business, had barely about a thousand followers. They ordered her to delete all the content. She obeyed.
Months later, she restored it to demonstrate her entrepreneurial track record when applying to the MBA program at Northwestern. Goldman called her again. This time, 27-year-old Sheehan made a different decision: she quit. By then she was already baking custom desserts from a neighbor’s kitchen, whom she walked the dog for as payment. Her clients included brands like Valentino, Goop, and celebrities like Brooke Shields and Gigi Hadid.
Since leaving the bank, her production has grown 300% and she now bakes between 10 and 30 desserts per week while pursuing her MBA. What Goldman wanted to silence became her calling card.
