About Me

I started out working as a research assistant for a boutique investment firm on Wall Street, which basically meant I rewrote stock purchase recommendations and offering memoranda for analysts who made ten times what I made. But my boss, Ray Dirks, let me wear motorcycle boots to work, eat massive greasy breakfasts at my desk, and come in when I wanted to, so I didn’t mind too much.

My first career was the sixteen years I spent as a writer/director and a production professional in independent film and television in Los Angeles. I worked for Sony, Lionsgate, Lifetime, and for a small army of independent producers, as well as directing a micro-budgeted indie feature called The Sandpiper. That all ended when I gave birth to my first child and the stock market crashed in 2008. Suddenly 18-hour-days and million-dollar tear-down starter homes lost their appeal.

My second career was the decade I spent as the founder and CEO of two nationally-distributed natural beauty brands that were sold at Whole Foods Markets and 1,500 other natural stores and chains, and boasted a social media following of 28,000 back when that was a big number. For a year and change, mine was the fastest-growing natural brand in the US. That decade was my own personal MBA.

This third career finds me pursuing my Masters in Finance at Harvard University’s Extension School while also working in an advisory capacity to start-ups in the branded products space in the angel investor and seed funding stages. I am also a writer focusing on all things money from a female perspective. Follow me! Let’s see where this goes…

Claudia Carey