Welcome Chelsea Zhang to Equal Ventures!

We’re incredibly excited to announce that Chelsea Zhang has joined the Equal Ventures team as an Associate.

We’re incredibly excited to announce that Chelsea Zhang has joined the Equal Ventures team as an Associate.

We first met Chelsea at the end of 2019 (doesn’t that seem like a lifetime ago…) when we were recruiting MBA interns for the Spring. I distinctly remember my interview with Chelsea and her ability to speak in intimate detail about the industries she worked on while at LEK (a high-end strategy consulting firm that she joined after graduating from the University of Chicago). Chelsea had deep experience working with clients in an industry theme we were particularly interested in, but we decided to send her a case study on an industry she had ZERO experience with. Her case was seemingly flawless. She was extremely prepared, insightful and brought perspectives that I hadn’t thought about despite operating in the sector for years. Shortly thereafter we asked Chelsea to intern with us for the Spring, while she finished up her 1st year at Wharton.

Chelsea regularly commuted up from Philadelphia to work alongside our team despite the calamity of Richard/I preparing to announce the official launch of Equal shortly after she joined. As our own bandwidth was pulled in so many directions, it was clear that Chelsea could be an immediate contributor to our team. She was able to diagnose industries quickly, unpack the strategic positioning of new ideas and wow us with her mix of quantitative and qualitative research. Simply put, she made everyone around her smarter.

As COVID hit, Chelsea jumped into action to help us understand how our sectors were going to be impacted by the pandemic and demonstrated immense poise during a time where many struggled. Chelsea’s stellar performance led to us extending her an offer for the summer, where she not only led the formulation of new theses in the areas she knew best but pushed her own personal boundaries to explore theses in new areas that were non-native to her past experiences. We admire those with intellectual curiosity and Chelsea has consistently demonstrated this to its fullest with an authentic passion for knowledge while lifting the intelligence and the capability of those around her. We have tremendous respect for those who are dogged about self-improvement, but the truly exceptional find ways to make everyone around them better, and Chelsea is truly exceptional.

While we had not intended to hire someone at the MBA level, when Chelsea told us she was considering deferring from Wharton, we jumped at the opportunity to hire her. We’re incredibly excited to have her join our firm, so please join us in welcoming Chelsea Zhang to the Equal team!