At Leerink Partners, Sasha Kelemen leads a special funding banking crew that focuses on women’s health, a traditionally underfunded place in finance and healthcare.
Recognized as a Healthcare Transformation Leader Sasha Kelemen’s work in women’s fitness has earned her focus as one of the 30 leaders under 40 transforming healthcare by Insider.
Starting at Goldman Sachs
After finishing her commercial enterprise college training at the University of Virginia in 2017, Kelemen commenced her profession in funding banking by way of becoming a member of Goldman Sachs’ healthcare team. She rapidly proved herself in a male-dominated enterprise and seized substantial opportunities.
Early Influences and Determination
Kelemen attributes her success partly to the self-belief instilled in her with the aid of her family, who immigrated to the US from Venezuela when she was 7. Growing up, she confronted challenges that pushed her to step out of her relief sector and enhance her special voice.
A Shift in Focus During Pregnancy
While watching for her first child, Kelemen immersed herself in studying women’s health. This newfound hobby led her to understand the untapped manageable commercial enterprise possibilities in the field. She questioned why Wall Street wasn’t paying extra attention.
Challenging Return to Work
Returning to work after maternity leave in May 2021, Kelemen proposed to Goldman Sachs that she work with extra fitness companies. Unfortunately, her request used to be denied due to the fact many of these startups have been nevertheless too small for the firm’s involvement.
Simultaneously, she confronted the challenges of being a working mom, with little training on how to stabilize her responsibilities, mainly given the disturbing nature of funding banking.
Joining SVB Leerink
In the summertime of 2021, Sasha Kelemen, a profitable banker, was recruited via SVB Leerink as a phase of the bank’s growth in healthcare coverage. During an assembly with Barry Blake, SVB’s world cohead of funding banking, Kelemen introduced her imagination and prescient to create a crew committed to offers in women’s fitness and shared her want to develop her family.
Embracing Identity and Values
Kelemen was once open about her identification as each a mom and a banker. She desired to work in a vicinity that revered and favored each factor of her life. Blake supported her plans.
Wall Street’s Unique Women’s Health Team
In November, Kelemen was employed via SVB Leerink to lead what she believes is the sole crew of its variety on Wall Street. Her group focuses on advising investors, early-stage startups, and giant businesses in women’s health, many of which are headquartered or led by women.
Authenticity in the Workplace
As Kelemen improved in her career, she discovered to be her real self at work. She did not constantly put on suits, from time to time opting for flower dresses. Instead of normal things to do like golf, she would invite traders for pedicures or pickleball. She additionally ensured her calendar had family time blocked out.
Supporting Working Mothers
Kelemen and her husband, Chris, made the most of far-flung work with the aid of transferring to a suburb close to New York City. They structured their work schedules to be existing for their kid’s bedtime. Leerink supported her as a working mom by supplying services for pumping.
Advocating for Women’s Health Value
Kelemen is committed to transferring greater strength and capital into women’s hands. She pointed out that only about 2% of task greenbacks go to businesses based entirely by way of women. She advocates for funding in fitness startups headquartered by way of women, no longer simply in reproductive care but additionally in areas like menopause, childbirth, and women’s fitness issues.
Personal Reflection and Hope
Kelemen these days accomplished her first deal from beginning to finish, promoting a menopause therapy startup to a country-wide OB-GYN offerings company. She hopes that as extra offers take place in this space, it will inspire similar investment. Her work in women’s fitness is pushed via the trust that women’s fitness is crucial and deserves interest and investment.
