Abby Cohen’s growth story

Cohn was born in New York in 1952. He graduated from Cornell University in 1973, majoring in economics and computer science, with a bachelor's degree, and then received a master's degree in economics from the University of Washington in 1976.

Like many American celebrities, Cohen is also the child of immigrants. Although she calls herself a "first-generation true American," her mother actually grew up in Poland. Cohen's father, Joseph, was born in Brooklyn in 1913. After the smart and hard-working Joseph received a master's degree in finance from New York University, he soon married Cohen's mother. Since then, Joseph has been working as an accountant at JK Lasser. Cohen recalled: "At home, we usually call him 'the sweetest man' (the sweetest man), he is very open-minded."

Cohen came of age during the turmoil of the 1960s in the United States. During this period, young people's rebellious behavior against moral and cultural constraints was quite popular. "I don't think there is any need to be rebellious. My parents are very open-minded." Cohen described the situation at the time. At Martin Van Buren Middle School, she participated in quite a few minor courses and was once selected as the "girl leader" of the club. In 1969, Cohen lived up to expectations and graduated in 12th place. At that time, there were 1,636 graduates in the university.

In the same year, Cohen was admitted to Cornell University, one of the few universities in the United States that allowed women to enroll. Despite this, female students are still in a relatively low status, ignored and even discriminated against. Her initial major choice was physics, but then she found that economics and computer science, which was in its "lactation period" at the time, were more desirable, so she resolutely changed her major. In her freshman year of college, she took a graduate-level computer course. At the end of the first class, the professor said to her, "I hope you won't come to class again." The reason was that she had never studied engineering and was not a graduate. He is not a male. "Although I am not a computer genius, I am as good as anyone else, and I will definitely pass this course." Cohen said this and did the same.

In 1973, after graduating from college, Cohen married her current husband, David Cohen. She then went on to study for a master's degree in economics while working as a research assistant in the government sector. After receiving her master's degree, she also considered continuing to study for a doctorate, but found that she seemed to prefer practical work in the financial market to theoretical research, so she gave up.

The first formal job Cohen got was as an economic analyst at T Rowe Price, a mutual fund management company that was performing quite well at the time. In the past 7 years, she has done a lot of homework in economic forecasting, and also learned to build some valuable economic models to predict the trends of the semiconductor industry and other high-tech industries.

While building her financial empire, Cohen also suffered discrimination. She likes to tell an anecdote about an event she attended at a New York University club when she was just starting out in her career. When the gatekeeper let all the men in, he blocked her out. He said: "Ladies are not allowed in." Cohen said that she would enter anyway, "If you want to stop me, just come up." She said. Cohen was the only woman at that club meeting.

In 1983, shortly after giving birth, Cohen, in her own words, "answered the call of Wall Street" and joined Drexel Burnham Lambert as a strategic analyst. The firm often gives an opportunity to people who are not the typical Wall Street stock analyst. At this time, she was 31 years old, and it was also the period of the great bull market triggered by the "baby boom". Cohen spent almost all her time at work, and she felt very fulfilled. In 1987, Cohen's work was recognized and he was successfully promoted to chief analyst.

In 1990, Drexel Burnham Lambert declared bankruptcy.

Cohen, not very wisely, chose to work for Barclays de Zoete Wedd, a merchant bank headquartered in London. Soon at the end of 1990, a turning point in her career came when Goldman Sachs invited her to join. Being a market analyst at Goldman Sachs is one of the most attractive positions on Wall Street. Cohen's sound economics background and her keen analysis of market fundamentals were the reasons why Goldman Sachs hired her. Einhorn, who is familiar with her work at Drexel, said: "We think she will be the most suitable candidate."

She did experience setbacks at first, though. Having just joined Goldman Sachs, a conservative and cautious firm, colleagues expected Cohen to tread carefully. When she first took office, Einhorn and she were both bearish on the stock market. Unexpectedly, the Dow Jones Industrial Index soared by 13 points at that time. She was a little frustrated by the bad start. Some of Cohen's initial reports frustrated some of Goldman's investment clients, but she soon began to rise to prominence.

Cohen’s performance has been outstanding since becoming chief analyst. By the end of 1996, Cohen's influence was unprecedentedly huge. Her views on the stock market, and even rumors, could cause considerable shock to the stock market. While many analysts were predicting consolidation, Cohen recommended a heavy position in stocks, and she was right. She did so because of high growth rates amid low inflation.

Today, Goldman Sachs has 11,000 employees, only 190 of whom are partners (this number has been widely reported and Goldman has never confirmed or clarified it). This team of partners participated in 76% of Goldman Sachs' pre-tax profits, and in 1997 the pre-tax profits once reached 30 million US dollars. Goldman Sachs holds a partner meeting every two years to select new partners.

As a rising star in the stock market, Cohen is even more shining now. In fact, Goldman Sachs became "Cohen's" in the eyes of many clients, featuring Cohn at events ranging from the launch of a subsidiary in Atlanta to high-level conferences in the Middle East.

In 2002, she was appointed as a governor of the Federal Reserve Board by President Bush.