78. What It Takes to Become the Most Powerful Woman on Wall Street Feat. Zoe Cruz

The Wall Street Skinny

Today we are speaking with Zoe Cruz, who was the Head of the Fixed Income Division at Morgan Stanley when Jen started her career as a summer intern back in 2005, and who ultimately went on to become President of the firm when Kristen started full-time at MS in 2007. She rose to the absolute upper echelons of high finance at a time when it was virtually unheard of for a woman to reach that level of leadership.
Zoe has an incredible story. She started her Wall Street career as a young mother and built the FX business from scratch at one of the world's most elite investment banks. Zoe was at one point ranked number 10 on the Forbes list of the world’s top 100 most powerful women, has previously topped Fortune magazine’s list of highest paid women in the world, has served on countless boards and advisory councils, started a macro hedge fund (cue Elle Woods…”I mean, what, like it’s hard?”), and she is currently the founder and CEO of Menai Financial Group, a firm focused on the world of “defi” (or decentralized finance).
Our conversation with Zoe is both a candid look at evolving gender roles on Wall Street and an exciting glimpse into "the next big thing" in finance from the perspective of one of the industry's biggest trailblazers.

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