Shelley Johnson

My career path has been driven by knowing what I wanted to accomplish and making bold moves to achieve it. I started in finance in New York City after graduating, working at Shawmett Trust Company as a cash manager running $4 billion in daily transactions. I then became an institutional broker on Wall Street, working on a trading floor with 400 men and only 4 women for 12-13 years. After that intense experience, I pursued my passion for film by attending NYU film school and earning a certificate, though I ultimately returned to finance. I spent 13 years at a hedge fund as a portfolio manager, where I also took over HR and management responsibilities along with accounting and bookkeeping. I then did restructuring work for a manufacturing firm in Minnesota for a year and a half before making a major life change. I was frustrated that I couldn't break into the startup world from the East Coast, so I packed up, sold half of everything I owned, kept my house, and moved to California's Bay Area because that's where the startup world is. I worked at a startup wearing many hats, which my finance degree enabled me to do, and I loved every minute of it even though it was exhilarating, thrilling, and really hard work. In 2023, I started my own consulting company, and for the last couple of years I've been consulting for various not-for-profits, startups, and other companies on financial, administrative, HR, and operational issues. Currently I'm juggling 3-plus clients on a 40 to 80 hour week, handling employee negotiations, contracting, HR investigations, and crisis management. Much of my work involves building HR infrastructure for organizations like museums that have never had formal processes in place, conducting company-wide surveys, and getting to know employees to understand how and why they work.