Seema Amble, 32, Andreessen Horowitz

Seema Amble would be forgiven for not becoming a doctor. Both of her parents, born in India, counted themselves as such, and there wasn’t a lot of finance talk at home. But Amble was largely interested in government and politics throughout high school and into college at Harvard, and that soon morphed into a fascination with financial technology. 

At Harvard, she began to recognize the global nature of economics, studying trade flows, global migration patterns, and development, and her curiosity was piqued. She joined Blackstone’s financial-institutions group after graduation, back when the private-equity firm had an advisory arm. (She also interned at Goldman Sachs during her sophomore year at Harvard.)

After two years at Blackstone, she jumped to Altamont Capital Partners, a middle-market private-equity shop, to get more operational experience. In her time between jobs, she worked at a venture fund in India. While at Altamont, Amble was approached to help build an insurance business in Ghana. It was a perfect fit — she wrote her college thesis on how families in South Africa were able to smooth their income, a practice akin to insurance. 

In 2013, Amble returned to the states to sign up at Harvard Business School. By the time she left in 2017, Amble had also gotten her law degree. Despite the added workload, Amble was named a prestigious Baker Scholar, the highest academic award given by the school. She also spent time working for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. 

From Harvard, Amble joined Goldman Sachs Investment Partners, the firm’s growth-equity team, out of San Francisco. One of her tasks for Goldman was to lead their activities in Latin America, where she saw tremendous opportunities for the democratizing force of financial services. In August, Amble joined Andreessen Horowitz as a partner to focus on fintech.

“Life is long, and you put together interesting experiences that make you a smarter, more well-rounded person,” she said, explaining her career progression.