Introducing Kristen & Jen
OUR STORY
Lifelong Friends.
Two Sides of Wall Street
Kristen and Jen are lifelong friends who come from two different sides of Wall Street — Kristen from banking and corporate finance, Jen from markets and fixed income. What started as a way to demystify the Street for the next generation has morphed into the go-to resource for people already working in the industry. From deep dives using HBO’s hit show Industry to break down complex topics through a storytelling lens — to interviews with the biggest names in finance, one thing runs through every piece of content they make: they have fun.
- 5+ YEARS ON WALL STREET
- 9+ YEARS IN THE FINANCE INDUSTRY
- 10+ YEARS TEACHING FINANCE
- 5+ YEARS ON WALLSTREET
- 9+ YEARS IN THE FINANCE INDUSTRY
- 10+ YEARS TEACHING FINANCE
CO-FOUNDER
Kristen Kelly
Kristen has spent over 15 years working and teaching on Wall Street. After graduating from Brown University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Biomedical & Mechanical Engineering and a Master’s Degree in Innovation, Management and Entrepreneurship (PRIME), she started her career at Morgan Stanley in New York City. Kristen worked in the Fixed Income Sales & Trading Division on the CDO Structuring desk, on the Equity Linked Products and Project Finance desks in Global Capital Markets, and in the Financial Sponsors Group within the Investment Banking Division.
Because her passion has always been teaching, Kristen brought her talents to a financial education firm. She spent over a decade at Training The Street, a leading global financial training firm before exiting to start The Wall Street Skinny with her best friend, Jen. She has spent over 10,000 hours training incoming analysts and associates at top tier investment banks, private equity mega funds, Fortune 500 companies, universities, and business schools all over the world. Kristen is obsessed with breaking down complex financial concepts and teaching them in the most fun and effective ways.
EDUCATION
2002 - 2006
Brown University
Bachelor of Science, Mechanical Engineering and Biomedical Engineering
2006 - 2007
Brown University
Master of Science in Innovation, Management and Entrepreneurship
- MOM OF THREE GIRLS AND A BOY
- BASED IN BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS
- VETERAN OF 2 FINANCIAL CRISES
- 20+ YEARS working and teaching in high finance
CO-FOUNDER
Jen Saarbach
Jen has spent over a decade working and teaching on Wall Street. After graduating from Princeton University with a degree in English Literature, Jen leveraged her summer internship in Fixed Income Sales & Trading to land a full time job as an Interest Rates Derivatives specialist at Lehman Brothers. Jen spent the remainder of her career at Barclays Capital and Morgan Stanley, where she covered some of the world’s largest hedge funds, asset managers, bank portfolios, mortgage servicers, pension funds, and insurance companies.
As someone who entered the financial services industry without a background in finance, Jen is passionate about democratizing access to Wall Street for EVERYONE. Co-founding The Wall Street Skinny with her best friend, Kristen, has enabled her to share her knowledge and expertise with the next generation. Jen brings her creativity, wit, and passion for storytelling to high finance in ways that have never been done before.
EDUCATION
2002 - 2006
Princeton University
Bachelor of Arts in English Language and Literature
- MOM OF TWO BOYS
- BASED IN CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA
- VETERAN OF 2 FINANCIAL CRISES
- 20 YEARS working & TEACHING IN FINANCE & REAL ESATE
PLACES WE’VE TAUGHT
OUR MISSION
Distilling the Complexities of Wall Street and Finance
Without great mentors and teachers in our lives, we would have missed the opportunity to work on Wall Street and all the wonderful things that came from it.
We don’t want that to happen to you.
We want to share that opportunity with EVERYONE who is smart, hardworking, and curious.
That’s why we are bringing access to the education, insight, and technical skills that will help open those doors regardless of your background, knowledge, or experience level.
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Insider-level deal analysis and market breakdowns you won’t get from the financial press– plus interviews with the smartest minds in finance in a way that’s fun to read.