Sofia Jiang, a 23-year-old marketer and founder based in New York, quit investment banking. She left Morgan Stanley just four months after starting there because it did not fit her “larger goal”.
Jiang told Business Insider that the prestigious role didn't align with her actual goals. She eventually wanted to learn how to run a business.
Jiang studied business and global affairs at Georgetown University. She completed a dual degree programme alongside various internships during college.
Her first internship was at Diane von Furstenberg, where she worked on brand partnerships. She enjoyed this role but wanted a deeper understanding of the business.
During her studies, significant hype surrounded investment banking as a career path. Jiang found the industry's atmosphere intriguing and its financial security.
She secured a summer internship at Morgan Stanley during her junior year. This led to a full-time return offer before graduation, relieving her considerably.
While interning, Jiang struggled to find affordable, low-maintenance work clothes she liked. This difficulty sparked her idea for a clothing brand called SofSet.
She recognised building brand awareness would prove genuinely challenging. Jiang started posting content on TikTok targeting her future customer base.
She created ‘Day in My Life’ videos, first at Georgetown, then in banking. These videos performed remarkably well, gaining significant online traction.
Jiang built a TikTok following, exceeding 30,000 people over time. She continued designing her brand quietly alongside her banking job.
“Every piece of content I post is what I think my brand's target audience would be interested in,” she told the publication.
After realising that Morgan Stanley wasn't right for her, Jiang felt genuinely conflicted. She worried that staying longer would make leaving progressively harder.
“I knew that if I stayed longer, I'd be more afraid because I would have sacrificed two years of my life and delayed working toward my larger goal,” she said.
Jiang consulted friends but ultimately trusted her own judgement instead. According to her, everyone follows a different, individual career path.
Around this time, her content's success caught a friend's attention. Myles, a startup founder, needed marketing help at his small company.