I founded Invest Vegan after more than a decade working in the investment profession. When I was just nineteen years old, I got a job helping a small team at Oppenheimer & Company optimize its trading models. 

That was in June of 2007, which means that I experienced the financial crisis firsthand. The profound conflicts of interest that are still endemic to most investment firms manifested in more forms than I could count. And I began dreaming of building a better place for people to entrust their hard-earned money. 

So, after a short period working for a Bangalore-based family office, I joined the New York office of CFA Institute, a global nonprofit association of investment professionals that had just rededicated itself to building a more forward-thinking financial industry for the ultimate benefit of society. 

My primary focus was on understanding “cutting edge” tools and techniques and explaining them to the organization’s 170,000+ dues-paying members worldwide. In other words, I was paid to learn and write about newfangled concepts like sustainable investing. 

After authoring hundreds of articles, a few courses, and even a textbook, I began thinking back to my earliest days in the industry. My dream of building a firm that people could trust to manage their money without moral compromise had only grown more important. And just like that, Invest Vegan LLC was born.  

If you’d like to learn more about how this journey shaped my investment philosophy, click here.