Investors are facing one of the most challenging backdrops in recent years

amid slowing economic growth, rising inflation, and geopolitical conflicts.

I'm Allison Nathan and this is exchanges at Goldman Sachs, great investors.

In this special series, Allison Mass, chairman of our investment banking division, and Katie Koch, Chief Investment Officer of Public

Equities in our Asset Management Division, speak with the world's most respected investors

about their investing strategies, career trajectories, and their outlook for markets and economies.

I recently sat down with Allison Mass, who shared highlights from her conversation with Tara

Aladeff, a partner at

Pramera, a global investment firm based in London.

Tara Olladeff focuses on investments

in the consumer sector and has worked on transactions

across a variety of brands, retailers, and digital companies.

Allison, what are some of the points that stood out to you the most during your conversation?

Well, I have to say I was fascinated by a couple of things that Tara said. The first was that she had started in the industry during the global financial crisis.

So she joined private equity in 2008.

And I just loved her glasses half full attitude about that

because people can say, gee, I started in the industry at a very, very difficult time.

And you know what she said is if you start in a golden

period you know you can mistake luck and a rising tide for skill and what she

says as she looks back on it you you know, she was living the downside cases, not just doing the downside cases and she saw people living day to day through literally not having growth in their firms but having declines and in some

cases no business and she said it was just so much better living in the reality of it

than in an academic case.

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