Author Talk: Carrie Sun, "Private Equity"

Darien Library and Barrett Bookstore welcome debut author, Carrie Sun, who will talk about her memoir, Private Equity.  Carrie will be in conversation with Darien resident, Doug Kline, a professional with 35 years of experience in the financial industry.

The memoir is an insider's perspective on high finance, and shines a light on the lives of Wall Street’s top tier – and the intense pressure put on those who work for them.

At twenty-nine, Carrie Sun was offered a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity—a position working directly for the billionaire founder of one of the most prestigious and well-known hedge funds in the world.

Peers and headhunters called it “the best job out there.” Managing the work life of someone so influential would give her incredible exposure and skills and offered something different from her previous job as an analyst. Though overqualified (Sun had graduated from MIT with two bachelors—math and finance—and a minor—economics—in three years and had climbed the ladder at Fidelity Investments already), she began the hiring process. Only fourteen interviews and ten references later, she was in.

Sun’s stunning, fever-pitch memoir not only chronicles her experience within the instant tornado of information, colossal expectations, packed schedules, 24/7 accountability, normalized last-second changes to plans (all set to world-class standards), but, more importantly, provides a searing examination of our relationship to achievement, family, labor, the promise and destructive power of money, and the illusiveness of our own identity.

About the Author

Carrie Sun was born in China and raised in Michigan. She holds an MFA in creative writing from The New School. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband. Private Equity is her first book.

About Doug Kline

Doug Kline recently retired from a 35-year career on Wall Street. He worked at large sell-side firms including Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan, Montgomery Securities and Deutsche Bank. He spent 10 years on the buy-side as one of the original employees at a large equity long / short-focused hedge fund and most recently spent over 10 years as Chief Operating Officer at a sizable Single Family Office. Doug holds BA from Middlebury College. In retirement Doug is reading more and just might try his hand at writing too!