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Synergist Senior Sound Bites - October 2021: 
Sonya Brown
General Partner, Norwest Venture Partners
B.S. Northwestern University, M.B.A Harvard Business School
Background
Sonya joined Norwest in 2011 and brings more than 20 years of investment experience to her role as General Partner and co-Head of the firm’s Growth Equity team. Based in Norwest’s Palo Alto office, Sonya is focused on growth equity and buyouts investing across a wide range of sectors with particular interest in consumer products and services, internet/eCommerce, retail, and business services. Her current investments include Forum Brands, Jolyn, Junk King, Kendra Scott (recapitalized by Berkshire Partners), MAËLYS, SENREVE, and SmartSign. Sonya is responsible for Norwest’s investments in PCA Skin (acquired by Colgate-Palmolive) Bailey 44 (acquired by Digital Brands Group) and The Learning Experience (acquired by Golden Gate Capital). She is a board observer at Madison Reed. Sonya holds a bachelor of science degree from Northwestern University and an MBA from Harvard Business School. 

What originally inspired you to make the jump into investing?
I actually knew I wanted to be on the investing side in college, but it was really a “Money and Banking” class I took at Northwestern which cemented my interest in investment banking after school with the broader goal of being on the investment side of the table in the long run. I’m still in touch with the professor who was responsible for how I initially thought about my career.
 
What is your favorite / most challenging part of the job?
For sure it's meeting the entrepreneurs and having the ability to meet such incredible people. Being involved and taking an active part of the journey is incredibly exciting.  A big challenge is certainly the increased competition. What is also challenging is managing through performance issues at companies. Trying to determine where the issue is whether it be the market, company, or team and then managing that issue.
 
What are some of the skills needed to be successful in investing?
Definitely a strong work ethic. In investing, you are on call 24/7. The job can be more flexible and rewarding as you get more senior compared to an investment banking role because you are not as client-facing so it’s different from that perspective. Investing is still a lot of work – you have to be involved in the issues with your portfolio companies (good or bad) and weekend and nighttime work is inevitable when you are in this kind of role – working through any issues a CEO might have.  
 
What advice you have for young women in investing?
Investment banking can be difficult, and I’ve seen a lot of women drop out of finance coming out of investment banking. My biggest advice would be to do the two years and then see if you can find a job on the buyside - it can be a very different job and can be more rewarding. I would love to see more women stay in finance after their banking roles and I think it’s important we support women to do so.
 
What is your advice for balancing personal life with work?
It is incredibly important to have the right partner and can make a big difference in if you feel supported and successful. Your expectations need to be aligned with your partner because I’ve had friends where they were not and that was challenging. I rely on my spouse to be a big part of the family operations because I think managing a career and family would be impossible as a single parent. I also think work life balance gets better as you become more senior. It can be difficult to manage your personal life with your work in the first few years of your career and I think that is true with other career paths as well. My dad is a doctor, so I think that had some impact on my thinking. His perspective has always been the similarities to medical training, you go to medical school and your life is busy while you are an intern and when you are a resident and coming up the ranks, but eventually you get to the other side of being a doctor and there is more balance to your life. Having that perspective has been helpful.
 
Where do you feel the industry is in terms of female support at the top?
I think it’s clearly gotten a lot better. The industry has come a long way in the last 5 to 10 years versus the first 5-10 years I was in the industry. There have been great initiatives around diversity and it’s a very different world today than it was 25 years ago. You are seeing more female investment banking MDs and partners and more women in CEO and CFO positions as well. The whole ecosystem has changed during this generation. The perception around women in these roles and being able to perform has dissipated. While we are doing a lot better, we can continue to improve. We need to focus on continuing to pull women through investment banking to the buyside.
 
What is your favorite book?
I'm kind of a finance history buff in a way, and there are two books I would mention. One book that is inspiring is Alpha Girls. It’s actually being made into a movie and the book highlights four women who are more on the venture side of investing and goes through the history of some big deals. I love the book because it not only goes into the stories of these great deals but also the female involvement in them. The other one, which was I read forever ago was Barbarians at the Gate. It is just such an interesting history read around a mega deal that had happened and the emergence of KKR in the world. It is exciting to learn about these prolific deals and the drama around them.
 
Anything else that I didn't touch on that you would like to share or highlight?
I’ve historically advised women regardless of where they are in their career or what industry, to seek out the men in their organization that have three daughters. Those men typically have daughters that go to college and reach a point where they are looking for jobs - the father realizes how different the world is for women. Those men will be your champion. Not necessarily your mentor/advisor, but your champion. Find ways to connect and get them involved and it will pay off.
 

Thank you for your time Sonya! To learn more about Norwest click here. 
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