Wonder Women of the Week: Julissa Arce

Name: Julissa Arce

Occupation: Development Director

Super Power: Unparalleled Ambition

Only 350 summer analysts are chosen by Goldman Sachs out of 17,000 applicants. Women do this battle knowing that 9 out of 10 executive officers are men. Julissa Arce, an undocumented immigrant, was one of the chosen ones.

Over her seven years at Goldman Sachs, Arce rose from intern to analyst, associate, then vice president, later becoming a director at Merrill Lynch. While her unparalleled drive and ambition led others to believe that nothing could get in her way, she lived in constant fear that her forged paperwork would be discovered. After marrying her college boyfriend and obtaining a green card, she quit the industry and decided to pursue her passion of advocating for immigrant rights.

Now a US citizen, Julissa is currently the development director of Define America, a nonprofit that pushes for rights for undocumented immigrants. While there is a still ways to go, she’s proud to say she’s at least earned the respect of Goldman Sachs’ Chief Executive Officer Lloyd Blankfein who stated, “Wouldn’t it be great if we could give a home to more of the talented young people who come to this country for an education and want to apply their energy and skills to supporting our economy?”.