How Wall Street’s rising stars are networking beyond the golf course

• It’s not just golf — some of Wall Street’s rising stars are networking over mahjong and Barry’s.
• We asked rising finance stars about the hobbies and habits they’ve picked as they’ve climbed the ranks.
• From wine tastings to runs, here’s what they told us.

When Kate Casey had to choose between golf and mahjong as an activity at a work conference, she tried her hand at the popular Chinese tile game.

“It’s become really important to relationship building,” the KKR principal and infrastructure investor told Business Insider.

Casey has since become a regular player. The 32-year-old likes that the game combines strategy and luck, appealing to her analytical side while leaving some things to chance. She’s even convinced her husband to take it up.

In the cutthroat world of Wall Street, free time can be hard to come by. And in an industry where relationships are critical, even hobbies can become another avenue to get ahead.

We asked Business Insider’s Rising Stars of Wall Street about the hobbies and habits they’ve picked up as they’ve climbed the ranks. While some, like Casey, found new interests that doubled as networking opportunities, others have blended existing hobbies into their professional lives. A few have developed habits that help them disconnect from work.

Picking up new sports

lue Owl’s Diana Liu learned to ski as an adult, which has been useful for many work-related trips on the slopes.

“I grew up in a position where I wouldn’t have been able to do any of these hobbies, so it’s been very helpful to learn for work,” the 33-year-old data centers investor said.

She’s also trying her hand at golf, but hasn’t been as successful. “I have one of the two things that people like doing on Wall Street,” she joked.

Another rising star found that picking up a new sport can be good for making connections, even if mastering it takes some practice.

Mussie Tizazu, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation’s head of CLO origination and financing, has picked up padel and is planning some client events around it. However, he said he’s struggling to unlearn habits he has from playing squash.

“I can’t say I’m any good yet, but it’s a fun time, and a lot of clients have been getting into it,” he said.

Evercore banker Jim Tilson has also taken up squash because it’s easier to fit into his busy schedule.

“If I could be golfing every day, I would,” he said. But with a one-year-old daughter at home, spending hours on the golf course isn’t always practical. With squash, he said, “you can be in and out in an hour.”

Bringing your ‘full self’

Goldman Sachs managing director Mike Washington has taken up studying wine “extensively,” he told Business Insider, and, earlier this year, combined a fireside chat with a wine tasting.

“People make fun of me for picking up hobbies,” the 32-year-old equity salesbroker said. “As a person that’s dealing with clients every day, what better way to truly connect with people than hobbies?”

He sees it as a way to bring his “full self” to work every day. But blending business and pleasure has also had its consequences. Three years ago, the former Princeton basketball player tore his shoulder playing basketball with clients and needed surgery. That experience led him to find a less injury-prone pastime.

“During that process, I found golf,” he said.

Allie Becher, 30, has also found ways to bring her personal interests into the workplace without having to pick up anything new. The Citadel Securities sales trader told Business Insider that she’s always been a big hoster, and she’s now applied that to her job. She’s started a macro dinner series with portfolio managers who “now all get along really well, and it’s created some good connectivity.”

She also organized Barry’s Bootcamp workouts with clients, teammates, and the head of her business.

Finding time to disconnect

Then there’s the cohort that’s picked up new habits and hobbies to carve out more time for themselves.

David Oppenheim, 35, has made a big adjustment to his schedule: becoming a morning person.

Oppenheim, a self-described night owl, said he’s embraced waking up early to exercise and get a head start on his day, something he never imagined doing a decade ago. The Evercore managing director even set up a home gym, which makes it easier to maintain the habit during the winter months.

“My wife teases me that I no longer have an excuse not to,” he said.

For other rising stars, running has become an important way to clear their heads.

Bank of America’s Cody Kiechle started running regularly during the pandemic and has kept it up as a way to escape the stresses of his day-to-day job.

Maya Venkatraman, meanwhile, said running has been a constant throughout her career, helping her maintain perspective during particularly demanding stretches at work. It’s also when the 34-year-old Morgan Stanley managing director does some of her best thinking.

“A lot of the time it’s my best problem-solving time,” she said. “I get a little bit of distance from the immediate problem, and, you know, just somehow that’s when the ideas appear.”