Jalen Desravines
Role: Alternative Capital Markets Analyst (current), Private Wealth Management Analyst (prior role)
“ Know when you know something—and be willing to tell a 20-year veteran, ‘I’m right, and here’s the research.”
NUFRIEND
Jalen Desravines is a mission-driven wealth-management professional whose journey stretches from Long Island’s tight-knit streets to Cornell University’s Ivy-League halls and, today, to Goldman Sachs Private Wealth Management in Philadelphia.
Roots & early grit
Born in Brooklyn and raised in Baldwin, NY, Jalen grew up in a home that balanced Haitian and Panamanian traditions with a fierce emphasis on education and sport. After noticing that nearby high-schools would not push him far enough, his mother steered him toward top boarding-school programs. The transition wasn’t seamless—freshman-year grades lagged and discipline was strict—but repeating junior year at Loomis Chaffee became the turning point. Jalen founded Brothers in Unity to boost Black male achievement, discovered mentors who modelled excellence, and graduated with the confidence that discipline closes the gap between potential and performance.
Ivy League mindset
At Cornell, Jalen majored in Economics, but COVID lockdowns nudged him from theory to markets: he began trading indices, gold and silver, and joined BlackGen Capital, Cornell’s first minority-owned investment fund. Ten weeks of rigorous “analyst boot camp” in valuation and stock-pitching prepared him for a sophomore-summer rotation across foreign-exchange, cash-equity and options desks at UBS.
From trading floors to family balance-sheets
Exposure to markets was energising, yet Jalen sensed a bigger calling: guiding families through generational wealth decisions. A five-week Goldman Sachs Possibility Summit fast-tracked him into a private-wealth internship, where he fell in love with the advisory side—asset-allocation, tax-aware strategies, estate planning and access to alternatives. He accepted a full-time analyst offer before senior year.
What he does today
Client care: models cash-flow scenarios, executes tax-efficient trades and fields day-to-day questions for ultra-high-net-worth households.
Team efficiency: rebuilds legacy processes so new members inherit clean data and clear playbooks.
Business development: converts prospect statements into transition analyses that showcase Goldman’s in-house active management and alternatives platform, helping advisors win new mandates.
Beyond the desk
A lifelong poet, former two-sport athlete and proud member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Jalen channels his voice into mentorship. He regularly speaks with Cornell students, emphasizing three pillars: come prepared, choose friends who sharpen you, and maintain two-way mentorships.
Perspective
Working with multi-million-dollar families has sharpened his conviction that America’s historic wealth transfer must include Black and Brown households. He sees his own seat as a platform to democratize estate literacy—starting with his family, then rippling outward.
Jalen,
Welcome to the Industry.
Welcome to NUFRIENDS.
