Early Life and Education
Laurene Powell was born on November 6, 1963, in West Milford, New Jersey. She pursued higher education at the University of Pennsylvania, earning a B.A. in political science and a B.S. in economics in 1985. She furthered her education by obtaining an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business in 1991.
Career
Before her MBA, Powell Jobs worked at Merrill Lynch Asset Management and Goldman Sachs. In the 1990s, she co-founded Terravera, a natural foods company. Following her husband Steve Jobs's death in 2011, she inherited shares in Apple and Disney, which significantly contributed to her wealth. She is the founder and president of Emerson Collective, an organization focused on investing in entrepreneurs and innovators in education, immigration reform, media, journalism, and conservation. Through Emerson Collective, she owns The Atlantic.
Philanthropy
Laurene Powell Jobs is deeply involved in philanthropy. In 1997, she co-founded College Track, a non-profit organization aimed at improving high school graduation and college enrollment rates for students from underserved communities. She is also the co-founder and chair of XQ Institute, which focuses on rethinking American high schools. In 2021, she announced the creation of the Waverley Street Foundation, committing $3.5 billion over ten years to address climate change.