The internet has become captivated by a booming genre of content: corporate professionals sharing day-in-the-life TikToks that chronicle their aspirational lifestyles. Allison Sheehan pulled back the curtain on her routine, sharing videos of her mornings making elaborate cakes before her day job as a wealth manager kicked in. Her double life as the “Investment Baker” led to the end of her Wall Street career, but also marked the beginning of her next act as a founder.
It was 2024, and Sheehan was juggling her wealth-management day job at Goldman Sachs with a budding baking presence on social media. She would document the intensity of her days; 5 a.m. wake-ups leading straight into whipping buttercream, frosting tiered heart-shaped cakes, and filming content before picking up her shift at an undisclosed company. At that time, she had around 1,000 social media followers and a growing list of notable clientele—including Goop, Valentino, Love Shack Fancy, Brooke Shields, and Gigi Hadid.
The Gen Zer was baking and selling three cakes a week, posting content to a growing community of viewers. But after one year into her content creation, she says Goldman Sachs’ compliance team brought her in for a hard talk: taking issue with Sheehan’s use of the word “investment” in her TikTok and Instagram handles, the firm instructed her to take down every post on both accounts. Goldman’s exact social media rules aren’t public, but the company’s code of business conduct and ethics instructs employees to “exercise good judgement” and avoid making content that “can reflect negatively on the firm.”
