She was born the youngest of 6 children to a single mother in Chicago, Illinois. Her mother worked in real estate and supported the family by buying, renovating and selling old houses. Hobson attended a private school and then went on to study at Princeton University.
She started working at Ariel Investment soon after she graduated in 1991. By the year 2000, she had worked through the ranks to become the President of Ariel Investment, the title she still holds today. There are only 7 minority CEOs in the Fortune 250 and of thousands of publicly traded companies, only two are chaired by black women and she is one of them. In addition to this, she is the chairman of the Board for DreamWorks Animation SKG, Inc. as well as a director of the Estée Lauder Companies Inc. and Starbucks Corporation.
As if all these roles weren't tasking enough, she also functions as a board member of the Lucas Cultural Arts Museum, The Chicago Public Education Fund, Sundance Institute and is on the executive committee of the Investment Company Institute's board of governors. She also chairs a non-profit called After School Matters which provides out-of-school-time programmes to young teens in Chicago.
Hobson is married to world-renowned director and producer George Lucas and they have a daughter together. Her ability to successfully wear many hats efficiently and elegantly is the reason why she is being featured as a FABspiration. She just shows that with hard work and ambition, there are no limits to what you can do. I totally loved hearing her inspiring stories and experiences at TED which you can watch here. Also, if you have any investment questions, you can send her an email and watch her helpful videos here.
* If you'd like to feature or know someone who should be featured as a FABspiration on fab.me, send an email to mo@fab.me with the title 'Features'.
