Jenny Zhao

Jenny Zhao is Associate Director, Communications at Social Finance, where she focuses on the website, conference speaking engagements for the CEO and other leaders, and managing communications for impact investments like Pay It Forward Funds and Career Impact Bonds. She managed the design and development of Social Finance’s new website and was editor of Workforce Realigned: How New Partnerships Are Advancing Economic Mobility, a book and podcast series by Social Finance and the Federal Reserve Banks of Atlanta and Philadelphia. She also launched the people of color affinity group at Social Finance and is a member of the firm’s DEI Action Committee.

Before joining Social Finance, Jenny led digital marketing for MIT Solve, a social innovation initiative based out of the President’s Office of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Jenny also worked in marketing for a variety of startups in Boston, including serving as Director of Digital Marketing for Clover Food Lab, a sustainable fast-casual chain with a mission to fight climate change. She also worked at the Harvard Business School Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness, managing a $4 million federal grant project with the U.S. Department of Commerce to promote regional economic development.

Jenny graduated with a B.A. in Women’s and Gender Studies from Dartmouth College. In her free time, she is a wildlife photographer and Instagram creator (@rogerandjennyphotography), capturing photos from her travels to shine a light on wildlife conservation. She won the United States National Award in the 2022 Sony World Photography Awards—her portrait of a polar bear cub in Arctic Canada was published in CNN and other media outlets and was displayed in exhibitions at Somerset House in London and the Museum of Photographic Arts in San Diego. Jenny was also a winner in the 2022 WWF Spain and Arvivid Nature & Wildlife Photography Contest, where her photo of two lions was displayed at a fundraiser for wildlife conservation in Madrid. Her work has also been published in National Geographic, BBC Earth, Sony Alpha, Smithsonian Magazine, The Nature Conservancy, Siena International Photo Awards, Mass Audubon, Africa Geo, Cape Cod Travel Guide, and more.

I'm grateful for the diversity of projects I get to work on at Social Finance—from working hand-in-hand with our CEO on her speaking engagements to collaborating with the New Jersey Governor's Office on an innovative workforce fund. I truly believe in our mission and appreciate that everything we do is data-driven and accountable for measurable outcomes.