Her Childhood Poverty Made Her a Financial Powerhouse
I always felt very insecure financially as a child. I was desperate to understand money. I was desperate to be secure, because I always felt like the rug could be pulled from under me.
— Mellody Hobson
Mellody Hobson grew up poor. Her family was evicted and, more than once, had the lights and phone service turned off because her single mother hadn't been able to pay the bills.
Today, she’s one of the most influential women in finance: Co-CEO and President of Ariel Investments, which manages $14 billion, and a board director at JPMorgan Chase. She made history as the first Black woman to chair an S&P 500 company when she took the helm at Starbucks.
She’s also married to George Lucas, creator of Star Wars and Indiana Jones, and together they’re building the Museum of Narrative Art on 11 acres in downtown Los Angeles.
Sometimes I feel like I could have been a Depression-era person, just because of my need to make sure that l'm conservative in how I think about money.
— Mellody Hobson
That mindset shaped her investment approach. When markets sank after President Trump’s tariff announcements in 2018, Hobson bought in hard. What's more conservative than buying stocks when they're cheap?
We have been buying value throughout the difficulty and doubling and tripling down on stocks that have been the most affected. In the shorter term it may not look that smart. When you look at the longer term, you see the merits of our approach.
— Mellody Hobson
She was right. As of July 31, 2025, Ariel's Small Cap Value Concentrated fund was up 2.27%, versus -4.27% for the benchmark index, the Russell 2000® Value Index.
Hobson wants other children to know the things about money that she wishes she had known. Her 2024 bestselling children’s book, Priceless Facts about Money, is a great way to teach the young people in your life how money really works.
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