Damsel in Distressed: My Life in the Golden Age of Hedge Funds

by Dominique Mielle

Overview

The hedge fund industry is a boys’ club, with hardly any female success stories to turn to. Damsel in Distressed is one of those rare, humorous, and inspiring stories.

In 1998, Dominique Mielle joined Canyon Partners—a small, little-known hedge fund. The job was trading distressed securities and high yield bonds, known back then, respectively, as vulture investing and junk bonds.

Over the span of two decades, she rose to the top of the firm as the only female partner and senior portfolio manager—in what became one of the largest hedge funds in the U.S. Damsel in Distressed explores the innerworkings of hedge funds while exposing what it takes to succeed as a woman investor.

“Damsel in Distressed is an often-hilarious romp through the jungles of high finance...I suspect it will become a classic of the genre.” —Wall Street Journal

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781642939729
Publisher:	Post Hill Press
Publication date:	09/07/2021
Pages:	208
Sales rank:	1,092,613
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

One of the only senior women in the hedge fund business, Dominique Mielle was a partner and portfolio manager at Canyon Capital, a $25 billion fund, where she worked for twenty years. Ms. Mielle was a contributing author to “Security Analysis, 7th Edition” by Graham and Dodd. She was named one of the “50 Leading Women in Hedge Funds” by The Hedge Fund Journal in association with EY in 2017. She is a Forbes contributor and serves on the board of several public corporations.

Editorial Reviews

One of the first woman traders in the hedge fund industry has written a lively and witty memoir that captures what it’s like to work—and succeed—in the male-dominated eat-what-you-kill profession.

Hedge Fund Alert

Damsel in Distressed is an often-hilarious romp through the jungles of high finance...I suspect it will become a classic of the genre.

Wall Street Journal

"With her impeccable style, good humor, and an immigrant's common sense, Dominique Mielle treats us to her story—how she made money, and her mark, as one of the country's few women hedge fund investors. A funny, fearless frolic."

Meridee Moore

"Dominique Mielle delivers a witty and inspiring must-read primer on hedge funds. To any woman considering a finance career, and to anyone invested or interested in hedge funds...read this book."

Mariam Naficy

"Dominique Mielle tells the story of her hedge fund career with humor and élan, in a way that illuminates both twenty years of hedge fund history and what it took to be one of the few women of her generation to reach the top ranks of finance."

Professor Jonathan Levin

"A funny account of the inner workings of the hedge fund industry from a unique female voice, helpful to both asset management practitioners and aspiring investment professionals."

Simon Lack

"This is a witty and wise story of a woman who found success and satisfaction working as an investor in the pointy-end of the finance industry—hedge funds. Dominique tells it all, in a way that entertains and inspires both the veteran investor and the aspiring novice."

Amanda Pullinger

"Mielle offers an insider's view of what it's like to be a woman hedge fund manager in an industry overwhelmingly dominated by men. Over a twenty-year career, she describes rising through the ranks to Partner of a $24 billion hedge fund complex with a combination of intelligence, hard work, and an unwillingness to be minimized by genderism."

Scott Richland