Mellody Hobson Mellody Hobson was born in Chicago, Illinois. She attended St. Ignatius College Prep high school, and Princeton University, where she graduated from Princeton’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1991. After her graduation from Princeton, Hobson joined Ariel Investments (one of the largest African American-owned money management and mutual fund companies in the United States) as an intern. There she gradually ascended the corporate ladder from her position as an intern, to become the firm’s senior vice president and director of marketing; and in 2000, Hobson became the President of Ariel, managing over $10 billion in assets. Owing to her exceptional leadership, Hobson serves on the board of several organizations, including the the Chicago Public Education Fund, Chicago Public Library, and the Sundance Institute. She is a director of the Starbucks Corporation, The Estée Lauder Companies Inc., Dreamworks Animation…