Goldman Sachs compliance team pressed a wealth manager to remove her “Investment Baker” posts, and she left to build a cake brand

A wealth-management employee who documented her mornings baking elaborate cakes under the nickname “Investment Baker” says Goldman Sachs compliance staff stepped in repeatedly over her social media branding, and that the pressure ultimately ended her Wall Street career. In interviews, Allison Sheehan described filming cake-making content on TikTok and Instagram while working in wealth management, mixing a day-in-the-life routine with a distinctive moniker that suggested finance as part of the storyline.

Sheehan’s account centers on what she says was a specific objection to the word “investment” appearing in her public handles. She told Fortune that after about a year of posting, Goldman’s compliance team brought her in for a “hard talk,” saying the use of “investment” in her TikTok and Instagram handles raised concerns. According to her description, she was instructed to take down every post on both accounts.

When she paused, she said she did so out of fear that she was already in trouble, even though her colleagues were reportedly supportive and treated her baking as a fun counterpoint to her job. She later moved to restore her content because she wanted to show her entrepreneurial track record while pursuing further education, but she said the issue returned only months later.

According to the same reporting, Sheehan ultimately decided to quit after a second round of contact from compliance. Fortune reported that, after she unarchived the posts, Goldman’s compliance team came back again and she decided she was done with the job. She then redirected her attention to her cake business and what she described as a broader plan to build a consumer packaged goods, or CPG, brand.

Goldman Sachs has publicly described expectations for employees’ communications and online conduct, including the idea that individuals are not anonymous online and that writing or commenting in ways that could reflect on the firm should be avoided. In a Goldman Sachs “Code of Ethics” filing posted on the SEC website, the firm says “poor communication” can expose employees and the firm to legal and reputational risk, and that posts and other actions can “reflect negatively on the firm.” The code also prohibits writing or commenting on the firm’s products or services or providing financial advice through personal social media.

That broader compliance framework helps explain why banks and wealth managers often police what employees do and how they present themselves online. Goldman’s social media-related materials also emphasize that its online communities are public and that third-party content and views are not endorsements by the firm. Even when content is not financial advice and does not disclose confidential information, firms commonly focus on the risk of consumer confusion, perceived association, and potential conflicts between outside interests and employee responsibilities.

Goldman Sachs did not publicly detail the specific internal policy or the precise compliance determination at issue in Sheehan’s situation in the reporting available here. The public code language does not mention the “Investment Baker” handle or the word “investment” in particular, and the firm’s exact reasons for requiring removals were not made available. As a result, the details of what Goldman believed was at stake, such as whether its concern was brand association only or involved other compliance issues, remain uncertain.

Now, Sheehan is building what she described as her dessert business, including a planned path to Alleycat Baking Co. and a move to concentrate on her brand while pursuing her MBA at Northwestern. The next test will be whether her CPG and retail expansion can be executed without running into the same kind of brand and compliance friction that she says followed her finance-adjacent identity online, and whether future employees at major firms interpret “investment” language as a bright-line trigger in social media branding.