Candace Singh From Goldman Sachs Vice President to Independent Filmmaker
By Jules Lavallee
Candace Singh is an independent filmmaker and founder of Emerald Tree Filmworks, a production company dedicated to telling stories about family, culture, and modern adulthood— often using dark humor to confront life’s hardest truths.
Before entering film, the former Goldman Sachs Vice President spent more than a decade on Wall Street determining which companies were worth backing. Then she made the biggest bet of her career on herself.
The loss of her grandmother during the COVID-19 pandemic became a turning point. Singh was struck by how fragile the connection to ancestral and cultural history can be, particularly when family stories and traditions depend on a shrinking circle of elders. When those voices disappear, pieces of that history can disappear with them. So, she decided to do something about it. She set out on a mission to write, produce, and direct stories rooted in her Guyanese heritage and family experiences she rarely saw authentically represented on screen.
That mission culminated in her debut professional short film, Once a Man, Twice a Child, which explores the role reversal between a young adult and an aging parent. Inspired by Singh’s relationship with her father, the film challenges conventional notions of independence and asks audiences to consider family responsibility not as a failure to launch, but as an expression of love and adulthood.
Determined to preserve the story’s cultural specificity, Singh took an unconventional approach to casting. After extensive searches failed to find actors who captured the authenticity she envisioned, she cast her actual father and uncle as brothers and herself as the daughter. She spent months working with them through improv sessions, observing their natural rhythms and reshaping scenes around their dynamic. The result became both a film and a living snapshot of her family.
She wrote, directed, and produced Once a Man, Twice a Child while working full-time at JPMorgan. After years of balancing two demanding careers, she left corporate for the second time in March 2026 to pursue filmmaking full-time.
Today, Singh is submitting Once a Man, Twice a Child to the international film festival circuit while developing a feature project that expands the world introduced in the short. Through Emerald Tree Filmworks, she is creating entertaining, emotionally resonant stories about immigrant families, multigenerational relationships, and the complicated realities of modern adulthood—stories designed to make audiences feel seen without feeling lectured. Her short film is only the beginning.
Singh brings to filmmaking the same conviction that shaped her career on Wall Street. Her roles at Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan gave her an unusually early view of companies and founders whose ideas would later become household names—including OpenAI and SpaceX. Watching ambitious founders turn improbable visions into reality reinforced a belief she ultimately applied to herself: a clear vision, pursued with conviction and anchored in her faith in God, can outrun the odds.
What led you to walk away from Wall Street to make films full-time?
Quitting corporate both times was tough; in each instance, I was juggling my filmmaking craft while holding demanding finance positions at Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan, respectively. Forgoing the safety of stable cash flows of a corporate job for the dream of a film career felt risky.
That risk was only amplified by the fact that I’d assumed the financial responsibility of retiring my parents. When my grandmother passed away during the pandemic, I insisted on my parents retiring early and enjoying their lives while still vital. So the stakes were high.
However, juggling both corporate and film at the same time was starting to meaningfully impede forward movement in my film career. During my first departure from corporate, I quit to get my reps in and hone the craft of filmmaking, including writing, directing, and producing. Then I returned to corporate and wrote, directed, produced, and acted in my first professional short film while juggling my full-time job.
My mission was to make the type of movie that I wanted to see, but could never find; a movie that unflinchingly immersed the viewer in the role-reversal experience of a young adult looking after a parent. I self-produced the project to ensure full-creative control.
I toiled over weekends, holidays, personal-days until I was 100% satisfied that my film matched my mind’s eye, but being relegated to spare time meant the short film took years to complete; years I’d never get back. As a young woman, who also has aspirations to get married and build her own family, I knew it was time to make hard choices about how to re-allocate my time or else I’d risk indecision dwarfing what I hoped to achieve. I had already made the choice to prioritize my career ahead of family-building, so, if I was going to make the sacrifice of my personal life worth it and not be left with a bunch of what-ifs, I knew I’d have to go all-in on film.
So I made my second departure from corporate in March 2026 and by the end of the same month I got a call from a friend to help out on his feature film set, which wrapped shooting in May.
What was your inspiration for “Once a Man, Twice a Child?” Take us through the themes of your film.
People of color are now the global majority, but mainstream Hollywood has failed to catch-up with its depictions of what those family structures often look like. This gap sparked my mission to make the type of movie that I wanted to see, but could never find; a movie that unflinchingly immersed the viewer in the role-reversal experience of a young adult looking after a parent. My story speaks to a wide swath of other young adults (twenty/thirty-somethings), like me, who have quietly assumed the responsibility of looking after their parents out of sheer love and gratitude for their parents’ sacrifices.
Many of these young adults either immigrated to America or are first generation. Amidst Western society’s blaring call for individualism, these young adults are often relegated to feeling “othered” for their gall to stay rooted at home because their collectivist family unit doesn’t fit neatly into Hollywood’s cookie-cutter picture of independent living. Some of these young adults may live in their childhood home and may either oversee their parents’ health or have taken over responsibility for the household finances. In Hollywood’s view, 20/30+ year olds living at home are labeled either as failed-to-launch moochers or overgrown children.
In stark contrast, what I see is the vision of my 20-something year-old cousin who rescued her dad from a heart attack by delivering life-saving chest compressions. I see the devotion of my 30-something year old cousin who visited the hospital daily for months while her mother was recovering from a heart transplant. I’m reminded of that time I was working a Wall Street all-nighter from my living room, and dropped everything to take my father to the ER when I heard his distressed cry from bed at 4am.I was born in NY and raised by Guyanese parents, who emboldened me to unapologetically think for myself. They encouraged me to feel safe challenging authority, which served me well given I process best when I have the freedom to ask questions from a variety of angles, to the chagrin of some of my past teachers and doctors. This same engrained dogma of challenging the status quo also carried over when watching television. I enjoyed watching the shows and movies that depicted young adults living either independently or with peers in the same age group as their “chosen” family, but I was always left hyper-aware that their way of life was not what I envisioned for myself. Contrary to popular opinion, my choice to live with my parents, is not a failure to launch/escape, but rather a choice to ensure they’re taken care of financially in gratitude for all they have given me, a choice to soak up all of my parents’ pearls of wisdom for the finite time we have on this earth, and a choice to be their best advocate at all of their doctor’s appointments, asking the hard-hitting questions and reporting the full truth of their symptoms.
Rather than encroach on my growth, my parents’ moral support was a major contributing factor to my career heights, whether it was my rise from Analyst to Vice President during consecutive years at Goldman Sachs or freeing up my bandwidth to juggle my full-time career at JPMorgan conducting due diligence of alternative investments while also writing, directing, producing, and acting in my first short film. Sure, increasing the number of adults in a household frees up time from a division of labor perspective, but that’s only a tiny piece of the big picture. It’s the small moments of human connection that have given me the strength to push through obstacles (whether it’s working a string of 24/7 days, battling office politics, etc.). It’s the joy from that shared family car ride to work or that shared family dinner. It’s a feeling of carrying your family everywhere you go; a feeling that ensures you never feel alone no matter the adversity you face.
In addition to my own lived-in experience, my 10+ years working forthe largest firms on Wall Street afforded me the opportunity to get to know team members across the globe (e.g. UK, Singapore, HK, Mumbai, Bangalore, etc). As both a screenwriter and due diligence expert, I’m uniquely positioned to identify common patterns across massive data sets. I discovered that many of my co-workers abroad share a common frustration of their family life feeling inscrutable or misunderstood via a Western lens, so rather than expose themselves to the judgment and potentially derisive comments, they’ve found that the less said during office small talk, the easier it is to get by.
So, to help bridge that knowledge gap, I’ve made it my mission to spotlight the stories of these 20 and 30-somethings who have assumed the responsibility of looking after their parents. My short film, Once A Man, Twice A Child, is an unapologetic portrayal of how I advocate on my father’s behalf when I accompany him on a doctor’s visit. The seemingly mundane doctor’s visit is perfectly representative of the push and pull of dynamics of living under the same roof. The good, the bad, and the ugly. I hope my short film can, at least in small part, help to illuminate how the other half lives, so that young adults similar to me find it easier to be fully ourselves in Western spaces; no explanation required.
Share the process as a new filmmaker. What challenges did you face?
My ultimate goal is to make the films that I want to see, rather than shaping my work around what I think the film festival circuit wants. My lane happens to be a family cringe comedy, so I don’t mind making people squirm. I aspire to reveal those emotionally raw moments that most families try so hard to conceal. So, for instance, I was never really someone who was excited to attend a dinner party, what fascinates me is what happens after the party wraps, after the guests leave and the family lets out a collective sigh of relief and drops the mask. I always asked myself, “What’s the family dynamic under the mask?”
When making a film, the first order of business is to tune into my vision for the story I want to tell; that vision will serve as my North Star throughout the various phases of the film’s production. The stronger my vision is, the easier it is to lead others to enhance it rather than dilute it. There are so many talented minds from different disciplines who come together to make a movie and being able to articulate my vision clearly helps everyone bring the full extent of their talent to the project. So, while I’m the keeper of the vision, I also give my cast and crew the freedom to be brilliant at what they’re brilliant at.
Once I lock into the story I want to tell, I iterate on the script until it aligns with the vision of the story in my head. Then it’s time to move into production and gather the resources necessary to shoot the film, including assembling the cast and crew. Collaboration is one of my favorite aspects of filmmaking. The extended periods of solitude and introspection during the writing process can be a little rough, but it all feels worth it when it comes time to collaborate with the cast and crew and I see the story resonate with them. There’s nothing more magical than bearing witness to art taking shape before your eyes and seeing people across a variety of disciplines come together and push themselves to the limit to create something greater than the sum of its parts.
Setbacks are a great opportunity to force honest introspection of your big picture vision; taking time for self-examination has often led me to re-calibrate and revise my gameplan to achieve a goal that is truer to myself. For instance, with respect to my completed short film, Once a Man, Twice a Child, conventional wisdom suggests that you should aspire to cast known actors to better the chances of your film making a splash. I searched far and wide, I leveraged casting directors and organized my own casting calls, but no one was able to capture the magic and cultural specificity of my Guyanese father and uncle. So, I ended up casting my actual father and uncle and I fostered an environment that would ensure their success. For instance, I cast myself in the role of the daughter to maximize my dad’s comfort. For months leading up to the shoot, I led improv sessions for my father and uncle; I observed their idiosyncrasies and reshaped my scenes to suit their natural inclinations and harnessed the full power of their 60+ years of brotherly chemistry. The final product was greater than I could have ever imagined; a living snapshot of our dynamic at this moment in time, that I will forever cherish.
What did Wall Street teach you?
I credit my conviction in my film career, not only to my supportive parents, but also to my time on the front lines greenlighting new business dealings/investments at Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan. Those positions were as close as one could get to time travel; they offered an advance read of the future, a first look at which changemaker companies earned Wall Street’s financial backing and were poised to transform industries and become household names years in advance (e.g. OpenAI/ChatGPT, SpaceX, etc). Each of these companies were founded by a person who dared to dream, and if these dreamers could transform their visions into a reality, their success affirmed that I could too.
Was leaving corporate America worth the risk?
Leaving corporate America has definitely been worth the risk. From the outside, I understand why my decision may appear risky, but there’s an element of information asymmetry: I have a firsthand understanding of what I bring to the table—my unique cultural worldview, business acumen, and fearless honesty—even if those qualities haven’t yet been broadly validated by the market. So, for me, leaving was never a blind leap; it was a calculated, informed risk.
I credit my resolve, not only to my supportive parents, but also to my time on the front lines greenlighting new business dealings/investments at Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan. Those positions were as close as one could get to time travel; they offered an advance read of the future, a first look at which changemaker companies earned Wall Street’s financial backing and were poised to transform industries and become household names years before the broader public caught on (e.g. OpenAI/ChatGPT, SpaceX, etc). Watching companies like OpenAI and SpaceX turn ambitious visions into reality reinforced that transformative ideas often look improbable before they look inevitable. In spite of that apparent improbability, each of these companies was founded by a person who dared to dream, and if these dreamers could transform their visions into a reality, their success affirmed that I could too.
For anyone considering leaving corporate America to pursue a creative path, my biggest piece of advice would be to trust your vision before the world validates it. Life is a lot like Wall Street: by the time everyone recognizes an opportunity, much of the upside has already been captured.
There are also a couple of pragmatic steps I’d recommend they consider before making the leap. First, if possible, try to pursue both paths simultaneously for a period of time. That gives you a realistic sense of what the creative path demands before you make it your full-time pursuit. Second, track your expenses and determine how much you need to save to remain financially solvent for an extended period. And don’t forget to budget for contingencies. The goal isn’t to eliminate risk; it’s to understand the risk well enough that you can move forward with conviction.
Tell us about Emerald Tree Filmworks and your vision for the future.
My short film, Once A Man, Twice A Child, is just the beginning. I’m currently submitting my short to the international film festival circuit. It was a hard-fought project that I wrote, directed, and produced while working full-time in alternative investments at JPMorgan. The film is especially close to my heart because it’s based on my relationship with my father; I also acted in it alongside my father and uncle. I’m now developing my feature project, which expands upon the world introduced in the short.
My film production company, Emerald Tree Filmworks, specializes in family cringe comedy. I think that by embracing the fact that every family is a little dysfunctional, I can make audiences feel seen and less alone—and hopefully help them find the humor in it.
In the long term, I want my films to transcend borders and serve as a vehicle for bringing people across the globe together through a shared cultural experience. I aspire to recapture the days when a piece of entertainment was a genuinely global or national event—Michael Jackson’s 1993 Super Bowl performance, Live Aid, or the collective suspense around “Who Shot J.R.?” Those moments brought millions of people, across different backgrounds and borders, into the same cultural conversation at the same time. That’s the dream: to create new moments like those—stories that people experience together and that become part of our shared cultural memory.
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