Andrew Yang is an American entrepreneur, author, former corporate lawyer, and former 2020 American Presidential candidate. Before his Presidential ambition, he worked with Venture for America as the founder and CEO and also worked with a startup company known as Manhattan Prep and MMF Systems.
Born on January 13, 1975, in Schenectady New York to Taiwan immigrants, Yang was honored with the Presidential Ambassador for Global Entrepreneurship by President Obama in 2015. He had earlier been named “Champion of Change” in 2012.
He suspended his campaign on February 11, 2020, after a disappointing result at the New Hampshire Primary. However, he was able to make his impact felt in the Presidential race by bringing fresh ideas to the table such as his proposal for a Universal Basic Income of $1000 for every American adult. Known as the ‘ Freedom Dividend’ the supplemental income is aimed at cushioning the effect of job losses due to automation. On February 19, it was announced that he had joined CNN as a political commentator.
Andrew Yang’s Net worth
It is not uncommon to see candidates with a huge net worth vying for the American Presidency. In fact, the current President Donald Trump had a net worth way above six figures when he was a Presidential candidate.
Interestingly, Andrew Yang is barely a millionaire, with an estimated net worth of $1 million according to Forbes. Moreover, the Wall Street Journal reported that his financial disclosure form puts his net worth between $ 834,000 to 2.4 million, While Newsweek has a comparably higher estimate of between $3 million to $4 million. Most of his earnings come from his speeches, rental income from a property he owns in Hudson Valley and Royalties from his books. Other sources of his income include assets in Apple, iRobot, Vodafone, Stock market shares etc.
His wife Evelyn Yang
Andrew Yang met his wife Evelyn Yang on Columbia University campus when he was working for a test prep company, Manhattan Prep and married her in 2011. They have two sons and the eldest is on the autism spectrum. Evelyn Yang used to work in the cosmetics industry, as an Executive marketing officer at L’Oréal. However, she has since left her job to become a stay-at-home Mum. Yang frequently appreciates the care his wife gives to their sons and says it’s regrettable that her work is not valued because it has no monetary value on the economy.
Meanwhile, Evelyn didn’t think her husband was serious when he told her in 2017 that he wanted to join the race to the white house, until he gave up his job to focus on his campaign. It was then she realized how serious he was and gave her support.
She largely stayed out of the spotlight during her husband’s campaign trail until she spoke up about her sexual assault experience with her obstetrics-gynecology doctor when she was pregnant with her first child.
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Facts about Andrew Yang Education
Yang had his undergraduate education at Brown University and obtained his law degree from Columbia University. A quick check on his parents reveals that Yang comes from parents with good Academic pedigree. His father holds a PhD in Physics and spent much of his working years as a staff of IBM and General Electric, developing new concept with over 50 patents to his name. Likewise, his mother is a masters degree holder in statistics and a former systems administrator at a local University. His older brother Lawrence is a Professor of Psychology at New York University.
Likewise, Yang was a brilliant student, scoring 1220 out of 1600 in his SAT when he was just 12, thus qualifying him for the Center for the talented youths program – a summer program run by John Hopkins University.
Thereafter, he enrolled at the Philip Exeter Academy, New Hampshire. Upon his graduation, he went to Brown University where he majored in Economics and political science and graduated in 1996. He then enrolled at the Columbia Law school where he obtained his law degree in 1999.
Meanwhile, he got a job as a corporate lawyer in Davis Polk after passing through law school, but he soon ditched the job after just 5 months in search of a more fulfilling career. He had described his time at the Law firm as the worst five months of his life and instead of spending his time on something he had no passion for, he joined his friend, Jonathan Philips to launch an Internet startup, Stargiving. Unfortunately, Stargiving folded up after its initial success because of the dot com bust. However, he began to look for ways to offset his student loan, and got involved in party organizing and also teaching GMAT to students for a fee.
Later, Yang worked as the vice president of a health care, MMF Systems from 2001 – 2005, before proceeding to co-found a test preparation company, Manhattan Prep. MMF was later taken over by Kaplan Inc in 2009. He eventually founded the nonprofit organization Venture for America (VFA) in 2011 which train young graduates. He stepped down as the CEO in 2017 to focus on his presidential bid.
In view of his achievement with the organization, the Obama administration awarded him the Presidential Ambassador for Global Entrepreneurship in 2015.
Besides his Entrepreneurship and Presidential ambition, Andrew Yang is also the author of the books, Smart People Should Build Things (2014) and The War on Normal People (2018).
