From Child Actress to Private Equity: Kelly Grace Richardson (B’25) Uses Storytelling to Shape the Future of Finance

As the spring semester comes to a close, Georgetown McDonough is pleased to commemorate the accomplishments of the Class of 2025. To celebrate, we’re spotlighting several of the exceptional students in the Class of 2025 as they share their personal stories, reflect on their time on the Hilltop, and preview what the future holds after commencement.

Kelly Grace Richardson (B’25) didn’t take the typical route to Georgetown, or to private equity. Before stepping onto the Hilltop with ambitions to pursue a career in finance, she spent five years as a child actress, appearing on shows for Disney Channel, Nickelodeon, and Netflix. Now, as Richardson prepares to graduate, she’s ready to tell her own story: finance, like acting, can also be a powerful way to build narratives that matter.

When Richardson first stumbled upon a Disney Channel casting call in 2014, she had no idea it would change her life. She was only 11 years old, scrolling through online games on the Disney website, when an invitation popped up to audition for the network. 

“I’d always dreamt of being on TV,” Richardson recalls. “So I asked my mom if we could go.”

The open call happened to be in San Antonio, Texas, where Richardson’s aunt lived. Out of the 2,000 children who auditioned, she was one of just 15 selected to fly to Los Angeles for a callback. 

“That was the start,” she said. “A couple of months later, I moved to L.A., and the rest is history.”

Richardson appeared in popular shows like Walk the Prank on Disney XD and Game Shakers on Nickelodeon, as well as Netflix and Amazon Prime movies To the Beat! and To the Beat! Back 2 School. She also starred in commercials, including a music video collaboration with Meghan Trainor. But it was her role as a young cancer patient in an independent short film that left the deepest mark. 

“It was such a powerful story,” Richardson said. “The camaraderie on set and our director’s personal connection to the story really stuck with me.”

And then, braces. “It sounds silly, but when I got braces, it kind of put my career on pause,” Richardson said. By the time she returned to acting, the passion wasn’t the same. Instead, she found herself drawn to new challenges rooted in a different kind of storytelling.

That shift eventually brought Richardson to Georgetown’s McDonough School of Business, where she has fully embraced the opportunity to explore different passions and find purpose in her professional ambitions. 

“I chose Georgetown because it was the perfect place to explore all of my passions at once,” Richardson said. “I was excited about storytelling, how it could show up in policy, in finance, and in management. But what really drew me in were the school’s Jesuit values. It wasn’t just about becoming a good professional; Georgetown cares about the whole person and about fostering love for each other and the global community.”

The Jesuit value of cura personalis, or care for the whole person, deeply resonated with her. 

“It wasn’t just about becoming a good professional. Georgetown really cares about cura personalis and about fostering love for one another and for the global community. That was something I really wanted to learn during my college experience,” Richardson said. 

Her story at Georgetown has also been packed with accomplishments. She served as a coxswain on the men’s lightweight rowing team for three years before medically retiring. She helped launch Georgetown’s first student-led private equity and venture capital group, Georgetown Student Capital Partners, where she served as director of venture capital. She became a student assistant and research fellow at the Psaros Center for Financial Markets and Policy, co-authored a book on venture automation with faculty in 2024, and served as a teaching assistant for more than eight courses across both undergraduate and MBA programs.

Now, Richardson is preparing to begin her post-graduate journey at Vista Equity Partners, working as a private equity analyst in their flagship fund. “It’ll be a lot of large-scale enterprise software deals,” Richardson explained.

After commencement, Richardson also envisions using her storytelling skills to elevate underrepresented voices in entrepreneurship. “I want to produce documentaries about African startup founders,” she said. “It’s a place where media and press, especially venture capital-related media, is not frequently seen. And telling their stories would allow me to combine my personal background in the entertainment industry with my current and future career in financial services.”

To Richardson, finance, like acting, can be a powerful way to tell stories that matter. “It’s all about storytelling,” Richardson points out. “In acting, you’re using facial expressions and body language. In finance, you’re telling the story of a company and its founders through data.”

Staying curious has empowered Richardson to shape a story that blends storytelling with strategy. As she looks to the future, she hopes fellow Hoyas will do the same: ask bold questions, embrace the unexpected, and trust that every step can lead to something meaningful.

“Never stop asking questions,” Richardson said. “There will always be someone who knows the answer. Or if they don’t know the answer, they will refer you to someone who might. There are so many ways that Georgetown’s ecosystem can support you. That’s the whole beauty of Georgetown.”