An investment banker turned venture capitalist, Martin is a general partner at the Rosewood Venture Group, a seven-person firm focusing primarily on new media, business services, and infrastructure communications companies. She and her husband, John Pescatore, live in San Francisco but spent 10 months here in Princeton, New Jersey, while Pescatore, who is also a former Olympic rower, helped coach the men's heavyweight sculling team for the Sydney Olympics. Martin particularly enjoys rowing on the university's Lake Carnegie. It's very protected. The trees come down to the water all around it, and even on a windy day it's like a mirror.
Wind is the thing that keeps rowers off the water.
At home in San Francisco, where she rows on Lake Merced, the wind often makes rowing impossible. But Martin is not one to be daunted by weather or by anything else. She has been a competitive athlete since the age of 8, when she first discovered her ferocious passion for goal-driven sports. I was so competitive. I don't know why I had to push myself so hard, but it started really early.