July 27, 1955: Joanna Hoffman, who will be a part of the unique Macintosh and NeXT groups and change into Steve Jobs’ first right-hand girl, is born in Poland.
Six months youthful than Jobs, the advertising govt is among the few folks keen and capable of stand as much as the oftentimes-fierce Apple co-founder through the first a part of his profession.
Joanna Hoffman: Steve Jobs’ confidante
Hoffman grew up within the Soviet Union earlier than transferring to Warsaw, Poland, after which Buffalo, New York. She got here from a artistic household. Her father, a profitable filmmaker, directed Battle of Warsaw 1920, the primary Polish 3D characteristic movie.
Hoffman earned a Bachelor of Science in Humanities and Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Expertise. Then she pursued a Ph.D. in archaeology on the College of Chicago. Throughout that point, she attended a chat at Xerox PARC, the legendary Silicon Valley analysis heart the place Jobs first noticed the graphical consumer interface he tailored for the Mac.
On the lecture, Hoffman met Jef Raskin. He was working for Apple, writing the documentation for Apple DOS. Hoffman bought right into a dialogue with him.
Raskin subsequently requested Hoffman to interview for a task at Apple, after which she started doing advertising for the Mac analysis undertaking. When Jobs took over the Mac undertaking, Hoffman gained a popularity as one of many few folks able to disagreeing with him. She proved resistant to his “reality distortion field.”
Throughout a visit to Italy at across the time of the Mac launch, Hoffman threatened to pour scorching espresso over Jobs’ lap when he turned irate over the dearth of vegan meals in a restaurant.
Joanna Hoffman’s profession after Apple
When Jobs left Apple within the fall of 1985 after an tried boardroom coup, Hoffman adopted him to NeXT. In an early assembly, Hoffman astutely identified that Jobs was being unrealistic along with his early projections about how shortly the NeXT Laptop would ship. (Her prediction proved to be 100% correct.)
After NeXT, Hoffman labored for promising software program and electronics startup Common Magic with different ex-Apple staff. She retired in 1995 to spend extra time along with her household. In 2020, she started work as a advisor for Sherpa.ai, a Spanish synthetic intelligence firm with places of work in Bilbao and Silicon Valley.
… and her portrayal within the film, Steve Jobs
Kate Winslet portrayed Hoffman in Danny Boyle’s 2015 film Steve Jobs. Hoffman’s function in Jobs’ life wasn’t fairly as intensive as was portrayed by Aaron Sorkin’s script, although. (She had nothing to do with the iMac years, for instance.)
Nevertheless, Hoffman was a crucially vital a part of the unique Macintosh undertaking — and a vital determine in Jobs’ life.
Completely happy birthday, Joanna!