She earned a BA in political science from Williams College and an MBA from Vanderbilt University's Owen Graduate School of Management.

[9] She left Nasdaq in 2011 to join private investment firm Carlyle Group as Chief Financial Officer and Managing Director, a position she held until 2014.

[2] According to Forbes Power Women list, Friedman sees Nasdaq as an "engine for capitalism," and has advocated “bringing companies back to the public market and making investing accessible.” As CEO, she is “focused on diversifying Nasdaq into a technology company with a focus on growth opportunities, such as data research services.”[4] In April 2019, Friedman gave a TED talk titled “What’s the future of capitalism?.”[10] She also participated in The Economist magazine The World in 2020 issue with a column titled "Ideas for modernizing capitalism,” predicting that “the fight for the soul of the global economy will heat up.”[11] During the 2020 COVID-19 crisis, Friedman was featured on The New York Times Corner Office "Logged On From the Laundry Room: How the C.E.O.s of Google, Pfizer and Slack Work From Home" article, sharing perspectives of company CEOs working from home due to the pandemic.

[14] Friedman has served as a Class B director to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York since December 2018, the only Exchange CEO to ever have done this.

[17] She has a black belt in taekwondo, which she started studying after taking her sons to classes, and she has said has helped her become more fearless in business.