I had the opportunity to participate in a program, Rock the Street Wall Street at my high school. Rock The Street busts open the doors of finance to girls. Over the course of four classroom workshops led by female financial professionals, my classmates and I learned about paycheck deductions, 401k’s, financial plans and how to read stock stats. More broadly, we learned about how two out of every three women state they know little to nothing about finance and we learned about the lack of women in leading positions in the financial services industry where women represent only 6% of the leaders.
Very few high school girls are exposed to this type of program that helps girls discover the world of finance. Not only did we have classes on savings and investments led by female financial professionals; we also had a Wall Street experience field trip to the Nasdaq offices in Times Square in New York. There, we stood witness to the stock market opening bell. The enthusiasm and excitement in the room was amazing! Watching the stocks fluctuate in value, the ringing, the confetti… I left wanting to return the next day. It was truly an amazing, once in a lifetime experience… Well, hopefully not once in a lifetime.
After the bell ringing, my classmates and I were escorted upstairs to one of the Nasdaq event rooms where we met women from TD Ameritrade. They had assembled there as guest panelists for a discussion on their college and career paths. Each professional showed that they have a passion for their job. Listening about the paths they have taken to get to their current positions was inspiring.
During the panel discussion, we were given the opportunity to have our questions answered. For example, the question was asked “What is one of the more challenging areas in this career field,” and we got responses like, “Making yourself belong in a work field full of men”. We also heard, “Don’t be afraid to make mistakes.” and “Earn your respect.” Good advice for those of us who are now considering entering into the world of finance and business. We learned that women need to be as confident as men. Take risks. Girls don’t think that they can have the same income as men one day. We don’t think that it’s possible to rise to the same positions as men. Seeing and hearing the women of TD Ameritrade however, has opened our eyes to these possibilities. With motivation and hard work some have reached senior level positions just as the men have.
The managers on the panel also offered us insight into their hiring practices. Students asked how the managers select who they hire. Each had a different take on their answers. Tips that came our way included: “Have a professional looking resume” and “Be confident and well organized.” With these few questions answered, these women gave us a step up which will help us later on when looking for a job, whether it’s after high school or after college.
All of us left the Nasdaq offices with sparkles in our eyes. Rock the Street Wall Street opened our eyes and ears to the vast number of rewarding job opportunities available in finance. It’s really up to us, the students, to become future financial managers or economic experts. We need to share our experience with other WC Bryant students who have not yet had this thrilling exposure to a new world and run to it! Run to it and do the unexpected. Hopefully, the percentage of women who fully participate in their family’s finances and the number of women who go into finance or start their own businesses will grow and grow. I plan on being among those women, part of that movement, and will study finance and business in college and start my own business one day. I will make a promise that in the future, you will see me ringing the stock market bell as my company becomes listed on the Nasdaq exchange.
Know this, too – it was Rock the Street Wall Street that has given me this inspiration.
Jenae Colon, (2nd from left), student at WC Bryant High School in Long Island City, NY, receiving her Rock The Street, Wall Street certificate and author of this article.
It has been an exciting fall semester at Rock The Street, Wall Street (RTSWS)!
We thought a trip to White House in October was the bee’s knees! Then, last week, we were invited to ring the Closing Bell at Nasdaq on Friday, December 2nd.
RTSWS Students Tour NASDAQ
Watch RTSWS in action as we ring the market closing bell in the video below. Skip to the 2:25 minute mark to bypass the Times Square footage. (Where we’re 7 stories tall!)
A group of young women from WC Bryant High School, participants in our NYC program, had the opportunity to tour the Nasdaq Market Site in Times Square.
During the tour, the students learned more about the ins and outs of trading and how Nasdaq operates as one of the largest electronic stock exchanges in the world.
The tour was then followed by a trip to the board room where an all female panel of TD Ameritrade financial professionals answered questions and shared their experiences with the girls giving them real world perspectives and applications on how finance can impact their lives. The professionals also advised the students to study business while in high school to give them a competitive edge in their college classrooms.
It was an impactful experience for our students. Here are a few pictures from the day.
W.C. Bryant girls with at NASDAQ
Interview with Megan Modic
RTSWS also had the opportunity to sit down with Megan Modic, of The Millennial Report, Nasdaq, in the series Behind The Bell, to discuss the mission of RTSWS, what is coming up in 2017, and how you can help RTSWS bring this program and financial literacy to many more young girls throughout the country.
After four weeks of learning how to evaluate the business models and underlying stocks of 2 companies, Dunkin Donuts and Krispy Kreme, our Dallas/Ft. Worth students got to SEE the business of supporting hundreds of billions of dollars in client assets and the 400,000 plus daily customer trades that flow through the multiple TD Ameritrade trading platforms. The girls learned about the flow of funds and how TDA, through use of use of technology, revolutionized the financial services sector with fintech and built one of the largest online trading companies in the world.
Daphne Hatterman, Senior Manager, Payment Services and Carita Blocker, Relationship Manager, Human Resources, welcomed the girls and then outlined the story of how TDA grew through the use of fintech and how the firm weathered the ups and downs of the stock market including the 2007-2009 financial crisis, government regulation and investors’ changing preferences.
The students then took a tour of the Payment Services department, where they learned how being a team member goes a long way in getting a job done. They met department managers and staff who work together in accomplishing company and personal productivity goals.
Claudia Gross, Government Reporting Manager with students – on their way to the floor – where all the action is! While on the floor, the girls huddled with: Courtney McGill – Tax Services; Jennifer Lewis – Banking Ops/Loss Prevention; Lisa Newkirk – Advisor Relations; and Val White – Retail Trading.
Daphne Hatterman escorting the students through the various departments of TDA in Dallas/Ft. Worth and sharing with them her own story of how she came to work in the financial services sector.
After the office tour, the girls got to hear from four financial professionals, (Moderator – Emily Jackson, Team Manager, Retirement Account Services, Brokerage Ops; Rachel Bradford – Sr. Manager, Trading Ops; Harriet Carvalho, Team Manager, Institutional Brokerage Services, Advisor Relationships; Val White, Manager, Retail Trading). The panelists discussed their college and career paths, what a typical day at the office looks like for them, their challenges and triumphs in their careers, working in the M of STEM, post college education and tuition reimbursement policies.
One of our students, who had been asking excellent questions throughout the day, asked a zinger of one to the panelists. She asked, “How do you go about asking for a raise?” The answers included:
Your supervisor probably has 5 or more people reporting to her. So, be aware that you will have to toot your own horn when it comes to being monetarily rewarded.
Document your work, achievements and how you contributed to solutions and advancements.
Your supervisor will respect you MORE and not less for having asked for that raise. She now knows you expect more so she can expect more out of you as a team player and as an emerging leader.
As the field trip came to a close, the founder of RTSWS, Maura K. Cunningham, presented the girls with their Certificate of Completion for having finished their RTSWS series of workshops. They can now add this distinction to their college applications, intern and job resumes.
Byron Nelson High School girls on their way back to school. All the wiser now with a financial services industry field trip under their belts and a copy of The Money Queen’s Guide, by Cary Carbonaro. They are on the road to personal financial responsibility, employing their stock analysis skills and exploring a career in finance.
STEM, (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math), experts, educators, students and community organizers who are trying to ensure greater access for marginalized youth, including girls and youth of color, were invited by The White House Council on Women and Girls.
Conference attendees exchanged ideas on how to offer a more robust system of exposure to get more women and minorities into jobs where they are currently few in number. This matters as the United States is losing two thirds of the job talent available for these jobs – women and people of color.
Panelists brought up the fact that college professors are OK with girls dropping out of majors involving STEM. The question was asked, “Why is that?” This laid back attitude on college campuses across the country contributes to the lack of women in STEM careers including the financial services industry.
There was genuine passion among the attendees that lent to the elevation of these issues and to proactively seeking ways to move toward solutions.
Careers in STEM like engineering, tech and finance are tools that lift people out of poverty. If the underrepresented are unaware nor encouraged into these professions, their options throughout their lifetimes and the generations that come after them, may be more limited than if they had.
RTSWS aims to bring to light the opportunities in finance – both in improved financial literacy and in pursuing a profession in finance. Our programs bring relevancy to the girls as to why they should want to learn finance to improve their lives, their families and their communities.
One student on the panel said he practiced being an engineer before studying it, which is what RTSWS’s programming does for girls: They get to practice being a financial planner for client Jane in our classroom workshops. And who better to teach them these skills than our female financial professionals from the financial services sector?
Conference panelists and attendees addressed negative stereotypes of women and minorities. They discussed how creating more public/private partnerships may help lead to a more diversified workplace. Oakland, Calif. Unified School District Superintendent Antwan Wilson knew he could not move the needle on this issue without forming partnerships with STEM industry professionals, such as those at nearby Salesforce in San Francisco, CA.
RTSWS completely supports these types of public/private partnerships and looks forward to collaborating with financial industry leaders on getting more women in finance.
Megan Smith, U.S Chief Technology Officer, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, formerly with Google(X) Research Lab, said partners are always needed to scale up. She thanked everyone for their vigilance on the issue of diversity in STEM.
Girls from one of the Metro Nashville Public High Schools, Hillsboro, visited UBS Business Solutions in downtown Nashville.
UBS used to be an acronym for Union Bank of Switzerland. The bank began in Switzerland and has grown to have a global footprint with over 60,000 employees. Over the years, UBS has merged with or acquired other banks to enable its growth. Their entry into the U.S. began in 2001. The company symbol of three keys stands for pillars, principles and behaviors.
The girls learned that the first day the markets traded more than 100 million shares was in 1982 on the New York Stock Exchange. The average daily volume of shares traded on the NYSE is now just over 2 billion.
Sam Kalchuk and Sarah Looney first spoke with the girls about the history of UBS. Sam gave them a tour of the UBS offices. The Nashville Solutions Center location has over 1,300 employees!
The Nashville location partners with other UBS Solution Centers around the globe, so work is done around the clock.
The agenda provided ample time for the girls to ask questions about financial instruments, college paths and what it takes to have a career in finance.
Wanda Lyle, General Manager of UBS Business Solutions in Nashville, spoke with the girls over lunch. She explained how her daughter at a young age used to ask her why there are so few women in executive roles in finance. This inspired Wanda to make her daughter proud and become an executive in an industry mostly dominated by men.
She serves as a strong role model to women who are considering careers in the financial services industry.
Her career has taken her all over the world. She told the girls they could also have careers like hers and that nothing would stop them from being successful.
The students took a photo with Wanda Lyle, their teacher Dr. Kriebel, and members of RTSWS.
Five UBS panelists spoke to the girls about their experiences as women in the financial services industry:
Campbell Estes: Business Analyst, Investment Bank COO
Cher Cuthbertson: Associate Director, Performance Reporting Manager
Sejal Desai: Executive Director, Client and Tax Reporting Service Delivery Manager
Marie Christine Crewe: Managing Director, Head of Group Risk Control Nashville and Risk Control Operations
The women talked about their college and career paths and stressed to the girls that confidence is very important in the workplace. They encouraged the girls to ask questions when starting their careers because no one expects them to know everything.
When a student asked the panelists how they got to UBS, Cher said she enjoys analyzing data and building relationships. Her career at UBS enables her to do both.
Marie Christine said she has been fortunate in her career to have met or worked with individuals who have pushed her out of her comfort zone. She has grown as a person and also as a working professional because of this. “Forging those relationships and nurturing them is very important,” she said.
Sejal encouraged the girls to surround themselves with positive people who support and encourage them in their careers and life goals.
Marie Chrstine said, “Being a woman is actually an advantage” in the financial services industry.
Campbell echoed these messages: “People want diversity, and it can be fun being one of the only women on the team.”
A student asked the panel members what they recommend they do to succeed in their careers. Sejal said it is important to be focused and set goals throughout life. Lindsey recommended the girls become very familiar with financial terminology and study the background of the company where they hope to be employed.
The students received Rock The Street, Wall Street certificates of completion for their class participation this semester before heading back to school. This is one trip they will never forget!
