International Women’s Day: Reflecting on Girls Take Wall Street
March 08, 2019
To kick off Women’s History Month, Bloomberg joined UBS and State Street Global Advisors, UBS and State Street Global Advisors for “Girls Take Wall Street,” a program designed to inspire the next generation of female leaders. More than 100 high school girls visited the Bloomberg and UBS offices to learn about the financial services industry and ended the day by ringing the closing bell at the New York Stock Exchange. The students heard from founder Mike Bloomberg, Jackie Kelly, Deputy COO at Bloomberg, Betty Liu, NYSE Executive Vice Chairman, and Sherry Paul, Senior Vice President at UBS among others.
More than 150 Bloomberg employee mentors spent part of their day with the students from our Bloomberg Startup partner the Young Women’s Leadership School of East Harlem, and KIPP Academy, sharing their career experiences and trajectories as well as advice on the finance industry.
On International Women’s Day, Leah Ojesina, (Sales – NY) one of our panelists reflected on her participation in Girls Take Wall Street where she spoke to the a group of young women about her experience studying finance at Texas A&M and ending up at Bloomberg when she followed her instincts and took a flight to Washington DC.
Q: How did you end up in the finance industry?
A: Growing up I didn’t understand money. I didn’t understand how to invest or how to make it grow. I was curious but neither one of my parents knew much about it. They didn’t really know about finance so I decided to study finance in college. After realizing a banking internship was not the direction I wanted to go in, I worked as an Analyst for a wealth management firm in Portland. One day I saw on Linkedin that Bloomberg was holding a recruiting event in Washington DC and I took a leap. I loved that Bloomberg integrated finance and technology together. That really drew me to the firm and I felt very welcome.”
Q: What was your takeaway from the panel?
A: I was blown away by the insightful questions the girls had. Participating in Girls Take Wall Street was a transformational experience for me because I didn’t see this type of representation when I was younger. One example was a question about how to feel confident in your identity. I was really inspired and grateful that Bloomberg gave young girls a space to ask these types of questions that are a bit vulnerable, in a professional setting. The fact that they were able to get answers from someone that looked like them was a really powerful experience for them and for me as well.
Q: Best piece of advice?
A: I told the girls how glad I was to be in the room, to serve as an example that it is possible to find success in what has traditionally been a male dominated industry. Just being they don’t see it right now, doesn’t meant not an option. Possibilities are out there, just waiting for them.