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Sexism in My First Wall Street Job Made Me the Entrepreneur I Am Today
How to gain respect and credibility when the odds are stacked against you
In life and often in early adulthood, most of us have an inflection point that reframes our identity. This can be the transition from adolescence to adulthood. Or student to professional. Or summer intern to full-time employee.
When that happens, we start to take ourselves more seriously. Not necessarily because we want to, but because we feel that we have to in order to succeed or gain respect in our new role.
Standing at all of 5 foot 1 inch, my physical appearance didn’t always mirror my stage of life (or career). In college, my friends would bring me to the “guess your age” booth at the fair, and, yes, we did win money, tickets, and prizes each time they pegged my then-21-year-old self as 15 or 16.
I don’t want to say I was hired as the “token female banker,” but it did start to feel that way. Particularly when my managers would dole out new deals, pitches, and assignments to me and my fellow class of incoming analysts.
And as a woman, I ate it up. Until I reached that inflection point where looking young, being female, and being a bit on the shorter, slighter side was no longer a benefit or a compliment.
Being female in finance is exciting — until it’s not
When I got my first job out of college as an analyst at an investment bank, I quickly learned that being a woman in finance was a double-edged sword. The bright side was simple: I was a minority in the field, and they needed bright, motivated women on their team, at the company. A homogenous, 99% white, male workforce isn’t great for the corporate reputation these days.
But then I got to the job, and everything changed. I don’t want to say I was hired as the “token female banker,” but it did start to feel that way. Particularly when my managers would dole out new deals, pitches, and assignments to me and my fellow class of incoming analysts.
