Fadia Felfle ’15 dresses like a boss. With her perfectly preppy and put-together ensembles, often topped with a chic red lip and always with her signature pearls, Fadia looks like a boss – a smart, confident woman who knows what she wants and knows that she is capable of getting it.
And that’s exactly who she is. A Senior Admissions Fellow and a member of the Committee on Committees (it’s official – Bates has a committee for everything), this economics major and sociology minor from Barranquilla, Colombia, has served as Connection Coordinator for Admissions (A.K.A. phone-a-thon whiz), event coordinator for the International Club, class representative and Chief of Staff for the Bates College Women in Leadership. For the past two summers, she has interned at major banks in New York City (Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi and J.P. Morgan), and (seniors, you may want to skip this sentence, as it will cause you post-graduation anxiety and jealousy) has already landed a sweet gig as an investment analyst at J.P. Morgan for next year.
Even casually hanging out in her Village common room the night before break, Fadia looks every bit the Colombia-princess-turned-New-York-City-financial-professional that she is. Pulling her long brown hair, today curled into loose waves, into a low ponytail, she sips a Ronj chai as she reclines on the couch in a caramel shirtdress, layered with a fashionably oversized black sweater (and of course, pearls). “I try to keep it classy,” she shrugs as she sits down with HCB to discuss her Colombian influences, going to school in Maine and being a successful woman in a male-dominated industry.
The second she opens her mouth, though, you forget about her laundry list of impressive accomplishments and impeccable style. Whether it’s infectious (borderline hysterical) laughter, hyper-speed Spanish or unintentionally hilarious one-liners tumbling out, there is an instantaneous warmth and relatable likeability to Fadia that draws people to her and underlies her success. She considers herself a “people’s person,” part of which she attributes to her Colombian upbringing.
“I’m from carnival city…so we’re very expressive. I’m very loud. I move my hands when I talk. I’ve always been characterized by being a person that laughs a lot, that smiles a lot,” she says. “Sometimes for you guys, I’m being dramatic, but that’s how it is back home.”
She wasn’t always this way though. She exclaims, “I was shy! My mom will tell you! I was a shy little girl! No one believes me!” How did she become the social butterfly we see flitting from friend to friend in Commons on the daily?
Fadia and her mother: photographic evidence of the origins of the pearls
Fadia credits her mother, who encouraged her to talk to people. Fadia calls her mother her biggest inspiration, as well as the source of her fashion style. “Even if she goes out to water the plants, she puts red lipstick on, a little bit of blush, her hair’s done, and she puts on a nice dress,” Fadia recalls. “I think it’s definitely a Colombian thing. That’s who I am, and that’s why I feel like I dress up all the time. It’s not that I dress up for others…I dress up for myself. And that’s what my mom always told us.”
Fadia and her sister were always encouraged by their mother to be driven. “She never lets us give up,” Fadia explains. “Any dream that we have, she’s like, ‘Go do it.’ She pushes us to be the best we can be because she knows we are capable of doing…whatever we want.”
In a country that has a reputation (according to Pitbull, anyway) of producing the most beautiful women in the world (Hello, Shakira? Sofia Vergara? The newly crowned Miss Universe is actually from Barranquilla and went to elementary school with Fadia), this Colombian beauty says her parents were always sure to remind her that it was what she could do, not just how she looked, that was important.
Even though she has chosen, like her older sister, to stay in the United States after graduation, Fadia has never strayed far from her Colombian roots. Her drive has been shaped by the culture she grew up in: “In Colombia, we have this word, berraquera…the idea that that no matter what, you’re driven, and you’re going to go through every obstacle there is to get what you want.” Alluding to the political turmoil this developing country underwent during the 1980s, she continues, “The country has gone through the worst conditions, and still you see people going along; they’re happy, no matter what they have.”
Fadia’s favorite quote from He For She advocate Emma Watson
Once she sets her mind to something, Fadia is unstoppable, or as she calls it, “stubborn,” which has aided her well in pursuing her economics degree and a career in investment banking, both of which are typically regarded as male-dominated fields.
“If you’re a woman and you know what you want, you’re passionate about it, and you have the determination to get what you want, you’re going to be fine,” she advises. “You’re just as good as guys are. There’s nothing stopping you.”
Fadia practices what she preaches. She enjoys economics because she considers the economy to be “the backbone of society” with far-reaching effects, and she is drawn to investment banking because of the “fast pace” and interacting with the clients. She doesn’t doubt her capabilities. She wanted a job at a big bank, so she put in the work (6 a.m. to 1 a.m. at J.P. Morgan, in case you were wondering), and got it. (Nothing but respect from the peanut gallery.)
Starting her job at J.P. Morgan will mean graduating from her home for the last for years, Bates. Picking the school after looking through a catalogue (and a healthy heaping of Gilmore Girls episodes featuring the quintessential New England college experience – who else remembers Rory’s study tree?), she has loved the “sense of community” she has found here and of course, the people. “There’s this type of Batesie personality – people who are very curious, people who are engaging, people who are friendly, people who are excited about things,” she extolls.
But how did this native Colombian feel about trading sunshine and palm trees for Maine’s snow and freezing temperatures? “It’s been a roller coaster,” she says. She shares her first impression of Maine, waking up from a nap to hear an exchange between her sister and their parents, “We’re driving up to Maine. Sky’s pitch black. Trees everywhere. As we get closer, there’s like this weird shade of blues and pinks, and my sister goes ‘Holy crap, we’re in the North Pole’…I’m like ‘Where did I decide to come to school?’”
Her time in the ‘North Pole’ has changed her, too. “I bought Bean boots…and I’m wearing flannel, she admits. She adds quickly, “I still wear them with pearls though.”
Some things never change.