In 2015, I attended a financial company’s first summit for high school women, intended to empower young women into thinking about financial services as a future career. Being a young high schooler at the time, I had zero interest in a serious career, especially within the financial world. We listened to Windsor Hanger, one of the Founders of HerCampus. She spoke about breaking out into the business world as a woman and the challenges that she faced. Somehow, I sit here today in 2019 as a summer intern at a financial services company and as a journalist for HerCampus.
The fall of 2018, I received a recruitment email from this same company who gave me the opportunity to attend the 2015 summit. This application outlined an internship in Asset Management, a career that seemed completely out of place and out of my comfort zone for me. At the time, I was in a relationship with someone who was struggling to find an internship within financial services, yet this opportunity had “landed on my lap” without any initial desire to have an opportunity like this. I was told countless times that the company is pushing women into leadership roles and attempting to have more women in financial services. So what else would I think to myself when I receive the internship offer, besides I received this role because I am a woman. Backwards thinking? I would say so. I have a 3.8 GPA, I am a student-athlete, and volunteer a very large amount of my time into helping others, working to become comfortable in the most uncomfortable situations. I pride myself on working with intense passion and kindness. These statements are not bragging, rather this is the confidence I have built after a summer internship in financial services, one that I genuinely believe I worked for and did not receive as a simple hand-out based on my gender.
Programs such as these are beautiful examples of positive change for this world and I am beyond excited for the amazing young women who have and will have the opportunity to be a part of it. This program has shown me that my curiosity is not a lack of intelligence, rather it is an opportunity to grow in knowledge and experience. Unfortunately, there will always be critics who will argue that programs like these are “handouts” to women. Society may argue many women were too “weak” or “kind hearted” to immerse themselves in the financial world so companies gave them the stepping stools to do so. Not only are statements like these wrong, degrading, and ignorant, but they represent a population who hide their lack of knowledge and work ethic with arrogance. Fortunately, it is those people who have pushed me to understand when someone is hiding under a mask of unintelligence and are trying to fit in and excel just like the rest of us. It is also those people that have lit even more of a fire in me to help others and be the best person that I can be.