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Lauren Simmons, an equity trader for Rosenblatt Securities, is
the youngest woman to be a full-time broker in the New York Stock
Exchange.
Simmons is only the second African-American female broker in the
Exchange’s 226-year history.
According to a 2017 study by Stanford University, men comprise 75%
of the wealth management field and fill more than 80% of leadership
roles.
Lauren Simmons: I don’t want to be just an anomaly. I don’t want to
be, you know, the only one breaking ceilings. I want there to be
other women, minority, anybody.
Narrator: Lauren Simmons is the youngest woman to be a full-time
broker on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.
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Simmons: Well, usually I’ll say “I, yeah, I work at the New York
Stock Exchange.” “Oh, what do you do?” “An equity trader.” and
they’re shocked, but, you know, the perception is, and especially
in a lot of finance movies, “Wolf of Wall Street,” that they are
white, older men, and so to be 24 now and to be a minority and a
woman, it is, it takes people, you know, a second to realize, “Oh,
wow, what an awesome job.”
Narrator: Lauren is just one of two female brokers on the floor.
With there being another person that is different from everyone
else, it does bring diversity and new conversations and new breath
to the floor, as far as looking towards, to a mentor that looks
like you, obviously that’s not gonna happen. I am grateful that I
do get to work with men that do want me to succeed. Rich
Rosenblatt, my boss, the CEO of the company, he has given me so
much career advice outside of the exchange floor.
Narrator: The New York Stock Exchange itself doesn’t hire
brokers. Individual securities firms do. Rosenblatt Securities
hired Lauren in March 2017. She had a degree in genetics but no
prior experience in finance.
Richard Rosenblatt: I couldn’t care less if she took finance
classes. We do research, and I care a lot about your education to
be an analyst for us. Here, I care about who you are as a
person.
Narrator: When Lauren’s story was first reported on in March
2018, there was a media storm, and she felt like change was
happening. But when Rosenblatt Securities posted a new broker
position in May, of over 250 applicants, not a single woman
applied.
Simmons: Now, I have spoken with several women who will say that
they’ll post a job and the qualifications 10 years experience and
blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, and the woman will have everything
but the 10 years and will say, “Well, I don’t have the 10 years.
Should I apply?” You’re more than overqualified to apply for this
job. Please apply for it. While as men, again, what I’ve learned
from them, they just do it.
Rosenblatt: We have women applying for other jobs in the firm. I
don’t know why more women don’t apply for jobs on the floor of the
exchange.
Narrator: According to a 2017 study by Stanford University, men
comprised 75% of the wealth management field and filled more than
80% of leadership roles.
Simmons: I think it definitely is a confidence thing and just
doing it. When you are in the space where you are extremely
uncomfortable and you’re fear-driven and you still take the leap,
that’s when the biggest growth happens. So I think if more women
were risk-averse and they took the chance, you would see a lot more
women breaking glass ceilings and these stories just being a thing,
not a “Oh, my gosh” moment. It would be normalized.
Narrator: Lauren is only the second African-American female
broker in the Exchange’s 226-year history.
Simmons: There’s a difference in trying to have diversity
because that’s the hot-topic word right now and actually
implementing diversity, and the only way to implement diversity is
to really, truly want diversity. It’s so easy to throw around the
word, and you’ll know. You’ll know in those leadership roles who is
sitting at the top? If the top are all five white men, how diverse
is it really? I can’t put it all on the men in the firms and the
floor, especially when it’s not 100% their fault if they don’t get
any applicants, and I can’t put it all on minorities or people who
didn’t grow up learning finance because what you don’t know you’re
not gonna apply for. You’re just not exposed to it. So where does
that start?
Narrator: Lauren believes it could start with the next
generation.
Simmons: Honestly, I think things like traditional Wall Street
won’t even be a thing. I think people will get tired of people in
leadership and how they don’t give them the opportunity, and
they’ll write their own narrative. They’ll write their own, they’ll
make their own hedge fund, and everyone a part of that hedge fund
will be diverse.
Narrator: Next up for Lauren’s story, the big screen. Actress
Kiersey Clemons is set to play Lauren in a biopic about her journey
to the New York Stock Exchange.
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