On Thursday, November 9th, I attended the Wall Street Careers Panel event as a member of Baruch’s Investment Management Group (IMG). The panel consisted of five Baruch Alumnis who spoke about their experience at Baruch and their experience working on Wall Street.

Each of them had a different story which made the panel event interesting. In particular, I found Edison Lee’s remarks quite interesting and unique. Edison Lee is a alumni of the Class of 2013 and is currently a Senior Quantitative Analyst at Neuberger Berman, an investment firm. He spoke about his first time coming to America and not speaking a slight word in English. Regardless, he got interested in music and began to pick up on the language. He stated that his first job in America was being a translator at a Chinatown supermarket and how he could not have imagined himself becoming a trader. He mentions that his transition into Finance began when he saw it as a form of creativity and “art” as he puts it.

Other members spoke about taking risks and how that propelled them to where they are today. In fact, Roseliny Genao, alumna of the Class of 2009, unfortunately had to take a job as an English Teacher in Hong Kong upon graduation due to the financial crisis in 2008. However, she was resilient and moved on from it and currently works as an Associate VP in Impact Investing at Morgan Stanley. It was quite interesting to learn about impact investing because she spoke about her desire to have social impact on the world around her. Some other remarks made was about failure as an opportunity to learn and success comes from how well one bounces back from failure.

Overall, the Wall Street Careers Panel event was amazing. I learned a lot about what key skills are necessary to thrive in the industry and also the politics that exist. I enjoyed hearing for alumnis because they are part of our network and has been in our shoes at some point in time.