Photo Credit: YouTube/Women and Power: Lauren Simmons on the Power of Being the Only Woman in the Room/Screenshot
For the entire month of March, WBLS is highlighting “Women Making History.”
Today we’re recognizing the youngest and the only full-time female trader on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Lauren Simmons.
Receiving the job at twenty-three, the now twenty-four-year-old is an equity trader & broker for Rosenblatt Securities. Simmons is also only the second African-American woman to sign the constitution of the exchange.
After graduating from Kennesaw State University, in 2016, the Georgia native moved to New York. Simmons initially pursued a career in the medical field but lost interest and started applying to positions in finance. She eventually landed her history-making role at Rosenblatt Securities by applying to an opening, listed on LinkedIn.
“The one thing that I love about numbers and statistics, and kind of one of the reasons I came to the New York Stock Exchange, is because numbers are a universal language,” Simmons explains. “When you put them on a board it connects everyone, which is probably one of the reasons why the New York Stock Exchange is so iconic.”
Prior to joining the team in March 2017, Simmons had to pass the series of 19 exams necessary for all floor brokers, to earn their badge. She was amongst the 20{1dfa1e56791e611ba924bda180f579857679f3f460137999817901b64f1d0aea} to ace the tests which have an 80{1dfa1e56791e611ba924bda180f579857679f3f460137999817901b64f1d0aea} fail rate.
“When I see statistics that say ’80 percent don’t get through,’ I look at the 20 percent,” Simmons told CNBC. “So, when everyone kept saying, ‘It’s a hard test. Don’t worry if you don’t pass,’ for me, I needed to pass to prove to myself that I could do this.”
Simmons brought her inspiration to speeches, conferences and will be headlining the NCCWSL ‘Women of Distinction’ from May 29 – June 1, 2019.
Thank you to Lauren Simmons for breaking another glass ceiling for black women in the field of finance and paving the way for all women to excel in a male-dominant industry! To learn more about Lauren, check out the video below.