Être Turned Eight and the NYSE Threw a Party
I didn't know all that history about the stock exchange - she knew EVERYTHING!
I liked hearing about the first woman to have a seat on the exchange.
My favorite part? Definitely the bell ringing. Like, DEFINITELY.
They have the best jobs...I'd never work from home if I could work there.
Things I heard as we filed onto the street after celebrating Être's 8th birthday while bells rang at the NYSE.
What made this birthday so special?
It's wasn't just that, as the girls reminded me all day, it was our golden birthday because we turned 8 on May 8th.
It wasn't even that we got to watch the Closing Bell ceremony from a floor spot so central that our deafening cheering brought CNBC cameras over to capture the moment.
It was that Être girls asked to spend their birthday on the floor of the NYSE and women like Suzanne Brown, Kuku Mesfin and more stepped up and threw a party to remember.
They know how much money mentors matter.
They know, as our research shows, that 89% of girls who don't have a finance mentor really want one and 93% of girls today say a finance mentor would give them more confidence.
And in one afternoon of mentor moments, NYSE women saw girls' curiosity pique and their confidence pop as they learned about the history of the market and where women have stood on that floor.
We learned about how the NYSE first formed in 1792 when 24 stockbrokers signed the Buttonwood Agreement establishing early rules for how stocks could be traded. We heard how brokers shouted bids and offers from chairs assigned to them (coining the term seat on the exchange), and how simultaneous trading led to the advent of the stock ticker. We were awed that the NYSE was the first air-conditioned building in North America and that pneumatic tubes sent orders and market info through the building with lightning speed. When our tour guide Anna held out a sample tube for girls to examine, heads bent in concentration and conversation stopped.
Chatter resumed immediately, though, as the name Muriel Siebert was mentioned. The first permanent female member of the NYSE, Siebert was inaugurated in 1967, followed by Alice Jarcho, the first full-time female floor broker, in 1976 and Gail Pankey, the first Black female member of the NYSE, in 1985.
We should've done our AP History papers on THIS, I heard one girl murmur as our tour continued. Seriously, another agreed gravely, and I couldn't help but smile.
Because these are the facts and figures girls will remember. Historic market moments relayed by epic women who work in these spaces suddenly came to life for the next gen with the clarity of...well, a bell.
Click to Play | Être at KBR (NYSE: KBR) Closing Bell Ceremony
And as the bell countdown started and voices and phones were raised, our excitement built and camera lights swept across the floor.
This is my favorite part, one girl yelled to another. DEFINITELY my favorite part!
And this is MY favorite part, I thought to myself, as I watched our NYSE hosts and the girls yell 3, 2, 1. Because, I asked silently as bells clanged and cheering boomed through the building, eight years ago who would have thought?
Who would have thought we'd be at our second bell-ringing ceremony with girls clamoring to meet more women in finance?
Who would have thought we'd have Être clubs in six countries with global girls asking similar questions about stocks, money management, and student debt?
Who would have thought that so many women in banks, hedge funds, private equity firms and more would be throwing open their boardroom doors and saving seats for girls?
The girls, that's who.
From day one at Être, girls have run the show - selecting which companies we visit, listing women they'd like to meet and posing smart questions to industry leaders about their jobs and how they got there.
Last week at NYSE was no different. Girls chose to celebrate their golden birthday with bells on, and as we gathered outside around NYC's Fearless Girl they placed an Être hat on the statue's head. I reminded them that her sculptor Kristen Visbal is featured in The Epic Mentor Guide, and this brought yet another round of applause and more selfies.
Other epic mentors joining us for the day included pro-skydiver, keynote speaker and Être Board member Melanie Curtis, Être's Chief Content Officer and Board member Elizabeth O'Connell and co-founder of the original Bring Our Daughters to Work Day Nell Merlino. How did they feel as we stood among this group of fearless girls?
Inspired.
Empowered.
Ready for what's next.
Same, I think to myself as I write these last lines. And grateful.
So, with deep thanks to everyone at NYSE who celebrated with us and more thanks to those connecting with new partnership models this year, here's to what's next.
May it be big and as fearlessly confident as every one of our girls.
Looking forward,
Illana
ÊXTRAS: Three more facts about the NYSE you won't want to miss: In 2018 Stacey Cunningham became the Exchange's 67th and first female President; in 2021 TIGRESS FINANCIAL PARTNERS founded by Cynthia DiBartolo, Esq. became the Exchange’s first disabled and female-owned pit brokers; and in 2022 Lynn Martin became the second female and 68th President of the NYSE.
