Lauren Simmons
The Youngest Female Trader at the New York Stock Exchange
At a mere 22-years old, Lauren Simmons stepped through the doors at 40 Wall Street and shattered a financial glass ceiling by becoming the youngest female trader on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). For a time, she was the only full-time female equity trader at NYSE. When word got out, she quickly became a media sensation, being featured on Fox, ABC, CNN, and CNBC, among several other outlets. After Gail Pankey-Albert, Lauren is the second black female trader in history to hold that position. But Lauren was something more—she was three things no one else has been at NYSE in a full-time capacity: a woman, a millennial, and a minority.
Lauren Simmons was born in Marietta, Georgia on August 11, 1994. She and her twin brother were raised by a single mother who instilled in them the importance of taking risks in pursuit of their dreams. Lauren attended a public research school, Kennesaw State University, not far from home. She originally wanted to be in architectural engineering, where she could design and build homes, but she wasn’t selected for that program. That caused her to focus on genetics instead with the hope of establishing a career as a genetic counselor. In the process of writing her senior thesis, she found that it was going to be hard to advance in that chosen field. New York seemed to hold the answer to success. After graduating from Kennesaw State with a degree in genetics and a minor in statistics, she took a huge risk by flying to New York in December 2016 with no available career opportunities in place.
Once in New York, Lauren started applying for jobs. She relied on LinkedIn to set up face-to-face interviews with more than 300 senior staff at various companies, among them HR managers, CEOs, and other executives. This strategy caused her to stand out, and, while it led to a few interviews with people of influence, she was not hired. One criticism she received was related to her decision to switch career goals. Despite the rejections, Lauren—in an interview with Kiah McBride for Necole Kane—said:
“There was a reason why I had this gut feeling that I needed to be in New York. I didn’t know what it was and what that was going to look like, but I knew I would find that job and I knew that it was going to work out.”
Undaunted, Lauren continued to send out her resume, and in a few months, someone who worked at a financial firm connected her with another person in equity. Before long, she was sitting with Gordon Charlop, a floor trader of 25 years and partner at a boutique trading firm called Rosenblatt Securities. Charlop was also a floor governor at NYSE, so he had the power to hire Lauren as an equity trader. But before she could become one, she was required to pass a notoriously difficult test for securities professionals. Lauren passed the test, and Charlop, who was impressed by her statistics background, hired the youngest female trader in NYSE history. While Lauren is no longer on the trading floor (she was only paid a paltry $12,000 per year after all), her signature remains in the constitution of the New York Stock Exchange. It was added on December 5, 2017, alongside legends like John D. Rockefeller.
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This article appears in 21st Century Black Changemakers.
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Robert F. Smith is a black American businessman, investor, philanthropist, and chemical engineer. He is the founder of the private equity firm Vista Equity Partners, of which he is also chairman and CEO.