We know from an extensive body of research, and our own experience as a firm, that diverse teams perform better and drive better business outcomes. But building a diverse team doesn’t happen by accident. It requires intentional effort, starting even before the hiring process. Providing internship opportunities in an industry like financial services, which still struggles with a lack of diversity, helps promising young people gain exposure to different career opportunities and lays the groundwork for our industry to build teams that bring diverse perspectives and experiences and are positioned to adapt and thrive as our industry and the world around us change.
This summer, we were pleased to welcome four interns — Brandon and Nigel in Seattle and Jason and Stephanie in San Francisco — to our team through our partnership with The Posse Foundation. With the help of The Posse Foundation, we focused on identifying four talented and motivated scholars selected from Posse’s diverse talent pool. We are grateful to Posse for their ongoing partnership and support.
We enjoyed welcoming Brandon, Jason, Nigel and Stephanie into the LNW community this summer and can’t wait to see what the future holds for them!
Brandon Sookoo
Brandon is a rising junior at the University of Rochester where he studies financial economics. Outside of work and school, he enjoys hiking, reading, horticulture and photography.
You had a range of internships that you could have considered. What drew you LNW?
It really came down to the culture. The interview set up where I got to meet with different groups of people, I really got to know a lot of people early in the process. I liked to ask them “what have you learned about yourself?” and it always sounded like LNW supported their growth and their personal development. I also appreciated that there really isn’t a lot of hierarchy and it’s really focused on the client. One of the first things Lauren [Martin, wealth manager and one of the intern leads] talked about was the DEI book club and the DEI program was a big draw. Also with impact investing, the intersection of environmental and social issues with my passion for investing really resonated.
What part of your internship experience has been most interesting or meaningful? Is there anything that has surprised you?
Most meaningful has been the amount of support throughout the process. The project managers were all willing to support me along the way and everyone else is always really open to answering questions or coffee chats. It doesn’t feel like I’m just here to do busy work, I’m here for my growth. The most surprising thing is that it doesn’t seem like everyone had everything figured out when they were where I am. Everyone took a different path to get here and everyone found their own way. It makes me feel more secure about not always knowing exactly what’s happening next for me. Not everyone always has everything figured out but that’s okay.
What are your biggest takeaways from your time with us? Has anything changed your path going forward?
Work hard and step outside of your comfort zone. Part of the internship being so rotational and working with different parts of the firm makes you keep an open mind. It honestly made me more confused but in a good way. I realized there’s so much to the industry but that it’s all interesting and meaningful. I wasn’t really sure what to expect coming in. I came in with an interest in portfolios, but I enjoyed the exposure to tax planning, estate planning, trusts, and other areas. It made me realize I don’t have to be so specific with what I want to do, and I’d be okay bouncing around within the industry.
What’s next for you?
I’m heading back to campus to finish up school and hopefully finding my specialty. When you’re studying something very broad like finance you have to decide what you’re going to do what kind of impact you want to have. I’m excited to see where I end up. I’ve become even more hungry for that knowledge so I’m really looking forward to classes, just to keep feeding my mind new things and stay intellectually curious. I met lots of people here who had traveled a lot so I’m also really looking forward to traveling more. Mostly just focused on growing as a person and continuing to step outside my comfort zone.
Jason Dias
Jason is a rising senior at Centre College where he studies Economics and Finance. He loves reading historical fiction, nature and hiking, and enjoyed exploring Yosemite and Sequoia National Parks with some of his Posse cohort members during his summer in California.
You had a range of internships that you could have considered. What drew you LNW?
I had four internship offers through Posse for this summer, but what attracted me to LNW was the impact investing expertise of the firm. I’ve been interested in ESG (environmental, social and governance) since spring of my freshman year, but struggled to secure an opportunity in space. Interning at LNW meant I could finally combine my experience from my previous internships at an environmental nonprofit and alternative asset manager.
What part of your internship experience has been most interesting or meaningful? Is there anything that has surprised you?
I really enjoyed the project-based structure of the internship and the fact that I lead my projects. Although I had the resources and support available at any time, the structure of the internship and my projects undoubtedly strengthened my leadership, project management, and problem-solving abilities. I was surprised by the variety of LNW’s scope. The firm does not only manage its clients’ money – its work ranges from marketing, investments, DEI, client service, to financial operations to name a few.
What are your biggest takeaways from your time with us? Has anything changed your path going forward?
My experience here this summer confirmed that I want to be in impact investing space. Specifically, I want to support the clean energy transition. I also realized I value variety and structuring projects/problems and less so of repeated tasks in my day-to-day. Finally, I enjoy learning new topics and educating people about them. I hope to pursue a career path where I am constantly challenged and sharing ideas with others.
What’s next for you?
I’m heading back to the blue grass state to finish my senior year. I co-founded a club last year called Centre Firsts that supports first generation college students on Centre’s campus, where I served as the VP of Finance the past academic year. This year, I will be the President and hope to equip club members with the resources they need to find opportunities that will help them reach their goals through various workshops such as Resume writing 101, Networking on LinkedIn 101, and Interview Prep 101. I’ll also continue to shape my global citizenship mindset by embarking on my third 1-month study abroad trip: a history course called New York City & Puerto Rico – Nation, Identity and Belonging.
Nigel Stiger
Nigel is a rising senior at Tulane University where he studies finance. He enjoys running and is currently training for a half marathon.
You had a range of internships that you could have considered. What drew you LNW?
The biggest thing was the culture. In the interview process I could get a sense of the culture and for me that’s always been something that I was attracted to with schools and other groups. I wanted to work for a company that had a great culture and especially one that had a tight knit feel. I am used to smaller environments; I went to the same school for 13 years and graduated with less than 100 people in my class. Also, Tulane is considered a small to medium-sized school, so being in smaller environments is something that I have learned to be beneficial for me.
What part of your internship experience has been most interesting or meaningful? Is there anything that has surprised you?
Most meaningful has been doing coffee chats with people around the office. Through some of them that was the only opportunity I had to get to know some people. I feel like this summer has been a transitional period for me and it’s helped me learn a lot about my future options. I’ve been surprised by how nice everyone is. The finance industry has a reputation for being cutthroat and my time at LNW has been the opposite. Everyone has been inviting and helpful, every interaction I’ve always been able to come out of a conversation feeling like it was positive.
What are your biggest takeaways from your time with us? Has anything changed your path going forward?
My biggest takeaway is the importance of scheduling and communication. Working with different teams and different projects I see the importance more than ever of being able to juggle different tasks. The best way to do that has been keeping a close eye on my calendar and communicating everything often and clearly. I didn’t know anything about trusts before coming here and that has changed my career path, it’s something I’m very interested in now. I was able to sit in on several meetings with the trust team and enjoyed learning about trusts and the process of trust requests.
What’s next for you?
I’m heading back to campus in the fall and just hoping to have a full senior year, enjoying my last year with friends and in the city of New Orleans.
Stephanie Wu
Stephanie is a rising junior at Boston University where she studies Business Administration with a concentration in finance. She is a fan of Formula One racing and enjoys watching and playing volleyball, perfecting the art of making her own matcha lattes, and doing daily crossword puzzles. Stephanie also has an interest in sustainable fashion and organizes clothing swaps on her campus to help students cut down on their clothing consumption and keep unwanted clothes out of landfills.
You had a range of internships that you could have considered. What drew you LNW?
I originally found the internship while looking through the Posse portal of job listings. I had learned about wealth management when interning at First Republic and really wanted to learn more about what the role entailed. I also knew I wanted to come back home to the west coast for the summer, so it seemed like the perfect fit. Once I got to know the firm, there being a lot of women in leadership positions at the firm was a big selling point. In my past interviews for internships in the industry I had never really had women interview me. I was also really interested in impact investing as I learned about the importance of ESGs (Environmental, Social and Governance) and creating shared value in business at school.
What part of your internship experience has been most interesting or meaningful? Is there anything that has surprised you?
Seeing how everyone’s roles throughout the entire firm work together as a cohesive team has been extremely interesting. Whether it be the investments team, client service, operations, or HR, everyone plays an integral role in the company, and it was a valuable experience to see that firsthand.
Coming in, I assumed wealth managers pitched specific stocks for their clients, and I didn’t understand truly what being a wealth manager meant. However, after countless coffee chats with amazing wealth managers, analysts, and CSAs, I have a better understanding of the career path I want to pursue. The aspect of building long term relationships with clients to help them with their financial goals piqued my interest.
What are your biggest takeaways from your time with us? Has anything changed your path going forward?
Company culture is way more important than I thought it was. People at LNW were always open to conversations or coffee chats, no one ever made me feel silly for asking a question and everyone was willing to make time, so I was able to really make connections. I still want to pursue wealth management, but my eyes were also opened to alternative assets and asset management.
What’s next for you?
I’ll be doing some traveling before heading back to campus. In the fall semester, I’ll be taking my Core business courses at BU where we’re put into a team of ten to build a business from the ground up. It’s supposed to be the most challenging semester I’ll have, but I’m looking forward to learning about what it takes to create a successful business.
