The Power of Women from Wall Street to Entrepreneurship

Sallie Krawcheck, CEO and co-founder, Ellevest, addressed key issues around diversity and inclusion for women pursuing careers in finance and entrepreneurship in an April 26 event at Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business.

“The Power of Women from Wall Street to Entrepreneurship,” hosted by the Georgetown Entrepreneurship Initiative, was part of the Paul J. and Carol Hill Distinguished Entrepreneur Speaker Series and was moderated by Jenny Abramson, founder and managing partner, Rethink Impact.

“Find the job in which you can learn and grow the most,” said Krawcheck. “Then, you can find your place later, whether it is with a startup or an established company. You will have an amazing career by learning how to take risk and calculated bets and not always follow the pack. Women are not risk averse, but rather risk aware. Once we understand it, then we take it.”

Krawcheck also discussed her inspiration for launching Ellevest, a digital online investment platform that is tailored to women’s specific goals and timelines.

“Ellevest is a ‘gender-aware’ financial education platform that considers a few concepts specifically for women,” said Krawcheck. “Overall, women need more financial education in order to invest appropriately. In contrast to men, Ellevest accounts for women’s longer forecasted life span, different earning power and career peaks, and cost of living. Our goal is get women excited about finance, and to break through the societal stigma that there is no shame in talking about money.”