WEBVTT - Bloomberg Markets: Diversity

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<v Speaker 1>It is August. In Bloomberg Markets magazine, they are out

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<v Speaker 1>with a special issue. It is focused on diversity, where

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<v Speaker 1>black men and women they share their experience on Wall Street.

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<v Speaker 1>There's no universal experience, but their stories reflect what it's

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<v Speaker 1>like in what it means to be just one of

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<v Speaker 1>a handful of black people in finance. Bloomberg Radio and

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<v Speaker 1>Television correspondence Hinney Bassik contributed to the Bloomberg Markets issue

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<v Speaker 1>and brings us more in this special report. It's hard

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<v Speaker 1>to define the black experience on Wall Street, partially because

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<v Speaker 1>there are so few people of color in the c

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<v Speaker 1>suite and on trading floors across the industry. At the

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<v Speaker 1>beginning of this year, there were more than eighty top

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<v Speaker 1>executives at the six biggest US banks, and only one

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<v Speaker 1>was black. We interviewed people across the industry. Carla Harris,

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<v Speaker 1>who has since become one of the most senior women

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<v Speaker 1>at Morgan Stanley, was one of the few people of

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<v Speaker 1>color at the firm in the eighties. Excellence look like

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<v Speaker 1>six white men at the top, right. That wasn't strange

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<v Speaker 1>at all. That's what you saw at IBM. That's what

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<v Speaker 1>you saw a GM. That's what you saw at Morgan

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<v Speaker 1>Stanley Goldman's actually pick it right. So you knew that

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<v Speaker 1>if you wanted to play on this playing field, that's

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<v Speaker 1>was what you were You were going to have to

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<v Speaker 1>be comfortable in some cases being the only and and

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<v Speaker 1>being the first. So that was not intimidating to me

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<v Speaker 1>at all. That's just the way it was, you know.

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<v Speaker 1>I would say I had three strikes against me. Here's

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<v Speaker 1>what I said to myself as the first year and

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<v Speaker 1>second year associate. I said, You've got three strikes against you.

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<v Speaker 1>You're young, you're a woman, and you're black. Reggie Brown

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<v Speaker 1>was also alone when he became the first African American

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<v Speaker 1>Exchange official in the nineties. I've always saw race as

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<v Speaker 1>an attribute because I realized that a lot of times

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<v Speaker 1>I was the only one in the room or I

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<v Speaker 1>stood out because I was six five a black dude,

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<v Speaker 1>and everyone remarked to that because it was such a

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<v Speaker 1>unique thing to be um in environment that I was in.

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<v Speaker 1>And so I think through ambition and talent and drive,

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<v Speaker 1>I created my opportunities. Many of the people we interviewed

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<v Speaker 1>said they felt systematically shut out of wall streets tight

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<v Speaker 1>knit circle. Sometimes that sentiment was even overt. There was

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<v Speaker 1>some recognition I think of my talents, but also you

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<v Speaker 1>know just where I stood in a hierarchy. You know,

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<v Speaker 1>I remember when I first came remember the Stock Exchange.

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<v Speaker 1>I sat the members lounge and a ninety year old

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<v Speaker 1>member of the Exchange I didn't believe I belonged there,

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<v Speaker 1>and cleared his throat and told me to go. That

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<v Speaker 1>was in the nineties. More than a decade later, Lauren

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<v Speaker 1>Simmons was only the second black woman to become a

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<v Speaker 1>trader at the New York Stock Exchange. That's in the

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<v Speaker 1>two five year history of the trading floor. Before she

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<v Speaker 1>passed her Series nineteen exam, the men and around her

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<v Speaker 1>bed that she wouldn't even make it through the test.

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<v Speaker 1>The archive is getting to bea you realized or the

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<v Speaker 1>second half of American woman in history. And this wasn't

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<v Speaker 1>true interest about gear to be to myself like wow,

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<v Speaker 1>this is a story moment, but it is very better.

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<v Speaker 1>See that there, you know, barched more woman. They came

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<v Speaker 1>before me. There's been some change over time, but it's

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<v Speaker 1>coming fits and starts. For Carla, that ship started in

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<v Speaker 1>the nineties, but she saw many people of color laid

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<v Speaker 1>off and hard times for the industry. We have made

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<v Speaker 1>some progress, because it used to be so knowledge that

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<v Speaker 1>I could name every person on Wall Street, let alone

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<v Speaker 1>every senior person on Wall Street. And I am happy

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<v Speaker 1>to say that I cannot do that today. So by definition,

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<v Speaker 1>we've made some progress. The reason why I think we

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<v Speaker 1>aren't farther along in financial services bly and certainly Wall

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<v Speaker 1>Street particularly, is that I feel that diversity has been

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<v Speaker 1>a bullmarket phenomenon. When things are going really well, then

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<v Speaker 1>people are focused on it. And then when you have

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<v Speaker 1>a bear market environment, you have restructurings, you have reductions

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<v Speaker 1>and force and obviously small populations are disproportionately hit. And

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<v Speaker 1>then when we get back into an upturn, that's when

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<v Speaker 1>you look around and you go, oh my gosh, where's

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<v Speaker 1>my pipeline, And you've got to start all over again.

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<v Speaker 1>And with the death of George Floyd and protests spanning

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<v Speaker 1>more than two months, many in Wall Streets black community

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<v Speaker 1>have been compelled to create change. They're speaking openly about

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<v Speaker 1>race for the first times in their careers. You know,

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<v Speaker 1>seeing George Floyd being murdered by a y cop with

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<v Speaker 1>his hands in his pocket, you know, it's just molly reprehensible.

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<v Speaker 1>You know, and I think because we're all at home,

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<v Speaker 1>working at home from COVID, everyone has an opportunity to

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<v Speaker 1>kind of focus on it. And I think what's different

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<v Speaker 1>is I think there's more people of color in their

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<v Speaker 1>agency to speak freely about these issues. Age plays a

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<v Speaker 1>part too. Laurence is a younger generation hesitant to accept

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<v Speaker 1>the status quo. She thinks the next wave of talent

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<v Speaker 1>is unlikely to stay on Wall Street of things don't change.

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<v Speaker 1>The shift is going to happen with the younger generation

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<v Speaker 1>is that they're just going to get bet up when

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<v Speaker 1>traditional Wall Street or traditional maybe Chech spaces or so

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<v Speaker 1>on and so forth, and they're just going to create

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<v Speaker 1>your own companies that include everyone. Because I do really

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<v Speaker 1>believe that the younger generation really gets it. But the

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<v Speaker 1>road ahead is still a hard one with barriers to entry.

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<v Speaker 1>You know, Wall Street, you know it's a closed society

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<v Speaker 1>and you know it's a meritocracy, and it's very hard

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<v Speaker 1>to get in and stay in, and once you're in,

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<v Speaker 1>you know, the environment two times is rough and tumble,

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<v Speaker 1>is not very friendly. But is that true for everything

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<v Speaker 1>else alive? After almost two dozen interviews with people of

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<v Speaker 1>color on Wall Street, we found that being black often

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<v Speaker 1>means being alone, held back, and deprived of the best opportunities.

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<v Speaker 1>Some made it to the top, some left disenchanted. Some

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<v Speaker 1>became rich. Some were so underpaid they had to sue.

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<v Speaker 1>Some think Wall Street is hopeless, but some are more

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<v Speaker 1>optimistic than ever. In New York, Um Shinneli Bassk Bloomberg

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<v Speaker 1>Radio