Learning to Invest from the Midwest
MADI DALEIDEN, SIP 2020
MADI, A CURRENT SENIOR STUDYING FINANCE AND ACCOUNTING AT MARQUETTE UNIVERSITY, SHARES HER PERSPECTIVE ON HOW HER MIDWESTERN ROOTS HAVE HELPED SHAPE THE BEGINNINGS OF HER CAREER IN FINANCE.
Growing up in a middle-class family within an average-sized Midwestern city, I had no connections to the investment management industry.
The closest thing to investing that I knew was my parents’ financial advisor who would visit our dining room table every few months. I only recognized who he was because his visits were associated with the nights I couldn’t do my homework in my usual spot and the smell of my mom baking desserts in the kitchen beforehand. While my personal upbringing and college experience isn’t representative of the entire Midwest, since there are financial centers like Chicago, St. Louis, and Minneapolis in the region, my personal experience was not a particularly conventional path to the industry.
After discovering my interest in the capital markets through my university’s student-run fund, I found Girls Who Invest (GWI). As my fellow scholars introduced themselves during the first week of the Summer Intensive Program (SIP), I realized how unique my background actually was. I was surrounded by incredibly brilliant young women attending globally-revered, brand-name colleges, some of whom knew family members already successful in the industry. Then there was me, a Midwest girl attending a Midwest college without an Ivy-league designation or sub-15% acceptance rate. My imposter syndrome was deafening.
The beauty of the GWI program is its inherent ability to bring young women from underrepresented and nontraditional backgrounds into a strong community ready for successful and fulfilling careers in investment management. GWI levels the playing field and democratizes the process of surmounting the seemingly high barriers to entry for girls who don’t reap the benefits of growing up near financial centers, having experienced family members, or attending colleges with strong industry pipelines. Despite being virtual for SIP in summer 2020, I was amazed by the access GWI granted its scholars. I never imagined I would be exposed to some of the best finance professors in the country and most prestigious investment management firms in the world.
My experience exemplifies the importance of diversity of background—the very mission GWI aims to achieve every year when developing its newest cohort of scholars. Therefore, I want to share a message directly to young women with nontraditional backgrounds thinking about applying to the program—take the leap. While it may be intimidating to enter at first, there is space for you and your unique perspective in this industry; in fact, it’s needed. Great investment ideas cannot be sourced if the people sitting around the boardroom table all grew up in the same suburb, attended the same university, and share the same resume. As GWI preaches, diversity of experience is necessary for success—both financially to produce alpha and ethically to hold the industry accountable.
After interning in New York this past summer, my story has truly come full circle. Now attending my final year of college back in the Midwest, the difference between the cultures, people, and overall way-of-life is overwhelmingly evident; however, I wouldn’t want it any other way. I’m proud of my Midwestern roots and education. Not only has this environment instilled a community-oriented and values-driven work ethic, but it has also inspired a sense of humility that I hope to always cherish. I look forward to carrying this perspective into the industry post-graduation and leveraging it as a tool rather than viewing it as a barrier. GWI fostered this personal development, and for that I am forever grateful to this program and its greater community.