TCNJ

39 WINTER 2022 I need to know how they think," she says. "My experience is completely different from what I ever would have imagined." But, as the industry is starting to see, it's not just women who need to do the heavy lifting. Four years ago, Joseph Okaly '08, a wealth manager at New Horizons Wealth Management in Cedar Knolls, New Jersey, read Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg, the chief oper- ating officer of Meta Platforms. Okaly was transfixed. "She made so many eye-opening points," he says. "Women get the short end of the stick more often than they should." " I want to be the one advising and meeting with clients." — Jamie Cox '22 So, he made a commitment to hire more women. When hiring the compa- ny's only intern last summer, he looked for a qualified female candidate. Out of 30 applicants, only two were women. He landed on Jamie Cox, now a senior at TCNJ, majoring in finance. "After the Zoom call ended, I thought, 'That was the best interview I ever had,'" Cox says. A few days later, Cox received her offer letter, which included a personal video welcome from Okaly. During her summer internship, Cox met with the company's founder and chief executive every week for a private financial advising lesson. Although the office was evenly split between men and women, there were no female advi- sors. "That made me want to become an advisor," says Cox. After spending a summer interning for Okaly, she decided that she wanted to be in his shoes. "I want to be the one advising and meeting with clients," she says. In fall 2021, another internship opportunity came up, this time with a female advisor at a different firm. Cox jumped at the opportunity. "I wanted to work under a woman and to learn how she built herself up so that she was taken seriously," Cox says. "I really wanted to get her perspective." Cox recently accepted a full-time position to join Okaly's team again, starting in June 2022. She will be a client servicing specialist. Armed with experience and some early mentors, Cox says she has no hesita- tions about entering a male-domi- nated industry and doing her part to change that: "With confidence and knowledge in the industry, it's fair game for anyone." ■ Ronda Kaysen is a contributor to The New York Times, Architectural Digest, and AARP Magazine. She is co-author of The New York Times Right at Home: How to Buy, Decorate, Organize and Maintain Your Space.

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