Women on the Move Podcast

Episode 15: Dr. Ronak Mehta, Nerdbugs

Doing it All: Dr. Ronak Mehta Discusses Mixing Entrepreneurship and a Medical Career

 

Dr. Ronak Mehta found life as a practicing family physician and a clinical assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin both rewarding and challenging. Then a few years ago, she decided to pursue another longtime goal: founding a toy company to help educate and inspire people to learn more about their health. The physician and CEO sits down with Women on the Move host Sam Saperstein to discuss how she launched her company, navigating work-life balance, and what she sees in her future

 

Creating a toy company from scratch

Nerdbugs is a line of plush toys in the shape of human organs, which are intended to inform and educate children in science and healthy lifestyles. Ronak founded the company in 2018—but the idea had been germinating in her for about 10 years by then. She was in medical school when the concept first came to her. “One of the things that I noticed was how neat would it be if we had these plush toys that could not only be used to educate people about ‘Hey, you have asthma, this is what your lungs actually look like, and this is how asthma works,’” she says. “And the second thing was, it would be a really neat get well gift for someone that was hospitalized post-surgery or was undergoing dialysis or chemotherapy or something like that.”

Early in her medical career, Ronak also published a children’s book about health. While the book didn’t take off, it provided the inspiration for her idea about plush toys. It still took nearly 10 years to get up the nerve to actually pursue launching the toy company. Part of the reason for her resistance, she says, was self-doubt. “I sort of told myself, I have this formal career in health sciences and in medicine and I have no formal education in business, and I have no idea where to start and who am I to try to figure this out?” she says.

 

Adopting a “Why Not” Mentality

Once she finally took the first step of interviewing toy manufacturers to make prototypes of her design, Ronak says, she didn’t look back. When she first launched Nerdbugs, she was doing nearly everything herself. But once she realized the inefficiency in that model, she began hiring freelancers to cover areas like web development, social media, customer service, and photography. And she learned that taking the time to select the right partners as freelancers, and to nurture and support them, helped the company grow. “I wanted to help build these relationships within Nerdbugs, where it wasn't just a short-term person that I was looking for, but someone that really believed in the mission and wanted to grow as we grew,” she says.

Along the way, Ronak recalls, she adopted a “Why not?” mentality around Nerdbugs and taking chances on business contests. As she explains: “So I would apply for these things that I felt like maybe I'm not qualified for, but why not me? Why wouldn't they pick me?”

 

Work-life balance and what’s next

As she’s successfully juggled her medical career with her business venture, Ronak says she’s continuing to refine her work-life balance. “When I first started, you know, you have this fire inside you where you're like, okay, I'm just going to make it happen,” she says. “So you wake up at ungodly hours, go to work, come home and work.” Now, she says, she’s setting more boundaries, like not working after 6 p.m., or taking the whole weekend off.

As far as the future, Ronak has big plans. She’s in the process of revising her children’s book that originally inspired Nerdbugs. She wants to include more Nerdbugs as characters in the book. And she’s exploring video and creating animated shorts based on the characters.

Episode 14: Sarah Kunst, Cleo Capital

Cleo Capital’s Leader Hopes More Women Follow Her into VC

Women are severely underrepresented in the world of venture capitalism. That’s something that Sarah Kunst, managing director of Cleo Capital, would like to see change. She sits down with Women on the Move host Sam Saperstein to discuss her career path, why she loves VC work, and the ongoing challenges of racism and sexism.

 

A unique career path

Unlike many leaders in the VC world, Sarah studied advertising in college and began her career in marketing, working for brands like Apple, Red Bull, and Chanel. She says understanding the importance of branding helps her spot companies that will be successful. “What working for those places really taught me is that if you are a consumer-focused brand, if you are something that no one needs in their life, then you better have an amazing, amazing brand so that people want you in their life,” she tells Sam.

 

Sarah describes how her move to the world of VC funding was almost accidental. She was working for a firm that ran into financial issues, and she asked an investor friend for some advice. “I had free time,” she recalls. “So I would do some research and I would send her back these long emails about, you know, this company is interesting because X, Y, Z, and this is what the market looks like. And I just was being helpful because she was helping me and giving me advice and I wanted to return the favor.“ Sarah’s friend recognized her talent—and encouraged her to come work in VC. That type of mutual support is, according to Sarah, the key to career advancement.

 

The ongoing challenges of racism and sexism and the future of VC

One path to VC success is to start out as an angel investor, Sarah notes. Once you have a successful track record as an independent investor, a VC firm is more likely to want to invite you in. For people who don’t have the money for angel investing, scout programs such as the one at Cleo can be invaluable. A scout program, she says, is basically angel investing with someone else’s money. Many firms offer scout programs, which can be an ideal pathway for start-up executives and others with deep industry knowledge but without the capital to invest, to get into VC.

 

For those working in VC, Sarah describes the day-to-day job as less strategic and more like being a babysitter. She says her work falls into four buckets: finding the prospect, securing the investment, helping the company do well, and finally, exiting and making the money. The bulk of her time is spent helping the company do well, and that’s why it feels most like babysitting: she finds herself performing multifaceted tasks in the name of freeing up the company founder’s energy to be successful. Recently, for example, she drove to the Apple Store to retrieve a founder’s laptop.

 

The barriers keeping women and people of color from success in the VC world, Sarah says, “are always the same thing: its racism and sexism.” The solution, she says, is just as simple: hire more women and give them a seat at the investing table. She’s hopeful, given all the research that diverse teams perform better whatever the industry, that more VC firms will embrace diversity. “To all the crazy people out there who say they care about making money and who aren't surrounding themselves with diverse teams, I feel bad for you because you know, you're missing out on money that I'm going to make!” she says.

Episode 13: Zephrine Hanson, Hampden Farms

Sustainable Farming Entrepreneur Talks Career Path and Autism Awareness

 

Zephrine Hanson’s journey from Air Force photojournalist to small-scale farming entrepreneur in Colorado has been shaped by time her career in the service and her role as a mother to three children on the autism spectrum. During Autism Awareness Month, Women on the Move host Sam Saperstein talks with Zephrine about those experiences and her mission to make small-scale farming profitable.

 

Military experience paves the way

Wanting both a path to college and a chance to see the world, Zephrine joined the Air Force soon after graduating from high school in southern California. She spent eight years as a photojournalist and although she ultimately left the military, she says she learned invaluable skills including the ability to both plan and be able to think on the fly, as well as how to compromise with others. “Sometimes I'd have to photograph someone who didn't really want to be on camera, but we both had been voluntold to do this,” she explains. “And so [I learner] a little bit of the art of negotiation.”

 

But it was after leaving the military that Zephrine experienced some of the biggest benefits of her service: veterans organizations. She’s participated in more than four programs, which helped connect her to entrepreneurial support. “Every veteran program I went to has allowed me to just even be here to speak with you,” she tells Sam. “I learned from them how to have my transition, have this second opportunity at life.”

 

Transition to sustainable farming

As a veteran facing health issues, Zephrine found herself immersed in wellness. She explored “every kind of spiritual religion," yoga, healthy eating, and other wellness practices. Feeling healthier, she and her husband embarked on parenthood: first a son and then, 15 months later, twin daughters. “I wasn’t ready” she tells Sam. “There was no part of me that was ready for that.” She and her husband dealt with the stress by moving to Denver—a place where they knew nobody but figured they could build their future.

 

In Denver, Zephrine connected with a veteran organization that had a relationship with the Denver Botanic Gardens. The program connected her lifelong interests in farming and entrepreneurship with the community connectedness she had discovered as a Black woman in veteran programs.

 

Soon she founded Hampden Farms, a suburban farming project offering sustainable farming solutions and small-batch artisanal products made from organic ingredients. “The mission of Hampden farms is to make small scale farming profitable,” she says. “I get to be a farm business owner and work with other growers and farmers who are creating these systems to really change the farm system.” Along with several other farmers, she created the East Denver Food Hub, who collaborate on marketing and distribution. Their goals is to make local food accessible to everyone. That includes people who have traditional barriers to fresh food, including families with special needs kids.

 

A family affair

Zephrine’s family has been central to her journey as a businesswoman and advocate. Her three children had received diagnoses of autism, and when she and her husband took the opportunity to move to Denver, they decided to homeschool their children, and soon discovered an organization called Teaching the Autism Community Trades. Knowing that statistics show 90 percent of people with an autism diagnosis will never be hired, Zephrine and her husband embraced teaching skills to their children. Farming, and the development of Hampden Farms, fit that bill perfectly.

 

During the Covid-19 pandemic, Zephrine took the opportunity to launch Farm in a Box, a virtual interactive experience where customers can curate a box of local produce. The idea was partly inspired by her husband, faced with the reality of the family being stuck at home due to the pandemic. He built a backyard farm where their children could participate in skilled farm work. Meanwhile Zephrine, inspired by activity boxes her children received during the pandemic, hatched the idea of Farm in a Box. She applied for and received grant funding from a Denver organization. She’s working with the food hub, whose farmers make money by delivering the boxes clients create. That circles back to her original mission for Hampden Farms: making small-scale farming profitable.

Episode 12: Jim Sinocchi & Kym Francis, JPMorgan Chase

Disability Inclusion at JPMorgan Chase: Two Perspectives

In celebration of Autism Awareness Month, Women on the Move host Sam Saperstein sat down to look at disability inclusion at JPMorgan Chase through two different lenses. First, she speaks with Jim Sinocchi, head of JPMorgan Chase’s Office of Disability Inclusion, to hear about the organization’s goals, priorities, and the innovative Autism at Work program. She also talks with Kym Francis, an operations project manager who was diagnosed with autism shortly after beginning her career at JPMorgan Chase.

 

Normalizing differences

Jim Sinocchi was just settling into retirement when he was invited to run the Office of Disability Inclusion at JPMorgan Chase & Co. And although he’d been looking forward to time with his family after nearly four decades with IBM, he found the opportunity too enticing to turn down. “[They told me] ‘we do a pretty good job with diversity, with all the other groups,’” he recalls. “’We just don’t know how to do it for disability inclusion.’” Jim—who has been in a wheelchair since being paralyzed in a body surfing accident at age 25—was impressed with leadership’s honesty and enthusiasm, and accepted the challenge.

 

Jim sat down for interviews with 16 of the company’s leaders when he first joined in order to hear their perspectives. He says those discussions were invaluable because they were private and allowed for honest conversations around disability inclusion. He tells Sam that his team’s overall priority is to make able-bodied people in the organization comfortable with people with disabilities. “Our society makes disability too complicated,” he says. “They go into, are you blind? Are you deaf? Do you have a mental illness? And the idea is that that is really not a way to engage a population where we're trying to normalize people with disabilities.”

 

Overall, Jim says JPMorgan Chase continues to make progress in the area of disability inclusion—although recruiting remains a challenge. He shared that many job candidates with disabilities are careful not to disclose their disability until they are deep into the hiring process. One of his priorities, he says, is to help hiring managers understand the value of recruiting people with disabilities.

 

Autism inclusion is an area where JPMorgan Chase is a worldwide leader. The firm’s Autism at Work program started as a pilot with a handful of employees in 2015. Today the firm has more than 200 employees on the autism spectrum across nine countries. Jim notes that the program excels at figuring out where in the organization to place people with autism, and then ensuring their success. “And I'm not surprised in terms of the success of the program because of the skillset that we've been able to uncover with people on the autism spectrum,” he shares. “The autism area is the rock star of disability inclusion because of the findings that we have learned about their brilliance in terms of certain jobs.”

 

Autism at Work from an employee perspective

For a different perspective on the Autism at Work program, Sam also speaks with project manager Kym Francis. Kym joined JPMorgan Chase as an analyst in 2016. Soon after she started in that role, Kym received her autism diagnosis —at age 24. She described how helpful the diagnosis was “because I was able to use it as a tool to understand myself, to understand why I had struggled in certain areas and to stop beating myself up internally about things I had not done so well previously.” Still, she says she was terrified to tell her manager about her diagnosis. But rather than viewing it as a negative, her manager stepped in to advocate for her. “He said to me ‘I don’t know what to do here, I don’t know what the protocol is,” she recalls, “’But I’m willing to go and do research and find out what’s out there, what we can do for you.’”

 

Since then, Kym said, she has come to realize that the organization puts a huge amount of resources into disability inclusion, including the Autism at Work program. “The biggest game changer for me, that's made J.P. Morgan somewhere I could excel as opposed to anywhere else, is having supportive managers and having managers that have not been put off by some of the things I have struggled with as a result of autism, and are willing to have open conversations about those things and offer me some guidance,” she says. “And sometimes it's not as a physical, reasonable adjustment or change in the environment. Sometimes it's just about having someone you can talk to. I've always had encouragement to write, what's next? Where do you want to grow? Where do you want to develop?”

Episode 11: Joyce Chang, Managing Director and Chair, Global Research JPMorgan Chase

COVID-19 Widens the Gender Gap: Joyce Chang Discusses new Findings

How is the pandemic affecting gender balance in the global workforce, in corporate leadership, and in the public sector—and what policies can help women thrive moving forward? That’s exactly what Joyce Chang, the chair of global research for JPMorgan Chase's Corporate and Investment Bank, sat down to talk about with Women on the Move host Sam Saperstein. Joyce discussed the 2021 findings of her team’s annual Global Balance Report.

 

How did women fare globally during the pandemic?

Joyce described her team’s top-level findings in her conversation with Sam. First, she noted, this year’s report reveals that female participation in the labor force is suffering a historic setback as a result of COVID-19. “We're actually at a 33-year low in the United States,” she said. “The lowest since 1988, as women have lost jobs that are concentrated in the services sector, and they've also born greater responsibility for childcare.” During the pandemic, she noted, 2.3 million women have lost jobs, as compared to 1.8 million men. That discrepancy can be traced back to childcare, home responsibilities, and virtual learning patterns. For instance, when school started in September 2020, four times as many women left their jobs as men that month.

A second major theme in the report was that the gender pay gap is at best stagnating, and potentially widening. In the U.S. that rate has hovered around 17.5 percent, while in the EU it’s a bit better at 15 percent. But Joyce noted that researchers are currently worried about long-term impacts because as the economy recovers, service jobs—which are female-dominated—are the hardest to recover.

Third, Joyce’s team found that racial inequality in the labor market is also on the rise. In the U.S., for instance, Black female participation dropped by nearly 6.5 percentage points from February to September, 2020. “Black women who had benefited from some of the largest employment gains from 2015 to 2019, because you had such a strong labor market that pulled the new workers, have experienced the most significant setbacks,” she added.

Another area of progress over the past decade—female representation on boards—also showed signs of slowing over pandemic. However, Joyce noted, one silver lining seems to be a heightened global awareness of the issue. “There is a focus on getting women in public leadership positions in the developed markets,” she noted.

 

What policies can help women moving forward?

While many of the findings from the report showed backward movement for women in the U.S. and around the world, Joyce noted that there is reason for optimism as pro-women policies gain traction. JPMorgan Chase’s paid parental leave policy is an example of employers moving in the right direction. Along with paid parental leave policies, support for early childhood education is critical to solidifying women’s ability to remain and flourish in the workforce.

Another policy that can help achieve more gender parity is an emphasis on “reskilling” or re-training women to succeed in in-demand, higher-pay jobs. Unfortunately, Joyce noted, that’s most feasible in developed countries, and women in the world’s emerging markets are still likely to be left behind.

 

What does the future look like?

Joyce predicts that, where possible, the future of women in the workplace will be a hybrid model of in-person and remote work. “[During the pandemic] it's been very possible to keep that global connectivity because of technology,” she noted. “But I'm finding that what everybody does miss is that in-person contact and connectivity. So you want to get the right balance. And I think that's where the focus is going to be. It's not going to be back to what it was before.”

Joyce cited her involvement with Girls Inc. as an example of a reason for optimism. JPMorgan Chase has a sponsorship with the nonprofit serving low-income girls, and Joyce currently sits on the board. The progress that she sees Girls Inc. making in terms of preparing girls for a strong financial foundation and successful career has inspired confidence in the future.

Episode 10: Jean Case, Chairman of the National Geographic Society and CEO of the Case Impact Network and Case Foundation

Embracing a more fearless approach, even in a pandemic

 

When Jean Case published her book, Be Fearless: 5 Principles for a Life of Breakthroughs and Purpose five years ago, she had no idea that we were about to experience a life-altering global pandemic—and she certainly didn’t anticipate that the book’s principles would remain relevant during such a crisis. But, as she discussed with Women on the Move host Sam Saperstein, that’s exactly what happened.

Case’s book centers on five principles of a fearless approach to change and growth: making big bets; being bold in taking risks; making failure matter; reaching beyond your bubble; and letting urgency conquer fear. And as Case, who’s also CEO of the Case Impact Network, the Case Foundation and chairman of National Geographic Society, told Saperstein, she was a little uncomfortable in the beginning of COVID-19 to have a book about being fearless at a time when we all needed to take safety measures. “But obviously the kind of fearlessness that I talk about in the book is the fearlessness that looks past what's right in front of you and sees a different future, and clearly that's what we've needed in this last year,” she said.

 

Big risks, big bets

At the core of Case’s advice to innovators is the idea of starting where you are. “What is not well understood about entrepreneurs, for instance, is that in most cases they’re really solving a problem when they start a new company,” she says. “And in most instances it’s a problem that they’ve either dealt with, or been up close to. And it turns out that’s universal for change makers around the world.” Once you’ve envisioned a solution to a need that’s before you, you often need to take a big risk and make a big bet to put that vision into practice.

In Case’s own life, her big risk and her big bet came in the early days of the internet, when she had a dream job shepherding the new “online services” vision at corporate giant GE. But when a tiny start-up came calling, she was interested in joining an organization with risk-taking in its DNA. Against the advice of horrified friends, she joined the start-up, which later became AOL.

 

Silver linings of the COVID era

The current pandemic has impacted several areas of life over the past year—not the least of which is people’s willingness and ability to take big risks and make big bets. But Case says the pandemic has led to great innovation as well: she tells the story of an emergency-room doctor struggling with a lack of PPE who devised a process so that 80,000 masks a day could be sanitized and reused.

And pandemic life has provided fertile ground for another of Case’s priorities: advancing equity and inclusion, especially amongst women. Amidst research showing that organizations with diverse teams outperform those without, today’s virtual meetings are more diverse than when people had to physically meet in an office. She noted a very specific reason why female entrepreneurs are benefiting from the propensity to virtual meetings: “There's a very sad narrative through the years as entrepreneurs sit in front of investors, they get hit on, they have to put up with a lot . . Well, it's a little harder to do that over Zoom.”

 

Looking forward

Case continues to advocate for diversity and inclusion in her roles at both the Case Foundation and the National Geographic Society. When she became chair at National Geographic, the organization’s explorer class was more than 80 percent male; today it’s 51 percent female. At the Case Foundation she continues to both invest in and champion organizations that strive to give women opportunities. 

She’s currently putting her passion to work as co-chair of the American Women's History Initiative at the Smithsonian Institution. “This initiative sets out with one goal in mind, and that is to make sure we are adequately capturing the unbelievable contributions and achievements of women through time in America,” she said. “It is a very intentional effort to open up the archives and look across fields and say, where were the contributions of women left on the cutting room floor?” To Case, it’s an extension of her life’s work: recognizing when women have been fearless in the past is a step toward encouraging women to be fearless today.

Episode Nine: Janis Bowdler, President, JPMorgan Chase Foundation

JPMorgan Chase Foundation President Talks Transformative Giving in Times of Crisis

 

At the helm of the JPMorgan Chase Foundation is president Janis Bowdler, a visionary leader who’s transforming how the organization distributes $350 million annually in charitable giving. In fact, it was under her leadership that JPMorgan Chase & Co announced it would make a $30 billion incremental investment in Black and Hispanic communities across a variety of different areas and sectors over a five-year period. In this conversation with Women on the Move’s Sam Saperstein, Janis talks about how the foundation reached that colossal decision and how she’s adjusted her leadership style in the time of COVID-19.

 

Crisis shines a light on need

 

With a mission to help vulnerable communities around the world, the JPMorgan Chase Foundation has spent decades helping low-income communities share in the prosperity of a growing global economy. Janis explains that, for the past seven years she’s been with the firm, her work has been all about inclusive economic growth.

 

Then 2020 came, and things changed almost overnight.

 

“Suddenly we're hit with a double crisis of a global pandemic and an economic recession,” she says. “So we shifted quickly from a growth mindset to a recovery mindset. The needs of our communities and our nonprofit partners shifted significantly.”

 

Long-term infrastructure projects were set aside, and Janis put the foundation’s energies toward core support. She worked to get dollars to nonprofits on the front lines, funding organizations that handled everything from feeding families, to making sure that they could cover household expenses until their stimulus checks arrived. Since many of the foundation’s existing partners were already deeply embedded in vulnerable communities, Janis and her teams were able to get firsthand intelligence on what was actually going on. From there, she could determine the needs of those communities and pivot to respond.

 

How giving is changing in a post-COVID world

 

Although Janis makes loads of decisions about how the foundation’s resources should be allotted, she speaks frankly about the importance of centering decisions on community needs. This has been a trend in philanthropy for some time, but the events of 2020 and the COVID crisis have given it even more weight.

 

“Philanthropy can exist in a bubble. We have dollars, we have prestige, and frankly, we have power compared to vulnerable communities,” she explains. “And so it's easy to sit in our rooms and say, here's what we think the problem is. And here's what we think the solution ought to be. The shift is to do deep listening and say to community members, ‘You know better than we do. What are you seeing? What are the solutions that you really want to put forward?’”

 

Janis also describes how economic, political, and social shifts in 2020 forced her to make certain that funding from the JPMorgan Chase Foundation truly supported and was built around the most vulnerable people. In most cases, that meant Black and Hispanic community members, since they are both more likely to be in frontline jobs and more likely to experience unemployment.

 

“The pandemic has laid bare what we already knew; the deep inequality facing Black and Brown communities around the United States and around the globe,” she says.

 

Keeping up the good work

 

Despite the challenges of 2020, Janis remains hopeful about what the foundation can achieve. She explains how the organization advocates for policies that make real change for communities, puts dollars into non-profits, and sends in teams to support existing organizations with everything from building out back office technology to developing marketing plans. She is excited to steer the JPMorgan Chase Foundation into a bright future.

Episode Eight: Annemarie von der Goltz, Vice President and Wealth Advisor, J.P. Morgan Wealth Management

What Really Matters When You’re Picking a Financial Advisor?

 

If you don’t know exactly what a financial advisor does all day, you’re not alone. Many of us have the nagging feeling we should engage with one … but aren’t quite sure what they’d do for us. That’s why Women on the Move’s Sam Saperstein sat down with Annemarie von der Goltz, a Wealth Advisor with J.P. Morgan. In this conversation, Annemarie gives us a peek behind the curtain to see how she connects with her clients and why she loves her job.

 

As it turns out, financial advisors like Annemarie may juggle everything from lending, estate planning, retirement planning, and investment strategies to talking about monthly expenses and cash flow. She’s there for her clients, no matter how big or small their money-related questions may be. Interestingly, a financial advisor’s job used to be narrower in scope. Annemarie points out that the role of the financial advisor has evolved over time, and now she needs to think 10 steps ahead of her clients.

 

“We have to be thinking about the ripple effect of anything we do,” she explains. “[We need to make] sure that we are using the knowledge we have from servicing other clients to set up each new client.”

 

Why rapport matters in financial advising

The investment world has a reputation for being cold and impersonal, and yet money itself is an incredibly emotional concept for most of us. For this reason, Annemarie urges women seeking financial advisors to focus on rapport and chemistry. The relationship will be an intimate one by its very nature, so you should pick someone who “gets” you! To work effectively with her, Annemarie insists that her clients share their wants, needs, and fears so she can create custom-fit investment strategies for them. Her years of experience have taught her that if a client doesn’t trust her, she’s sunk.

 

“A financial advisor, from my perspective, is a coach, an educator, and a psychologist,” she says. “If you don't feel comfortable opening up, it's probably not going to be a great relationship. Your advisor is only as good as the information you share with them.”

 

To close out the conversation, Sam asks if a career in financial advising and planning is welcoming to women. Annemarie says it’s a perfect fit for women with high emotional IQs and entrepreneurial spirits and encourages more women to follow in her footsteps.

 

DISCLOSURES

The statements, views and opinions expressed are those of the presenters and are not necessarily endorsed by, or reflect the views or positions of, JPMorgan Chase Bank, NA or any of its affiliates.  The presentation is for informational purposes and is not a recommendation or solicitation of any particular actions.  JPMorgan Chase Bank, NA and its affiliates are not liable for decisions made or actions taken in reliance on any of the information covered during the event.

Investing involves market risk, including possible loss of principal, and there is no guarantee that investment objectives will be achieved.

This material is intended as a general commentary , and not intended to be a forecast of future events, or guarantee of future results or investment advice. The opinions expressed are those of Annemarie von der Goltz and may differ from those of other J.P. Morgan employees and affiliates.  This material should not be regarded as research or as a J.P. Morgan Research Report. Nothing in this material shall be considered a solicitation to buy or an offer to sell securities, other investments or services to any person in any jurisdiction where such an offer, solicitation, purchase or sale would be unlawful under the laws of such jurisdiction.  Any mention of an individual security, investment or strategy is provided for informational purposes only and should not be construed as a recommendation. Outlooks and past performance are not guarantees of future results.

The use of any third-party trademarks or brand names is for informational purposes only and does not imply an endorsement or that such trademark owner has authorized JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., to promote its products or services.

J.P. Morgan Wealth Management is a business of JPMorgan Chase & Co., which offers investment products and services through J.P. Morgan Securities LLC (JPMS), a registered broker-dealer and investment advisor, member FINRA and SIPC. Annuities are made available through Chase Insurance Agency, Inc. (CIA), a licensed insurance agency, doing business as Chase Insurance Agency Services, Inc. in Florida. Certain custody and other services are provided by JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. (JPMCB). JPMS, CIA and JPMCB are affiliated companies under the common control of JPMorgan Chase & Co.

 

Products not available in all states.

 

Investment and insurance products are not F-D-I-C insured, not insured by any government agency, not a deposit or other obligation of, or guaranteed by JPMorgan Chase Bank N-A or any of its affiliates. Subject to investment risks, including possible loss of the principal amount invested.

Episode Seven: Stephanie Hull, President and CEO at Girls Inc.

Teaching Girls to Be Strong, Smart, and Bold

 

Stephanie Hull knows that making our society more equitable for women is a long game. (And just like Whitney Houston, she definitely believes “the children are our future.”)

 

So she’s working with young girls, aged 5 to 18, to teach them the skills and confidence they need to grow into powerful leaders. Stephanie discusses her transformative program, Girls Inc., with Women on the Move’s Sam Saperstein, including how her programming covers topics from racial justice to money management.

 

Shifting paradigms through mentors and role models

Girls Inc. is a big organization tackling big issues. Through a combination of direct service and advocacy, the program helps budding leaders grow up healthy, educated, and independent through in-school and after-school workshops. And with 78 local organizations in 1600 different sites—both urban and rural—Girls Inc. has some serious reach!

Participants might tackle anything from building a robot in STEM programming to developing a yoga practice in mind/body classes. Stephanie is especially proud of the mentorship component of Girls Inc. She’s witnessed firsthand the power that role models have on the hearts and minds of young girls.

 

“A mentor can make a huge difference in their ability to be resilient, to stay on track in school, to graduate from college,” she says. “When you have a role model who is a woman, who models healthy choices and also cares about you, that goes a long way. Mentors help to build a sense of possibility.”

 

She points out that this is especially true when it comes to money matters; if your role model is a dedicated saver or an enthusiastic investor, that can have a huge impact on your own habits. This is why Girls Inc. has a strong financial literacy component.

 

Making money less mysterious

Since our schools don’t teach kids how to make budgets or apply for loans, most young adults emerge with no real knowledge of how to manage their finances. Stephanie sees this as a huge roadblock for upcoming generations, one that prevents them from leading financially independent lives. The Girls Inc. financial literacy curriculum is designed to be age-appropriate, teaching the youngest girls about simple concepts like counting money and basic banking; the middle grades about investing, entrepreneurship, and budgeting; and the oldest girls about loans, labor laws, and economic equity for women. Parents even get involved in this aspect of Girls Inc., and everyone graduates with a solid sense of how to manage their money.

 

JPMorgan Chase is thrilled to partner with Girls Inc. on their economic literacy program, and couldn’t be more proud of the progress Stephanie has made with this groundbreaking set of classes. She has such a clear vision for what her girls need to build confidence and grow into strong, capable women.

 

“They are the leaders that our future needs,” she insists. “And what we're trying to do is provide them with the tools and opportunities that they need to succeed, to change their own circumstances and ultimately to change the world.”

Episode Six: Byna Elliot, Head of Advancing Black Pathways at JPM Chase

Byna Elliot is paving roads for change

 

For over two decades, Byna Elliot has created opportunities for growth and development within low- and moderate-income communities, and now she’s bringing her expertise to JPMorgan Chase, leading the Advancing Black Pathways program at a pivotal moment in American history. In this episode, Byna joins Women on the Move’s Sam Saperstein to discuss what it’s been like to helm the Advancing Black Pathways program during COVID-19, how changes must be made with intention, and advocating for yourself in the workplace.

 

Forging Pathways

As the Head of Advancing Black Pathways, Byna oversees the bank’s $30 billion commitment to closing the wealth gap for Black and Latinx communities. From transitioning HBCU graduates into the workforce, to fostering entrepreneurship by increasing access to capital for Black and LatinX business owners, Byna works tirelessly to strengthen the next generation of leaders.

 

Arriving at JPMorgan Chase just months before COVID-19, Byna quickly pivoted the entire operation to meet the unexpected challenges brought on by the pandemic. With some students lacking access to the technology they needed for online learning or struggling to stay focused, it was no longer reasonable to expect the same level of academic output that was once possible. To meet students where they were at, Byna and the Advancing Black Pathways team worked with Thurgood Marshall and the United Negro College Fund to create a million dollar hardship fund and to modify the admissions qualifications in order to boost students’ chances for success, such as lowering the GPA requirements. “We wanted to make sure that we made some changes that allow these great students that we’ve supported over the years to have an opportunity to continue on with their education,” says Byna. “We want to make sure that we were part of the solution so that those students didn’t have debt without the prize of having a degree.”

 

Choosing a Focal Point

This isn’t the first time Byna has led an initiative designed to reverse economic inequality, but the culmination of the protests following the murder of George Floyd and the blatant disparities highlighted by COVID-19’s destruction, she found herself reexamining her approach. “While I was extremely proud of the work I had [previously] done, it wasn’t focused on race,” she says. “When I pulled the data, I didn’t see the outcomes on race that I thought I should have seen given my focus on low and moderate income communities. It reminded me how important it is to really hone in on the communities and cultures or races that you want to affect. And so the opportunity to come to an organization that has been so bold and courageous was really important.”

 

Being Your Greatest Spokesperson

 

We’ve all heard about backlash women might face after sticking up for themselves in the workplace, but if we don’t advocate for ourselves, no one else will. Halfway through her career, when Byna was the only woman on her company’s senior leadership team, she had to make a choice: she could either continue bending over backwards to accommodate her male coworkers while juggling her responsibilities as a wife and a mother, or she could speak up.

 

So she spoke up.

 

“They wanted to start a meeting at six o’clock,” she explains, noting that the early start time meant having to drop her kids off at her mother’s house two hours prior so she could get them ready for school. Believing that her co-workers should never see her sweat, she agreed to the proposed schedule despite its obstacles. “So I get to the office before six I’m there, smiling, ready, looking calm, and collected, the gentlemen saunter in and they laugh, they joke, they’re talking football, they’re talking sports. And I am sitting there steaming and thinking they have no idea what it took for me and my family to get into this office.”

 

When the meeting wrapped and her boss asked whether they could meet again at the same time the next day, she put her foot down. “I said ‘the same things that you expect for your

wife to enable you getting into the office is the same thing my husband expects for me. It takes a lot for me to get in here at six o’clock in the morning and it doesn’t work for me.’”

 

The following morning, the meeting started at 8 a.m.

 

All because Byna voiced her needs and her boss listened.