A Community that Inspires
MICHELLE HE, GWI ‘20
MICHELLE HE, A RISING SENIOR STUDYING FINANCE AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP AT EMORY UNIVERSITY, SHARES HOW THE GIRLS WHO INVEST COMMUNITY HAS INSPIRED HER TO PAY IT FORWARD AFTER THE SUMMER INTENSIVE PROGRAM.
If you talk to any Girls Who Invest Scholar, you’ll quickly realize that community is at the core of the organization’s mission. I was fortunate enough to experience this close-knit community just one year ago, and it is a hallmark of my GWI story.
Before officially starting the Summer Intensive Program (SIP), I remember hopping on introductory Zoom calls with other scholars and alumni. With topics ranging from healthcare private equity to interview etiquette, these conversations were a breath of fresh air. Never before had I met so many women with the same career aspirations and interests as me. Just as I was beginning to second-guess my interest in finance, these conversations gave me a sense of renewed confidence and excitement to dive into asset management.
Fast forward a few months later. In mid-August, I had just finished my six-week internship at GTCR, a Chicago-based private equity firm, and I was packing up for my fall semester at Emory. In the span of just ten weeks, the GWI team and community completely reshaped my outlook on the finance industry. My mentors in the program humanized the field, and the Penn ’20 cohort gave me a support system that I could go to with anything. Feeling inspired, I knew I wanted to pay it forward in my other communities.
At Emory, I knew I wanted to recreate the same sense of empowerment and equal opportunity that GWI gave me
Having faced much doubt and confusion about finance throughout my freshman and sophomore years, I felt compelled to leverage my insights from the summer to empower other college students.
I had two primary goals: 1) to demystify finance to women early in their college careers and 2) to increase access to asset management through increased education and mentorship.
With these objectives in mind, I began to think of ways to enact change. To increase accessibility to finance, I worked alongside my university’s Women in Finance group to create a mentor-mentee program. Inspired by the GWI mentorship program, this pairing system matched underclassmen with older students in the field. Having my own GWI mentor (shoutout Jordan Youkilis!) was invaluable because he was a constant touchpoint who provided candid advice about the industry, and I wanted to extend that mentorship to other women as well.
To increase education regarding asset management, I created an introductory curriculum surrounding early and late-stage investing. Inspired by Professor Esmer’s lectures, the sessions would cover finance fundamentals and eventually branch off into specific verticals. However, this idea quickly evolved into the co-founding of a student organization called Goizueta Venture Capital (GVC). Motivated by a conversation with GWI superstar Meagan Loyst, this organization was created to give students an opportunity to learn about early stage investing and apply it through project-based work in research and due diligence. Since its founding, GVC has served this mission by leveraging Emory’s existing entrepreneurship platform to introduce students to the venture capital space. This semester, GVC members researched the MedTech and Space industries to identify industry trends and attractive investments.
My GWI community has been a catalyst for personal growth and a desire to enact change. Although there is still much to do to increase diversity in asset management, I am confident that our collective strides are making an impact. With a community that inspires, we will be able to transform the industry together.
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