Finance and trading are two areas where men considerably outnumber women. Progress is being made and DailyFX is highlighting that progress with a new series on Women Leaders Changing Finance. We’re also spotlighting hurdles. One area where women are making a mark is financial twitter, or #fintwit. Caitlin Cook, perhaps best known as @DeadCaitBounce, is an internal wholesaler for a global asset manager and a rising star in the FinTwit world. She’s quickly attracted notice among some of the biggest names in the business.
To celebrate Women’s History Month, and to help kick off our new series, DailyFX Strategist Peter Hanks (@PeterHanksFX) talked with Caitlin @DeadCaitBounce about how she’s writing her own history of women in finance by using FinTwit to discuss trading and investing along with dashes of life advice and humor. Here are some excerpts:
Q: How did you begin on FinTwit?
A: Twitter has been great for networking and I think it’s a very underutilized resource. It started by growing my platform, I’ve been on it for a few years now, but it started my senior year of college when a professor recommended that I get involved. There’s a lot of good content and networking opportunities so after class it would help me learn more about finance and investing outside of the classroom which is really helpful. It’s sort of taken a life of its own.
Q: What can those of us in finance do to change gender diversity in the industry?
A: I think that where we’re sourcing our candidate pools from is a really big part. It’s sounds sort of stereotypical but it is also accurate in many cases, you hear of guys in the industry getting their kids or their friend’s kids in the door and you’re not really diversifying the workforce that way. It’s sort of a continuation of what’s been. So I think sourcing from a more diverse applicant pool would allow women or minorities to gain exposure to these roles.
Check out our video discussion for more FinTwit ideas from @DeadCaitBounce including how she gained attention of some of the top names in trading and thoughts on women in finance.
