Smart Woman Securities visits Goldman Sachs. Photos courtesy of Raimy Little

The name Smart Woman Securities may not be one you’ve heard of, but the brands that this Fordham club works with certainly are—companies like Microsoft, Procter & Gamble, Visa, Goldman Sachs, and Morgan Stanley, to name a few.

Smart Woman Securities (SWS) is Fordham’s chapter of a national organization whose mission is to educate undergraduate women on finance and investments through weekly seminars, mentoring initiatives, and exposure to successful professionals and businesses. 

Learning to Pick and Pitch Stocks

Initiation isn’t for the faint of heart. 

Students complete a robust list of requirements to join the club, starting with a Bloomberg certification in market concepts—a seven-part process that takes about three hours per part. 

In addition, after attending five seminars run by the club, hopefuls are put into groups to pick a stock and pitch it to the club’s leadership for possible investment. They also participate in community service projects throughout New York City, completing a certain amount of hours in their first semester—and every subsequent semester. 

“It’s intense if you look at it like, ‘Oh, this is just a club,’” says Raimy Little, the club’s CEO. “But if you really boil it down, I say the initiation is like a one-and-a-half-credit class.” 

Early Exposure to Hands-On Investing 

Once in the club, SWS students get to learn by investing real money. The stock-pitching they do is not just hypothetical. Club members manage a $500,000 fund set up for them through the Gabelli Center for Global Security Analysis and the Fordham investment office.

Smart Woman Securities executive board

Through the club’s seminars and regular “corporate treks” to the offices of major investment banks in New York City, students also network with established professionals and learn the ins and outs of techniques like SWOT analysis. Younger club members also meet with upper-level students for coffee chats and mock interviews. 

“These are business professionals that are helping you directly with these hard aspects of the recruiting process,” says club member Gianna Cook. “You’re doing technicals, you’re doing behavioral interviews with big firms, big banks like JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs. I just fell in love with it more and more.”

Cook’s infatuation with the club is a familiar story—the women of SWS often speak of joining as more of a calling than just an extracurricular activity.

“The SWS community is always there for each other no matter how many years pass,” says Daniele Basile, a recent grad who now works in the asset and wealth management division at Goldman Sachs. “I am honored to have been able to be a part of such an impactful community.”

A Culture of Mentorship

Before becoming CEO, Little was exposed to SWS in her first year when she learned her orientation leader was part of the club’s executive board.

Interested in business but unsure what field to pursue, Little connected with the club and found an immediate home on campus.  

“It shaped my college experience in the best way,” says Little, who joined the executive board in her first year. “Being in a room of all women in a finance field is so comforting. [I chose] investment banking because of the girls that have helped mentor me, and I think it’s just brought a lot of confidence in myself.”

That culture of mentorship is key to the club’s success, says Rosa Romeo, associate clinical professor of accounting and taxation. As the group’s faculty advisor, she has shepherded SWS from a small club with no space on campus in 2008 to one of the largest chapters nationwide. 

“The fact that they are looking over each other’s resumes, that they are doing these coffee chats, that they come back as alumni—that makes me really proud,” Romeo says, “because it means we are imparting this knowledge and have really instilled in them that it takes a village.”

Club members celebrate the launch of the SWS Fund.