CWBS: The Scope
By Columbia Women's Business Society
CWBS: The ScopeOct 01, 2021
So You Want an Investment Banking Internship? : Interview with Esther M
In today's episode of CW no BS, Zainab P. interviews Esther M., a senior in Columbia College, as she reflects on her past experiences working in investment banking. Tune in if you have ever wondered what it’s like working on the floor, how college students find these jobs, and the skills you can gain from these opportunities.
Special Thanks to Zainab Pate for Conducting the interview, Carla Sephton for editing, and our sponser What's Next with Lacey .
20th Annual Conference Attendee Interviews
At this year's conference we spoke to several attendees about their hopes for the conference and the future for women in finance. Listen to hear about conference attendees experiences!
Special thanks to Carla Sephton for conducting the interviews and editing the episode.
The Scope: Female Founders with Mischka Capriles of Lamarca Well
The Scope Podcast is back! This episode includes an interview with Mischka Capriles, the founder of Lamarca Well, which was started to connect a community seeking a healthier life with different tools, connections, and education to help them acheive it.
This interview was conducted by Zainab Pate, Kirsten Real, and Carla Sephton (special s/o to Carla for editing!) . The outreach for this interview was conducted by Marcela Maldonado.
The Scope: Female Founders with Eve Halimi and Anam Lakhani of Alinea
Today on the podcast we have Eve Halimi and Anam Lakhani, the co-founders of Alinea, an investing app for Gen Zs which allows them to grow their money by investing in what matters to them. Eve is a Barnard Athena Scholar alumna, which is where she co-founded her Y Combinator-backed startup Alinea. Alinea is the first investing app to provide full transparency on companies’ financials as well as their environmental, social, and workplace values so its customers can make conscious investing decisions. Previously, Eve was working in Strategy at Contentsquare, a growth stage data analytics startup, and held multiple positions in banks and hedge funds. She graduated from Barnard College with a Bachelors’s in Economics. Anam Lakhani is the co-founder and co-CEO of a Y Combinator-backed startup, Alinea. Alinea is the first investing app to make it easy to create, invest, and share "playlists" (bundles of stocks). Prior to Alinea, she worked at Citigroup as an investment banker in Equity Capital Markets. Anam received her bachelor’s degree from Barnard College of Columbia University in May of 2019, and graduated cum laude with a major in Economics. During her time at Barnard, she was an Athena Scholar and a senior admissions fellow. Visit their website alinea-invest.com to learn more and download their app on the app store.
The Scope: Female Founders with Vanessa Pham of Omsom
Today on the podcast we have Vanessa Pham. Vanessa is the CEO and co-founder of Omsom, the daughter of Vietnamese refugees, and a Bain & Co. and Harvard alum. She advised Fortune 500 CPGs under their growth and retail strategy as a management consultant at Bain & Co. Prior to that, she managed a $3 million e-commerce business while studying sociology and economics at Harvard. She loves cooking all things fermented, caramelized and braised, and was recently named one of the Top 100 Home Cooks by Airbnb.
The Scope: Female Founders with Kathryn Minshew
Today on the podcast we have Kathryn Minshew! Kathryn is the CEO & Founder of The Muse, a career platform used by over 75 million people to research companies and careers. The Muse was recently named one of Fast Company's 50 Most Innovative Companies in the World and #3 Most Innovative Company for Enterprise.
Kathryn has spoken at MIT and Harvard, contributed to the Washington Street Journal and Harvard Business Review, and appeared on TODAY and CNN, among others. Kathryn worked on HPV vaccine introduction in Rwanda with the Clinton Health Access Initiative before founding The Muse and was previously at McKinsey & Company. Her first book, “The New Rules of Work: The Modern Playbook for Navigating Your Career” (Crown Business, April 2017), was a Wall Street Journal national bestseller.
The Scope: Female Founders with Aleksandra Medina and Katrin Kaurov of Frich
Today on the podcast we have Aleksandra Medina, Co-Founder and CPO of Frich, and Katrin Kaurov, Co-Founder and CEO of Frich, a FinTech company making money social.
Aleksandra Medina completed an Interactive Media Design degree at NYU that equipped her with technical and design skills. She chose to develop an expertise in design and brand strategy working across Europe, Asia and the US building global brands with McCann. She has also worked with brands such as Audi and Warner Music focusing specifically on the Gen Z customer and is currently in charge of the full lifecycle of the product at Frich.
Katrin Kaurov worked as a model from the age of 15 which allowed her to live in 20+ countries by the time she was 21. She started her first company at the age of 19 and after that created an app called Modelclub which was a social app for models & influencers. She took Modelclub from the initial idea to it being one of the most used apps within the fashion industry within 2 years. Inspired by that, she left the fashion industry, went to graduate school at Harvard and worked at a late-stage fin-tech company as a VP of Partnerships focusing on strategic growth before starting Frich.
The Scope: Female Founders with Kelsey Willock of Aura Finance
Today on the podcast we have Kelsey Willock! Kelsey Willock is the Founder and CEO of Aura Finance (which was named Tardi during the time the podcast was filmed). Aura Finance is a financial wellness and investment platform designed with women in mind first. She is also the author of "Not Your Boyfriend's Investment Advice" - a weekly newsletter where she uses humor and storytelling to educate her readers about investing and finance. Prior to her work at Aura Finance and NYBIA, she worked for Goldman Sachs advising institutional clients and on Launch with GS - the firm's billion-dollar commitment to investing in diverse entrepreneurs and investment managers.
Aura is curating a waitlist of users to beta test the app, and if you’d like to sign up or learn more, please visit aurafinance.io. If you’d like to read Not Your Boyfriend’s Investment Advice, please visit notyourboyfriends.substack.com.
The Scope: Female Founders with Kala Maxym of Five Senses Tastings
Today on the podcast we have Kala Maxym! Kala Maxym is the Founder and Chief Event Composer of Five Senses Tastings, a performance and music-based company that focuses on engaging with the five senses, and the Co-founder of the company’s cocktail branch, Song & Tonic. Her varied professional background includes time as a Senior Program Analyst with the Criminal Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, as a Customer Success Manager at a VC-funded Tech start-up, and as a professional opera singer performing on stages across the U.S., Europe, and Latin America. Kala founded Five Senses Tastings in 2012 while working full-time for the VC-funded Tech start-up. After almost five years, she decided to take the leap into full-time entrepreneurship in 2016, quitting her job and moving to Los Angeles in the same week. Kala was born and raised in Germany and has spent time living in the UK, Spain, Chile, and throughout the United States.
The Scope: Welcome Class of 2025!
Welcome to the first episode of CWBS: The Scope by the Columbia Women's Business Society (CWBS) where we feature women changing the game in business! Today on the podcast we have Alyse Rovner (Membership Engagement Chair & BC'23), Sabina Jia (President & CC'22), Hannah Lederman (Internal Initiatives Chair & CC'23), and Sophia Naqvi (Vice President & CC'23) who all serve on the executive board of CWBS. They delve into advice for first year students at Columbia University, giving you all the inside scoop on what they wish they had known earlier! Listen to learn about everything from applying to clubs on campus, interning while being a full time student, adjusting to college life, and even the best places to study on campus!