Current:Home > NewsThe racial work gap for financial advisors -RiskWatch
The racial work gap for financial advisors
View
Date:2025-04-17 04:10:04
After a successful career in advertising, Erika Williams decided it was time for a change. She went back to school to get an MBA at the University of Chicago, and eventually, in 2012, she got a job at Wells Fargo as a financial advisor. It was the very job she wanted.
Erika is Black–and being a Black financial advisor at a big bank is relatively uncommon. Banking was one of the last white collar industries to really hire Black employees. And when Erika gets to her office, she's barely situated before she starts to get a weird feeling. She feels like her coworkers are acting strangely around her. "I was just met with a lot of stares. And then the stares just turned to just, I mean, they just pretty much ignored me. And that was my first day, and that was my second day. And it was really every day until I left."
She wasn't sure whether to call her experience racism...until she learned that there were other Black employees at other Wells Fargo offices feeling the exact same way.
On today's episode, Erika's journey through these halls of money and power. And why her story is not unique, but is just one piece of the larger puzzle.
Today's show was produced by Alyssa Jeong Perry with help from Emma Peaslee. It was fact-checked by Sierra Juarez. They also assisted with reporting. It was edited by Sally Helm. Engineering by James Willets with help from Brian Jarboe.
Help support Planet Money and get bonus episodes by subscribing to Planet Money+ in Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org/planetmoney.
Always free at these links: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, NPR One or anywhere you get podcasts.
Find more Planet Money: Facebook / Instagram / TikTok / Our weekly Newsletter.
Music: "Record Breaker," "Simple Day," and "On the Money."
veryGood! (13)
Related
- Senate begins final push to expand Social Security benefits for millions of people
- Forecasters Tap High-Tech Tools as US Warns of Another Unusually Active Hurricane Season
- Nearly a third of nurses nationwide say they are likely to leave the profession
- Tucker Carlson ousted at Fox News following network's $787 million settlement
- Why members of two of EPA's influential science advisory committees were let go
- North Carolina’s Bet on Biomass Energy Is Faltering, With Energy Targets Unmet and Concerns About Environmental Justice
- Shoppers Say This Large Beach Blanket from Amazon is the Key to a Hassle-Free, Sand-Free Beach Day
- NBC's late night talk show staff get pay and benefits during writers strike
- Opinion: Gianni Infantino, FIFA sell souls and 2034 World Cup for Saudi Arabia's billions
- Ecuador’s High Court Rules That Wild Animals Have Legal Rights
Ranking
- Whoopi Goldberg is delightfully vile as Miss Hannigan in ‘Annie’ stage return
- Environmentalists in Chile Are Hoping to Replace the Country’s Pinochet-Era Legal Framework With an ‘Ecological Constitution’
- Ted Lasso’s Brendan Hunt Is Engaged to Shannon Nelson
- Everything We Know About the It Ends With Us Movie So Far
- 'Most Whopper
- Steve Irwin's Son Robert Irwin and Heath Ledger's Niece Rorie Buckey Made Red Carpet Debut
- Pregnant Lindsay Lohan Shares New Selfie as She Celebrates Her 37th Birthday
- CNN announces it's parted ways with news anchor Don Lemon
Recommendation
B.A. Parker is learning the banjo
Why it's so hard to mass produce houses in factories
New York’s ‘Deliveristas’ Are at the Forefront of Cities’ Sustainable Transportation Shake-up
Inside Clean Energy: Here’s What the 2021 Elections Tell Us About the Politics of Clean Energy
Sarah J. Maas books explained: How to read 'ACOTAR,' 'Throne of Glass' in order.
Great Scott! 30 Secrets About Back to the Future Revealed
YouTuber Grace Helbig Diagnosed With Breast Cancer
The Clean Energy Transition Enters Hyperdrive