Historically, Wall Street has been out of reach for many ambitious job seekers from overlooked communities due to structural inequity. Without professional connections, degrees from prestigious schools and industry knowledge, it is challenging to break into the finance industry.

For the second year in a row, StreetWise has teamed up with Wall Street Diversity Accelerator (WSDA) to create opportunities for under-represented talent to intern within the finance sector. WSDA is made up of more than twenty elite boutique Wall Street firms that have come together to hire summer interns from diverse backgrounds.

WSDA strategically engages smaller firms, many of which do not have a formal internship program and rely on the volunteer leadership of WSDA to handle recruitment and logistics. Launched in 2020, the goal of the program is to prepare rising sophomores and juniors for internships at asset managers and financial companies and eventually, for jobs in the industry.

StreetWise Partners was chosen as a recruitment partner for the 2023 WSDA program and is thrilled to announce three of our job seekers were chosen to participate as interns. This summer, StreetWise will be represented by:

• Efat Akhter, interning at Palisade Capital Management LLC

• Anthony Cordovez-Arias, interning at Tweedy, Browne Company LLC

• Diana Umpierrez, interning at Zevin Asset Management

As intern Anthony explains StreetWise builds careers for mentees, “I joined StreetWise Partners because I come from an immigrant family and the first one to go to college. While going to college, I noticed other students had a resume, knew how to network, knew how to prep for interviews, and knew how to position themselves in the career they aspire to work in. It was either because their family taught them or they found a mentor who guided and helped them along the way. I didn’t have that. So my friend recommended I look into StreetWise Partners, which had everything I needed.” With this internship, Anthony, Efat and Diana will all take their professional lives into new directions.

All three job seekers and their peers will participate in a week-long WSDA Bootcamp focused on industry education, followed by four-week equity research curriculum. The internships also include a WSDA Lunch and Learn program that helps with skill building and awareness.

WSDA founder and leader John Barr said “StreetWise students had such a high placement rate because they were well prepared for interviews and stood out relative to their peers who have not had mentoring.”

Jane White, CEO of Granahan Investment Management and one of the founding members of WSDA had the opportunity to meet several Streetwise candidates through the recruitment process. “The Streetwise students that I interviewed were extremely motivated, articulate, interesting, and hardworking. It was a pleasure to engage with them.”

Shari Krull, CEO of StreetWise Partners explains, “The WSDA program is an exciting opportunity for our mentees to gain valuable experience in an industry that is the heartbeat of New York city. We know they’ll be tremendous interns, with a deep commitment and thirst for learning. We can’t wait to see where they go in their careers.”

StreetWise Partners is proud of our WSDA interns and thankful for the opportunities that this program has opened for the communities that we serve.

More About WSDA

The Wall Street Diversity Accelerator (WSDA) program was introduced three years ago by a few financial and asset management firms and now involves over 20 firms.

The program started following the murder of George Floyd, when the daughters of John Barr, portfolio manager at Needham Funds, were given the day off from work to reflect on what they might do to promote equality of opportunity. Barr decided to act as well, recruiting an intern from Hampton University, an HBCU. After a flurry of interest from a great group of candidates, John reached out to Granahan Investment Management portfolio manager Drew Beja to see if he would be interested in doing the same.

That was the genesis of the WSDA program. Barr, Beja, Granahan CEO Jane White, and executives from Gagnon Securities LLC, and Redwood Investments were the initial sponsors of WSDA.