35 Under 35: Vivian Lau, Partner, Serengeti Asset Management

By Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

“What excites me and makes me driven is that I love to invest capital,” began Vivian Lau, Partner at Serengeti Asset Management. “And when it comes to investing, the markets are exciting. Every year it’s hard to make money until you finish the year and find ways to make money. I just love coming to work every day.”

At 34 years old, Lau has achieved quite a bit. After graduating from Harvard in 2000, she began her career at Goldman Sachs on its distressed investments desk. Six short years later, she became managing director at the firm. She ran Goldman Sachs’ proprietary business until 2008 when she joined Serengeti Asset Management as a partner.

At Serengeti, she is responsible for managing the business as well as the portfolio. “Our goal is to find investments that are cheap or misunderstood in some way.”

“I’ve never been someone tremendously proud of accolades, but I think what I’m most proud of is what we have accomplished here at Serengeti. We’re a five year-old business with a billion dollars in capital,” Lau continued. “I’m also proud of the team we have built. We’ve attracted people we’ve worked with in the past – I’ve worked with these colleagues for seven to ten years.”

“I work with people whom I trust and whom I truly love working with. When you find the right people and work with them, I think you can build a tremendous investment firm.”

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Thought Leaders: Davia Temin, CEO, Temin & Co.

thought-leadershipToday, with our myriad platforms on which to publish, promote, “like,” and share, maintaining a reputation is both easier and more difficult. The Internet as a tool can make our thoughts and feelings public instantly – so you had better be sure what you do share is authentically you, and carefully considered. That goes doubly for leaders – because especially when they self-publish over social media, leaders are the subject of other people’s scrutiny and discussion. And that’s the essence of reputation – you can craft it with your own behavior, but it is spread by other people.

Davia Temin, Founder and CEO of the global reputation management firm Temin & Co., sincerely believes that your reputation is your biggest asset – and it’s also a big responsibility. She explained, “The first quote on our website is by Warren Buffett and I think it’s the best and most true way leaders think about reputation. He says, ‘It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently.’”

Your reputation encompasses how you conduct yourself, what you say and do, what you say about yourself, and what other people say about you. It’s built on a lifetime of actions and interactions, Temin says. Leaders need to be sure they’re living up to the reputation they want to have. “Seek to create an authentic and consistent reputation that encapsulates and captures your best self. And then live up to it.”

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Voice of Experience: Stephanie Breslow, Partner & Co-Head of Investment Management Group, Schulte Roth & Zabel

By Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

“You really have to take charge of your career,” began Stephanie Breslow, Partner & Co-Head of the Investment Management Group at Schulte Roth & Zabel. The reason, she explained, is because while partners or senior people may take an interest in you, you have to leverage that interest into advancement.

She continued, “It’s like the television show Downton Abbey – the people who work downstairs know so much more about the people upstairs than the other way around. You know that your firm is going to try to train you, but you will be much more aware of what you need and what you are pursuing than the partners.”

Breslow advised junior lawyers not to be timid about seeking more responsibilities or experience from those at the top. Also related, she continued, is knowing when it’s time to start doling out responsibilities to people who are more junior.

“It’s human nature that people will be happy to let you handle work if you are happy to do it. But you have to learn when to start to delegate or to hand off tasks to someone else so you can get to the next level.”

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Voice of Experience: Sue Rissbrook, UK Partner, PwC

By Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

Sue Rissbrook, UK Partner at PwC, says her advice to professional women is “being true to yourself, being who you feel you truly are, and supporting others.”

She recently moved to PwC’s London office after working in the smaller Birmingham office mainly partnered by men, and was pleasantly surprised by what she found. “I’ve now walked into a diverse set of partners. I see far more of my peers are female and I see them being very supportive of one another, which impacts positively on all partners and the team.”

“We’re supportive, creative, and entrepreneurial, and I think that’s fantastic for people to see,” she added.

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Thought Leaders: Natalia Oberti Noguera, Founder & CEO, Pipeline Fellowship

thought-leadershipAccording to the Center for Venture Research at the University of New Hampshire, only 12 percent of angel investors last year were women. Only three percent are people of color.

But a new program has set out to change that – as well as increase funding to women-led for-profit social ventures. Natalia Oberti Noguera, founder of the Pipeline Fellowship, explained that many women are interested in angel investing – but haven’t had a lot of exposure to it. At the same time, women-led startups often lack access to networks of early-stage funders. And many investors have trouble seeing the business sense in for-profit social ventures.

The Pipeline Fellowship works to boost all of these groups, bringing funds to these types of startups (women-led for-profit social ventures), while encouraging women to confidently enter the angel investing space. Oberti Noguera remarked, “Hybrid ventures need more hybrid investors who understand and value the triple bottom line.”

Plus, she said, the result is more diversity in the startup space – on the entrepreneurial side and on the investor side. “There’s a huge lack of diversity in the angel community,” she explained, and investors tend to fund companies run by people who look like themselves. “What I’m interested in doing is turning on its head that pattern recognition and that familiarity. By getting more women and people of color into the community, we can fund more ventures led by women and people of color.”

Now entering its second year, the Fellowship has introduced a diverse range of women to angel investing – from senior leaders in the Fortune 500 to entrepreneurs and other professionals. “Many people – even ones who work in the financial services – have said they have no idea how to conceptualize investing in an early stage company, but that interest is there,” she explained. “Also, learning to invest in a startup gave one Pipeline Fellowship graduate the confidence to engage more with her financial adviser.”

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Movers and Shakers: I. Javette Hines, Senior Vice President and Head of Supplier Diversity and Sustainability, Citi

By Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

To Illonka Javette Hines, having a diverse set of interests is a big part of being a successful professional. But it took some time before she learned to share her more artistic side with others.

“I think starting out, I wish I had known that I didn’t have to limit myself,” she said. “I could still be an artist and be a professional person.”

Hines, a published poet and Head of Supplier Diversity and Sustainability at Citi, explained, “You have to do the things you’re passionate about, because that’s going to drive you as a professional. And when you’re talking about your interests at work, it’s okay to share that side of yourself. People want to know about that human side of you.”

And, she continued, it’s also okay to let personal interests be just that – interests. You don’t have to be flawless at every hobby you pick up. “Even if you’re not perfect at it, it’s still okay to go for it. I’m learning to play the guitar, and that doesn’t mean I need to be at the level of perfection. It just means you have to try your best.”

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Voice of Experience: Antonia E. Stolper, Partner and Head of Capital Markets Group, Americas, Sherman & Sterling

By Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

A long-time partner at global law firm Shearman & Sterling, Antonia Stolper heads both the firm’s highly regarded Americas Capital Markets group and its top-tier Latin America practice. How did she achieve so much success? “I’m a great believer in serendipity in my career,” she remarked.

Certainly hard work and a commitment to her clients propelled her toward success too, she continued, but she believes it is important to be open to new experiences. “I do a lot of interviews and talk to a lot of young women, and they always ask, ‘Did you always know this is what you were going to do?’ And the answer is, absolutely not. What I do today didn’t even exist when I was in school.”

“People talk about how important it is to have a plan and I’m not so sure about that,” she added. “You can have conviction, drive and the desire to excel and succeed without knowing exactly where you’ll end up. It’s incredibly important to be open-minded to opportunity.”

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Movers and Shakers: Joi Gordon, CEO, Dress for Success Worldwide

By Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

Joi Gordon, CEO of Dress for Success Worldwide, is a strong believer in women helping women – and she’s happy to help dispel some of old stereotypes about female leaders.

“Some twenty years ago, there was a perception that women weren’t nice to each other,” Gordon said. “When I entered the workforce I was prepared to not be supported by women and to have to fight for my place. But that fight is not one I had to fight.”

“That perception was not real, and I’m proud to say that,” she continued. “Where I am today is because of strong women who lifted me up, supported me, and gave me the guidance I needed.”

Gordon’s organization, Dress for Success, is wholly based on the notion of women helping one another advance – when one woman donates a suit, she helps change another woman’s life.

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Voice of Experience: Angela Raitzin, Managing Principal and Head of New York Office, Morton Capital Management

By Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

Angela Raitzin, Managing Principal and Head of the New York Office of Morton Capital, says she is dedicated to encouraging women to join and stay in the financial industry.

“I think, particularly as a more senior woman, you have to make time for mentoring. At multiple points in my career, I made it a point to recruit and encourage women to consider financial services and investment banking in particular as a career. Encouraging women to join is the first step but encouraging them to stay, and getting them over the hump from the VP or Director and Managing Director levels is also crucial, “she explained. “Starting over 10 years ago Wall Street made a big push to hire more women and I have seen many positive signs in the past 5 years that they are now making strides to retain these same women.”

She is particularly enthusiastic about the benefits of working in financial advising. As an active recruiter of students from her business school to New York, she says emphasizing the entrepreneurial spirit and the flexible hours associated with financial advising is key. “Both are important to the advancement and retention of women.”

She continued, “For one, you can cast a wide net in terms of your clients. And second, there is much more flexibility to your schedule. In my own case, I didn’t have that degree of flexibility earlier in my career and I think it’s a huge positive.”

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Voice of Experience: Marcia Wakeman, Partner, Banking, Capco

By Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

Marcia Wakeman, Banking Partner at the consulting firm Capco, believes strongly in the power of mentoring. After spending almost two decades in the industry, she has experienced first hand how finding the right mentor can make a difference in someone’s career. Now, she encourages seasoned women to remember to give back.

“My advice is really taking interest in mentoring, especially the junior women. Reach out and share your experiences. We tend to forget that all the things we have learned would be of value to them,” she explained.

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