“The times throughout my career that seemed the most challenging have turned out to be some of the most incredible opportunities,” says Juli Bowe.

For Bowe, the challenge is often where the opportunity begins. In 2023, she was promoted to run Wells Fargo’s CMBS trading desk just as commercial real estate entered a distress cycle. “That felt very daunting,” she admits. Yet it was also the kind of moment that brought into focus what she has learned throughout her career: do the work, trust the expertise you’ve built, have the confidence to put your perspective forward, and stay humble enough to know there is always more to learn.

Learning to Take the Leap

Bowe majored in finance and minored in math at William & Mary, graduating in 2009, 2010 right as the financial crisis had frozen Wall Street hiring. “Internships were slim,” she remembers. Through her network, she was able to secure a sales and trading internship at Goldman Sachs, whereby summer’s end, she’d landed on the CMBS (Commercial Mortgage Backed Securities) desk, the seat that would define the next decade and a half of her career.

Four years at Goldman taught Bowe the mechanics of flow trading. A move to the buy side, at hedge fund Appaloosa, allowed her to continue building her skills while also giving her the unique opportunity to work with David Tepper.

“He is one of the best investors in the world; being able to watch him every day was an invaluable experience.”

In 2019, Bowe returned to the sell side, joining Wells Fargo and relocating to Charlotte, where she and her husband knew exactly one person.

“There was an opportunity to build something here at Wells, and that was really exciting,” she says. “Despite all the unknowns and how crazy it seemed at the time, it’s definitely been one of the best decisions of my life.”

The Work You Can Control

Bowe describes her work ethic as one of her defining characteristics, something she honed early on as a competitive soccer player. While she played all through childhood and then at William & Mary, she had to fight for a starting spot.

“I was not the best player on the team, wasn’t the fastest, but I could work harder than anyone else.”

That ethic became her professional foundation, and the first thing she tells the interns and young analysts who come through her desk.

“The number one thing you can control is how hard you work, especially early in your career. Over time, the challenge is turning that preparation into judgment and conviction.”

Build Credibility, Then Use Your Voice

That advice matters even more, she believes, for younger women in trading. While she has seen progress, women remain underrepresented on trading floors, and Bowe says it took her longer to build credibility than it did for some of her male counterparts. Her message is direct: ” If you are good at what you do and do the work, you build credibility. The next step is trusting that credibility enough to develop a point of view and use your voice. It can be hard, especially in those earlier years, to hold on to that. But if you stick with it, it pays off.”

But preparation alone isn’t enough if no one hears your thinking.

“Earlier in my career, I wasn’t always confident enough to speak up with people I thought knew more than I did. I learned that having something valuable to contribute doesn’t necessarily require being the most experienced person in the room.”

In her role leading CMBS, that’s sometimes meant taking a contrarian stance. In 2023, when many investors were avoiding office exposure, Bowe built a thesis that companies would want people back in the office. “I was able to trade and connect with clients on that view,” she explains.

Relationships Are the Differentiator

For all the market knowledge and analysis trading requires, Bowe returns often to the human side of the business. “I really care about people and value relationships,” she says. Across her career, mentors, managers, and sponsors have shaped her path, and she’s careful to distinguish between them.

“A mentor is someone who you can get advice from and talk with, but a sponsor is someone who’s going to have your back when you’re not in the room.”

That kind of advocacy shaped Bowe’s own decision to join Wells Fargo. “A huge reason of why I came to Wells was that I saw senior leaders here that were women. That was really important to me.”

Relationships matter in the market, too. As AI and other technologies make information faster to access, Bowe believes human connection still sets people apart.

“The real value that you can add as a trader or a salesperson is your ability to connect with somebody,” she says. “If you’re able to do that better than everyone else, you’ll be able to differentiate yourself.”

It’s why her team is in the office five days a week, and why so much of her own client work happens on the road, over a meal or a round of golf, rather than at a desk.

Knowing What You Don’t Know

That same instinct to lean on relationships rather than shortcuts has shaped how Bowe approaches leadership itself. When she first took over the CMBS desk, she assumed the leadership side would be the easy part.

“I’ve been captain of soccer teams, I’ve been president of clubs, I know how to lead people,” she remembers thinking, “But I was humbled very quickly in terms of the people management.”

That same humility has carried into her newest challenge. Earlier this year, Bowe’s role expanded to include CLO trading, a business outside her wheelhouse that required learning a new product, meeting a new client base, and thinking about risk differently. It reminded her that experience doesn’t always transfer cleanly.

“Being a contrarian in CMBS has set me up well, but it does not necessarily mean that I can just bring that skill set over to this different asset class and expect the same results,” she says.

“Taking on CLO trading expanded my leadership responsibilities, but also required me to become a student again. Experience gives you a foundation, but every new market has its own dynamics and requires you to keep learning.

Becoming a Multiplier

The mark Bowe wants to make now extends beyond business performance to the people she develops and the team she builds. Having worked under both exceptional and difficult managers, she knows firsthand “how impactful a person’s manager can be” on someone’s day-to-day quality of life, and that awareness has shaped the kind of leader she wants to be.

“I want to deliver great business results, but I also want to set people up to succeed and build teams of people who can go on to have great careers.”

Outside the office, Bowe is raising three kids under seven and still finds time to train for half marathons. “Having a plan keeps me accountable,” she says. It’s the same mindset that she has carried throughout her career: take on what feels daunting, and trust you’ll figure it out.

By Jessica Robaire