Her Story
About Elise
Elise Molinaro serves as a Portfolio Manager at Piermont Bank in New York, focusing on underwriting and managing private equity and fund-financed loans for women and minority-owned funds. She brings six years of finance experience, including four years in banking, with prior positions in public finance in Philadelphia where she earned her Series 50 FINRA license as a municipal advisor representative, as a ratings associate on the industrials team at Moody's, and on the credit and underwriting team at Santander covering sponsors, infrastructure, and renewable energy deals. Molinaro graduated from the University of Pittsburgh School of Business in April 2020 with a bachelor's degree in finance and a certificate in data analytics. She is president of the New York City Alumni Group for the University of Pittsburgh and volunteers with the Women in Business Undergraduate and Graduate Women's Leadership Conference. Outside of work, she runs marathons and volunteers with Achilles to run with disabled athletes. Molinaro attributes her success to her strong will and perseverance, values autonomy and purpose in her work, and advises young women to be true to themselves and lean into their strengths.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Elise
01What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute my success to my own will and perseverance. I have a very strong will to know what's right and what's wrong, and what's good for me and what's not good for me. Because of that will, I've intentionally chosen the right people to be around, I've intentionally focused when I need to focus even though it's hard. Perseverance and will has really just helped me. Even if the world is crumbling around me, I know that I have my perseverance, and I have my will, and I'll keep that no matter what.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The quote from Aristotle that my dad wrote on the chalkboard: We are what we repeatedly do, therefore excellence is not an act, but a habit. So that just always stuck with me. If I feel like I want to maybe slack off, I just remember that quote, I'm like, no, I want to make it a habit to do well, and do it to the best of my ability, and the more I do that, the more of a habit it's going to be.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Be true to who you are. Find your strengths, and then lean into that strength. Don't over-obsess over your weaknesses. We all have weaknesses, but you can't obsess over it. Like an 80-20 rule, just focus on your strengths and try to compound those.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
Opportunity is definitely AI. I've seen it firsthand with how it's reduced the time that I need to underwrite a loan or manage my portfolio. Learning how to effectively use AI, whether it's doing prompts or whatever, and to verify your information after you use AI, but that's an opportunity. The challenge is do not do what everyone else around you is doing if it doesn't make sense for you. Know what you want and stick to it, and don't let yourself be easily influenced by everybody else.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
I value autonomy a lot, that's why I like where I work so much, because it's a smaller organization, you have more of a voice, you have a bit more autonomy. Freedom, I like flexibility. I don't think I could ever do 5 days a week in the office. Freedom to, as long as you do your work and you do it well. Value and purpose. I want to know that the work I'm doing is meaningful, so that was part of the reason joining the bank. I agree with the mission and the purpose, and I see the value that it serves, like the greater society, so I want to have an impact and value in the work that I do.
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