Her Story
About Estefania
My journey into asset management began in July 2024, marking a complete career shift from over a decade in education. I was a teacher from the time I was young, and I always thought that's what I would do for the rest of my life. I went to college for it in Colombia, graduated with honors, and continued teaching after moving to the United States in 2017. But when I became a mom, the realities of the teaching profession became clearer, and I had to take a realistic view of what my career could offer my family beyond just passion and vocation. I started exploring my skills and asking myself where else I could use my abilities in communication, organization, and working with people while still being present for my son. A former contact reached out about a business support role in asset management, and even though I had no background in the field, I decided to take the challenge. At the beginning, there was a lot of learning on my own and reading after hours to make sure I didn't look like I didn't belong. I had to prove to my bosses, to myself, and to my son that I was able to do it. Now, nearly two years later, I manage everything from emails and calendars for global heads and the CEO to expense approvals, event planning, office contracts, and HR functions like onboarding and offboarding. I work with international clients and vendors across different time zones, often starting my day at 6 AM from my phone. I've pushed myself to understand the asset management industry so I can better support the business, filtering what I need to know to make my job easier. I'm proud of how much I've learned about a field I never dreamed of being in, and I'm glad I still feel challenged every day because it keeps me motivated and on my toes.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Estefania
01What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute my success to my stubbornness, or my determination, to call it that way. It was very challenging for me mentally and internally to know that I needed to change my career from zero, to start completely from zero after 10 plus years of experience in a field. But I was determined that if it wasn't the right thing for me at the moment, and if it didn't feel right, then I needed to do something. That determination has gotten me far, even from my teaching path when I decided that having a second language was going to launch my career. I told my mom, yes, I need to go all the way to the United States to learn it. If I wouldn't have been so stubborn, I wouldn't have found myself the loving family that I have right now and the amazing career paths that I have learned so much from.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
Try new things. Not every path is straight. And not all the doors are locked. A lot of them are unlocked when you are ready to try new things and learn new things. I still tell that to myself on some hard days when everything seems so unknown and so different from what I educated myself to do. I remind myself, this is about trying new things. I have no idea what this may be, I have no idea what this other thing may be, but I'm going to give it a try to learn about it, and maybe I'm going to be the best at it. It's about not letting it frighten you, just pushing through.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
It is still a challenging field for women, but don't lose the hope that it's changing, because there are amazing women out there making it more women-friendly, showing that gender has nothing to do when speaking about business. I myself was thrilled to land in a company that is led by women. Our CEO is a woman, our global head of consultancy is a woman, and it has been inspiring to see what their determination to change the perspective of the industry has led them to grow and to build in the business. So believe that it can be changed. It is still hard, and it is still a very male-dominant field, and there are all the stigmas out there, but they are there to be broken, and they are being broken slowly. We'll get there.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
I would say the migration that is happening with all this technology has been a challenge. How are we going to merge without losing the human part in this business? How are we going to integrate all the new tools that we are seeing right now, artificial intelligence, all these robots basically doing or trying to do what we've been doing for so long? How can we merge them to not lose the human part? Because if we lose the human part, there's not going to be a point of the business, because then everything is going to be run by one or two or three platforms of artificial intelligence, when there are thousands of firms out there that bring the human part to it. That, I think, is a challenge that is within the industry right now, and that we are facing.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
I don't know if this will be considered a value, but I think clear communication and honesty applies a lot to both my personal life and my career life. It has helped me a lot to have the skill of just communicating things straight and properly and timely to the right people. Finding a way and finding paths to communicate keeps a whole team together, because it kind of puts us all on the same page when all the things are outlined by clearer communication. I think without it, all of this would fall apart.
Keep Exploring
More Influential Women · Connecticut
Join Influential Women and start making an impact. Register now.