Gabriela Moss

I would say my parents. They both were really hard workers. My dad is from Brazil, so when he moved to the United States without speaking any English, really, to study at like a fellowship research position in Minnesota, and he met my mom while they were studying in a library. They instilled the value of hard work. I was homeschooled, and I was always playing tennis and piano. They really instilled like the value of hard work. So it's them. They don't work in finance, they didn't really know much about investment banking. But I knew how to work hard.

Honestly, I guess my parents. My first year was pretty brutal, work-wise. Just like a lot of deals, and it was so different, and I was an econ history major, so I really had no accounting or finance background. So I guess my parents were like, anything worth doing is hard, and so it's okay to suffer, and that time will pass anyways. So I think it may be brutal, but you have to do something with your time, and so might as well learn the most you can when you're young.

I would say go for it. It's definitely male-dominated. But I think that's a good thing, because you have a chance to stand out, because you just are different. And it's brutal work, but it's worth it. And we need more women. But I also think it's important to note that women have like they want to have families, and they have slightly different goals. But that shouldn't stop someone from joining the industry, at least for the first few years post-grad. And then you have a more then you have you build your resume, and you can decide what to do when if you want to change, or if you love it and like the grinds, then you can stay. But there's a lot of opportunity to stand out, and so definitely go for it, and women work just as can all work just as hard, and your social life really isn't affected. Like you don't go like you don't maybe see your friends all the time, but you can do it all.

I think biggest opportunities it's a great industry. Like if you can do 2 years of banking you can really do any other job. Like nothing will be harder than this. Unless you're maybe going to medical field, or the law field, but you could do and then income, of course, you're able to make a really high-income post-grad, which is important for savings and it gives you freedom to maybe make a change, or do something more adventurous, because you have money saved up. So like you don't feel like if you want to start a business, or you want to do something creative, you'll have the freedom to do that. And challenges I would say like you definitely sacrifice a lot of free time. And maybe dating, or like developing your life outside of work? But if you think about it for 2 years. The first two years post-grad are really like the prime time to work on yourself. And your brain is still like as we mature, our brain stops like learning as much, but the two years post-grad, you're still learning a ton. Like it's another time to really push. So I think the sacrifice of maybe a social life, or like for me, tennis. I haven't played tennis since college, which is depressing. But it's worth. And then I can play again. Like I'm gonna start playing again soon.

Well, I'm a Christian, so I would say like treating others how you want to be treated. And I try not to get angry, so if I ever find myself getting upset, I'll take a walk. That doesn't do anything productive. Then I really like to spend time with family, so like I'm like none of my family lives in New York, so I call them. I call my mom multiple times a day. And I call my dad a couple times a day a week. My brother and sister, a couple times a week. So I think family. I go to church, that's really important for me. Especially with the work hours, like like think like remembering that life is bigger than work. I guess that's like the main value.