Nicole Malinowsk

I've had some incredible mentors throughout my professional journey who really shaped how I approach finance. My first role as a trading associate, I had this great woman on my desk named Lara Hernandez, and she really shaped how I can view finance from a women's perspective, rather than through the typical male-dominated lens that finance usually has. Another major mentor was my boss at Wristband, Joe Sternavent. He was one of the founders of the company, and he really took me under his wing. I had been coming off a garden leave-type role, and he took a chance on me since it was a different path than trading. He really introduced me and let me, at a younger age, develop relationships with various investors and taught me some of the grind of financial work. I'd also say a lot of the women in my field that I work with have been instrumental, like Ricia Ribeiro at KPMG. She's a wonderful woman to work with, and all the girls at KPMG are great to work with.

The best career advice I've ever received is to not be afraid to knock on doors. People are very willing to help when asked for help, and it's important to just continue networking and meeting people and getting out of your comfort zone.

To young women entering my industry, I would say not to be taken back by the idea of an old boys club or something similar. You have your own skills, you have your own qualifications, and don't let the past be a deterrent to the future. Women are very, very welcome within the financial industry, and it's a great place to work.

In my field in general, I would say probably the biggest challenges are the political climate and market in general. I work specifically in a very political field, which is solar, so it's a very capital-intensive business and it's determined by who's in office and what's happening politically. That can be tough because you never really know what's around the corner. The work-life grind is another big challenge. A lot of people get worried about AI specifically in regard to finance, but I just don't see it coming down the pipeline as fast as people make it up to be. The legislation that was passed last year created a lot of rules around the funding of various solar projects, and residential solar home loans got totally wiped out. But I work specifically with leases and PPAs, so we were pretty lucky that we don't have to worry about the sunsetting of the ITC until 2030. And by then, there will probably be a new administration in office, and maybe they'll take a different stance towards solar.

The values that are most important to me are honesty, which I'd say is most important just because a lot of my work requires trust. And then also perseverance and proactiveness.