Moving People Forward – Our Pledge One Year Later

Monument has our own unique messaging, and we love it–it’s plastered all over our website. We think our perspective is unique, straightforward, and unfiltered. We hope people find it refreshing.

But foundational to all we do is the effort to move people forward.

A year ago, we decided to weigh in on the national conversation surrounding racial inequality. While social media was replete with support, proclamations, and acknowledgments that were both expected and appreciated, we realize that moving forward requires critical thought and action.

And that is where we decided we could work on making a real difference.

We made a pledge to move people forward in a blog last July titled, “We’re in the Business of Moving People Forward” and laid out our plan in our December blog post, “Moving People Forward–Our Plan To Create More Diversity in Financial Services”.

Importantly, we stated that our efforts would be transparent, that we would be accountable to our pledge, and that you would see our efforts in plain sight.

Below is our update after our first year of efforts. We are excited about successes in a COVID-challenged environment and look forward to an even more robust effort as things get back to a more regular schedule.

Small Business Internship

Our Small Business Internship was specially designed to increase diversity in wealth management by providing students who do not have an existing network or other previous experience in the wealth management industry a chance to learn more about the different career opportunities that exist. After some very impressive interviews, we brought Penn State student, Cristal Santana, onto the team.

Cristal spent time with each person on the Monument Team, learning about their role at Monument and the career path that led them here. She helped with projects across all areas of the firm, from research to social media and design. She sat in on meetings, read a couple finance books and developed a new love for personal finance podcasts! Cristal finished off the semester by achieving her Google Analytics Certification.

On her last day at Monument, Cristal completed a presentation to the whole firm reflecting on her internship, and shared:

“It’s been an incredible four months; the experiences I have gained and the knowledge I am taking away are immeasurable. At Monument, I had the opportunity to gain a new sense of professionalism and a more precise understanding of what it means to be in a professional business environment.”

Cristal said her biggest takeaway from the internship was to focus on quality, not quantity.

Cristal was a wonderful contributor to our firm and we look forward to keeping in touch as she makes her way into the business world.

Campagna Center Externship

The intent of our Campagna Center externship program is similar to the intent of our Small Business Internship: To provide opportunity for diverse students to gain insight and an understanding of the opportunities that are available in wealth management. The difference here is these are younger high school students. We felt that it was important to immerse young students in some “day in the life” of a wealth management firm experience in hopes that they will tailor their college curriculum if they are to establish an interest in our industry. This program was condensed into one action-packed week and while we wish we could have had them into the office every day for the complete experience, we were able to support this externship through remote work.

The Campagna Center paired us with local high school students Alayit Berhanu and Chelsea Waruzi.

Along with having them meet with and interview each team member, they got to sit in on meetings, they created their LinkedIn profiles, we discussed interview techniques and Cristal met with them to answer their questions about college. Cristal also got to share with them the financial services opportunities that she’s learned are available to her, which she had not been aware of before interning at Monument.

At the end of the week, Chelsea shared, “My time at Monument was really influential. I can’t wait to start getting my voice heard and associate myself with good people like the people here, as this experience has taught me.” Alayit, who has always been set on pursuing the medical field, said, “My experience at Monument was very eye opening because I realized that I have to start exposing myself to different opportunities.”

We had a wonderful time getting to know these incredible young women, teaching them about our field, and look forward to inviting them back in to visit when we’re no longer working remote.

Keep Moving Forward

What’s next? We are currently interviewing for our Summer Small Business Intern and look forward to continuing the recent success we had with Cristal. Our Team will continue to improve our programs and keep moving people forward in our industry. We look forward to introducing our Summer Intern and excited to be paired with two more students for Campagna Center’s summer externship session as well.  We are hopeful that moving forward, they will be in-person instead of remote!

Be sure to follow us on social media – we will be posting updates about our past interns as they continue their personal journeys and introducing new ones as well. Our most active social channel to follow our efforts in moving people forward is Instagram. You’ll also find some posts on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. See you there!

Follow the Monument Team on Instagram and learn more about our internship opportunities!