'Girls Who Invest' Empowers Young Women to Get Into Finance
With only 1.1% of women and minorities running the asset management industry's $71.4 trillion in assets, the field is lacking diversity. Girls Who Invest, a non-profit organization, is using empowerment to try to change that. Seema Hingorani, Founder of Girls Who Invest, joined us at the New York Stock Exchange to share why she feels it is important to encourage young women to pursue careers in asset management.
Girls Who Invest is working towards the goal of getting 30% of investable assets managed by women by 2030. Hingorani says the lack of diversity is a pipeline problem. She adds that young women don’t even know about the industry and how impactful and rewarding it can be. Hingorani said there has been a cloud over the industry since the 2008 financial crisis. To reach the next generation of women, Girls Who Invest designed a 10-week summer program for college students.
President Trump's immigration policies have put up a roadblock to Girls Who Invest's international growth, Hingorani says. Girls Who Invest accepted fewer international students in 2017 than last year because several women struggled to obtain work visas. She says the policies hurt the talent pool because talented women aren’t getting interviews due to the fact they don’t have visas.
AT&T announced it's offering two tiers of high-speed internet, 2 gigs, and 5 gigs, to its fiber customers in more than 70 metro regions. AT&T Consumer CEO Thaddeus Arroyo joined Cheddar to talk about the newly available speed upgrades for 5.2 million of its customers, and where the rollout goes from here. "Over the course of 2022, we'll rapidly continue to retrofit the rest of the base," he said. "And importantly now is, as we build-out, we've talked about building out to cover 30 million homes and businesses by the end of 2025, we're going to continue to ensure that every new location that we stand up has this multi gig capability."
Autonomous driving tech company Waymo is partnering with transportation and logistics business J.B. Hunt. The two firms are teaming up to bring autonomous shipping to the highways. Head of commercialization for trucking at Waymo, Charlie Jatt, joined Cheddar to discuss how the companies are combining their strengths. "We, of course at Waymo, are working on the technology side of affairs, and J. B Hunt brings critical operational and commercial expertise," Jatt said. "And together we're going to work to deploy the first fully autonomous Class 8 truck hauling goods for one of their customers in the coming years in Texas."
Amid a rough week for Peloton's stock, as well as its image — its bikes being the cause of death for two fictional TV characters now — an activist investor is calling for a change in upper management. Chief investment officer of Blackwell, Jason Aintabi, petitioned in a letter that Peloton’s CEO, John Foley, must be fired. Joining Cheddar to discuss the ultimatum, Hatem Dhiab, a portfolio manager and managing partner at Gerber Kawasaki Wealth and Investment Management noted the conditions leading to the demand for Foley's removal. "The stock is basically 85 percent below the high," he said. "I think there is some change that needs to happen, and that's just the reality."
Talent Resources Sports is partnering with ABG Entertainment to host Sports Illustrated The Party during the weekend of Super Bowl LVI, featuring musical performances by Kygo, Jack Harlow, and other guests. David Spencer and Mike Heller, co-CEOs and founders of Talent Resources Sports, joined Cheddar to discuss the details behind putting on the event. “We’re just really pumped that after all of the things that got canceled people will finally have a place to let some steam off in such an exciting moment, such a charged moment with the Super Bowl,” Mike Heller said about putting on the live event after previous COVID-related cancellations.
Mayors in cities like Miami and New York City are considering introducing cryptocurrencies as a way to reduce economic inequality. Miami Mayor Francis X. Suarez has even pushed for distributing Bitcoin dividends to the city's inhabitants.
As companies look toward the metaverse concept to further move their companies online, Shep Ogden, CEO and co-founder of Offbeat Media, spoke with Cheddar about questions investors should be posing to businesses like how customized the metaverse experience will be. "One of the best things that people can do, or companies can do, to be competitive is really find those influencers within the community that are very deep in the space," Ogden added.