Morningstar - Q2 2023 - 58

Investors
Mac: I think we just got to look at it for what
it is, right? These are the people who are
controlling the wealth of world-sovereign wealth
funds from Saudi Arabia, pension funds, etc.
Finance is a country club where the people who
are in control effectively are older white men.
When you ask why there's not that many people
that look like us-one, we didn't control it.
It's a secret society where not a lot of people
understand the lingo. When I came into this world,
I needed to learn. I'm from the South Side
of Chicago. When I'm on the phone with Fidelity,
Pimco, BlackRock, I needed to talk differently.
I needed to know how to dress differently and
walk differently.
Every company does a great job of checking
a box. OK, we're going to recruit at all the HBCUs,
and we're going to try to get more Black people.
We've got these diverse programs. I was a product
of a diverse program at Morgan Stanley. But
once they get you in the door, they need to do a
better job of giving you resources in order to keep
you there. Because there's so many intricate
things that you don't know about once you're in
that seat. Staying in those seats is arguably
the most important thing. Getting in is only one
part of the solution. Keeping us there is the
next one.
Fox: I wanted to work on Wall Street because
I believed that I could be the best. But I
was the only Black female on my floor the entire
time I worked at JPMorgan. When we talk
about the people who control this country and
this money, they don't look like Ashley Marie Fox.
So naturally, my mind subconsciously does
not feel safe. I believe that I can do anything, but
when you put me in these rooms, I'm
uncomfortable. I would eat different food for lunch.
There's just a different culture shock. I went
from an HBCU to a Wall Street investment bank in
New York City. It doesn't feel safe because
it's not familiar.
Financial institutions can work on relatability.
If you really want to target a different demographic
and find the best talent, understand what it
feels like to go to work every day. For the entire
time I was there, I felt like I wasn't good
enough. Now, I wasn't treated as such. Some
58
Morningstar Q2 2023
people are, but I had a phenomenal experience.
But I was so busy in my head, telling myself
I wasn't good enough, because there was no
reinforcement telling me that I was good enough.
You put me back in that same room now, I
can run circles around a lot of people. But it took
me years to feel like I belong at that table.
I don't think there's enough mental support for
people working in this corporate environment,
because we don't have a safe space to be able to
just be ourselves.
Building a Business
Peterson: What were the challenges when you
transitioned from Wall Street to entrepreneurship?
Fox: Empify is the words empower and
modify merged together. I made the word up
because I wanted to develop a new perception of
what wealth looks like. Coming from Wall
Street, one of the hardest things I had to do was
to recognize I was too smart. I remember
teaching my students in the school system
wearing suits. Now I know you have to connect
with a child, so I have the newest pair of
Jordans when I walk into a room. It's important
that I look the complete opposite of what the
world thinks finance looks like. It's not a black and
blue suit. It's not a Caucasian man. It can be
whatever it is you desire.
If I can shift your mindset, you can grow your
bank account. When I left Wall Street,
people were like, so you left working with rich
people to working with people who don't
have a lot of money? Why would I do that? Well,
who else is going to do that? I can translate
this knowledge in a way that can serve
you and speak both to your mind and your heart.
I believed that I could do that, because I also
believed that I could be a billionaire, because
I was the one sitting in meetings with
billionaires and going through their portfolios
to make sure they remained billionaires.
One of the biggest transitions is that when you're
serving an audience who has a lack of selfbelief,
has a lack of education, there's a mental
barrier you have to break. When you have
to instill belief in people, sometimes it's draining.
Sometimes I miss the fancy offices, sitting
courtside at basketball games, going to
play golf, because that is what gave me the fuel
and the energy to pour back into my community.
As an entrepreneur, you have to cultivate
that. I've now got to build the JPMorgan that
I worked for.
Mac: The culture shock is there's no longer
a safety net. You're no longer getting paid every
two weeks. You eat what you kill when you
become a true entrepreneur. I remember trying to
explain that to my mother: Wait, what? You gave
up your job for what, now?
How could I think of myself as a JPMorgan, as
a Morgan Stanley, a Coca-Cola? How can I make
my company as successful as the Fortune
100 companies? You have to wear all the different
hats. You got to be head of business development,
head of marketing, head of sales, head of HR,
everything. When I hired people, I used to try
to give them more autonomy, and then I realized
that they didn't have that same structure
that I had. I have to teach them. There's a training
program before you can get on the desk at
any firm-at Morningstar, at JPMorgan,
at Morgan Stanley. These are the things you start
learning and understanding from a corporate
development standpoint.
Overcoming the Past
Peterson: Financial literacy is just on the come-up.
You've got podcasts like Earn Your Leisure,
Wallstreet Looks Like Us Now Network, and now your
platforms, Maconomics and Empify. In the Black
community, I'm seeing this surge of thirst for the
knowledge. But according to the Federal Reserve, only
44% of Black Americans have retirement saving
accounts, with a typical balance of $20,000, compared
to 65% of white Americans, who have an average
balance of $50,000. Can you share some reasons why
Black Americans invest less?
Mac: To truly understand those stats, we've got
to understand where we come from. Let's
look at all the things we have to overcome. Wealth
effectively has been strategically taken from
us, from slavery to Jim Crow. Look at the Black
Wall Street massacre. We were thriving, then
Morningstar - Q2 2023

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