At 23, Lauren Simmons became the second-ever African American woman stock trader at the NYSE.
AT 23, LAUREN SIMMONS made her mark on history – literally and figuratively. She signed her name into the leather-bound tome containing the constitution of the New York Stock Exchange, becoming the youngest and only female trader at the NYSE at the time. But this wasn't all Simmons became that day.
As she stepped back from the marble-topped table after adding her name to a list containing the likes of Rockefeller and Vanderbilt, the NYSE archivist stepped forward. Simmons, the archivist said, was the second-ever African American woman to sign her name to the book. In the 226-year history of the NYSE, there had been only one other African American woman trader.
Suddenly Simmons' accomplishment felt as bitter as it was sweet. "I was very excited, but also disappointed that in 226 years, I was only the second," she says.
It's a title that's come to define her. Even now that she has left the trading floor, being the second-ever African American woman to break the white ceiling of the NYSE has turned her into an icon.
money.usnews.com
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