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"No cloud is too high, no mountain is too steep for a vato. A Wall Street Vato is a person of honesty and integrity. A shaking of hands replaces a signature on a final deal." --Veronica, Maria, Rudy, Pablo |
Many of us choose careers we've heard positive things about. It's not surprising, then, that many students follow in the footsteps of one or both of their parents. What better endorsement of a profession than seeing someone you love make money and get enjoyment from a certain job? But what if the only information you got a about a profession was from negative stereotypes on television or in the movies?
WALL STREET IS NOT JUST GREEDY PEOPLE LACKING IN MORALITY
Robert Rodriguez says television and movie images of people in Corporate America are rich, greedy and lacking a work ethic. He believes this discourages many people in his primarily Hispanic community in San Antonio, Texas from joining the corporate world.
Robert Rodriguez is president of Southwestern Capital Markets Inc., an investment banking company. He is very disappointed by the trend. "I've been in business for long enough to see that instead of having more kids looking at business careers, there was no interest and no way to let them know about it."
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"A Wall Street Vato would be sophisticated. When it comes to business, you don't want to mess with a vato." --Karla, Loyda, Maricela, Mario |
"In the Hispanic community, winning financially at all cost is really not part of the psyche."
He says the reason, in part, is cultural. "In the Hispanic community, winning financially at all cost is really not part of the psyche. There really is a lot more focus on social issues... on community, family." In addition, the most successful business people in media images are white men. How do you get past such stereotypes?
Rodriguez
decided to create a contest at a local high school that would encourage students
to think of themselves in a Wall Street Job. "Wall Street... what does it represent?"
Rodriguez asked the students. "Everyone talks about it," he said, "but is it
just a far away place?"
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The students, who study international banking and buiness at Sidney Lanier High School, were asked to asked to write an essay about a "Vato de Wall Street." That is, a really cool guy with a lot of heart who has made his fortune in a Wall Street job. The "vato," or "cool guy with heart," image was important to Rodriguez because it showed you didn't have to sell your soul to be successful in a business career. The students worked in teams and the winners received a $1,000 prize.
Students from the school were also able to travel to New York and take a tour of Wall Street. Sixteen-year-old Pablo Rodriguez describes his experience this way:
When we found out we could go to New York and receive passes to the actual floor of the New York Stock Exchange, we were ecstatic. I was eager to see all the action that goes on between buyers and sellers on the floor of one of the most nonstop jobs in the world!
Mr. Brian Birch and Mr. James Gomez were our guides. I held my breath as we entered the highly secured building and saw all the movement on the main floor. I couldn't believe that security would go so far as to x-ray all lunches of the workers, before it could be delivered to them. The sense of tension and anxiousness on each of those workers faces made me feel part of the whole NYSE experience. I realized that in those little pink slips that are passed from hand to hand are the stocks that thousands of people across the world put into a company.
Mr. Gomez invited us to eat lunch where he works at the investment firm called Goldman Sachs. While we were eating, we asked Mr. Gomez why the New York Stock Exchange is the most respected exchange in all the world.
He said that the way the floor is set up, "hot tips" on stocks are hard to pass around. This gives the seller and buyer the best and fairest prices.
Visiting the New York Stock exchange and actually understanding what all those numbers mean when they come out on the five o'clock news gave us the opportunity to bringing back information to our fellow classmates and comprehend what each person does on Wall Street. This once-in-a-lifetime experience showed us the ins and outs of the business world that we study everyday at our Magnet School of International Banking and Business.
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"Vatos have to be twice as good as anybody. Vatos have speak Spanish and English correctly. A Wall Street person understands la gente del mundo. A vato is more involved with the community. A Wall Street Vato has the ganas to be as successful as anyone else." --Oscar, Elizabeth, April, Vangie |
Robert Rodriguez is now working to expand "Los Vatos de Wall Street." He wants to include a mentoring program to link students with people who have first hand knowledge of the business world.
CHANGE CAN COME FROM THE DINNER TABLE
He says real success will come when the community realizes its spending power and starts talking about investments and business empowerment. "I want to hear families discuss business and its opportunities at their dinner tables," he says. "A job in the financial world does not mean abandoning your friends and family, it can mean helping them."
---Los Vatos de Wall Street contest entries-- four top winning essays. Reprinted with permission from Robert Rodriguez and the Sidney Lanier Magnet School, San Antonio, Texas.
The
Stock Market
