 Hi Anthony, hi everyone as Anthony has mentioned my name is Clara. I'm a second year of math with economic student at UCL. And I am half Spanish half Namibian I was born I grew up in Namibia but my parents are Spanish. And you know it's a privilege to be here today and share any insight that might be valuable for you. I will answer your question the reason for why helping women, I mean, it just stands on to wanting to help other people when you help people people want to help you. And I guess my journey into finance was very, I was very lucky I must say I started my first year of university, you know, mainly studying math, I had no idea about the finance industry. I started coming up in a small town in Africa and then you know in Spain, neither in Spain or Namibia. It's not a financial hub so finance wasn't the thing in my mind. But I started first year of uni and everyone was like super competitive like I hadn't even started in classes yet and like it was like, you have LinkedIn do you have your cover letter do you have your CV and I was like, I don't even know I need all of this in the first place. I mean, I decided to get involved in many societies join many random societies make lots of people, and perhaps one of the societies I like the most because of the people and the students was UCI woman finance society. I had a few older students that were really kind to me, they offered me a position as first year representative, and that's kind of how I began being a bit curious about the finance industry. And that's when I started doing my research and into finance and I realized that because I was in a four year course. I wasn't eligible to apply to spring weeks. So that okay I will figure that whole process out next year I'm going to first you know focus on my degree and I'll just focus on math and understanding everything. But towards like October November UCI woman finance hosted this amazing event with a really inspiring woman from BMP. And she was this really senior lady. And from, and it was like I think it was on a Monday so I wasn't very sure if I wanted to attend or not, but it was my friend who was organizing and I was okay, let me just go and support the course. So it was on a Monday afternoon the senior lady from BMP coming in to give a talk on zoom, we were literally five women in the room, only five. So it was a very one to one conversation. Turns out that this lady also studied math in UCL and I really just felt inspired by her. I didn't know much about what she was doing didn't really understand much about markets, but I felt inspired by this woman right and I think that's something that's been very crucial to me that way I can actually see that there's really like higher woman up there that you know have a solid career but they also have you know a family and they can manage both was something that really intrigued me because I want both in the end right. So she encouraged me to apply to spring weeks, and I went in applying to spring weeks not knowing the difference between markets and banking, I just do it because I like the woman. Oh, I felt super inspired. So that's what I did. I think sometimes, well, 98% of things in life comes through that hard work and discipline, and you know motivation for what you're doing. And then 2% is luck, and that was my 2% of luck meeting this woman and applying. So I got through the process joined the springs, and I really enjoyed it. And that's kind of how my career and finance started inspired by by this lady and forming part of a community, I think it's really important as well. Because in the end when you talk to students and I talked to girls, we're all going through the same thing we all feel very intimidated very lost. I feel like you're good enough, and that sometimes can put you off, but talking to other women and other girls, you realize you're not alone. And if you really wanted, then you just have to be willing to put yourself out there. So forming part of this community and meeting this one was great. And after I joined the springs. I really enjoyed it. I enjoyed talking to so many people from different roles from different desks. And I guess this could be a no potential career for me. And that's why I decided to take up the summer analyst program at amplified because as I said, I had no idea about finance. Even during the spring weeks I still didn't understand the difference between markets and banking and I was okay. If I want to do this I should actually start from the basis, and that was really fundamental for me. And actually through the summer program I met a few other girls. I think Gabriela Flavia they were also you were interviewing them for me they've been fundamental Flavia has been such a great mentor and also seen another woman study older than me that's gone through the process before and having her mentor me and help me has been really fundamental and pushing me and making me go forward. So I guess the whole reason for helping women is because I've been helped by women in the first place right and I feel that kind of like my responsibility that the little I know and the little advice I can give off right on. And yeah it's just been I'm still in the journey of learning and very excited to do so. So, where did your confidence come from because you, you know you talk about, you know, having discipline and being persistent and being tenacious and like all these other kind of characteristics but a lot of people find that very hard to be that way like where where's that come from for you. I mean, I don't know. I must say that confidence depends on the day there's days that you're just on top of the world and you feel like you can do anything and you know you're gonna smash life and you can do it. And other days you just rock bottom you just like I'm so lost I'm so stressed I don't know what I'm going to do. And I think it's so really important to be aware of the fact that it's okay to sometimes be like that. And then those days where you're just not feeling it and you feel like you're not going to be able to do anything. Just fake it, you know just push through just keep your eye on the prize and what you want to do and, and you know that phrase fake until you make it that has been so fundamental to everything I do. I guess, you know discipline hard work. I don't know I think it's been a lot in my education how my parents brought me up from a young age I think around the age of four or five I started doing rhythmic gymnastics, which has been really you know, has been fundamental in developing me as a person. I guess we train for many hours every day Monday to Saturday we also competed. I guess that's really helped me and shaped me and my mindset so I know that hard things and objectives and goals that you really want don't come easily. Sometimes we're not patient with ourselves really accustomed to living in a world where things come now right we snap our fingers we go on the internet we have access to information now. We can answer people now right but hard things and challenges don't come easily and they don't come now so I think it's very important to first of all be aware of being patient with yourself and that's something that gymnastics told me that, you know, if you just slightly more flexible the next day, then it's a win it's fine you know just continue, you know the power of compounding is fundamental. I think discipline as well has helped me especially with you know when you don't feel like you're good enough or you're not like you know you're not going to be able to achieve anything just be disciplined with yourself and continue doing what you're doing every single day. I think sometimes people overlook the power of day to day work because we're so lost in that future objective and what we want to achieve in five to 10 years time right but don't forget about today, you know, every day is a new beginning and it can be so powerful that if you're consistent in that way, you can achieve anything. And then I guess confidence well you know just comes up and down. I think it's very important to be honest with yourself and understand what you're good at and what you're not. I mean no one's perfect we all do mistakes, and you shouldn't be afraid of that you shouldn't be afraid of making mistakes shouldn't be afraid of putting yourself out there because if you want something, you have to be willing to take the hit you know it's like, you compete in competitive sport and you decide to you know, participate in a championship then obviously you have this amazing opportunity to one, but in order to one you have to be willing to you know lose or you know potentially lose and it's completely fine. Like, you know, like your life doesn't end in one day, you just continue and continue trying if that's something you really want. When you're having these like meetings with your societies, or you're in the various different forms that you're involved in, like how much of the general conversations are around more of the mindset and getting people in the right state of mind, rather than the technical side of things. Unfortunately, not so much. And I think that's one of the problems that people feel that they're not allowed to talk about these things they have to. I mean, coming into uni, I must say that I felt very intimidated. You know you live in this bubble where you know you're just top of the clause and you're just wonderful and all that stuff and inside you, you face reality you just realize you're just one more person in this entire world. And there's thousands of people that are so competitive so prepared that are smarter or better or know in any sense better than you. And that can be intimidating. And I think that's sometimes why it puts girls off to apply because they just feel they're not good enough. But I think it's very, and not only they don't feel they're not good enough but they're not allowed to voice it they're not allowed to voice their fears because everyone seems like they have everything under control when I think more often than not we're all just struggling with our own life and struggling to know fit our priorities in and make the most of them. And unfortunately it's not something that has been voiced that much. Actually recently we had this HSBC event that you participated in. And after the event we've got really good feedback and throughout campus lots of girls stopped me and said, Thank you so much because I felt very inspired and you know, actually forming part of a community and noticing that we're all the same level has really motivated them to apply in the future to HSBC and other firms. So, I think we should definitely make a push to talk more about imposter syndrome, and more about failure and the fact that it's not as dramatic as it seems like we should not be drama queens that we've all failed. And the thing is, you only need that one shot at success, right, if you fail nine out of the 10 times you just need once, once you succeed that's enough. So, I think it's very important to, you know, relativize all of this, the fact that you're not good enough that you're not, you're not perfect that you make mistakes, it's fine. And, and that's something that my team and I have been trying to push a lot to open up the dialogue and the conversation. And now just make everyone aware that we're all in the same boat actually. I'm sure you wouldn't mind me saying that I'll share your LinkedIn profile with anywhere we share this video and I'm sure that doesn't matter if you're UCL or not. It's, it's just important, I think, for the communities to work to work together for the better. But tell me a little bit about what's happening in the summer then so where are you where are you heading and what's the plan. So in the summer, I'll be joining BMP within global markets so I'm really, really excited. I mean, I can't believe that I'm here in London, you know, starting to work having the opportunity to learn. I haven't yet chosen my guess but you know I've been talking to many analysts and the more I talk to people the more interested I am in the role. For example, the other day I talked about to my buddy he's in a high yours credit it sounds super interesting to me and then another analyst who is right now in the private structuring private credit structuring this also sounds really interesting so I'll be joining BMP hoping to make a tip on that point alone. Those other people you just mentioned how did you find them with a UCL working on LinkedIn or my buddy I just got paired with him. Like through the whole spring like a summer process, I guess, in many summer internships you get paired with a buddy. And I guess my number one advice is make the most of your body because he's there or she's there to want to help you. And I guess asking him asking his advice about what roles he thought would be, you know, good for me. He introduced me to his friend who's in the private credit structuring this and then I talked to him and it sounded really interesting. So, I think, coming in when you think about networking it can be very intimidating because you think about these people as if they're robots right they're analysts working at BMP and you can't bother them and you don't have sufficient technical knowledge to ask them anything. But actually they're people and I think it's very important to keep in mind that people connect with people and everybody independently of their job has hobbies has a family has has other things has a life right. So, you know, coming in with that basis and connecting with that sense very important. And I guess I was being very lucky that no matter who I reached out to on LinkedIn. They have been very kind very open, very willing to just go on a call and you know talk to me and tell me stuff. Even if it's 15 minutes of their time that for me that's been invaluable. And I think that's important to be aware of that people actually do want to help. And once you've been helped, it's your responsibility to help others that come behind you, I think, just keeping that positive flow flow going. Yeah, it's amazing. Well, look, I mean it's been great to great to catch up. I think you know your enthusiasm your passion, your authenticity I think are amazing and I'm sure it's going to hold you a very good stead. Not just now, but your future career so I'm happy to be part of that journey with you so yeah thank you Clara for joining me and yeah, I'll speak to you again next time. Well thank you so much Anthony it's been a great privilege to talk to here today. And as Anthony as mentioned just feel free to reach out to me link it in I'd be happy to try and help in anyway. Thank you so much. You're amazing. Thank you Clara.