This 23-Year-Old Is Youngest Female Trader On New York Stock Exchange

Source: Spencer Platt / Getty

As an equity trader for Rosenblatt Securities, Lauren Simmons is used to being “the only one.”

When I tell people what my job is they are always surprised,” the Georgia native and Kennesaw State University grad told CNBC. “The one thing that I love about numbers and statistics, and kind of one of the reasons I came to the New York Stock Exchange, is because numbers are a universal language,” she explains.

Despite being doubted at every turn, she’s passed her exams and thrived by focusing on her love of numbers and not the Old Boy’s Club environment of Wall Street. “When you put (numbers) on a board it connects everyone, which is probably one of the reasons why the New York Stock Exchange is so iconic.”

Lauren’s advice to other aspiring young millennials:

”Be uncomfortable and go after what you want,” she says. “Apply for the job — you have no idea what lies behind the door. And if you don’t get the job, it’s OK. Apply for the next job and move forward. Don’t let that be a stop in your career, your life or whatever you want to do. I think it’s important to just keep going.”

Flip the page for more history on Wall Street’s notorious reputation for discriminating against women.

In 1967, Muriel Siefbert became the first woman eligible to trade on the floor. At the time, there was no women’s restroom, so the exchange built a single bathroom booth on the floor. “That’s a ‘fun’ story they told me when I got my badge,” says Simmons.