Comments from Sonelius Kendrick - Smith
I have to figure out a way to manage all of this, being African American and gay, and still show up to do a job, to do it well, and to be recognized and rewarded for that. Before I moved to the trading floor, I was in a very little small room just crunching numbers, reading spreadsheets or whatever, and creating additional reports. And so my boss alerted me to the fact that there was an opportunity on the trading floor with the short duration money market desk. Went through the process of it. They liked me and said, sure. Come to be a trader. But it was one of those situations where, sure, yeah. But let me think about it. Because I was concerned about trading floors and the environment. And I just didn't want to be in the closet. So I went directly to the head of fixed income to have a conversation. It was a woman.
I just very candidly said, before I accept this position, I want to know what you feel the environment is like, and what systems are in place to deal with someone who's gay. And I think I said, I'm black. That's going to be every day. There weren't that many people of color. In addition to that, I I'm gay, and my perception is this. And so she was very frank. She said, you're right. There are going to be a lot of people who have certain attitudes. And she didn't believe that there were those that would be very demonstrative in expressing or doing anything. However, she said that she understands, that her door was always open. She was very supportive. And then to did something that I thought that she didn't have to do but I thought was great. She said, I have two brothers that are gay. And so, therefore, she decided to bond with me, I felt, in a very different way.
So I felt great. I'm like, OK. I can do this. And I really liked the people on the team. And then she really took it a step further. Once I had started working on the trading floor, any time that she would come out to the trading floor-- she's running the whole show. And she's speaking with the heads of the desk. And she doesn't speak to everybody on the floor when she's having conversations. Without fail, almost every single time she came onto the trading floor, she stopped by my desk. If it was just to say hello, how are you doing. And to me, that's one of the important signals. To others who are looking at that, to say that this is someone that she knows, that she values and respects, and that others should do the same in some way. And so I think over time and because of that, there's a level of confidence. It's really great to be on the trading floor where everybody pretty much knows all my business. And sometimes it feels like families. It really feels like home. And people look at me sometimes and like, you're crazy. I mean, how does that happen? Well, this black man can be out and actively gay. And it's because of those experiences I had early on.
