The Wall Street veteran, whose illustrious career spans nearly three decades, recently told Assets She remembers sitting on a committee in the mid-2000s. Krawchek, then Citigroup’s chief financial officer, sat alongside C-suite executives from other Fortune 500 Giants including IBM and GE. But while her male colleagues were asked about “balance sheet management,” Krawcheck was asked how she balances her duties with her role as a working mother.
“I remember thinking, ‘It’s not enough that I made it to this table as CFO,'” she said. told Assets.
Krawcheck, who took over as CFO at Citi in 2004 at the age of just 38, has held a number of top positions at Wall Street giants such as Sanford C. Bernstein, Smith Barney, Merrill Lynch and Bank of America. The “Last honest analyst” from Assets As British reporter David Rynecki reported in 2002, Krawcheck cemented her rise to the executive suite by guiding Sanford Bernstein through the murky bursting of the dot-com bubble in 2000. Her strategy? Telling the truth – unlike her colleagues who hyped up stocks but secretly denigrated them.
Assets
But during their climb She told the executive board that she was “the only woman or one of only two women” in the room.
“I think my gender has always been a factor,” she said. “I think it’s been a factor in my success, and I think it’s been a factor in the times I’ve stumbled.”
“There have been times in my life when I have just continued with my career and at the same time been perfectly adequate as a mother,” she said. “But [I] wasn’t such a perfect mom with the homemade cookies.”
Likewise, Krawcheck said, “There were times in my life when my children needed me when my career took a back seat.”
Krawcheck, now 59, is the founder and CEO of Ellevest, an investment platform she launched in 2016 that was “founded, funded, built and designed for women to invest in,” she says. Under her leadership, the Robo-Advisor – a guide Assets under management have grown to over $2 billion and are enjoying Support by supporters such as Melinda French Gates and Penny Pritzker.
After spending years of her career in traditional companies striving for “change from within,” Krawcheck is now on a mission to break down the “boys’ club of Wall Street” and introduce women to investing.
“Ellevest is kind of the opposite of Wall Street in terms of the makeup of our company; we’re about 85% women,” she said.
Ellevest
Krawcheck’s company is now fully remote, and eliminating the commute is a “huge benefit” for working parents, she said. When asked about her thoughts on work-life balance and whether she has achieved it, Krawcheck says she has “so many thoughts” on that goal.
“I’m just not thrilled that we’re making this issue almost like a gauntlet for women, like it’s another level of success that has to be achieved,” she said. “You’ve been successful in business, madam, but that’s not enough, now you have to balance things out as well.”
Between team meetings, Krawcheck Assets an exclusive look into her daily routine that begins as soon as she wakes up.
The art of the afternoon cookie
5:30 in the morning: When she’s not trying to get some sleep on an overnight flight – which happens “relatively often” – Krawcheck usually rolls out of bed when the sun comes up. She’s immediately greeted by her cats Newcomb and Meekum, the latter of whom is “very demanding.”
“First of all, she needs a massage, a deep tissue massage, to start her day and mine.”
Once Meekum is full, Krawcheck brews a decaf latte with oat milk and challenges her younger brother to a virtual spelling bee.
Ellevest
7 o’clock in the morning: She spends the next hour exercising, whether it’s walking through a park near her New York apartment or cycling on her Peloton bike.
“I love to work up a sweat, love to do some light weight training and I love to stretch,” the CEO said.
9 am: After a quick shower, Krawcheck hits the road – a short walk through her bedroom and living room to her home office.
“When I’m drying my hair or putting on makeup, I’m most creative in the first hour at my desk,” she said. “I learned a long time ago that I think best in the morning; by the afternoon my brain is mush.”
12 o’clock: After a packed morning full of Zoom To avoid breaking a sweat on her calls, Krawcheck takes the time to meet with a prospective client or investor for lunch and get some fresh air before returning to her desk.
From then on, “one meeting followed another.”
3 pm: Two things happen in the afternoon “and both are really important,” Krawcheck said.
To recharge for the rest of her workday, Krawcheck takes a 15-minute nap. That’s a “perk” of working from home, she says.
“I sit on the sofa for this, because if I lie down, the 15-minute nap is guaranteed to turn into a two-hour nap.”
Next up: an “afternoon cookie,” an important differentiator, “that gives me the sugar I need to get through the day.”
6pm: The evenings are often filled with networking events and cocktail hours that Krawcheck hosts at her New York home for small groups of women to talk about money, power, investing and more.
When she’s not hosting an Ellevest event and has free time after her workday, Krawcheck says she enjoys cooking and often makes a quick dinner for her kids on Sunday nights.
“My fried chicken is better than your grandmother’s. I mean, it would blow your mind,” she said. “My pie? The flakiness, the crust is incredible.”
8pm: Krawcheck begins to wind down around 8 p.m., and her family and friends know exactly when she is ready for bed.
“I say, ‘I’m going to go upstairs with my moody butt,'” she said. “It’s kind of a signal [that] The conversation is over. I’m going to a quiet place where I’ll read for a few hours.”
Maybe Krawcheck enjoys a glass of Chardonnay before dozing off and dreaming of her next big business idea.