Lauren Simmons

 Lauren Simmons | Stock Broker 

• Name: Selma Burke
• Date of Birth: August 11, 1994 
• Place of Birth: Marietta, GA 
• Education: Kennesaw State University

Accomplishments

• Youngest stock broker 
• Only female trader on the NYSE 
• A biographical film is being produced about her life and accomplishments 

About Lauren Simmons

Lauren Simmons is a 24-year-old equity trader for Rosenblatt Securities, and she is both the youngest and the only full-time female employee to hold that position at the NYSE. Simmons moved to New York after graduating from Kennesaw State University in December 2016. The Georgia native had interned at a local clinical treatment center in college while earning a BA in genetics with a minor in statistics. She had planned to pursue a career in the medical field, but after realizing that medicine wasn’t her passion, she started searching for opportunities in other industries.Simmons started applying to positions in finance — she had loved numbers since high school — and eventually secured her current position at Rosenblatt Securities by applying to an opening posted on LinkedIn. She started her role in March 2017, but says her employment was contingent upon passing the Series 19, the exam all floor brokers must pass to earn their badge. Despite not having a finance background she passed the Series 19 on the first try.

“Black women like Lauren Simmons are rewriting history in the present day”

About the Campaign

Every day throughout the month of February 540Blog will devote space to sharing Little Known Facts About Black Americans Throughout History. For us every month is Black History Month but we recognize and support the continuous need to take time and space to put a special spotlight on the accomplishments of Black and brown Americans from all ethnicities that have literally changed the course of history and yet have legacies that are not know by the masses.

Sources

1. Wikipedia
2. CNBC