By Christine Elizabeth

At 23, I walked into BlackRock‘s New York office fresh out of Wesleyan University, ready to conquer Wall Street. By 28, I had traded my corporate badge for a ring light and a mission to empower women through content creation. Along the way, I learned that the biggest impact doesn’t always come from the biggest institutions.

The journey began in 2018, when I joined BlackRock’s Financial Markets Advisory team. In my role, I advised governments and banks on complex financial issues. At 23, I was analyzing balance sheets and sitting in rooms where billion-dollar decisions were made. After two years, I moved to an investment bank as a corporate bond trader. Fast-paced, high-pressure, complex work.

But even as I was building this impressive Wall Street resume, I kept thinking: What am I really building toward? I had access to financial knowledge that most women would never get. But, because of the limitations some Wall Street institutions impose on their employees, I wasn’t permitted to share basic financial knowledge with the world.

Table of Contents

• The Moment That Changed Everything
• The Pivot: From Trading Floor to TikTok
• Building a Multi-Dimensional Brand

The Moment That Changed Everything

After leaving BlackRock, I went on to work at an investment bank, and that’s where everything shifted. It was there that I uncovered systemic pay inequity. Hundreds of Black employees, including myself, were doing the same work as our white counterparts.

However, we were significantly underpaid. I gathered data, documented discrepancies, and wrote a letter to the head of HR. That email led to a formal review and correction of compensation, resulting in revised pay for hundreds of Black employees across the firm.

That email did not lead to immediate change. It took months of internal review before compensation was formally corrected, ultimately resulting in revised pay for hundreds of Black employees across the firm.

It was a win, but it came at a cost. Even before I sent that letter, the person responsible for pay equity attempted to dismiss my concerns. Afterward, I was repeatedly told that our compensation was already correct. It wasn’t. The data proved otherwise.

That experience of being gaslit, even in the face of clear evidence, clarified something for me: I no longer wanted to spend my career fighting for equity in institutions that failed to recognize it or value me until external pressure made it unavoidable.

My passion wasn’t climbing the corporate ladder. It was educating women on their finances, beauty, and wellness. I wanted to encourage women to embody health and wealth in everything they do. As my slogan says: stay healthy and wealthy.

I wanted to build something where my voice and values weren’t up for negotiation.

The Pivot: From Trading Floor to TikTok

In May of 2022, I posted my first vlog on TikTok as a form of self-expression.