Create Your Alpha

Ten years ago I started this blog after a tenuous bout with Shingles. The pain was excruciating as it hit the side of my head near the occipital area but thankfully left no physical damage afterwards. While I was in isolation, I spent a lot of time thinking and writing (when I could) to really filter out everything in my life that was ‘noise’ and focus only on what matters most.

Writing is my outlet. It has brought me peace, calm and perspective and has seen me through much of my darkness. It also brings me joy and has allowed me to be of service to others through my experiences and observations. And so, after being asked by a few colleagues and friends, I’m returning to my blog.

My observations and messages are far clearer and more concise now than when I first created this blog. The increased and continued focus on the things that matter has certainly helped me as has time. It has taken 1 strong relationship, 2 children, multiple mini-career movies and a decade since my first entry. My stories and lessons now are certainly more purposeful and resolute.

Namely, my experience on the trade floor and how I have managed to find my voice and carve out a career within the Capital Markets industry. It is a curiosity to many that I ever chose a trading floor environment, and that I continue to choose it year upon year through the volatility, macro and micro crises, prickly personalities and of course, headline news and movies based on headline news!

I am not your typical Banker. In fact, in a lot of ways I am an outsider; a contrarian. I don’t look or sound like Gordon Gekko. Nor do I have or want to have the persona of Jordan Belfort. I am not tied to upper-class European lineage or hail from a fancy prep college or private school. I am a female professional from simple beginnings of Indian origin, raised in a mixed-nuclear family (a few years joint) who was educated in Singapore, India and Canada.

So how did I land up here? 17 years in Sales and Trading is a deliberate choice and requires consistent effort and results. And my career-path is one of my decisions. I’ve also made a few other purposeful choices to create the life I want to live. I am here because I work everyday to Create my Alpha.

Alpha, as defined in finance is the ability to generate outsized returns. To take this market definition and personalize it, I would say that it is the additive value I try to create everyday to bring forth into the world, be it at work, at home or anywhere in-between. And in exchange for that value, the universe has gifted me and continues to give me exponentially more in return. Health, happiness and prosperity.

What I hope to do through my writing is focus on the concrete steps I have taken to create my alpha and provide strategies and tactics on how you can do the same. Both professionally and personally.

The Capital Markets industry is open and accessible. Especially now. Diversity and Inclusion aren’t just words used to round out a marketing ad. The number of crises we have created on account of being narrow-minded and giving into groupthink is why we need a variety of thoughts, opinions and experiences at the table in every conversation and every level and in multiple environments.

And, this isn’t just about understanding and thriving in Finance. It is a journey inside yourself, to figure out who you are and what you want to bring forth. We all have the potential to create our alpha. We just need to invest some time to tap into it and present it to the world. There are simple, tangible steps to make this happen. And if you learn some financial tips and read some trade-floor stories along the way, it can't hurt? Allow me to be your guide.