15 minute read
EARNING HER WORTH
im Mustin is currently a Senior
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Managing Director at Bernstein Private
Wealth in the heart of the financial world. She’s also a wife and mother who has worked hard to balance her personal passions with being a woman climbing the ladder in one of the most competitive sectors possible.
“If there was one common thread throughout my childhood and my life it’s I like solving problems,” Mustin said. “When I was a kid it manifested itself in me taking apart things that work perfectly well to see how they worked and then put them back together again – including my mom’s car radio at one point.”
Over almost three decades, Mustin has enjoyed solving puzzles. Now a leader on Wall Street, Mustin continues putting the pieces together in an increasingly diverse marketplace.
She started as a forensic accountant for the Treasury Department and eventually made the move to the investment world, where there weren’t many women in leadership roles. There have been critical moments along the way where Mustin was able to piece together the map to her ultimate career goals.
Mustin remembers one moment that shifted her approach to the ladder she was climbing.
While working at Deutsche Bank, she had the best year of her career. She was waiting outside her manager’s office for her review meeting during, which she would learn the size of the bonus she would receive for her exceptional performance. She was nervous.
A male colleague had the appointment before hers. He hadn’t had a very good year, but when he emerged from the office, he was happy – he had been promoted to a managing director role.
Mustin sat down and received a glowing review and the largest bonus of her career, an amount that far exceeded her hopes. At the end of the conversation she asked her manager about being promoted. The boss was crestfallen to learn that was a goal of hers; he hadn’t considered her for a promotion.
At that time, Mustin learned that she needed to be her own advocate, and more vocal about her goals.
“Don’t assume something that’s important to you is important to someone else,” she shared. “You have to show up and do the work and earn it, you have to deliver, but don’t just assume that someone is going to promote you.”
Mustin then put a plan in place to join an admittedly small number of women in managing director roles at Deutsche Bank. During the following year the market tanked and she didn’t have nearly as good of a year as she did the previous year. But when she met with the boss for her review, while the bonus wasn’t nearly as large as she had received before, the promotion was available.
In the years since, Mustin has been one of a growing number of women leading on Wall Street. And she’s thankful for men along the way who have helped cultivate her skills and encourage her to continue climbing.
“At the time that I began working on Wall Street, there weren’t a lot of women so all of my mentors in my early, formative years were men,” Mustin said. “I’m incredibly thankful for the time they took to help save me from myself. One of the things I carried with me from my male mentors is how important it is to take calculated risks. And to create a ‘cabinet of supporters.’ If you take a calculated risk and fail, either you need to figure out how to politically get yourself back on your feet or have the ego to pull it off. I’m thankful for my cabinet of mentors who told me ‘if you fail, get back up.’”
Mustin is excited to see the increasing number of women in influential positions in her industry. She pointed out that 51 percent of the population is female and that the marketplace now expects that to be reflected in every level of organizations.
As she has matriculated her way up the landscape on Wall Street, she has taken on a leadership role and served as a mentor to future generations of diverse leaders. Mustin was thrilled when Citi Group “broke the ultimate glass ceiling” when they named a woman their CEO. But as women continue to gain positions of power in the industry, it becomes equally important to build and retain a diverse staff to keep her own firm on top.
“To me, diversity isn’t your skin tone or gender,” she said. “It’s about how you approach problems – because I’m a problem solver. I’m an impatient person, so I look for people who help me pump the brakes. So when I’m hiring a diverse team of people, I’m hiring people for those things... I look at what experience you’re bringing to the table. That is going to help us create better products and services and solve problems in a better way for our clients.
“I have my arms around my female, LGBTQ, black and brown talent because they are the future of our firm,” Mustin continued. “I know that I need the smartest, most talented people and they need to look like the marketplace I am trying to service. If I don’t hold onto them, I know they’re going to get recruited by other people.”
At Bernstein, Mustin continues to work with clients who have “unique wealth” to problem solve for their personal financial goals. Whether that wealth comes from a lifetime of hard work, smart investment, signing a contract as a professional athlete or inheriting a significant amount, every situation is different. And Mustin loves nothing more than a good puzzle.
As a woman in the marketplace, she also continues to see her peers take the next step while their clients succeed. And she’s happy to share advice with anyone who asks.
“Take more calculated risks early in your career and put yourself in position through hard work to ask for what you want.”
TURNED SUCCESS IN SPORTS INTO SUCCESS IN BUSINESS
BY SHAWN HUTCHEON
is often said that when a child plays sports they learn many life-lessons that they will be able to use as they grow into adulthood. American soccer superstar Angela Hucles Mangano is the personification of that adage.
All Hucles Mangano has done is taken what she learned on and off the soccer pitch and applied those lessons into highly successful roles of business owner, television commentator, volunteer, and philanthropist.
It all began when Hucles Mangano was a young girl who developed a love for soccer. However, there were no girls’ teams in her hometown of Norfolk, Virginia so she played on the boys’ teams all the way through high school at Norfolk Academy. From there, she took her talents to the University of Virginia where she was team captain before becoming a professional with the Boston Breakers of the Women’s Soccer Association from 2001 to 2003 then with the Breakers in the Women’s Professional Soccer league from 2003 to 2009 when the league ceased operations.
While successful playing in those leagues (27 goals in 106 career games), it was on the international stage where Hucles Mangano made her mark.
Hucles Mangano was a member of the bronze medal winning United States Women’s National Team in the 2003 and 2007 World Cup tournaments and the gold medal winning teams at the 2004 Summer Olympic Games in Athens, Greece and in the 2008 Summer Olympics at Beijing, China.
In each tournament, the Virginia native saw limited playing time, but that would change at Beijing.
An injury suffered by teammate Amy Wambach just before the ‘08 Games put Hucles Mangano in the spotlight for the Americans and she did not disappoint. She led Team USA in goals with four (second-most in the tournament) in six games as the squad repeated its gold medal victory.
After hanging up her cleats in 2009, Hucles Mangano turned her attention to the business world. She had earned her college degree in Anthropology but became interested in real estate during her days in Boston and completed the requirements necessary to become a licensed real estate agent. After retiring from soccer, Hucles Mangano moved to Southern California and became involved in real estate in the Los Angeles area. In September of 2017, Hucles Mangano opened her own real estate agency and has found that many of the skills that made her a two-time Olympic champion apply to owning a business.
“For me, sports has been one of my
greatest teachers in life,” Hucles Mangano said. “Sports has always been one of the best teachers in life -- and probably because of how I learned and being more of a kinesthetic learner -- so to be able to practice different things in a safe environment has been super-helpful not just on the playing field but really being able to take all those things into the workplace, into business and understand myself better, and then also just how to work with other people and personalities. I always lean on my sports education for that and being able to start a business, especially when there are so many different hats you have to wear and there is a lot of adversity, and it’s hard and it’s grueling, especially to start something brand new and fresh whether it’s a new business, a new product, and so to be able to understand that you’re not going to see instant success and just like getting myself to the Olympics, that was a journey that took a decade to get there and to achieve.
“To be able to know that I’ve gone through ups and downs, challenges and adversities, to come out on the other side to become successful, that’s something I can hold on to when things get tough and challenging with business when I’m trying to figure out how to best communicate with a client. These are absolutely all the tangible life skills that I’m able to take through from sports.”
ucles Mangano went on to explain it is one thing to have acquired such skills and another to implement them into her business.
“I don’t necessarily see myself as an agent, but I have a real estate business and I think there are different elements to that approach than just going in and being an agent,” she said. “Now you have to go out and market it and sell it, and have conversations with people, reach out to your network, reach out to people that you might not know, come up with a strategy, a plan, bring in email marketing, social media, everything, and also put together a small team to help implement the processes. All of that is wearing a different hat, putting a team together, know what roles each of us play, where are our strengths, and being able to access all of that, and for this specific business (real estate), I am the CEO. I am the leader. That’s a different layer of responsibility and being able to make the right decisions for the business but also to help guide and lead and for me, it’s also helping my team. >>
Making sure that they are doing the things that they enjoy doing not just because they’re helping to fill a need, but how can we really maximize the experience that they’re having while we’re all working together. When you start to think of things in that way it, one, helps to build and create great chemistry within the team. It helps to develop that individual for what they’re trying to achieve in their own business.”
As Hucles Mangano stated, being a business owner is an all-encompassing endeavor. By now, you may be thinking that she has all she can handle, however, we’re talking about an Olympian and as such, she is often asked to give her free time to very worthy causes. Causes to which Hucles Mangano dedicates herself to just as much as she does to her business and as much as she did to soccer, as well.
Hucles Mangano has dedicated her time and efforts to organizations such as Up2Us, Dream Big, and You Can Play, which empower young people to reach their goals through sports and physical activities.
“I think, for me, just to be able to accept different positions (with You Can Play) and also become involved in different groups is because I believe in what they do,” she said. “I’m still a supporter of You Can Play. I love Patrick Burke. I just think he’s such an amazing individual. I don’t know the rest of his family that well. I met Patrick because of You Can Play and just to see what he’s done, but obviously his entire family’s impact in the sport of hockey itself. But he’s obviously taking that platform and creating a much larger impact in the world.
“I definitely did a lot of speaking engagements and panels with their organization in which there was myself and probably a couple of other athletes who would talk about language. How language is used. Just breaking down stereotypes and misconceptions and doing a piece of education about LGBT in sport and how advocates and allies could help and support and be a part of the bigger picture. I think sport provides such a unique way of reaching people, of educating, of bringing the world together. We’ve seen that in so many different sporting events, in the Olympics, and the World Cups of soccer, so to be able to use sport in that platform, for such a powerful and positive purpose, I think is great and incredible. I can’t say enough great things about Patrick and what he’s done to be able to take something that was a personal issue and the personal responsibilities that he felt with his brother (Brendan) and to be able to create a legacy for him through this organization, I just think is amazing.”
hile she is proud to be associated with
Up2Us, Dream Big, and You Can Play, and considers what they do to be extremely important, it is the roles in which Hucles Mangano has played since 2003 on behalf of the Women’s Sports Foundation that she can be proudest.
The mission of the Women’s Sports Foundation is, “We are the ally, advocate, and catalyst for tomorrow’s leaders. We exist to enable girls and women to reach their potential in sports and life.” A mission that Hucles Mangano takes to heart, so much so that she served as the Foundation’s President from January 2015 to December 2016.
“I always give credit to my U.S. National Team captain July Foudy, who was also a past President back in 2003, so I’ve been involved, in some capacity, with the Women’s Sports Foundation since then,” Hucles Mangano explained. “Foudy introduced us (national team) to the foundation when she was President. We had 15 of us, maybe, who went to their Annual Salute, which is the Women’s Sports Foundations biggest fundraising event. Typically, they host it in New York City and it’s a celebration of women in sports and female athletes for that year. I
just remember showing up, going there, and just being completely in awe of the event, of the individuals who were part of it, of the amazing, incredible stories of female athletes I knew and ones I didn’t know, of all the accomplishments, and the work that was be-
ing done for advocacy in women’s sports. I was hooked from that moment and then just became more involved, made myself available for whatever the foundation needed and wanted of me and, really and truly, because I believed -- and still do -- in their mission of just getting girls
physically active in sports and the value that it plays especially in a young person’s life. From there, I joined their athlete advisory board and stayed current with the different events, which then ultimately led me to becoming a board member and then to serving as President of their foundation.
“I always loved being in the boardroom with Billy Jean King, who I just think, not only is she a firecracker but just a living legend. To know her and see her in real life, not just watching her in the movie, but to see how she still just walks the walk. So many people can say different things, but she just lives everything that she believes in and says. Just to think about the situation she was in many years ago and how scary it was for her and other female tennis players that were basically taking this giant leap and stand, but they pretty much changed, I think, the way that we now see women’s sports and how we value women in sport but women as well.”
Although her term as President ended in 2016, Hucles Mangano remains on the board of trustees with the Women’s Sports Foundation.
But wait, there’s more.
ince 2012, you have likely seen Hucles
Mangano providing color commentary during women’s NCAA, World Cup, and Olympic soccer matches for NBC and Fox Sports.
Most recently, Hucles Mangano has become involved with Angel City LA. In October, 2020, the National Women’s Soccer League announced that Angel City LA will become a member of the League bringing women’s professional soccer to Southern California.
By the way, did I mention Hucles Mangano does all of this while raising a young daughter and son? Yes, the question of where does she find the time to do it all had to be asked.
“I don’t know,” she said with a laugh. “I have a three-year-old son and a four-month-old daughter, but one of my weaknesses is, I don’t say no often enough. I’m starting to learn how to do it a bit better, but there are some things that are just important and I think anyone who does service work and volunteer and philanthropy, it’s all because it’s not about us. It’s about making the world better and I think, foundationally, that’s the belief that we all have. It’s the right thing to do and on the selfish side of it, it does feel good. It feels good to feel like you’re contributing in a positive way and that you’re hopefully making a difference in a positive way and possibly making someone’s life better. I mean, if saying yes to that too much becomes a problem then I think we’re having a much bigger problem.”
