Alexandra Paladino talks the Women's Bond Club's Centennial Gala

Alexandra Paladino, Co-President of the Board of Directors of the Women’s Bond Club, joined Yahoo Finance Live to discuss the Women's Bond Club's Centennial Gala.

Video transcript

SEANA SMITH: Welcome back. Now the Women's Bond Club, whose mission is to advance women in financial services and also shape the future of the industry, they're set to honor NASDAQ CEO Adena Friedman and also honor a Citi CEO Jane Fraser at its gala next week. So we want to talk about all of this. And for that, we want to bring in Alex Paladino, a co-president of the board of directors of the Women's Bond Club.

And, Alex, it's great to see you. I know helping to advance, obviously, women in the workplace is a huge priority for executives across all industries. You're the Women's Bond Fund focused specifically on the financial services industry. So what are you doing to advance women in the workplace?

ALEXANDRA PALADINO: Sure. So our mission is to advance women's leadership in financial services, really to grow our intellectual capital around industry trends and challenges. And we're also creating pipelines of diverse young women that are entering into financial services. They are then hired by our corporate member firms across the industry for internships and full-time positions.

SEANA SMITH: And have you seen a significant improvement? We know that there has been more of an emphasis on this over the last couple of years, following the MeToo movement and following, I guess, putting just more pressure on companies to promote women and create that type of pipeline that will foster female executives. So how much of an improvement have you seen over the last couple of years?

ALEXANDRA PALADINO: So we have seen improvement. Our membership has increased significantly. And the number of corporate member firms that want to join is also increasing every time. It's been wonderful to see key appointments of women.

And, you know, as mentioned, Citi and Jane Fraser are sponsoring our centennial gala this year, which is super important because it's 100 years of advancing women's leadership. And, you know, for Jane to have ascended to the CEO level at Citi earlier this year is wonderful. And as you mentioned, we're honoring Adena Friedman, NASDAQ president and CEO. We're also honoring Lori Beer, CEO of JPMorgan Chase, as our annual merit award winner.

SEANA SMITH: What can we expect from this year's event? Certainly you have an all-star lineup there. And why is this year so important and so special?

ALEXANDRA PALADINO: So it's so important and so special because 100 years ago Elizabeth Ellsworth Cook, Betty Cook, founded the Women's Bond Club in 1921. She was one of the few female bond traders on Wall Street. And she really started the club to develop her own network to develop sponsors and mentors that would be so important in her career and the career of other women.

In addition to honoring the women we just talked about, each year we honor and celebrate our annual class of rising stars. And these are our next generation of female leaders from select industry firms such JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, and BlackRock. We also honor our WBC scholars, to which we offer four-year scholarships to diverse young women in New York City high school that want to pursue careers in business, many of whom are first-generation college students.

SEANA SMITH: And now, when you take a look at the women who have been very successful, who have navigated the corporate world, who have been able to move up the ladder and become executives, what defines their success? Or, I guess, what are some of those common characteristics that you have noticed?

ALEXANDRA PALADINO: Sure. I would say it would be around building their networks, taking on challenging assignments, raising their hand to do so, and really growing their own intellectual capital over the course of time, and then giving back and continuing to give a helping hand to other women along the way.

SEANA SMITH: Alex Paladino, co-president of the board of directors of the Women's Bond Club, we wish you all the best. We are excited to hear about the gala next week. Thanks so much for taking the time to join.