Meet Louisa Lin, an exceptional female investor who got her start in the industry through our inaugural Investment Competition. Louisa shares her journey through the world of investment management and investment banking, and the invaluable part Future IM/Pact has played in her career.
I’ve had the privilege of working across a range of different areas of finance. My first internship was with Yarra Capital Management , which I won in Future IM/Pact’s Investment Competition in 2019, and this experience opened up many doors for me. I was introduced to the world of equities through this internship and was mentored by Katie Hudson. I interned at Credit Suisse the year after in Equities Research and Sales and Trading. My time at Yarra Capital sparked my interest in equities, and I was curious about what life was like on the sell-side. The year after, I did an internship at UBS within the Investment Banking Division. I wanted to experience another area of finance as I had previously only had experience within equities. Investment banking was interesting to me because of the team-oriented nature of deal teams which contrasted with the more independently driven equities teams. I recently commenced my role at Flagstaff Partners as an Investment Banking Graduate, and I am very excited about the learning curve ahead. It is a very challenging job, but I am grateful for all the learning opportunities and networks that this job has allowed me to have.
I heard about Future IM/Pact through UNIT. My first Future IM/Pact event was a female roundtable where I had the opportunity to meet other young women exploring a career in investment management, as well as leaders in the equities space. I was very curious about equities, and decided to participate in the Investment Competition with some friends I had made at the roundtables event. We went on to win the competition, which was an amazing experience.
Future IM/Pact has really helped me with my career decisions and pathways. It is nice to know that I have a network of people to tap into when I need guidance. I always encourage my mentees to join Future IM/Pact.
I had an amazing experience with Future IM/Pact’s Investment Competition. I built strong relationships with some of my team members, and the competition was a university highlight for me. Winning the competition helped kickstart my career, bolstering my CV and enabling me to secure multiple internships. I’m not sure how I would have done it without Future IM/Pact! The competition came at a time when I was unsure about what career path to follow and it gave me some direction. I am grateful to Yolanda and team for creating such a wonderful initiative for young women to help them explore and understand this exciting career during an often uncertain and confusing time in their lives.
I feel that there are presently so many opportunities for women to enter the investment management industry. Female investment analysts are in demand, but there needs to be more education and awareness about investment management as a potential (and attractive!) career path. Most universities promote investment banking and consulting, but I feel that alternative finance pathways are often underrepresented. It would be good for more female fund managers to help educate uni students by sharing their career journey, and speak about how they ultimately ended up in investment management.
The advice I give most of my mentees is to gain as much experience as possible in the field of finance. This could mean going for multiple internships across investment management, equities research, sales & trading and investment banking.
It is important to reflect on why you want to pursue a career path, and assess this against your priorities (e.g. do you want a balance, or would you prefer to work hard and learn as much as you can as quickly as possible?)
I also encourage my mentees to reach out to people for coffee chats and use it as an opportunity to build relationships with people in the industry, and to have any questions answered. I feel that there is something to be learnt from every single conversation. It also teaches you the skill of networking and being confident in pitching yourself as a potential future candidate for any job openings!
Find yourself a mentor, be curious and stay open to opportunities that may arise.
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Future IM/Pact program was extremely valuable in helping me unlock a network of amazing leaders in the investment management industry.
Future IM/Pact is a collaborative initiative across the investment management industry aimed at increasing representation of female investors and creating workplace cultures where everyone can flourish.
Future IM/Pact is a collaborative initiative across the investment management industry aimed at increasing representation of female investors and creating workplace cultures where everyone can flourish.
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