Moderator Claudia Kramer (left) and panelists Jazmynn Ball, Isabella Liza Ortiz, Michell Bosch and Jackie Morgan. Photo by Angela Foster.
Jazmynn Ball and Isabella Loza Ortiz got their starts in finance as undergraduate students at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
After achieving success in their field and securing finance positions at Unum, the two shared advice with more than 100 local high school students—mostly young women—in a panel at UTC as part of the Empower Your Future forum.
The event, hosted by the UTC Department of Finance and Economics in the Gary W. Rollins College of Business, was held on Wednesday, Feb. 8, in the Wolford Family Athletic Center.
The annual forum is designed to teach young women about career and degree opportunities in finance and economics.
“We noticed in our classrooms that there’s a huge gender imbalance in our discipline, so we felt like we had a role to play,” said UC Foundation Professor and First Tennessee Bank Distinguished Professor of Finance Bento Lobo—the head of the finance and economics department at UTC. “Oftentimes when you try to reach out to college kids, it’s already late because they’ve already made their choices. We decided that we were going to start talking to high schoolers—girls in particular.”
With professionals from Chattanooga and surrounding areas as presenters and panelists, high school students—from as far away as Tellico Plains High School to as close as The Howard School—had the chance to hear firsthand from women who were once in their shoes.
Keynote speakers included Jackie Morgan, outreach senior advisor at the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta; Dr. Christi Wann, UC Foundation professor of finance at UTC, who presented “Why Study Finance?”; and Kim Holder, managing director of the Center for Economic Education, presenting “Why Study Economics?”
Business students Kyla Leonberger (finance) and Breonna Gandhi (accounting) gave a presentation about the SMILE Fund—a UTC undergraduate-led investment fund.
The panel discussion, titled “Why is it important for women to study Economics and Finance?” included:
- Dr. Claudia Kramer (UTC)
- Isabella Loza Ortiz (Unum Insurance)
- Michell Bosch (Tennessee Housing Development Agency)
- Jackie Morgan (Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta)
- Jazmynn Ball (Unum Insurance)
Kramer, the Scott L. Probasco Jr. Distinguished Chair of Free Enterprise at UTC, shared her journey to becoming a successful economist and the struggles that came with it.
“I had no idea what it was when somebody would say, ‘an economist,’” Kramer said. “I had no idea what that meant until I got to college as a first-generation college student.”
She shared words of encouragement with the students, especially those who may not seek opportunities due to a lack of representation.
“Hopefully you don’t allow your gender or race or any other qualifying marker that you may think about to prevent you from doing something that you want to do,” she said. “That should not be a reason why you don’t seek something that you’re interested in or passionate about.
“As all of us can attest to, there may have been unfortunate scenarios that have come up, but it makes you better.”
Lobo emphasized that the goal of the event was to spotlight the success stories of women in the Chattanooga area to show students their dreams are achievable.
“There’s no reason why women should not be in these disciplines,” he said, “but oftentimes they don’t see other women in these disciplines. The idea behind the program is to put great role models in front of them and to explain to them, ‘Hey, you can do that, too.’”
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