Stephanie Bowens
Bronze Vogue Collar
14K Rose Gold Canvas Cigar Band
Available at: Gabrielle Jewelry
Photography: Jillian Clark
Location: Guest House Raleigh
Interview by:
Charman Driver
Stephanie Bowens | CEO. Wealth Advisor. Relationship builder. Champion of women. Human.
“Transformation is embracing the opportunities to continue to learn and to be impacted by the love that we encounter and share on a daily basis.”
– Stephanie Bowens
CD: When I hear the words banker, financial analyst, and wealth advisor a picture of a black woman is not the first image that comes to mind.
SB: Unfortunately.
CD: You don’t see many black women in the field of finance. How did you get to this place?
SB: I had an amazing mother. My mother grew up in Saxapahaw, North Carolina in a farming family. She was smart and, I think, a little bit ahead of her time.
My parents divorced when I was very young and my mother hired a financial advisor to help manage her money. One day she suggested I come along with her to meet him. I was seventeen years old and had been working at Hudson Belk making good money.
I sat in on their review primarily because she didn’t want my first meeting with him to be if something happened to her. She wanted me to have the opportunity to ask questions and interact with him. Once their review was over, my mom said, “Hey, my kid has all this money in her checking account and I’d like her to think about investing it.”
He started by asking me about the Calvin Klein jeans I was wearing. He asked if I had any idea how much the jeans cost to make. I did not. He said, “probably about ten bucks.” And I said, “Not these jeans. I paid $150 for these jeans!”
Our first conversation was all about how companies make money and I was hooked from that moment. That same day, I wrote him a check to open an account and started investing. My mom had to sign the contract because of my age.
Then, from my junior year in high school and through college, I interned with him every summer. He truly taught me the business.
CD: That’s a great story and what a prophetic mother you had. At 17 years old, did you realize this was a business you’d like to be in?
SB: Yes, I did.
CD: What did you study at university?
SB: I studied communications and business at NC A&T University, with graduate studies done at UNC and Duke.
CD: It is so important for young women to know that there are woman like you in your position and in this industry.
SB: This can be an amazing career for a woman. The skill sets it takes to be an advisor really lend themselves, in a very specific way, to women. Success has everything to do with how well you build relationships, create trust, gain confidence and respect people. Women tend to be better at all of that. We’re naturally nurturing, empathetic, and compassionate without being condescending. We can give people a safe place to be vulnerable which people often are when it comes to money. In this job you have an opportunity to make a real difference in people’s lives and you have the opportunity to make a lot of money.
If you are a mother (or want to be one), this is a great career. You can set your own schedule. You don’t have to be in the office 9-5 because relationships are built where you are, whether that’s in your office, at a PTA meeting or in someone’s living room.
CD: Why, then, don’t we see more women—especially women of color—in this field?
SB: The entrée into this career is a bit challenging. Primarily because the vast majority of people who have done it in the past are typically white men. People don’t see themselves represented. Practically speaking, most often there isn’t a salary involved, so one has to build business. Women tend to have a hard time in a position where they have to ask for what they're worth.
As young girls we are told to sit up straight, look pretty and be virtuous. We get confused about value and money. What if we ask for a raise or more money and they say no? What does that say about what they value in us? As women we have some issues to deal with around money and worth. It’s a breakthrough we really need to have.
In the book, “The Confidence Code”, they write about how men and women think differently about an employment opportunities. Men need only have about 20 percent confidence that they are ready for a position in order to go after it. Women, on the other hand, have to feel 100 percent ready or we won’t go after it.
CD: Exactly, and that’s got to change. I appreciated that book and I recently got “The Confidence Code for Girls” for my eleven-year old daughter.
SB: The great news is that millennial and post-millennial women don’t feel like that. The young women I know are embracing empowerment in a way that we never did. I feel like we have something to look forward to.
CD: I certainly see it that way with my own daughter and it’s very encouraging.
Like you, I’ve always been a champion of women. It lifts my spirit to see you succeed at what you love and give back to the community. To do the work and give the time, you must take care of yourself. If you take care of you, first, then everything else falls into place.
How do you nourish yourself?
SB: I start with meditation in the morning. I get still, I get quiet and I draw near. I sit quietly most mornings until I can truly hear my heart beat and I repeat, “please enter where you already abide” which comes from the Marianne Williamson prayer in her book, “Illuminata”, that I use daily.
CD: That’s beautiful.
What is it to be empowered?
SB: For me, it’s allowing myself permission to dream, to strive, to go after whatever it is that I want. Empowerment can come from many places. It may come from running in a race, getting to the next level of a job, accumulating a certain amount of assets or raising children who are at peace and well—or all of the above! Ultimately, it has to resonate within you.
CD: How do you empower others?
SB: I go after what I want. When we as women succeed, we give others permission to do the same. To me, information is a huge part of empowerment. The more you know, the more you grow. My gift to the people that I interact with and my clients is information about wealth. I teach them how to define it, achieve it and maintain it.
CD: How do you shape your body?
SB: Everything starts with hydration and I carefully watch what I eat. I don’t do sugar and I stay away from preservatives in food. I move a lot and I also lift weights.
CD: What is it to be transformed?
SB: The wonderful thing about being a human being is that we’re always in a state of evolution. We are always “Becoming”, like the title of our former First Lady’s new book.
Transformation comes at all different stages of life. I’ll be fifty in a couple of weeks and I think there was a time when I was afraid of that. Now I’m excited about this next stage of my life because I know more than I did before.
Transformation is embracing the opportunities to continue to learn and to be impacted by the love that we encounter and share on a daily basis.
CD: I know you as a wonderful patron of the arts. How else do you show up for community?
SB: The Inter-Faith Food Shuttle is an organization I give my time and resources to, wholeheartedly, because they feed people. Food insecurity isn’t discussed enough in our country. We have a significant amount of elementary school-aged children that are food insecure in our community.
I also spending time at the women’s shelters and talking to them about entrepreneurship. Many talented women, for various reason, do not have the opportunity to learn about entrepreneurship or don’t know or believe it is choice for them. I want to change that. I love to inspire women be more entrepreneurial and help them get back on their feet.