Scholarship Successes

Women's Bond Club Bio - Samantha Kong
Mentee - Samantha Kong
Mentor - Ellen O'Dwyer, The O'Dwyer Group
Hiring Manager - Wendy Wu, NYSE

Mentee - Samantha Kong

As a WBC scholarship winner Samantha Kong has had the opportunity to participate in the mentoring program and to benefit from the vast network of women across the financial services sector. While she first applied for the scholarship for financial assistance with her college education, she quickly realized that the mentoring program was one of the most valuable benefits of her scholarship. She credits her mentor, Ellen O'Dwyer, with giving her advice on making important decisions as well as providing her with tips on how to present herself and what to expect on interviews. Samantha believes that the guidance of her mentor has empowered her to have a clear understanding of her goals and how to effectively make decisions. Ellen has coached Samantha to build relationships as well as assist her in identifying internship opportunities including two summer internships at Bank of New York Mellon and a recent internship at the New York Stock Exchange. At the New York Stock Exchange Samantha worked within the Exchange Traded Products and Global Indexes department where she had the opportunity to learn about a multitude of financial products such as Exchange Traded Funds and Certificates. She was able to work on a key project which was used by the team to help track information about assets under management. Samantha believes that her internships have resulted in her being more knowledgeable about financial products and have given her an understanding on how firms monitor the flow of information. While Samantha is eager to join the workforce and put her skills to use, she is planning to attend graduate school to pursue her masters in accounting or tax and eventually obtain her CPA.