Why leaving Blackrock and the Financial industry altogether didn’t kill me — Part 1

In 2012, I put up a Facebook status that caught everyone’s attention. I can’t hyperlink it over here since I deleted my old Facebook in 2014.
The status was about why I left my ‘over ambitious, dream towards which I worked for four odd years of my college life through surviving rigorous financial internships and getting a foot-in-my mouth GPA, not to forget my parent’s rupees (converted into dollars) spent on an education with a clarity on why it was worth it’ job that would also coincidentally move me from Philadelphia to my dream city New York.

“Cityscape with low buildings and tall skyscrapers, the sun's light shining on them” by ben o'bro on Unsplash

The clear benefits that I saw of taking this job at 20 were:

1. This job would pay for my apartment overlooking the Hudson and the city skyline. CHECK
2. This job will make my parents so proud that my 5 feet mom will feel almost 5 feet 9 inches. CHECK
3. It will be this same job that will fund my shopping sprees at Soho and the 5th Avenue. CHECK
4. Potentially this job will make me a part of every dream party that the city goers attend. NYFW CHECK. LAVO BRUNCH PARTIES CHECK. And one for my lovely Indian community, PRANNA Sunday Desi BRUNCH CHECK. Is it still a thing?

Sleep No More and other invariable experiences that only NEW YORK can offer CHECK CHECK

Now I know what all you Wall Street suited New Yorkers would make out of these 4 points- Here is this girl at (almost) 21 who couldn’t foresee her Career beyond the money it made for her.

But I think at that point I sort of did. Honestly, it gave me the clarity that no other experience could.

Clearly Feeling Alive on the Streets of New York

Things I learnt about myself:

1. I loved New York only from the outside. Once I started breathing inside Manhattan, I found it too fast for my lifestyle.
2. I was absolutely not cut out for the Financial Industry. Here were these crazy (skilled) ivy league kids who were Factotum. They lived and breathed minting money.
3. I couldn’t see myself walking around and living (yes, spending 14–16 hours) inside the huge, ‘spoiling you rotten’ corporate building in my heels all my life.
4. I was very unconventional in my choices since I was a kid. New York was almost everyone’s dream place in my immediate peer group.
5. I wanted to work for MYSELF. Later, I will learn there is no concept like working for yourself. You are always listening to your clients, co-founders, family, friends, investors etc etc. Basically working for them too.

My dad is a small, run of the mill, businessman and he lived a far more relaxed, happier (without SOHO and the dream job in New York) and fulfilling life back in India. He still remained my idol even when I was living in New York. Maybe because he is my dad but we can learn more about such parallel theories in my other articles.

6. I have to utterly love what I do or else just like every forth (don’t have the correct stats) millennial, I will quit multiple jobs hence contributing to our overall reputation.

Need to gather my thoughts and memories on why I am still alive.

Coming up in Part 2: how my Blackrock manager hated me for quitting so early into my career and then will be highlighting another Blackrock manager’s email screenshot from 2017 about how he read an article about me somewhere and it made him proud.

More Soon :)