Author Nina Godiwalla worked on Wall Street and revealed last night what inspired her to write the book “Suits: A Woman on Wall Street,” which gives insight to what it’s like to be a female investment banker.
“I wrote the book because I want people to learn and see what my experience was like,” Godiwalla said Wednesday night at the Columbus Circle Borders. “When you can look at it and see what someone else did, I think it just helps you with your own career.”
She explained that she believes the environment in that industry would improve if they started embracing differences more instead of discouraging them.
“The area I worked in was, in my opinion, a little more on the homogeneous side,” Godiwalla said. “I found it was a little more challenging to be different. I felt like the culture was more like, you need assimilate to what we are as opposed to let’s be open and we all have different ideas. The hardest part for me was not having a voice or my own opinion.”
After all of her experiences on the exchange floor, both positive and negative, Godiwalla says she doesn’t discourage anyone from taking a job on Wall Street.
“If anyone can do it better than I can, more power to them,” Godiwalla said. “The reality is, I felt like I made so many mistakes. I look back at the experience and I find it almost embarrassing.”
Godiwalla is currently the CEO of MindWorks, a company she founded to train business professionals in stress management and meditation. She said she’s going to spend some time focused on her company before starting on her next book.
