CTK Alumna Starts Professional Career in Financial Services

When we last connected with Kamille Minor ‘21 in the fall of 2023, she had started her junior year at Loyola University Chicago. She acknowledged her gratitude for her CTK experience, full-ride Cristo Rey Scholar scholarship, and the financial, academic, and peer support it provided while at Loyola. She had recently shifted her major and career focus from pre-law to finance due to her participation in the Greenwood Project internship program.  This initiative helps to provide training and experience to create career pathways for high-achieving Black and Latino students into the financial services industry. As part of this summer program, Kamille had embarked on four weeks of tech and career skills training followed by a six-week paid internship on the financial accounting and reporting team at Charles Schwab. In our recent conversation, Kamille related her experiences during her last two years at Loyola, as well as her transition to the work world, and the start of a career in financial services.

In addition to focusing her classwork on business and finance courses, Kamille expanded her business experience and leadership skills through participation in clubs while at Loyola. She was accepted into the Alpha Kappa Psi business fraternity, which helped her with networking, interviewing, and resume building. During her senior year, she served as the President of Loyola’s Black Business Student Association. She took pride in introducing several new initiatives and events for the Black business students on campus. Most notably, she created a citywide meetup event that brought together  Black business students from other Chicago-area colleges, including UIC, DePaul, and Northwestern. During the event, which was hosted by Loyola, attendees had the opportunity to view a panel discussion and conduct mock interviews. Kamille leveraged her connections via the Greenwood Project to have professional representation from a variety of business disciplines, including wealth management, financial advising, accounting, and marketing. She commented, “I enjoyed getting together with business students from other colleges. It was a great opportunity to learn and network. I hope it continues every year.”

Kamille loved her time at Loyola. She grew through her experiences in and out of the classroom and made some close friendships. She remains involved in a Loyola Christian organization through volunteering, bible study, and other church events. She described graduation as: “Bittersweet. I won’t be a student there anymore, and all my friends won’t be in one place. But at the same time, I was excited for new opportunities and the future.” Her proud parents and other family members watched her walk across the Loyola graduation stage last spring. Also cheering for Kamille were her Loyola University Lewis Library co-workers. “It was tough to say goodbye to everyone there. I have worked with them since my freshman year at CTK. I bonded with the full-time staff and eventually became a friendly face and mentor for younger CTK Corporate Work Study Program students. I still go back to visit once in a while.” Kamille credits her CWSP experience with providing her first exposure to Excel and professional tasks. Being assigned to work at the Lewis Library front desk forced her out of her comfort zone, requiring her to speak to people and help them work through problems.

Much of her senior year at Loyola was focused on her post-graduate job search. She knew she wanted to work in the financial industry, but in researching, she discovered many financial roles she never knew existed. It was a stressful time for her with the uncertain outlook for job prospects for new grads. “I did everything I could possibly do to ensure I got a job before graduation. My search process included research, networking, applying, and interviewing. I tapped into my Greenwood project connections and every job platform available: LinkedIn, Handshake, Indeed, and company websites.“

She discovered an opening at Marex on the  career services platform, Handshake. Her research showed it to be a growing financial services company with offices all over the world, which appealed to her. She submitted her resume and took part in multiple rounds of interviews. When she got the offer, she was excited and relieved to be hired as the only entry-level Marex employee at that time. Kamille’s job title is Clearing Operations Analyst on the Marex Operations team. Her back-office role includes responsibility for regulatory reporting, ensuring bookings align with buys & sells from the previous day, and monitoring client requests to buy or sell specific securities. Marex clients are primarily corporations, with some individuals. It is a challenging job that requires her to be meticulous, as mistakes can cost her company and clients’ money.

When she started in June, she says, “I got lucky timing-wise to join at the same time as a group of interns, who were around my age and new to the company. We on-boarded together, enabling me to be part of the interns’ training, discussions, group lunches, and outings. It definitely helped ease my transition from college.” She works as part of a collaborative Operations team that is supportive and patient in easing her into tasks and providing her with exposure to other Marex departments and functions. She says, “I soak up as much information as I can to learn and see how the company works. So far, I am optimistic about the company as a whole and the potential growth opportunities. I feel comfortable and can see myself working here for a while.”

The motivated young professional’s career is off to a strong start. She is open to new experiences and prepared to overcome any obstacles along the way. She is interested in mentoring Loyola and CTK students to help them to find and pursue their chosen career path. She offered the following guidance: “Be prepared to get comfortable with being uncomfortable, and stepping outside your comfort zone. If a new opportunity becomes available – jump on it. Take advantage of networking opportunities. Attend a career fair.  Pursue something that will allow you to learn something new, whether it be in an industry you are already interested in or not. You never know who you might meet or what you might learn. Get comfortable being in spaces that are different and unique to you.” Kamille is certainly proof that taking that approach can pay off.