We had a conversation with Rebecca to learn her path to landing at Premier Path, the many hats she wears in addition to her role as Relationship Manager for our clients, and a bit about what it was like finishing college during the early days of the Pandemic.
PPWP: Let’s get the elephant out of the room. What’s it like growing up as a twin?
RG: There was definitely a sibling rivalry. We were both very competitive. Everything was a contest or chance to compete against one another. For example, our grades were a competition, who’s the better driver, who’s better at sports, etc. The competition was healthy though. We were always best friends at the start and finish of each day.
PPWP: So you’re quite alike, the two of you?
Yes and no. Both of us are certainly competitive. But we pursued different interests as we grew up; different sports, different colleges. Most would agree our personalities are different too. Growing up, our friends would say Sammy was the more social one, when we were together. I would sit back and let her run the conversations. Some friends assumed I was simply more quiet, which wasn’t really true. I would just let high school stuff roll off rather than wear it.
We went to colleges that were totally different in size and location. I went to James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia and Sammy went to Providence in Rhode Island. James Madison is much larger than Providence in terms of number of students. Classes were much larger too. Some of my classes had 100 or more students. She had some classes that had just 15 students.
PPWP: Wait. So your senior year the COVID pandemic hit, right?
That’s right. COVID hit March 2020 during my last semester. I had no idea it would last as long as it did. Nobody did. I was a senior so we didn’t realize we wouldn’t return to school. I was actually on Spring Break with my friends when the news came from James Madison that we wouldn’t be returning for an in-person semester. For the last three weeks our classes were over Zoom and grades became influenced by participation more so than in the classroom, it was a way for them to encourage attendance.
PPWP: Do you think it affected your path after college? Have you returned to campus since?
It absolutely affected my path. At the start of my senior year, I wasn’t sure where I wanted to go or what I wanted to do. Through connections in my classes and at career fairs I was speaking to employers in the DC area as well as New Jersey. I was considering staying in the DC area after James Madison, but COVID made the decision for me and brought me back to New Jersey.
For me, the strangest part was never walking across a stage for a diploma, the school just sent it to us in the mail. But I actually do not feel that I was deprived of an experience or missed anything. That’s just how it played out. James Madison did reschedule a ceremony for my class, but it didn’t work for my friends or me.
I returned to campus summer of 2020 to move out of my apartment. While there, I was able to take graduation pictures with my friends and had the opportunity to see everyone. I also went back for alumni weekend in 2022 with a few of my friends. We attended a football game and went to our favorite spot downtown, Billy Jacks.
PPWP: For College Students, it’s always stressful to find the right major and bridge that to the career path that fits and with a great employer. Can you tell us about those steps?
My junior year declared my major as Business Administration. JMU’s business school has a GPA requirement for all business majors. Once met, you can declare your major. Fun fact, I originally wanted to pursue a degree in Accounting. And realized this wasn’t the path for me. I didn’t want to sit at a desk 24/7. I know I needed a job and would enjoy a job where communication was important and where I could be social.
I believe JMU’s curriculum is great. I really enjoyed every class and they ranged from Consulting to Marketing to Operations to Finance to Business Analytics.
Fall semester of junior year, all business students participate in a semester-long team project. It actually often comes to mind, especially now that I’m in the “real world”. The team project was called COB 300. It was a Shark Tank style group project. Each group was responsible for coming up with a new idea not on the market. Each team had to then turn it into a business. Ours was a sponge-floor type innovation. We didn’t win the competition but we earned top grades for the project through our efforts.
When I look back, both COB 300 and the Business Administration major, it gave me a really deep appreciation for how much goes into operating and growing a business.
PPWP: How did you end up back in New Jersey?
I mentioned this before but throughout senior year I was still debating with my friends and family where I would land and what I would do.
As part of the Pandemic, the natural path following college was to get closer to home. For me, that’s here, Madison, New Jersey. There was a company called Medix in Parsippany that I had the opportunity to interview with at James Madison. I accepted the offer and moved back home.
I accepted the offer for two reasons. The first reason was that I thought I could do the job well and was interested in that as a career. My mom is a corporate recruiter so I was familiar with that type of career. As a recruiter, you have a talk with a lot of people and track quite a few separate timelines. Those were things I was good at but also wanted to get better at. The role gave me confidence to talk with all sorts of people over the phone, even those who are more experienced in their careers than me. The second reason was location. It was in Parsippany which isn’t far from Madison. I worked at Medix for a year.
It really was a great experience. I really enjoyed and respected all my colleagues. All of this made it really hard to leave. When I left to join Mike Lehman and his team at Merrill Lynch, Medix offered me the chance to come back if things didn’t work out, which was reassuring and a really nice compliment of what they thought about me. To this day, I still am close friends with two of my colleagues. We actually just traveled to Napa Valley, California together which was a fun experience.
PPWP: And now you moved to Hoboken right?
Yes I did move to Hoboken in February. The weeks are tough commuting back and forth but it’s worth it for the weekends. On the weekends, I’ve been enjoying exploring Hoboken with my friends and everything the town has to offer. I recently went to the new restaurant, Flour. It was amazing and I highly recommend it. My sister is also three blocks away from me so I have enjoyed getting to spend more time with her throughout the week and on the weekends.
PPWP: How did you end up leaving that first job? What was the path to team which was at Merrill Lynch at the time right?
My parents were clients of Patrick’s. My dad had met Patrick through a friend at a golf tournament. Patrick called me one day at work and I think we had a misunderstanding… they were looking to hire someone and I started trying to recruit them as a client, so that I could help them find someone to fill the role for their team. Patrick was actually calling me directly to see if I would be interested in interviewing for that role. I explored the opportunity and realized it was something I was really interested in.
I spent two years at Merrill Lynch before we launched Premier Path. Those were a really good two years, I made some great friends and was able to invest in myself further and earned my SIE, Series 7 and 66 licenses.
When I was offered a spot at Premier Path I did not hesitate. I wasn’t sure what to expect during that transition period. I had no real basis. I knew long hours and weekends would result but it’s not the same until you go through it. The “behind the scenes” part was tough to imagine. It’s something you only fully appreciate once you’ve experienced it for yourself.
I picked up on the technology systems quickly, which has always been one of my strengths. We use several technology tools here, many quite different than what we had at Merrill Lynch. All are very important to the investment and client service process.
PPWP: Now that the dust has settled a bit, what do you think so far?
As you know, I’m wearing several different hats. I like that variation, spending part of my day in one type of task and the remainder handling something totally different. I do most of the marketing posts, in terms of designing the branding around the graphs and uploading to our various social media platforms. Canva is a software tool that’s a big part of that. As a relationship manager, my priority is to be the first point of contact for all client related needs.
PPWP: Thank you Rebecca!