Citi's head of innovation gives her best advice for young people from unorthodox backgrounds looking to get into fintech
- Vanessa Colella spent time as a teacher and conducting research on AIDS education before eventually landing at Citigroup, where she serves as the bank's chief innovation officer.
- Colella, who also heads up Citi Ventures, gave advice for young people looking to get involved in fintech.
Years ago, the route most took to secure jobs at big banks was fairly clear. Go to a top college with a large network, and major in finance. Follow that up with an MBA, and you're well positioned for a long career on Wall Street.
But the convergence of technology and finance has created new opportunities for those without that typical background.
Vanessa Colella is the epitome of that point. Colella, who now serves as Citi's chief innovation officer and the head of its venture investing arm, started her career with Teach for America as a junior-high-school science teacher in Brooklyn. She followed that up researching AIDS education and then consulting in McKinsey's tech and media practice.
When Colella joined Citi as a marketing chief in 2010, it was her first role within a bank. The way Colella sees it, unorthodox routes like hers will be far more common going forward.
"In today's career, it's unlikely that people are going to have a linear progression of, I came into a company and then I got here and then I moved up and then I got here," Colella told Business Insider. "It's far more likely that they're going to do lots of different things, and what they're going to rely on is the skills that they've built, the perspective that they've built, and what they're passionate about."
Colella said students interested in learning more about fintech should try to speak to specific people at companies about their responsibilities and the skills they use. If one can gain insight into different roles where they can apply skills they like using, it's more likely they'll find a company that will keep them challenged and satisfied.
In a recent interview with Business Insider, Colella also offered advice she picked up during her time as a teacher that she still uses to this day:
"Never claim you know something you don't. The world moves very fast. We do not live in a world where you need to have all the answers. We live in a world where it's much better to know how to ask the right questions. Pretending that you have all the answers will only, even as a teacher, get you into a very bad spot."
You can read a condensed and edited version of our conversation with Vanessa Colella here.
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