On Saturday, one of the pioneers for women in the business world passed away. Muriel "Mickey" Siebert broke the glass ceiling of finance for women when she became the first woman to buy a seat on the New York Stock Exchange in 1967.
Siebert attended Case Western Reserve University from 1949 to 1952, but left without graduating when her father fell ill. As a college drop out, she moved to New York City to begin her career. After working at Bache & Co. and becoming partner at Brimberg & Co., Siebert established her own firm in 1967. In the same year, she bought a seat on the New York Stock Exchange floor, after struggling for months to join. Out of the first ten men that she asked to be her sponsor, nine denied her, but she eventually was successful in finding the required two sponsors. Siebert even had to lobby to get a ladies room on the seventh floor of the New York Stock Exchange by warning the exchange's chairman that she would arrange to have a portable toilet delivered!
In her very successful life, she was awarded 17 honorary doctorates, was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame in 1994, and the Junior Achievement U.S. Business Hall of Fame in 2009, and received an Honorary Doctorate from Wagner College in 2010, with an Honorary Doctorate.
Instead of the media and society fixating on stories about Miley Cyrus twerking and the latest antics of the Kardashians, we need to remember women like Mickey Siebert, and that we've come a long way, but that there is still a long road to come.
Do not be afraid to go into uncharted territories. You might find some pretty good things there.
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