We sat down with Dr. Jennifer Bryant, one of our 2024 keynote speakers, for a Q&A about her background in financial services and what she's up to today.
Q: Would you mind telling me a bit about your career and your background?
A: I started my career as a clerk typist and then ended my career in the federal government. I retired before the age of 50 as an executive director.
But my first job I got riding the subway. I met a woman, we were just talking in general, and I can't tell you exactly what the conversation was, but when it was time for us to get off, she asked me to introduce myself. I told her my name and then she told me her name, and she said she was from the Department of Treasury Personnel office and that I was hired. I’d told her I was going to a job fair and she happened to be going to the same job fair. She said “Just come in, sign your name on the list. You'll just need to pass your typing task, and you're good to go.”
Q: That’s such a testament to the power of networking in everyday life. Clearly that's had a huge impact on the trajectory of your career. Did that thread continue throughout your career?
A: It did. When I landed in the government, I was also caring for a mom who was diagnosed with bipolar and schizophrenia. My only sibling was incarcerated at the time, and I had lost my dad at the age of five.
So my hustle looked different. During the day, I was a clerk typist. In the evening time, I was pulling my hair up in a ponytail, putting on sweats, in that same federal government building, and I was cleaning bathrooms. I was cleaning offices.
So leaders would see me and they were like “Wait, is that...Jennifer? Is that Jen? Is she? What? What is happening right now?” And one leader, I remember this distinctively, and he said “Look, I'm going to have a senior admin role available on my team in the near future. I would love for you to apply, but in the meantime, I have overtime available. If you would like to come into my office in the evenings.”
And I took it. I wanted to be a director at some point in time. As a clerk typist, I already had my eyes on my future goals. So, at any rate, I did overtime in the evening. After the job became available for a senior admin, I took it.
And then there was a gentleman that was coming back from Japan and they were looking for an admin for him. And my name was on the short list. I became his senior admin. As he grew in his career, I kind of moved along with him. After spending nearly 15 years there, 9/11 happened. There was a new startup agency, Department of Homeland Security, Transportation, and Administration. They were looking for folks to come over to help build and get things rocking and rolling to protect this nation.
And so, once again, my name was placed in a room, and I was asked to come over. And I had no idea what I was going to be doing. Talk about risk in your career! But it was so exciting for me to be a part of something that was new. I could be creative, I could be innovative and I could learn. And that's what I did. And I stayed there for nearly 17 years. I was given the opportunity for a very early retirement without penalty. I took it because I felt like I had reached my peak in my career. My goal was to reach senior executive status, which is tremendously hard for a woman, and especially a black woman.
So I stayed home for a couple of months and once again, a former leader from TSA called me up. She was at Capital One and she said “Look, this role has been open for the year. I think you should submit your application and see what happens.” And here I am. I've been at Capital One for over five years now.
Q: What would be your most important piece of advice to other women in similar positions?
A: My most important advice is to show up as you are. And I know that's scary. But how do you show up where people can connect with you? How do you show up where your values are being met? So you can show up boldly, courageously, and be able to serve and get the right people in your circle.
I had mentioned as a clerk typist, I wanted to eventually become a director. I was bold and went to that director and asked if he had 15 minutes for me to just chat with him to see what his job entailed and what he did to get there. I asked what type of training I would need to take in order to make sure that I was equipped and able to do a job like his. And he said yes to me. It took me some years to get there, but I knew what I was working towards and it helped me to establish a career plan.
I'm also very intentional in terms of where I spend my time. That's important because early in my career, I was doing so many things and I realized I needed to get focused on my top three things where I need to intentionally spend my time to make a huge impact.
Q: How do you narrow that down? How do you decide what the most impactful things are?
A: I actively listen to what the organization is saying in terms of the strategy, then I cascade my work based on that. And then I decide as the leader of my unit, and in terms of the impact I want to make across the organization, the 3 items. And then I talk it over with my leader. I want to make sure that we are aligned in addition to your primary role.
Q: You've done work in the female empowerment space. Could you tell me a little bit about that?
A: Absolutely. So I served as one of the co-heads for Empower, Capital One’s largest business resource group with well over 24,000 members. I recently transitioned off of the role, but, my focus was on equipping, enabling and empowering women through visibility opportunities, getting them into leadership roles on the national team, and bringing programming into the workforce, such as domestic balance awareness.
The other work that I will talk about is my external work to Capital One, where I am focused on elevating mid-level career women in the workforce to help them have a voice and visibility. And so I do that through coaching. I'm a certified coach. I coach at Capital One and in my business in the evening time.
Q: Can you share anything about what we’ll hear from you at the conference?
A: I'm going to bring the excitement. I'm going to bring the empowerment. And I just want folks to just sit back and just take it all in, take copious notes. I will leave the audience with ways and strategies of taking action to own their career.
Don’t miss out on the fun. Secure your spot at WCF 2025 to hear from incredible ladies like Dr. Bryant and connect in person!