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Melanie Paty '11 Vice President, Global Sustainable Finance at Morgan Stanley 4 5 T R E V O R D AY S C H O O L n W I N T E R 2 0 2 1 – 2 0 2 2 Opposite page: Melanie in Udaipur, India; is page, above: Painting the roof of West 88th Street with Fuzzy Greens club advisor and Grades 9–12 Science Teacher Jamie McClintock; Right, top: Melanie advocates for gender equality at an event at Nasdaq in Times Square; Right, bottom: Melanie at the United Nations Global Compact Leaders Summit. When I was a Trevor student, if you'd told me that ten years after graduation, I would be working at a Wall Street firm helping to lead their sustainability disclosures, I don't know if I would have been surprised or not. e sustainability focus is unsur- prising. "Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle" is a mantra I grew up living by, through my mom. Coupled with a love of animals and the outdoors, I have always wanted to play a part in leaving a better planet for future generations. I led the Fuzzy Greens environmental club with faculty advisor Mr. McClintock my senior year; our most notable achievement was painting the West Campus roof white for energy-efficiency gains. Financial Analysis course taught by Mr. Cohen, and it was my favorite math class of all time. Although I don't recall all the details of what we studied, I remember liking their practical applications. (It didn't feel as esoteric or abstract as some of the concepts in other math courses.) As a student at Claremont McKenna College majoring in Environment, Economics, and Politics, I fell into a role in the financial services industry by a lucky coincidence. After returning from a semester abroad in Copenhagen, where I'd studied Sustainable Development, I was searching for a summer internship opportunity. What had struck me most about my studies abroad was how advanced the policy framework for sustainability was in Europe, and how sorely lacking it was in America. It seemed that the business community was making faster progress than the government. I thought I could make a bigger impact as part of the private sector, but I had no idea where to begin. I knew of "B Corporations," companies certified by the non- profit B Lab to ensure they are operating with the "highest standards of verified social and environmental performance, transparency, and accountability to balance profit and purpose." Inspired by this defintion, I went to the B Lab website, researched B Corps based in New York City, and cold-emailed every one that sounded interesting to see if they had a summer internship program. One of the companies that responded to me was Veris Wealth Partners, a leading impact wealth management firm that is 100 percent focused on impact and sustainable investing. I spent my summer with Veris working on a number of projects, including expanding a database of impact investments to include terms, portfolio guidelines, strengths, and concerns for investments ranging in asset classes. I was blown away by the wide array of options available to private investors to put their capital to work for sustainability issues, among them climate change, gender equality, and affordable housing. I was hooked. What's more, my then boss introduced me to Women Investing for a Sustainable Economy (WISE), a professional networking group for women in the sustainability field. I've met so many amazing and inspiring women through WISE, and knew I had found my home professionally. Today, I am one of three leaders of the WISE New York City chapter. I also fondly recall a 10th-grade chemistry assignment from Mr. Tam to create a website about the risks of climate change. My choice of working in the finance industry is more unexpected; at Trevor, the thought of working in financial services never once crossed my mind. e only connection I can draw is that during my Bridge semester senior year, I took a

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