Review by Booklist Review
From hustling lunch tickets in the Bronx to being a successful investor, Fabré tells how she became one of Wall Street's youngest Black stockbrokers in the 1990s. Growing up poor in an abusive home gave Fabré the drive to get out of the situation. She got her start by cold-calling upwards of 350 people per day at VTR Capital in a white-male-dominated field. Eventually Fabré earned her Series 7 license and saw firsthand the Wolf of Wall Street culture, including drug use, drinking, strip clubs, expensive clothing, and more. But what Fabré got caught up in was the ability to earn large sums without the thought of it being sustainable. Her departure from the field led her to understand the importance of financial literacy and the generational impact it has on disadvantaged people. Her success story will appeal to general audiences and be of interest to teens and entrepreneurs. Readers will be drawn into her conversational style and glean important lessons in overcoming obstacles in life and specifically in the workplace.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Former stockbroker Fabré debuts with a rollicking account of joining Wall Street as a 19-year-old Black woman in the 1990s, when brokers were "alarmingly white and male." The daughter of Haitian immigrants, Fabré grew up poor in the Bronx with an abusive father. She followed her hardworking mother's example and found her first hustle selling stolen school lunch tickets; by 18, she was a top salesperson at an optical franchise. Following a tip from a high school classmate, Fabré joined VTR Corporation, an offshoot of Stratton Oakmont (the firm where Jordan Belfort of Wolf of Wall Street infamy made his "debut killing"). Fabré was determined to succeed despite being surrounded by "shameless" men in an environment where drugs and racism were the norm, and became a licensed broker at 20 years old. Fabré recounts the highs and lows in vivid detail--as with descriptions of the unrelenting sexual harassment she faced--and the author's exuberance is contagious: "I tossed and turned in my little twin bed, too electrified with the knowledge that my life was about to arrow upward in ways that I couldn't even begin to fathom." The result is as memorable as it is inspiring. (Sept.)
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Review by Library Journal Review
The memoir of an NYC-raised former Wall Street broker. As an ambitious 19-year-old, Fabré thought her new job as a cold caller for the brokerage firm VTR Capital was a step towards success. But then she learned firsthand that the field was rank with inequality and built on using the labor of women and people of color to prop up the careers of white male brokers. Fabré writes that grit--formed by a South Bronx childhood with a Haitian-born mother--helped her survive the boiler room and claw her way to becoming a high-powered broker herself. Her prose and attitude toward her career--and why she eventually left it--are no-nonsense and unblinkered, keeping her account engaging, whether she's relating her childhood trick of reselling lunch tickets to fellow students or the over-the-top excesses of parties in the Hamptons. VERDICT An absorbing, instructive look at the victories and pitfalls of a life driven by the hustle. The page space that Fabré devotes to her youth might frustrate those hoping for even more dirt on the Wall Street life, but it'll strike a chord with readers who recognize her aspirations and yearnings.--Kathleen McCallister
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
The daughter of Haitian immigrants lands on Wall Street. Born in the South Bronx and raised in Queens, Fabré styled herself as a brash, street-smart hustler, traits that served her well when she found herself working on Wall Street. In her zesty debut memoir, the author recounts her surprising journey from roach-filled public housing to becoming one of the "youngest Black female stockbrokers." At the age of 19, she was an ace salesperson for an optical shop when she met a recruiter for VTR Capital, an offshoot of the notorious investment firm portrayed in Wolf of Wall Street. Although she would be working as a cold caller for a low salary, she saw the job as an investment in her future. After three months as a cold caller, she learned, your firm could sponsor you for a test to earn a broker's license. Fabré had no doubt that she would excel, get sponsored, and pass the challenging test. "Whenever I set out to do something," she asserts, with no false modesty, "I was confident it would work out for me." VTR certainly tested her conviction: Like all the Black and Latine cold callers, she was brutally belittled by the White brokers. "All callers were made to feel inferior," writes the author, "had it hammered into them that they were lowly dialers, good for punching numbers into a phone and uttering words from a script, nothing more. Verbal--and sometimes physical--abuse was hurled at us." But there was big money to be made, and Fabré admits to wanting "the cars, the houses in the Hamptons, the Gucci and the Versace." At the age of 20, "without knowing a single thing about investing," she became a broker. With disarming candor, Fabré recounts her heady infatuation with Wall Street, her timely escape from VTR, and her dawning realization of what she and her colleagues were really doing. A stark exposé of Wall Street's corrupt underside and an inspiring story of overcoming adversity. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
