She joined the Chicago Public School Teachers' Pension & Retirement Fund in 2010 where she took on several progressive roles before being promoted to director of investments in 2015 and advancing to the CIO role in 2017. (Chicago Public School Teachers now has $10.7 billion in assets.)
Despite the struggles she has faced, as both a woman and an African American in a white male-dominated industry, she said she thinks she was destined to become a CIO.
"Every obstacle that I have faced has only fueled my drive to succeed," she said. "I have learned to be resilient and used any setback as a challenge to overcome in order to empower and uplift myself and other women."
Racism and gender discrimination still exist, she said, but they have become less blatant and more subtle, which, in turn, makes it harder to prove, but not detect.
"I've often been the only woman or the only woman of color in a room of investment professionals," she said. "As a Black woman, I realized long ago that I had little room for failure and that I would always have to prove myself. But this has driven me to be an advocate, encouraging and elevating other women and people of color in this industry."
She has also been blessed by great ambition. "I have always wanted to work in a career that was meaningful and transformative where I could match purpose with passion," she said. "I have found that."