Let's meet Ri Sharma
🔨 What project are you working on that you are most excited about?
I’m most excited about Wall Street Confessions because I recently brought on a director of partnerships Rachael Sacks who has worked in VC for a while, has worked for major media companies and really understands the industry. I have known her as a friend and now to know her as a colleague and someone who’s on the team and is helping me define the vision for Wall Street Confessions. It is so important to me and I’m very very grateful to have her as well as our brand development analyst Sandhya Singh. She’s really great, has a very keen eye for marketing and just keeps Rachael and I very balanced. I’m very excited that Wall Street Confessions is turning into a women led media company, especially financial media company, because there’s not enough of them. I’m very grateful that it is the one thing that I can focus on and the one thing that is truly mine and I would say it is definitely a project that I’m working on that I am most excited about.
👀What makes you feel visible?
Something that makes me feel visible is when I see people that look like me. When I look at VC groups and I see women who you know came from different circumstances but are now killing it in VC, or when I see women at hedge funds who’re doing really well. A huge moment for me was when Chanel hired an Indian woman as their CEO. I never really think too much into identity for myself but as someone with several Chanel bags who just really adores the brand, it meant so much to me and I did feel very visible. I feel like it’s such a profound impact that not just a woman but an Indian woman is having on the world, in society and in luxury, and it just matters so much to me and continues to.
🌈 If you could connect with one woman, who would that be and what would you say?
Perhaps I would speak with Gloria Steinem. I feel as if that’s a cliché answer but I do feel as if Gloria is the right answer (kind of in my heart) because she really pioneered the resistance with the help of many other women and she understands that it takes a village and she’s always been at the forefront of the movement and her work is just so inspiring and moving and I would really just love to connect with her and learn from her. I don’t know if I would say much in that situation, I feel like it would be a learning situation about my culture, the way I react to the society around me, and what I can do to be better. I definitely think that Gloria Steinem is the person to advise on that.
🌱What piece of advice would you give your younger self?
One piece of advice I would give to my younger self is not to get discouraged. I feel like when I was young I had a lot of grit but I would often times get discouraged and I would not lean in and I would be afraid to ask for things. But I’m at a point in my life now where I will ask for literally anything and I have a delusional sense of self-esteem and it works! Yeah, I would tell my younger self to lean the fuck in, excuse my language, because there’s literally no downside. If someone says “no” to you for any reason, they said “no” and that’s it. No one cares and it’s down the water and you move on. But asking for things opens up so many doors - you know a closed mouth never gets fed. Yeah, I definitely think I would tell my younger self to keep persisting and keep asking and lean in to the bad bitch persona and personality that I’ve always kind of had. I have a weird distinct memory of being in public speaking class in high school and someone telling me that I was doing too much and I was doing the most so it was super annoying and at the time I was like OK yeah, maybe I am doing too much like wearing a gold sequin skirt and a denim top… but now if someone were to tell me that I am doing way too much on social or that my outfits with sequins and rhinestones and glitter are too much, I would say fuck you. Doing too much is what gets you recognize and noticed. It’s what got me from being lonely and depressed in a Midtown east apartment to going to Fashion Week and having an amazing group of friends and having such an amazing platform. I definitely would’ve told my younger self to just keep leaning in and cut out all the noise.
❤️Connect with Ri:
IG: @nycsadgirl @wallstreetconfessions
Twitter: @nycsadgirl @wallstconfess