“Usually for client meetings in my old firm I used to wear a suit, heels and my hair in a slicked back bun, or straight. One day I decided I’m going to wear my naturally curly. This was a huge decision for me because society has taught us that professional hair is straight hair” said Rianka Dorsainvil, Certified Financial Planner (CFP), founder and president of Your Greatest Contribution —a virtual financial planning firm serving clients in their 20s, 30s, and 40s.

“For women, especially women of color, to wear their natural hair is a statement and it’s intentional,” she added.

Dorsainvil spoke this past week at the Center For Financial Planning’s Diversity Summit in New York City during the Personal Talks on Barriers and Opportunities Segment. Phuong Luong, CFP, founder Just Wealth LLC and Louis Barajas, CFP, wealth and business manager, Wealth Management LAB, also spoke during the segment. Dorsainvil explained the challenges of being a young woman of color while navigating her career as a financial planner.

Prior to starting her own firm, the D.C.-based financial planner worked as a Financial Advisor within the RIA space, she said. She spoke about her struggle to be her authentic self —and the response she received when doing so. Dorsainvil wore her hair in its naturally curly state to a client meeting, and recalled being met with confusion. 

“I was about to meet with a client I had known for years so I was very comfortable pulling back the layers and showing more of me— the authentic Rianka. I got the call that the client was here so I excitedly grabbed the senior advisor. I was going to lead the meeting and I was prepped and ready. We walked over to the clients and the husband embraced me and there was a perplexed looked on his face. He took a look at me and said ‘There’s something different about you— Oh it’s your hair, it’s a little bit more casual today’,” she said.

The lead advisor overheard the conversation and saw her body language shift from confident to insecure. Needless to say I did not present in the meeting that day and I’m happy the senior advisor overheard the conversation— he took control of the meeting that day, she explained.

“My experiences early in my career told me that in order to fit in— I needed to code switch,” said Dorsainvil.

Code Switching is when you change your tone, body language, the words you use, and your mannerisms when speaking, to fit the audience, Dorsainvil explained.

“I kept calling myself a chameleon, I was describing this to Phuong, sharing that I could blend into any environment— I could… assimilate. While this is a learned skill, it was extremely exhausting. Luong said— Rianka, that’s called code switching,” Dorsainvil shared during the Diversity Summit.

Dorsainvil describes herself as a “triple minority”. There are more CFPs over the age of 70 than under the age of 30, women have made up only 23 percent of the total population of Certified Financial Planners for the last 14 years and Dorsainvil is one of only 3.5 percent of CFPs who are Black or Latino, she explained.

Regardless of her minority status, she made it her mission to achieve success in the financial planning industry and empower other professionals to do the same. In 2015 she was named one of Investment News’s Top 40 Under 40— a list that recognizes the top 40 advisors and associated professionals in the financial planning industry under the age of 40. At age 28, Dorsainvil was placed on the cover of the magazine.

She was overjoyed and decided to share more about her background to show others that regardless of their upbringing, they too can be successful, she said. She decided to share a Facebook post revealing more about her upbringing and background to send the message that anything is possible in the future, regardless of the past, she asserted.

“I shared on Facebook that I was born and raised in Norfolk, Virginia a place where typically three things happened; you ended up in jail, on drugs, or dead. I shared that at the age of seven, a stray bullet killed my friend after I came in the house from playing outside with him—he was seven. I shared that my mother was taken from me at the age of nine and I was raised by my nana and It really took a village,” she said describing the Facebook post that announced her recognition.

Later that week, Dorsainvil had a scheduled meeting with her manager. Online, she received a powerful response filled with support from others who were inspired by her story. During that meeting, she thought she would be met with excitement or that her manager would share some of his own experiences, she said.

Instead, he congratulated her but said her facebook post was “too boastful”. It was early in my career that taught me I could not be myself, she added. However, Dorsainvil’s vulnerability has also been met with support.

A white colleague shared with Dorsainvil that she loved the podcast, 2050 Trailblazers, the podcast she launched earlier this year. She said she was learning a lot but one episode made her feel sad. In that episode she spoke with Lazetta Rainey Braxton, CFP, founder and president of Financial Fountains and described her experience attending her first conference from the Association of African American Financial Advisors (AAAA). For the first time, Dorsainvil said she felt she could be her true self without being judged about how she spoke or her appearance.

The colleague asked “How can I help?”, she added.

Responding to the question, Dorsainvil said, “If you see someone who does not look like you, go up to them and say hi. Engage them in conversation —it will make them feel welcome. Because that person, if of color, is probably only one of a handful at that industry conference—she agreed.”

That same colleague reached out to Dorsainvil a few months later and told her she was wandering through a (in her words) very non-white neighborhood with her husband. After 45 minutes she found herself saying, “let’s head back” to her husband because she felt like she stuck out, Dorsainvil explained.

She empathized with Dorsainvil and better understood her feelings— the only difference was that she could leave that environment and go home —“She checked her privileged,” Dorsainvil said.

Today, Dorsainvil is still committed to the advocacy of young professionals. Earlier this year she launched 2050 Trailblazers, a podcast focusing on diversity and inclusion in the financial planning profession. In 2016, she served as the National President of Financial Planning Association’s NextGen community, where she worked toward developing the next generation of CFPs.

She is currently on CNBC's Digital Financial Advisor Council and volunteers annually with the IRS Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program (VITA). Dorsainvil also co-founded the mentorship program for women in financial planning at her alma mater, Virginia Tech.