“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.