Jerilyn Castillo McAniff, BS 97 - Passionate About Teaching and Mentoring

Mar 24 2023 • 26 mins

We welcomed Jerilyn Castillo McAniff to the podcast to celebrate Women's History Month. She is the Managing Director and Head of Diversity & Inclusion at Oaktree Capital Management. In 2007, she co-authored a book with her husband titled, The Practitioner's Guide to Investment Banking, Mergers & Acquisitions, Corporate Finance.

Jerilyn is originally from the Philippines. She immigrated to the Bay Area with her family in the seventies when things there were getting complicated. The Bay Area was a welcoming place for Filipino immigrants to come at the time. They had to start from the beginning, however, with the support of a large extended family, her parents and grandparents decided to stay and raise their family there.

In this episode, Jerilyn talked about going to Haas, her career in finance, how she got introduced to investment banking, and her transition to a career in alternative investments. She also shared the importance of mentorship.

Jerilyn is passionate about teaching new professionals and students interested in careers in finance. She is actively involved with AltFinance: Investing in Black Futures, Girls Who Invest, and the Blomberg Buyside Women's Network.

Episode Quotes:

Why she believes so much in the power of mentorship

I saw it transform me. If you have somebody in your life at a very early stage showing you how to do things, it helps bring so much confidence. And I know how transformative that can be for a person of color, a woman, or anyone when you didn't grow up in the same environment.

On having a growth mindset

No matter your profession or how you were raised, or what kind of life you have, we all face challenges. Every day presents challenges. And so much of it is how you look upon your life. Are you a half-glass full or half-glass empty kind of person? And when there's a road bump or something really difficult, do you look at it and say, Okay, what can I learn? What am I getting out of this? How is this going to help me grow as a person? Having that attitude that every challenge is an opportunity to learn something new, meet new people, do something you've never done before—when you have that outlook, everything is an opportunity. And it's a really great way to look at life.

Why she and her husband wrote a book about investment banking

Peter and I wrote it with the goal of helping anyone interested in the business learn with a practical lens how to do the basic types of analysis that are expected on the job. That was really born out of this interest in trying to help people. It's an industry that can be very intimidating. And we wanted to eliminate that intimidation.

What gets her up in the morning?

I love helping others who are interested in learning about this (finance) business, this wonderful industry that has been so rewarding to me in many respects. Just being able to satisfy so much intellectual curiosity. I want as many people who have an interest in it to stay for the long term because it is so intimidating on the front end that people decide to leave and tap out. I want to teach and train them to stay engaged.

How can people support other people?

Whatever industry or career you're in, find out the mentorship and early education programs that feed into your business and see what you can do. Everybody can support someone new or younger than them in their own professional journey. So much of the opportunity that I've been given is because others made that investment in me. And to turn it around, pay it forward, and support the ones that come behind you, that's how we build stronger organizations. That's how we build better communities.