Elly Wong didn’t start out wanting to work in financial services. She graduated from the University of Southern California with a degree in industrial and system engineering, then launched her own construction consulting firm. In fact, it was almost by accident that she went to work for Morgan Stanley Smith Barney.

Ten years later, she’s Vice President and Portfolio Management Director for Morgan Stanley Smith Barney in Pasadena, Cal. We talked to her about the path she took and what she likes about her job.

What did you do in your early career?

When I graduated from college, I went to work for a construction firm as an engineer. Six months later, after my boss heard me talking on the phone with clients, he asked me to switch to marketing. I grew the business tenfold in the first 18 months in the job.

But, eventually, my boss wanted me to open another branch and I didn’t want to do that. So I started my own company, doing consulting in the area of earthquake rehabilitation. Not long after that, I also started a karaoke restaurant with a group of other people.

It was great. But, after about five years, I decided I wanted to try something else. It was 1999, and I had started doing stock trading on my own. It was a time when the market was doing really well and I realized I had a passion for it. One day, I saw an ad in the paper for a seminar at what was then Smith Barney. I thought it was an educational workshop, so I went. Turned out, the event was a recruiting seminar. And they made it sound so challenging and interesting, I thought I’d give them my name.

Much to my surprise, they called me back. I passed all the tests and was hired in July, 2000.

What was it like at first?

I have to tell you, it was hard. For the first few years, I would go to career job fairs, where I could meet laid-off people looking for work who needed to roll over their 401(k)s. But it was very time-consuming--three days out of every week, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. I also did some cold calling.

But my manager was very helpful. He kept encouraging me, telling me I could do it. I would check in with him every week for advice. And he did other things. For example, he realized that I could handle challenging client situations and asked me to take over a couple who were unhappy with their previous Financial Advisors. They turned out to be really good clients. One, in fact, is one of my biggest accounts.

Now I get my business from client referrals. I get a lot of them from clients who are devoted fans.

Did your previous entrepreneurial experience help?

Definitely. I was used to picking up the phone and talking to people I’d never met and convincing them I was the one. Cold calling was nothing new to me when I started.

What do you like about being a Portfolio Management Director?

I really like to come up with an investment strategy that will provide the best performance for my clients based on their risk tolerance. I enjoy helping my clients plan for their retirement and helping talk to their kids and educating them.

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