Mia Samson
Marketing and Social Media Manager
Gerber Kawasaki Wealth and Investment Management
Mia Samson is a graduate of Loyola Marymount University in the heart of Silicon Beach, holding her Bachelor of Science degree in Economics and concentration in Applied Mathematics. She was born and raised in California and grew up with strong leadership in her home as both her mother and father are in the San Francisco Fire Department. Through watching her mother’s courage and tenacity as one of few women in the field, Mia learned to take on challenges from a young age. For this reason, she has always followed her passion for finance. Mia is now the Marketing and Social Media Department Manager at Gerber Kawasaki Wealth and Investment Management.
Mia works to ensure that our brand and messaging are in line with our investment decisions. She collaborates with all members of the firm to execute marketing goals and business development. Mia hopes to be someone that other women can look to and feel empowered to join the finance industry or control their finances and know that they have someone supporting their life goals and journey.
In her free time, Mia volunteers as the Instagram Coordinator for Sierra Club Angeles, the most enduring and influential grassroots environmental organization in the United States with over 3.8 million members, gives time to the San Francisco Fire Department Toy Program where she and her family have been recognized for the most volunteer hours, and enjoys exercising with her German Shepherd puppy, Harley.
Graduating in the cursed Class of 2020 has left many of my classmates continuously searching for jobs with no responses. I feel incredibly grateful to have a job, in general, and have a job that I am excited about every day with a company that I see myself working at for a long time. Looking back, if I were to advise on anybody entering college, it would be, do not underestimate the power of internships.
My college experience was different from most. I spent the first year of college working in a recycling yard 20 hours a week minimum and arriving at work at 6:30 AM every day to help minimize tuition costs. Going into college, it was never a question of whether I would work, but where. I continued to work a minimum of 20 hours a week up to 40 hours throughout my four years.
In my sophomore year, no matter how long of workdays I committed to, it was not enough to subsidize tuition, so I returned home, went to community college. It was easy to think of this move as a setback, but it ended up flinging me forward. I took 23 units at my community college, which put me on track to graduate early, and I did not have to work as long of hours, so I finally had the chance to choose a job aligned with my interests.
From this point forward, I never formally applied to any job again. One of my business professors at the community college admired my tenacity and was familiar with my work ethic. In casual conversation after class one day, I explained my growing want for an internship, and he connected me to Rick Rockwell, CEO of Dow Rockwell LLC, a boutique financial services firm. I scored a well-paying internship at Dow Rockwell LLC that focused on retirement. My dream was to become an actuary, working in insurance, and I figured that this was pretty similar. I learned an extensive amount of working at that firm that I began searching for internships in Los Angeles in the same field for when I could return to school.
I started searching LinkedIn for places that my classmates had interned and asked them about their experiences and if they were willing to introduce me to their former bosses. Unsure of how I could handle working my job that kept me in school, completing classes, and balance an additional internship, I went to an interview at Gerber Kawasaki.
Going into the interview, I needed to find what experience qualified me to work at Gerber Kawasaki and what the CEO / President of a firm that is consistently on or mentioned in CNBC, FOX, CNN, TD Ameritrade, Wall Street Journal, Forbes, and more, would even take the time out of his day to interview me. I had a green understanding of the industry, but mind you, investing for young individuals setting up their financial future versus investing for individuals well into their retirement is an entirely different scope of the business. Gerber Kawasaki does it all, but their marketing was clear that their biggest mission is to democratize financial advice, which typically means serving the underserved, whether that be immigrant communities, women, young individuals with debt, or the LGBTQIA+ community. I spent around two weeks preparing for the interview, learning all the definitions in the book, vigorously reading every line of the website and between them until I felt like I already worked there. I had no idea how this interview was going to go. My friend from the class was coming along to introduce me. Was he going to be in the room? Would he make the introduction and wait in the waiting area?
Not to discredit the effort that I put into learning about the business, but that preparation was unnecessary. During the interview, I was asked for a brief background, what I understood about the business, what my goals were, and the conversation got carried away to what my outside interests were. This is where I learned an unbelievably valuable lesson: people do business with people that they like.
If I am honest, I never thought that I would be studying to become a financial advisor. I was set on grad school and becoming an actuary for a long time, but I fell in love with financial planning from my first internship and then the mission of Gerber Kawasaki. At Gerber Kawasaki, we are democratizing financial advice. Whether you are a well-established, high-net-worth individual or a recent college graduate, if you are our client, you will have a Financial Advisor that personalizes your portfolio to your needs and be supported by our extremely knowledgeable team.
Everyone works together and acts as a family at Gerber Kawasaki. The company and the people are very forward-thinking and diverse individuals. Each person has a unique background that brings specific strengths to the table, but success as a team comes from collaboration.
My internship “ended,” but I was not ready to leave. Until I graduated, I came in at least every Friday, and once I graduated in December, I began working full-time. I attribute my job to grit, the internships, genuine interest in Gerber Kawasaki’s work to help individuals get ahead in life, and my ability to connect with my coworkers outside of work.
Now, I am the Social Media and Marketing Manager of the Marketing Department. I work to ensure that our brand and messaging are in line with our investment decisions. I collaborate with all members of the firm to execute marketing goals and business development. Financial institutions are changing at an incredible rate with the popularity of investing during the pandemic. However, Gerber Kawasaki has never been a traditional financial institution. We were always recording podcasts, testing new social media, and working with young individuals, which helped the business understand the future trends. Being adaptable as a worker and as a firm is one of the essential qualities you need to succeed.
My story is not the most traditional. This may not be the “best tips for cover letters” or “where to start looking for internships and jobs when it comes to searching ZipRecruiter, Indeed, or GlassDoor,” article that you expected, but I hope that how I got to where I help you break the boxed thinking that there is only one way to score the internship or job that you want.
Internships. Grit. Social Connection.
If you are looking to get invested, reach out to me. We are focused on building the next generation of wealth. Today is the day that you start building the future you want for yourself. We require no minimums. [email protected]
