‘A GREAT DEAL OF OPPORTUNITY’

Winston Allen lives in Westport. But before he moved, he became one of the first Black men to open a broker-dealer firm on Wall Street

WESTPORT — Winston Allen faced rejection in the investing industry. But instead of giving up, he took matters into his own hands to become one of the first Black men to open a broker-dealer service on Wall Street.

Allen, who now lives in Westport, grew up in Harlem and attended New York University, earning a degree in economics.

He originally became a teacher at a 600 school, a school at the time for youth considered delinquent or maladjusted, and eventually got an opportunity to work at a high school.

While teaching, he decided to take a different route in his career and applied for the Fulbright Scholarship, which he got in 1961, taking him to Paris. There, he continued his economic studies.

When he came back, he applied to Goldman Sachs and Neiman Brothers.

But, Allen said, there was always an issue, and he didn’t get either job.

“When I got there, and they realized I was a Black man, I think their decision was ‘No, this is not what we want,’ ” he said.

So, Allen said he decided to find another way to get to Wall Street.

“I realized that you could become an independent broker-dealer if you pass all these requirements,” he said.

And he did.

At the end of 1962, Allen received a letter indicating he was accepted as a broker-dealer in Wall Street after passing the National Association of Securities Dealers examination.

He said he wanted to prepare himself to handle securities and sell mutual funds. Allen then started his own firm, Creative Investor Services, making him one of the first Black man to do so on Wall Street.

“I enjoyed it immensely,” Allen said about his career with Creative Investor Services.

Allen said he believes his company helped paved the way for other people of color on Wall Street.

“It opened the door for a few extraordinarily successful individuals,” he said. “The companies now started to use that market that they found was lucrative to advertise for their company. You see Black people in the advertisements that

Ned Gerard/Hearst Connecticut Media Winston Allen poses with a copy of his memoir “I Pried Open Wall Street in 1962” at his home in Westport on Friday.