Love for math leads to finance
Oklahoma City native works to give back to community By Melissa Howell Staff Writer mhowell@oklahoman.com
Two-year-old Tania Smith astounded her mother when she crawled into a chair, and once she had everyone's attention, she began reciting the books of the Bible.
She hadn't been instructed in the names of each Biblical book. And she certainly hadn't read them.
She picked them up by listening, said Smith's mother, Gloria Mitchell.
“I was just amazed,” Mitchell said. “She's very observant. She's pragmatic … believes she can do whatever she has a vision to do.”
Now, at 36, those qualities helped forge a path to becoming one of the very few female, African-American financial advisers in Oklahoma.
“When I started as an adviser, a manager said to me, `You are young, female and black.' In the beginning those will be the three biggest things that will work against you. But if you can overcome those obstacles, those will be your greatest assets,'” Smith said. “I have found that to be true. I am unique — and that can totally work in your favor.”
An OKC kind of girl
Smith was born in Oklahoma
City and has lived here her entire life. Her parents were ministers and she found a sense of close community in the church.
“It was one big family,” she said. “Everyone was a cousin or neighbor.”
She also found a sense of place at her school and discovered a love for math.
“In high school, I thought I wanted to be an accountant. I don't know exactly why, but I loved math and numbers,” she said.
Then something amazing happened, she said, when as a freshman at Oklahoma State University she took a basic course in finance.
“When I took that class, something sparked. The lightbulb went on. The stock market was so intriguing to me,” Smith said. “I made up my mind that this is what I want to do.”
Climbing the ladder
She landed an internship at an investment firm and a job at Chase Bank following graduation. But her real break came when she obtained a position with Wachovia Securities. During that time, Smith began to realize just how unique she was in the industry.
In 2010, Wells Fargo (which bought Wachovia Securities in 2008) formed a group of its black and African-American advisers, Smith said. “It was a small enough group where we could stay pretty wellconnected and the firm was good about helping us identify opportunities to grow. I was the only black adviser in the Oklahoma and Arkansas markets. Even when it came to all surrounding states, there were only one or two others.”
Veteran adviser with Wells Fargo and Smith's close mentor Debra Logan said if Smith ever struggled with barriers, Logan never saw it.
“She never let that show,” Logan said.
Within two years, Smith was promoted to financial adviser at Wells Fargo. In 2016, she moved to Oklahoma City-based T.S. Phillips Investments, an independent brokerage firm. Smith said she wanted more freedom to do the local work needed with her clients and support causes she believed in right here in her community.
“What I liked was her experience. The success she had in the business,” said company founder Tom Phillips. “She's a very likeable person, very professional and very smart. She's the real deal.”
Does she consider herself a trailblazer in the Oklahoma financial industry? Not really. “I guess I always had my nose to the grindstone. I didn't really think about it,” she said. “I do believe that so much of what I have done has been unique. And, yes, I have looked around and not seen anyone who looks like me. But at the same time, I see so many people who have supported me, which has made all the difference in the world.
“Really, that was how it was growing up in the Putnam City area. There were many classes where I was the only black kid. I think I became accustomed to being involved with people from all different backgrounds,” Smith said. “My natural family and culture is African-American, but a lot of what I experienced every day was very diverse. That really helped me identify and understand that people are just people.”
For now, she divides her time between her family — husband of eight years, her girls ages 1 and 3 — and working with the Rotary Club of Oklahoma City, the OKC Metro Alliance, Britvil Food Pantry and United Way of Central Okahoma to help the community.
“I feel like a lot of what I try to convey when it comes to the youth and even minority groups and women, is that if there is something out there you want to do, you go for it. And any nos you may get will eventually turn into yesses,” Smith said.
“I try not to take away from the challenges that many African-Americans have faced, and that I have faced. In my industry, I have experienced some challenging things,” she said. “Maybe I have had a path that is unique. I understand that. But at the same time, it was what I was created to do.”