Success Story: Amanda Papaleo ’19 accepts financial analyst position at Bank of America

Success Stories | Apr 03, 2019 | admin

By Victoria Cheah

What do superheroes and renting apartments have to do with becoming a financial analyst?

For Amanda Papaleo, BS ’19, they both call to mind the “ability to handle change” and to make the most out of every experience. In June, Papaleo will reap the benefits of these qualities when she begins a full-time position as a financial analyst at Bank of America.

As a former intern with the company, Papaleo was given different tasks every day. She worked in treasury on the global market capital management team, expanded her network, acquired an understanding of enterprise capital management, and developed other important skills, all of which she says were key to landing her new job.

What got her the internship that started it all was Papaleo’s previous experience as a real estate intern at Houlihan Lawrence and Diamond Properties. In real estate, flexibility and people skills are a must, she says, just as they are when working with clients and in a team.

“I like interacting with people daily,” she adds. “It’s different each day, which is always interesting.”

Her experiences in real estate led Papaleo to decide on a minor in marketing, complementing her major in business administration with a concentration in finance. In sales, Papaleo believes that you “need to have a clear vision of the point that you’re trying to get across to the person on the other end.”

Outside of sales, Papaleo makes this point loud and clear as vice president of the campus club A Moment of Magic. The club provides creative programming for children with pediatric cancer, gathering student volunteers to dress up as superheroes for visits to the hospital.

Papaleo says that this is “one of the most rewarding things I’ve ever been part of.”

Paying it forward gives back too—in 2018, the A Moment of Magic Foundation named Papaleo Fordham University’s Emerging Leader of the Year.

Her interest in giving back to the community comes full circle with her new position at Bank of America. Says Papaleo, “That’s another reason why I like Bank of America: because I know that the employees also volunteer a lot.”

In keeping with the values she’s embraced, Papaleo says that she’d tell her younger self “to not let failures get me down. It’s inevitable in life. You just need to take every situation and turn it into a learning opportunity. It makes you become an even better version of yourself.”