Day in the life, senior associate, Rothschild, New York
Omotara Solomon is a Senior Associate in the Equity Advisory team at Rothschild & Co. She joined the Rothschild & Co graduate program in 2017, working in the London office before being seconded to New York in 2021. Prior to joining, she completed a Masters Degree in International Management at ESADE Business School in Spain and co-founded a residential property company. This is what an average day in her life looks like.
7:00 AM: I wake up and start getting ready for the day, often spending some personal time reading or meditating. Thriller and suspense novels are a favourite, especially by Black, female authors.
7:30-8:00 AM: While I’m getting ready I check any emails that have come in overnight. Our clients are global, so I will respond quickly to any emails where a different time zone means it’s late in someone else’s day.
9:00 AM: By nine I am in the office in New York. As a senior associate, a lot of my work revolves around working with clients with the support of my Managing Directors. I have found the senior bankers to be very accessible – from early on, we are given direct exposure to a high deal flow, allowing us to see the bankers’ approach to many different situations.
10:00 AM: I have a weekly morning meeting with the whole Equity Advisory team. We discuss our upcoming meetings for the week, as well as live project updates and notable events that unfolded the week prior. It’s really important to be commercially aware, especially in Equity Advisory, as well as have the ability to develop relationships with people at all levels and across the broader Global Advisory division.
10:30 AM: After the all-team meeting, there is another Equity Advisory meeting for juniors on the team. We’ll ask questions and discuss analysis we’re working on.
11:00 AM: Then I’m back to my desk. Generally, 40% of my time is spent communicating (on calls and over email) and the other 60% is spent doing the tasks and analysis that we provide to clients. The morning is more about planning, working out what needs doing and co-ordinating how the day is going to evolve. The afternoons are more focussed on doing my core work and getting deliverables done.
12:00 PM: I generally take lunch between twelve and one, but it can depend on when I get a break in my day. I’ll have a lunch meeting two or three times a month with a client or other advisers. Otherwise, in New York we get lunch brought in every day. In the London office, there is a staff café, but I always enjoyed picking something up from one of the many places near the office.
1:00 PM: In the afternoon I’ll mainly be leading certain workstreams within projects where there will often be various advisors such as lawyers and syndicate banks which will have to be coordinated effectively. In addition, I will often work with our analysts in PowerPoint and Excel, sometimes using data providers such as FactSet and Bloomberg to pull and analyse company and market information. At a really simple level, we are analysing data – combined with our knowledge and expertise in the markets – to provide independent solutions to our clients as well as effectively and efficiently assist them through different types of public market processes. I help our analysts in putting analysis into presentations and make sure the key messages are coming across before my Managing Director reviews it. Recently, I helped a company and its shareholders who had completed an IPO analyse potential methods and timing windows to monetise (i.e. sell) the remaining shareholding in the company. So, I was spending time thinking about, analysing and presenting what they could reasonably expect could happen, for example, if their shareholders sold a certain percentage of their stock and when would be the appropriate time to do so.
3:00 PM: I will usually have regular project calls for different ongoing projects I’m working on. Now that IPO markets are a bit quieter, we’re spending more time in the background, helping clients with Pre-IPO fundraising, early IPO readiness and broader pitching.
4:00 PM: When I worked in London, I was part of the Access Project, tutoring GCSE students once a week as they prepared for their exams. The students would come to the office. I’m also part of Rothschild & Co’s EMbrace Network for our Black and other Minority ethnic group employees at the firm.
6:00 PM: When the day is nearing its end, I’ll take stock of what needs to be done short-term and worked on in the evening. I work with several junior analysts, and I’ll make sure everyone is clear on what needs doing. I’ll also look ahead in the calendar and keep thinking about what needs prioritising over the next few days.
7:00 PM: On an average day I’ll leave between seven and eight. I have a good work life balance. There are, of course, peaks and troughs in terms of workload, and sometimes a flexible approach is required, particularly when working on complex deals or cross-border transactions with different time zones.
8:00 PM: I’ll often do a workout class in the evening. I love to cook on the occasions that I can, but I’ll also order in food or meet up with friends for dinner in the city whenever possible.
9:00 PM: My core workday has already ended, but if anything urgent comes through I’ll make sure to respond by email, especially when it’s a client or co-worker in a different time zone who won’t be working when I get into the New York office the following morning. Generally, it’s quick email responses that I might have to do in the evening, not the core analysis and research work that I spend the bulk of my afternoons on.
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