Thursday night, a few hours after the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at a two-year high, 350 finance professionals and their guests packed into Simyone Lounge, an ultra-exclusive club in Manhattan’s Meatpacking District, for the annual Young Wall Street charity gala...The evening’s beneficiary was All Stars Project, an organization that runs after-school programs for inner-city youth. Last year, amid market unrest and negative public sentiment, Mr. Ritter and Mr. Hébert called off their annual benefit, sensing that a lavish Wall Street party – even in the service of charity – would be inappropriate. But this year, they decided to resume their efforts. According to Mr. Ritter, the pre-event fund-raising total for the All Stars Project topped $110,000, with more donations expected in the day and weeks to come.
While philanthropy was certainly the night’s dominant note, packing a trendy nightclub with the young guns of finance produced another, less altruistic result.“Honestly, I think these guys started Young Wall Street to pick up girls,” joked Zack Schildhorn, an associate at Lux Capital, Mr. Hébert’s firm. “I mean, guys who make money are sexy. Guys who make money and give back? That’s hard to beat.”
There was no glamour deficit at the gala, with scads of statuesque women and Hermes-clad head-turners all seeming to participate in some sort of tacit genetics contest.
Your DealBook correspondent also believes he overheard the ultimate Wall Street “neg” – in pick-up parlance, a backhanded compliment meant to pique a woman’s interest – during a flirtatious conversation between a private equity associate and a tall, leggy blonde:
Male: “So, what do you do?”
Female: “I work on the sales and trading desk at [firm].”
Male: “Oh, cool! Are you a quant?”
All told, the night’s upbeat mood seemed to indicate that the twenty-somethings of Wall Street have returned to their pre-crisis mantra: work hard, play hard, and maybe do some good along the way.
350 Wall Street bonus babies raised $110,000 for inner city youth? Wow, thanks guys. A whole $300 each. You're the awesomest.