Advice
Take 10 with Mercy Aston
Meet Mercy Aston, a dedicated Institutional Trading & Dealer Sales professional at Raymond James. With nearly a decade at the firm following a distinguished 17-year military career, Mercy brings a unique blend of discipline, leadership and strategic insight to her role in the Fixed Income Capital Markets department. Her journey from the U.S. Army to the corporate world is a testament to her resilience, adaptability, and commitment to excellence.
1. Can you share a little bit about your current role and responsibilities?
I am currently the Institutional Trading & Dealer Sales professional in the firm's Fixed Income Capital Markets department. I act as a trade liaison between the firm's Municipal department and broker/dealers nationwide. As the person in charge of the municipal bonds Dealer Desk, I focus on securing bonds at advantageous levels for our retail and institutional traders across the country, according to their requirements and market conditions.
On a daily basis, I circulate inventory at street pricing levels and facilitate the sale of bonds owned by the firm, developing ideas and story lines around them. Additionally, I actively trade municipal bonds in the secondary market, buying when there are sellers and selling when there are buyers. I coordinate trading interactions between the firm's municipal traders and competing broker/dealers, aiding in the distribution of new municipal bond issues ordered by and allotted to competing firms.
My responsibilities extend to assessing credit quality on municipal bond issues and providing research from competing broker dealers and analyzing market trends to suggest and support trading decisions. Furthermore, I am committed to fostering and maintaining relationships with competing broker dealers through my role on the board of directors for the Florida Municipal Bond Club, with the aim of expanding our business by promoting the firm and its assets.
2. You are celebrating nearly a decade at Raymond James after retiring from 16+ years of service with the U.S. Army. What made you pick Raymond James?
Nearly a decade ago, I transitioned to the corporate world after proudly serving in the U.S. Army for 17 years, retiring in 2019 due to combat injuries. In 2003, inspired by the 9/11 attacks, I enlisted in the Army at the age of 17. As an immigrant born in Ghana and raised in Italy, I hold immense pride and gratitude for what this country has provided my family. Living in NYC during 9/11, I felt compelled to contribute to the nation that had given us so much.
In 2015, after several military combat deployments in sensitive jurisdictions, the military determined that my combat injuries rendered me non-deployable. From 2016-2019, while awaiting the military medical board’s early retirement decision, I was permitted to enter the corporate world on a reservist status, while still being attached to my unit at MacDill. During this time, I continued to lead my unit as the Acting First Sergeant, overseeing an elite and selectively manned airborne squadron operating out of MacDill Air Force Base.
While I never initially considered a career outside of the uniform, during my medical retirement board process, realizing my military skills could translate into the corporate sector, a recruiter from a competing firm recognized my perfect fit for their Global Financial Crimes and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) team. My experience in intelligence, combined with my multilingual abilities and higher education degrees, facilitated a smooth transition into the corporate AML field.
At that company, I was fortunate to receive mentorship from a senior leader who helped me discover my "why" and "how," guiding my career in the desired direction. Although I was up for a promotion, I expressed that while I appreciated having an 8-5 job free from the risks of combat, I did not see it as my "forever home." At that time, Raymond James was rebuilding their AML team, and my mentor referred me to a colleague at Raymond James, encouraging me to explore the firm. Taking a leap of faith, I met with several people from the firm, was impressed by their company values, and never looked back. I remain forever grateful for the mentorship that brought me to where I am today and am committed to paying it forward by mentoring others.
3. What were some of the biggest challenges you faced when transitioning from military service to a civilian career, and how did you overcome them?
Transitioning from the military to a civilian finance career, I brought with me a beautiful, unapologetic chaos that required significant adjustment for some of my compatriots. I did not fit into a neat box. Right away, I had to learn a whole new "language": corporate speak. This involved translating my unique military experiences into the nuanced and sometimes ambiguous vocabulary of the corporate world. At times this led to difficulties in highlighting my skills and aligning with civilian workplace expectations, often being perceived as "too rigid" or "overly structured" due to different cultural norms.
Initially, I experienced friction coming from an environment that thrives on loyalty and obedience, transitioning to a world where relationships and interaction drive everything. Through persistent networking and mentorship, I successfully transitioned into a business culture driven by relationships, profits, brands, marketing, and networking.
One significant challenge I encountered in my upward career trajectory within the business world was facing doubts from some leaders: “Does she have enough leadership skills to be promoted to manager? To director? To lead people?” Considering I was promoted to a non-commissioned officer at age 20, responsible for the lives of more than 25+ soldiers and managing billions of dollars’ worth of military equipment and weapons in combat operations, their concerns seemed unfounded.
After proving myself as a young leader in the military I found myself doing it again in corporate America. Through hard work and support from amazing allies at the firm, I demonstrated the incredible value veterans bring to the workplace. The military trains veterans to accept and execute responsibility for resources, tasks, and behavior. Veterans work in a highly team-oriented and hierarchical environment, knowing when to take orders and when to give them. Our extensive specialized training includes inspiring leadership in others, motivating, setting examples, delegating tasks, and giving clear, detailed directions.
For every role I took on at the firm, I studied day and night, shadowed many people, and made myself invaluable to the team. I devoted energy to targeted networking and ensuring my name was known in the right rooms, as taught in the military intelligence sector. This approach proved to be a powerful counter to these challenges.
4. How did your experience as an Acting First Sergeant and Platoon Sergeant in the U.S. Army shape your leadership style in the corporate world?
Many valuable lessons and concepts from the military have shaped my leadership style in the corporate world. As a military leader, understanding the Army's Field Manual "Intelligence Preparation of the Battlefield" (IPB) concept is critical to mission success. IPB helps the leader evaluate, assess, and plan for any battlefield or mission. It is a key component of the military decision-making process (MDMP), assisting in developing courses of action and decision points for the commander. When leveraged correctly, IPB can inform any "battlefield" (personal or professional), helping you consider your tactics, techniques and procedures (TTPs). In the business world, IPB can be applied to systematically analyze a company’s competitive landscape, identifying key players (competitors and allies), understanding their strengths and weaknesses, and predicting their likely actions to develop informed strategic decisions, much like how a military commander would assess a battlefield before engaging in combat.
IPB is a valuable leadership tool in both the military and corporate sectors, enabling informed decision-making and thorough understanding of competitive landscapes for strategic, lower-risk choices. Specifically in the capital markets sector, this strategy development mentality helps anticipate competitor moves, allowing companies to develop proactive strategies to stay ahead. You learn to identify market gaps and opportunities that can lead to better product development and market penetration. Within the IPB concept, recognizing potential threats and hurdles allows for effective mitigation strategies to be implemented.
Accessing accurate and timely market intelligence is crucial for my job and one of the main steps taught in IPB analysis. Applying IPB to corporate leadership promotes collaboration by engaging different teams and colleagues to gather diverse perspectives. IPB emphasizes the dynamic nature of the competitive landscape necessitating regular updates and reassessments. After decision implementation, it is important to measure and monitor actions to ensure they are working as desired. For me, this means communicating effectively while listening to others and considering their input, constantly mastering new competencies, being honest and straightforward, continuing to learn new skills to stay on top of industry innovations, and asking for help when needed.
5. For junior associates, how would you best describe the path to leadership in Institutional Trading?
For junior associates at Raymond James, I would emphasize that the path to leadership in Institutional Trading looks different for everyone. Raymond James is truly one of the few firms where if you dream it and work hard, you can achieve it. Transitioning from the military, I became one of the few people at the firm hired into a production role (Sales & Trading) after starting in two different non-production departments, helping to change opinions on future veteran hiring.
It is important to become informed about the different areas of Capital Markets that might interest you, not just zeroing in on the one you read about in college. I took (and still take) the time to tour our various trading desks, learn about retail versus institutional trading, understand the underwriting process as it impacts my role, and meet with Public Finance bankers to better appreciate secondary and primary market goals.
My journey heavily involved staying informed, seeking mentorship, requesting to shadow different professionals across the firm, and understanding the impact of risk and risk management. If you have the opportunity, get an internship and find a mentor. Look around — there are many educators but few with institutional experience. It is not all lights and glam, and some days are downright bleak. But a career in this world means developing internal fortitude, even when the market is ripping your soul to shreds (dramatic, I know).
It is not a career based on instant rewards and gratification. It takes time to develop the business you want, but if you do the work, you will be commended for it and find immense pride in your role.
6. What skills do you believe have been crucial to your success, and how have you developed them over time?
The most important and valuable skill, which develops over time as you continue to use it, is servant leadership. This skill involves treating people as your highest currency and cultivating the emotional intelligence and empathy to know when to push them, nurture them and lead them. From my experience serving under various military leaders and having different soldiers serve under me in the military, I learned that you must tailor your leadership and management style to different individuals and groups. Not everyone requires the same type of motivation to reach their potential, but everyone needs to feel included in the process.
Part of this skill includes self-awareness — truly taking inventory of your own strengths and weaknesses and understanding how you fit into the overall team. With self-awareness, you can use yourself in ways that benefit the team and the company. Recognizing your own limitations helps you see opportunities to leverage your team’s strengths more clearly.
Another crucial skill contributing to my success has been persuasion. Rather than using it as a sales tactic, I employ persuasion to build consensus and get buy-in from the team, so everyone feels they have a stake in the team’s success. Lastly, the military has taught me the invaluable skill of foresight. Foresight allows you to take the knowledge you have learned in the past and apply it to the future, so you and your team can continue to grow. By predicting likely outcomes based on past understanding and reflecting on past successes and failures, you can plan strategically.
7. As a fervent advocate for veterans' professional development and community outreach, can you share some of the initiatives you are most passionate about?
As a veteran who successfully transitioned to a corporate career through networking and mentorship, I am incredibly passionate about supporting military service members and spouses. My goal is to provide professional training, mentorship and hands-on experiences in the civilian workforce to ease their transition to the private sector. At Raymond James, retaining veteran and military spouse associates and helping them build successful careers is a key initiative.
In collaboration with the Raymond James HR Recruiting Team, our Valor Network has diligently raised awareness at both the associate and hiring manager levels. We have invested in niche sourcing strategies, built a mentorship platform and re-evaluated our benefits program to better serve our current military spouses, active-duty members, and reservists. These efforts have positioned us as a leading military employer.
I also enjoy organizing community outreach events for veterans’ nonprofits in my local area, bringing together diverse community members to support veterans. The Valor Network proudly represents all service branches, military spouses, first responders and allies, fostering camaraderie, networking and community engagement.
Each year, Raymond James Valor raises funds for nonprofits dedicated to helping veterans and first responders dealing with both visible and invisible wounds. The challenges faced during and after deployments, living with these wounds and transitioning to civilian careers highlight the importance of keeping families together within our community and reinforcing the message, 'You are Not Alone.'
To date, we have partnered with 50 local and national nonprofits, providing financial assistance and amplifying their networks. We have raised over $1.2 million in financial and in-kind support for approximately 57 military and first responder charitable organizations. Additionally, Valor has launched partnerships with 12 strategic programs to refine our approach to attracting diverse talent, including veterans and military spouses.
8. What advice would you give to someone looking to follow a similar career path as yours?
Do not worry about figuring out who you want to be when you grow up. Sometimes, the career you envisioned and prepared for does not align with your actual path. It is essential to stay open to opportunities and surround yourself with people and mentors from whom you can learn.
From an early age, I was determined to save the world and work as a diplomat for the United Nations (UN). I still believed that was my calling when I joined the Army at 17 years old. While in the service, I was fortunate to attend college and earn my Bachelor of Arts (BA) in political science and international affairs, with a concentration in comparative politics. I even landed a position as an internal aide for Ban Ki-moon at the United Nations Secretariat in New York, fulfilling my lifelong dream (or so I thought).
During my time at the UN, I became extremely disillusioned with the never-ending bureaucracy and the lack of action. However, I encountered senior military officials who inspired me to pursue a career in Intelligence, ultimately leading me to earn Master of Science of Strategic Intelligence. After retiring from the military, I never considered a career in finance until a recruiter from a competing firm approached me for their global compliance team. My mentor there guided me to Raymond James, where many mentors encouraged me to understand the firm's inner workings, familiarize myself with other departments and their leaders, and focus on my skillset rather than my job title to make the most significant impact.
Life took me on a journey far from my initial aspirations, and I am better for it. As one of my favorite authors, Brandon Sanderson, says, "Journey before destination."
9. What is the best piece of career advice you have ever received, and how has it impacted your professional journey?
The military taught me the importance of allying with friendly forces who will be your champions and support you. I've been fortunate to have great mentors—whom I call my personal Board of Directors—who emphasized serving our local and extended communities. They have guided me in helping others reach their fullest potential, become strong leaders, and seize opportunities for self-improvement.
One crucial piece of advice I always carry with me is to "never ride the elevator alone; always bring someone up with you." I am a firm believe that it is necessary to surround yourself with people who are only interested in hearing your problems once. Your next conversations must be about solutions. Mentorship and having trustworthy individuals around you, enabling you to be vulnerable and uncomfortable without judgment, is some of the best career advice I have ever received. This philosophy shapes how I interact with my team and senior leaders, ensuring I stay true to the type of leader I aspire to be.
10. Lastly, tell us some non-career-related fun facts about yourself!
- I am highly proficient with the M203 Grenade launcher as it was one of my assigned weapons in combat.
- My entire closet is catalogued into an AI fashion closet app, and I virtually pack my closet before every travel.
- My favorite movie of all time is “Inglorious Basterds.”
- I speak five languages: Twi, Italian, English, Spanish, and Arabic
- I love to read fantasy fiction. My favorite fantasy fiction author is Brandon Sanderson.
- I have two Basenji dogs. Basenjis are one of the oldest dog breeds in the world and are hypoallergenic and barkless. However, if they are inconvenienced, they howl and yodel.