Wolf Hustle: A Black Woman on Wall Street

Former stockbroker Fabré debuts with a rollicking account of joining Wall Street as a 19-year-old Black woman in the 1990s, when brokers were “alarmingly white and male.” The daughter of Haitian immigrants, Fabré grew up poor in the Bronx with an abusive father. She followed her hardworking mother’s example and found her first hustle selling stolen school lunch tickets; by 18, she was a top salesperson at an optical franchise. Following a tip from a high school classmate, Fabré joined VTR Corporation, an offshoot of Stratton Oakmont (the firm where Jordan Belfort of Wolf of Wall Street infamy made his “debut killing”). Fabré was determined to succeed despite being surrounded by “shameless” men in an environment where drugs and racism were the norm, and became a licensed broker at 20 years old. Fabré recounts the highs and lows in vivid detail—as with descriptions of the unrelenting sexual harassment she faced—and the author’s exuberance is contagious: “I tossed and turned in my little twin bed, too electrified with the knowledge that my life was about to arrow upward in ways that I couldn’t even begin to fathom.” The result is as memorable as it is inspiring. (Sept.)