In an age of economic disarray, financial uncertainty and a stock market meltdown, the financial world is turning to a former Fairfield Stag to lead it through this financial fog into the promised land of prosperity.
Carmen Wong Ulrich, Fairfield ’92, has found her niche as the host of CNBC’s ‘On the Money,’ a new, one-hour personal finance program which provides personalized actionable information that will ‘give you the ammunition you need to power through these volatile times,’ according to show publicist Beth Goldman.
Ulrich graduated Fairfield with a double major in psychology and art history, then spent time working in Santiago, Chile, before launching herself head-first into the media world.
‘I worked at an auction house after Fairfield, but decided that art should be a hobby, not a career,’ Ulrich said in an exclusive interview with The Mirror. ‘My first print media job was with Money Magazine, but I wrote columns for different magazines and that helped me get my foot in the door of the media world.’
Ulrich has written financial columns for Glamour magazine, as well as a wealth column for Men’s Health. After stepping down as an editor at Money, Ulrich wrote a book called ‘Generation Debt: Take Control of your Money.’
‘After I wrote the book, I was doing a lot of appearances on television in order to promote it,’ she said. ‘Those different appearances got me some eyeballs. I definitely would have never gotten strictly as a writer. After being told I was a good fit on the screen, I decided to stick with it.
‘Being on television was a lifelong dream of mine,’ she said. ‘Everything happens for a reason, and the chain of events in my life gave me the opportunity to be where I am now.’
Ulrich grew up in Manhattan and after graduating from Fairfield, she received a master’s degree in psychology from Columbia University and established herself in the business world.
She said while the art history half of her major turned into a hobby, her knowledge of the human mind helps her on an everyday basis.
‘Having an understanding of psychology is very helpful to me,’ Ulrich said. ‘It is very good to be able to understand people when my job is to help them make sound financial decisions.’
Ulrich agreed that in this current market, people are very open to financial advice, and said she thinks we might be in the midst of a financial downturn for sometime.
‘Whether the economy is up or down, we will never be able to go back to a time when we didn’t have to worry about our savings,’ she said. ‘People have to be educated about their 401K’s, their money market accounts, and everything else concerning their financial futures.’
Ulrich said she believed the recent $700 billion government bailout of Wall Street was necessary because the country was running out of out options.
‘Something definitely had to be done,’ she said. ‘Wall Street was in need of some aid, but I think average people are the key to the success. We have to provide them with applicable information about their finances to help them avoid foreclosures and stay out of debt.’
During her time at Fairfield, Ulrich said there were two faculty members whom she still remains in contact with currently.
Professors Ronald Davidson of religious studies, and Katherine Schwab, the director of the art history department, both helped her discover and celebrate her capabilities, she said, and still keeps in contact with her to this day despite all of her success.
‘We try to stay in touch with many of our Art History alumni, and it is very clear that the quality of their education at Fairfield has helped them chart paths in a wide variety careers, both in the visual arts area as well as outside of it,’ said Schwab.
‘Carmen’s intelligence, initiative and drive, exemplified as a student, are key traits which have helped her along the way.’
Ulrich’s success is also seen by others in the Fairfield community as a lesson for current students.
Fr. Jim Mayzik, director of the New Media program at Fairfield, said he thinks it is great that graduates can have such success in the media world, and was excited for her even though she was never a part of the new media major.
‘It’s exciting to watch one of our own Fairfield alumnae rise to national exposure in the broadcast media,’ he said.
‘Carmen provides a great example to our hopeful New Media and Communications majors who aspire to a career on television broadcast news.’
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