No Backing Down: My Story of Suing One of the Largest Investment Firms in the World and Winning
By Tameron Keyes, a Memoir
An Account of surviving Sexual Discrimination and Harassment
Book Excerpt
Apparently, after being chewed up by our compliance manager and not getting any satisfaction, the client called the broker involved one last time. The broker put the client on speaker phone for all his buddies to hear. While the client rambled on pleading and crying, the broker literally put the receiver down and started talking to his neighbors as if the client wasn’t pleading on the phone. The broker thought he was a funny, tough guy. My desk was close by so I saw and heard it all. The client was literally in tears. I heard a grown man crying on the phone. The broker had shystered and humiliated the client, yet the company stood behind him. The broker had won, the client hung up defeated. The broker laughed, high-fived his friends and called the client a “fag.” He was ecstatic and literally danced in the aisle. Lot’s of burned clients were called “pussies” or “fags.”
5.0 out of 5 Stars
“Must-read, brutally honest tale of one woman’s fight against the machine”
5.0 out of 5 Stars
“Well written and thought-provoking”
5.0 out of 5 Stars
“Striking down biases- story of a strong woman”
5.0 out of 5 Stars
“Brave, Detailed Account of Finance Industry at its Worst”
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“Couldn’t put this book down”
5.0 out of 5 Stars
“Compelling real life story on how one woman’s strength helped to change a corporate giant”
Originally, I wrote my memoir No Backing Down to put it out into the world what really happens when women must deal with sexual discrimination. I thought that unless they’ve gone through it themselves, people don’t really understand, so I wanted to tell them. It’s not easy and nobody goes through what I went through willingly. Eventually, I was presented with the chance to sue within a larger lawsuit, so I filed a claim for sexual discrimination. My ability to persist in my career was because of the emergence of the lawsuit and the domino effect it had on the financial service industry.
Thousands of women were ultimately involved. I was the first woman to win and after I won, I stayed with the company. The company then settled with most of the other women who agreed to sign confidentiality agreements. After staying for more than three years I realized that I had a voice, not just for women in the financial services industry, but for most women because so many of us experience the same treatment regardless of our work.
I remain a financial advisor in Beverly Hills, California. You can check me out on Linkedin.