Known as the "First Woman of Finance," Muriel "Mickie" Siebert rang the closing bell of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on January 5, 1998 to commemorate her 30 years as a member. She was the first woman to own her own seat and the first to own her own brokerage, Muriel Siebert & Co.

A dentist's daughter from Cleveland, OH, Siebert never graduated from college. Still, by lying about her education, she was able to get a low-level job at a prominent Wall Street firm where she eventually became partner before striking out on her own. In 1967, after being rejected by nine of the first ten men she asked to sponsor her application, Siebert became the first woman to purchase a seat on the NYSE. A decade later, New York Governor Hugh Carey appointed Siebert the first woman New York State Superintendent of Banking, a post she held for five years. After an unsuccessful 1982 bid for a United States Senate seat, Siebert returned to Wall Street, where she became an outspoken critic of business and financial practices.

Throughout her career, Siebert worked on behalf of women in business and politics, donating millions of dollars from her brokerage and securities underwriting business to help other women break into the world of business and high finance. She is a founding member and former president of the Women's Forum, an international women's leadership network, and a member of the Committee of 200, a group of over 445 leading American businesswomen. Siebert was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in 1994.

To see video clips of an interview with Muriel Siebert from the MAKERS project, click here.

Sources: www.siebertnet.com/html/StartAboutMickie.aspx; New York Times, November 6, 1994, February 11, 1996, August 29, 1999.