Part of Female x Finance's Smart Girl Summer — a series where the women we admire share how they're investing in themselves while everyone else is slowing down.
When we asked Lauren Simmons — who became the youngest full-time equity trader on the NYSE at 22 years old — what she's doing this summer to get smarter, she didn't reach for a reading list. She gave us a philosophy.
"My brand is mind, body, wealth," she told us. "If we can get our mind right, if we can get our body right, then we can get our wealth right. And they are all interconnected." Get one out of balance, and the other two feel it. So this summer, instead of chasing a single hack, she's working all three. Here's how — in her words.
Mind: invest in knowing yourself
"If you want to grow in your career, the only way to do it is to know who you are — foundationally you know yourself better than anyone else, and you know how to optimize who you are you have to continuously fine tune yourself. And that takes constantly being curious"
For Lauren, the single best investment in that work has been therapy. "Therapy has been really helpful, specifically somatic therapy" she says, plainly. She's careful to add that not every therapist is the right fit and it isn't a magic fix, but the act of getting honest with yourself is non-negotiable. "A good therapist doesn’t just let you talk and run the clock, they help you process and push back on your thoughts. By doing so, you then build an entirely new relationship with yourself. "
It's also where her money mindset starts. When she was writing her book, she leaned on self-help over finance titles — Gabby Bernstein, Jen Sincero, Joe Dispenza — to tap into how she viewed her relationship with money.
"How you think about yourself is what you reflect back into the world," she says. For example "So many people say, 'I'm so bad with money.' If you think that, you’re manifesting the wrong thing. Say I'm consistently getting better with money instead and the rest will follow." When you have that confidence you are limitless.
Her summer prompt for you: What is my actual relationship with money? Treat it like any relationship worth keeping healthy — the same building blocks you'd use with a boss, a friend, a partner.
Body: your temple is your engine
Lauren is intentional about how she treats her body — and intentional is the word she insists on. "I'm intentional with what I eat. I work out. But I also have balance. Have the burger, have your fun."
The point isn't restriction; it's awareness. "For some people, when they're sad, they eat. Okay — so when we're sad, what can we redirect that into? Maybe more mindfulness, more journaling, more stillness, a walk." For others, the impulse is to shop. Same principle: notice it, give it a beat before you act on it.
Her movement of choice is unfussy: Pilates, cardio, laps in the pool, hiking when it isn't too hot. Nothing performative. "Your body is your temple," she says. "It's the thing that lets you create and manifest everything you want — so we don't want to wear it down."
And there's a feedback loop she's certain of: when you feel good in your own skin, you carry yourself differently. "Shoulders back, calm, aligned — that's what shows up in your career, your finances, all of it."
The workout schedule she follows usually change week by week. But here is an example:
Monday: Full-body strength with bands—banded RDLs, banded squats, banded lunges, and core work, finishing with 5–10 minutes of light cardio if you feel good.
Tuesday: Pilates to focus on mobility, core strength, and recovery.
Wednesday: Lower body and glutes with 10-15 pound weights, finishing with short intervals like burpees, brisk walking, or cycling.
Thursday: Rest or an easy walk and stretching if your body wants movement.
Friday: Upper body and core with 5-10 pound weights, ending with 10–15 minutes of moderate cardio. (ex: laps, high knees, weighted jumping jacks)
Saturday: Full-body functional workout combining strength and cardio in circuits at an intensity that matches how you feel that day.
Sunday: Complete rest, gentle stretching, or a leisurely walk to recover and reset.
Keep workouts between 20–45 minutes, and let how your body feels guide the intensity so you stay consistent without overdoing it.
Wealth: freedom, not a finish line
Asked Lauren to define wealth and she won't give you a number. "Wealth is subjective to the person. For me, it's freedom, and it's experiences. That's just what it is."
She's deeply pro-investing, but allergic to the idea that one path makes you "smart."
"People want a blueprint: check box A, B, C and you're a millionaire. If it were really that simple, wouldn't everyone be doing it? If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is." Her bigger worry is the people who defer everything. "Sure, invest, grow your money. But if I have to wait twenty years to be a millionaire — and then what? What do you even do with it then? You can have balance. Take an expensive vacation. Buy the dress. With balance."
And on getting good with money in the first place, she's refreshingly honest: "Honestly, to be good with money, you kind of have to be a little bad with it first." She remembers checking her account in college and seeing red numbers — the mini panic attack, the promise to herself: I never want this feeling again. That's the lesson. You make the mistake once or twice, and it recalibrates you.
One practical rule she lives by now that has changed from previous interviews is the impulse buys: the 30-day test. "I'll buy the thing because in the moment my mind wants it. But if I'm not reaching for it within the return window, I don't need it — back it goes. No question." It even resets the craving: Oh, I have it. Oh, I actually don't want it.
Best buy this year: floor tickets to see Olivia Dean at MSG in New York. Butter yellow Chanel Coco handle. Medical grade red light therapy machine (helps so much with body recovery and sleep :)
Her one piece of forward-looking advice
If she had to point women toward one thing to future-proof a career, it's this: lean into AI, and lean into entrepreneurship. "I don't think AI is going anywhere — too much money is going into it. Whatever skills you can acquire inside your company right now, acquire them. But the job market is going to keep evolving, so building something of your own matters more than ever."
Lauren's Smart Girl Summer, in a sentence: Get your mind right (do the inner work), get your body right (treat it as your engine, not your enemy), and get your wealth right (define it as freedom, then live like it). They're not three projects. They're one.
