Woman of Wall Street - Interview with Georgia Anderson, Founder of Gafnn.com

Welcome to Zing Talk, where Benzinga brings you the biggest names and brightest minds from New York City to Silicon Valley. Today our guest is Georgia Anderson, the mastermind behind Georga Anderson's News Network.

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How ya doing today Georgia?

I'm doing great, thank you! How are you?

I'm doing good. Can you tell us how you got your start in buying and trading?

I'm originally from Italy. I went to law school in Italy, then I decided to move to the United States looking for new opportunities. I got the opportunity to work in finance by chance; I really like it. I work as a Futures and Forex broker, and I worked really hard for three and half years. After that, I wrote a legal book [Technical Analysis For Day Trading Of Forex And Futures], just a beginning guide for Futures and Forex traders. And after that I decided to start my social network, which I really love and enjoy working on.

There's no hiding that the financial sector is very male-dominated, and it's something you talk about on your website, gafnn.com. Could you shed some light on some of the interesting experiences you've had in this industry?

Yes, basically, it's male-dominated, that's why on a bikini picture on my website. I proved my point, that a woman can be feminine and still work in finance and still have something to say. That's what I try to do.

How did all of this culminate as the Georgia Anderson Financial News Network?

You want to know about the Playboy thing? Basically, I posed for Playboy for the Women of Wall Street, and that was just something fun to do. I mean, I enjoyed the experience and everything, [but] it was not my job. Just a one-time experience that I've done. From that I get some media experience and I decided to start something. I also decided to combine the experience I had as a Futures and Forex broker.

Because when I was working and had so many clients to manage, I realized that all these people need to connect and communicate. They're always in front of their computers, and they need to have, at some point, a communication place.

That's why the site does that. We do blogs, we do technical analysis daily, we chart. Sometimes it's really about finance, sometimes we just make some jokes, to relax a little bit from the hard work. And it's coming together very well. It's a lot of hard work to keep it up and make everybody happy, but I just love it. It's great.

Any interesting plans for the network going forward? I know it's seen a lot of growth so far.

Yes, I'm talking with different banks, and I don't want to say the names right now because I'm still negotiating, but I'm gonna have some sponsor coming up soon. And of course, in the website, I have all kinds of members. I have some that are just regular traders, some members that run big companies, and they all share their experiences together. They talk to each other and have questions for those with a lot of experience. We create groups. We're gonna start a chat room. I make more like kind of a Facebook, kind of a friendly environment. A home environment.

I also wanted to talk to you about your book, Technical Analysis For Day Trading Of Forex And Futures. Can you tell us about it?

The book is a very simple manual. It's a very beginning guide. I'm working on a second book that will be more advanced.

But this book is a simple guide – you know how when people are first trading, sometimes they get conned because they don't know what to look for in a broker or where to invest their money. They don't know, sometimes, the basics. So I present the basics in my book. And I give [away] my book for free for the people who want to join my website. New members receive the book as my welcome gift. It's just a big, big community.

Why did you decide to focus your career on Forex and Futures rather than equities or other investments?

It just happened by chance. I had this opportunity – I took the opportunity. I liked the job, I was really good at it, and then I knew about Forex and Futures and went from there. Actually, I want to expand the website more and talk about equities and stocks and different other financial subjects. I started with Forex because that's what I know, but of course I want to expand my knowledge and bring in people who have other knowledge to make it a bigger financial [community].

Give Benzinga listeners one Forex or Futures trading idea going forward over the next few months to a year. Are there any movements you're looking for?

I don't… I'm like off on the side. I put the whole thing together, but I let my trader talk. I don't express my own opinion because I don't think it's ethical. If I were to express my own opinion, I should be a broker, and it should be a different kind of website. I just host a website for traders and investors. And I'm not making any opinion on the market at this time.

What was your first and what was your worst job?

My first job was at university. I was selling soap at a store. And it was a nice job. The worst job was probably… I don't know. But the job I really enjoyed was a Futures and Forex broker. And it was really hard, because I live in LA, on the West Coast, and I was spending a lot of times with the customer, so I had to be up at like 4:30 a.m.

On top of everything I had to translate everything, so basically I had to deal with two languages on top of the other work. That was really stressful. So I won't say it was the worst job, because I got a lot of knowledge and experience out of that. But on the other hand it was pretty hard.

I'll bet you're happy now doing what you're doing.

Yes, I love my company.

What sites do you frequent for news and info on the market?

Benzinga, of course!

What was the best and what was the worst investment that you ever made?

Uh, okay, so the worst investment was my car. It was just wasting money. [Laughs] The best investment, I think, was GAFNN. You know, I think it will be great. It is already great and I want to make it like really big with that, so I want to say that's my best investment.