Trading places
Two VCU finance students take the mic at the 2025 Investors Circle for a live interview with Fast Money’s Guy Adami.
By Megan Nash
When VCU Business students share a stage with a Wall Street warrior, they don’t flinch.
Earlier this month, the VCU School of Business held its 2025 Investors Circle at the Commonwealth Club in Richmond — a fireside-style event that brought together donors, alumni and students — where the marquee interview featured two junior finance majors, Natalia Rooks and Caylem Li, in conversation with CNBC’s Guy Adami, best known for his long-running role on Fast Money.
The third-floor drawing room was bright and already full by the time the program began. A small stage stood at the front, set with three armchairs and microphones. Rooks and Li took their seats across from Adami — no notes in hand.
The two had prepared for weeks. Rooks had arrived before the crowd. “I got there really early… I was one of the first people and I was just sitting in the room while no one was there,” she said. “It was such a cool experience. I felt like I had made it.” Li had been home that afternoon, steaming his shirt and adjusting the Windsor knot on his tie with help from a friend. By showtime, both students were ready. They had run the questions, practiced transitions and were prepared for any curveballs.
“I felt calm,” Rooks said. “I knew exactly what was supposed to happen.”
Getting to this moment started months earlier. Last fall, Rooks, Li and then-senior Michael Karapetian — now an alumnus — traveled to New York with a group from the School of Business. The visit, through a partnership program with Robinhood, included a stop at the Nasdaq. As the group passed by the Fast Money set, Karapetian was talking about the show’s panelists — Melissa Lee, Joe Terranova, Guy Adami — when the elevator doors opened.
“We were waiting for the elevator when the Fast Money set walked out — and my jaw kind of dropped,” Karapetian recalled. “He [Adami] was like, ‘What are you looking at?’ And I was like, ‘We literally just said your name.’”
Karapetian struck up a conversation as the rest of the students caught up. They talked about markets, Richmond and how Adami had previously spoken at the University of Richmond. Karapetian took that as a challenge.
By the end of the hallway exchange, Karapetian had Adami’s email. He followed up after the trip. Adami replied. The visit was on.
When he returned to Richmond this spring, Adami joined members of SMIP — the School of Business’ Student Managed Investment Portfolio — for a lunch conversation in Snead Hall. “You can literally ask me anything,” he told the group. “Nothing’s too personal.” The questions came quickly: market cycles, risk management, how to know when to stay with a position.
“It felt like we were talking to someone we had known for a long time,” Li said.
That familiarity carried into the evening. On stage, the conversation moved between current economic conditions and longer-term professional advice. Rooks asked about the Fed. Li followed with a question about AI and sector momentum. Adami answered without hedging.
“AI is important, but I think that’s sort of yesterday’s story,” he said. “I think you’re trying to figure out what the next story is… Part of that, by the way, was sort of the energy play. There’s a lot of these energy companies that nobody ever talked about. It’s extraordinary — they’re trading like internet stocks and biotech stocks because of the use of energy that a lot of these AI companies need.”
He spoke about investor behavior, market clarity and the need to understand one’s limits. “More important than knowing what you’re good at is knowing what you’re not good at,” he said. “When you have money in the market, you become laser-focused on the things you own.”
Throughout the conversation, the two students moved with confidence — listening closely, queuing up follow-ups and keeping the pacing steady. “It felt like seeing the last three years come to fruition,” Li said. “Even a year ago, I wouldn’t have thought I could keep up in a conversation like that.”
Adami stayed after the event to shake hands, chat with attendees and take a few more student questions. One guest — a longtime viewer — shared that she records Fast Money every day. She told him, proudly, that she hasn’t missed an episode in years.
For Rooks, the moment wasn’t just about the stage or the spotlight. “It meant a lot that I was trusted with this opportunity and to represent a small section of VCU,” she said.
Near the end of the evening, Adami was asked what brought him to Richmond in the first place.
“I’m not suggesting I’m saving anybody’s life here,” he said. “That’s not my point. But… if you can make an impact on one person, that’s pretty powerful stuff. So I’m here in the hopes that I’ve made that impact on one person in the room. And if that’s all I’ve accomplished, that’s enough for me.”
Thank you to the VCU School of Business Foundation team and board members, VCU Investment Management Company, generous supporters and the members of the Student Managed Investment Portfolio (SMIP) for your continued commitment to advancing student opportunities and business education.
Categories News