Life's Twists and Turns: Alumna's Journey Leads Her to Newfound Passions and Success
When Olivia Mistichelli graduated from Widener with a psychology degree, financial planning wasn’t on her radar. Today, it’s where she’s found her stride, proving that career journeys can take exciting turns.
- College of Arts & Sciences
Olivia Mistichelli chose Widener because it just felt right. As the world was recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic, Olivia was considering a number of different schools, found an active community at Widener and joined the Pride in the fall of 2021 as a psychology major.
“When I came to Widener I met with Dr. [Luke] Ayers and he was very frank with me,” she said. Her grades were not the best at the beginning of her college career, and she was looking for guidance. After talking with Ayers, Olivia added a minor in cellular and molecular biology to her resume and was on the road to a career in surgical neurophysiology.
As she approached graduation in 2024, Olivia was struggling to find her next step. Unfortunately, she had a job offer rescinded due to a timing misalignment and was getting discouraged about her next move.
“I was feeling a little defeated at graduation when all of my friends had their jobs lined up or were going to graduate school. I felt like everybody else had their plan and their course mapped out but me,” she said. “So that summer I took some time for myself, and I don’t know how else to explain what happened next except fate.”
After graduating from Widener, Olivia went back to her home in New Jersey. She was working a local summer job where she met a customer who would change everything.
“I was working part time at a pool store and that’s where I met my current mentor, Bianca,” she said. “We just clicked.”
Having come in for advice about her swimming pool, Bianca DiFranco, founder of Simple Financial Solutions LLC, connected with Olivia in the store and asked if she offered babysitting services. When they followed up later to discuss Olivia’a potential role, Bianca felt she was overqualified to be babysitting and asked about her career aspirations.
“That’s when the cat kind of came out of the bag that my original career plan didn’t work out. She told me she was looking for some extra help. We agreed that I would shadow her for a bit and I really liked what I saw so she brought me onto her team.”
Olivia currently serves as a registered representative with NYLIFE Securities LLC under Simple Financial Solutions and their affiliated carriers offering financial planning services for all stages of life and business needs.
“We really pride ourselves on our ability to meet with people from all walks of life and tailor to them to help them achieve their financial goals,” Olivia said.
She understands on a personal level just how important financial strategy for business and families can be after her father passed away unexpectedly.
“I lost my father three weeks before moving into college. We owned a family business, and we did not have life insurance or any type of protective planning,” she shared. “I love my job because I’m here to help people and ultimately put things into place so that what happened to me doesn’t happen to others.”
Her ultimate goal is to continue on this path. She’s currently working toward completing the rest of her licensure exams to reach this milestone.
While her original degree was far from her current path, Olivia finds ways to transfer the skills she learned at Widener into practice each day.
“With my background in psychology, I’m observant to pick up on people and their demeanor. I also think that I’m able to approach every problem with logic and that’s the science in me,” she said.
For students who may be facing the same uncertainty that Olivia did, she offers three pieces of guidance: keep showing up, stay in your lane, and remember that everything happens for a reason.
“You never know what tomorrow will bring. If you keep showing up one day at a time, you’ll get 1% better every day and things will work out,” she said. “Everybody is running their own race, and you need to focus on you to cross that finish line.”
