Ethel J. Davis founded VZD Capital Management, LLC, in 2012, starting the firm from her two-bedroom apartment in Leawood, Kansas. Earlier that year, after an unexpected termination, she decided to establish an independent registered investment advisory firm. She sought advice from two local women who owned wealth management firms, asking what it took to start one. Their experiences helped her see the disparities between white entrepreneurs and minority-owned start- ups, particularly how access to funding is not always equal. Many start-ups with substantial capital benefited from affluent families, inherited assets, and credit lines from various lenders. A woman might own 51 percent of a business while a white man held the remaining ownership. Although this qualified the business as woman-owned for designation purposes, the man might also be the funding source that helped get it off the ground. Ethel, by contrast, used her savings to launch the company without commercial lending and was grateful to remain debt-free apart from rent and utilities.
A Beginning in Journalism
At Allen County Community College, Davis served as editor-in-chief of the college newspaper before continuing her journalism studies at the University of Kansas (KU). She aspired to become an African American Barbara Walters. Though she wrote many obituaries, she would have preferred to interview the individuals herself rather than piece together their stories from third-party sources. The assignments she received did not always match the work she had envisioned, and writing obituaries made Davis question whether journalism would be her long-term career. She began to take an interest in financial and investment publications. After reading a story about James Stowers Sr. and his early work in mutual funds, Davis arranged a tour of American Century Tower. The visit offered her a firsthand look at the investment industry and became an important step in her decision to enter financial services. American Century was one of Davis’s early career stops. The firm was small enough that she could ask Mr. Stowers questions and learn about his background and how he built a nationally recognized mutual fund empire. Davis later worked at Fidelity Investments, Charles Schwab & Co., Inc., and Paragon Capital Management, LLC, gaining experience across several areas of investment management. Over the years, she earned her Series 6, 63, and 7 securities licenses, laying the technical foundation for the independent advisory practice she would eventually establish.
Choosing Independence: Owning Myself
Starting her own firm gave her a deeper understanding of the uncertainty professionals face when their careers depend on an institution. For those accustomed to a steady paycheck, the move to self-employment can feel overwhelming and frightening. Entrepreneurship required Davis to oversee operations, compliance, business development, client retention, investment management, and marketing. Ethel wanted VZD to be a different kind of boutique firm—one that sends handwritten birthday cards each month and treats everyone like family, not just clients. She distinguishes the firm from larger institutions by giving clients highly personalized attention. Each day, she wears many hats, monitoring and rebalancing accounts while conducting technical and fundamental research. Ethel rejects a one-size-fits-all approach. Because every client is unique, portfolios should reflect their standard of living, financial objectives, emotional risk tolerance, and tax considerations, helping them feel comfortable in any market. Clients appreciate these customized portfolios and the opportunity to participate in the investment process by sharing their goals, wealth considerations, multigenerational wealth, and legacy-building plans. “Independence gave me the freedom to build a firm around the kind of client relationship I believe in.” Davis recalls that she could work for someone else and let them hold her future hostage, or take a leap of faith and become her own boss. As she built the business, she worked at a local Starbucks while establishing vendor relationships, setting up systems, and identifying prospective clients. Without the infrastructure of a large institution, she still had to meet the practical demands of building an advisory firm. Davis had to make decisions that would grow the business while maintaining standards and relationships and establishing an environment as she began hiring colleagues. The Registered Investment Advisory environment is ever-changing, so she attends seminars and workshops to stay abreast of changes that affect her firm. One of her biggest challenges was learning that not everyone would see or appreciate her work. value. She laughs at some clients who call her after hours, and sometimes she answers, thinking it’s an emergency. She then wonders how many Corporate Portfolio Managers would answer their phones on a Sunday afternoon or respond to a text at any time of night. Becoming an entrepreneur doesn’t happen overnight; you have to be open to making mistakes, take ownership, keep an open mind to learn from your past, and keep moving forward. Plus, you have to laugh throughout the journey so you don’t cry all the time.
A Fiduciary: Clients Come First
Wealth management operates in a highly regulated environment designed to protect investors from fraud and misrepresentation. As fiduciaries, we put clients’ interests first by preparing ADV Part 2A and 2B brochures that describe the firm and provide information about the Owner and Investment Advisors. For registered investment advisors, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) fiduciary framework includes duties of care and loyalty. Advisors are expected to act in their clients’ best interests and address material conflicts of interest, rather than put their own interests ahead of their clients’. The fee-based, discretionary model reflects VZD’s broader commitment to transparency, high ethical standards, and client-focused investment management. For Davis, responsibility goes beyond compensation: her success depends on her clients’ success. She takes time to understand each client’s financial circumstances, identify potential conflicts, and hear their concerns and values, ensuring investment decisions support their objectives and long-term goals. This principle guides every client relationship. Before recommending an investment strategy, she considers the client’s standard of living and what their legacy means to them. She also reviews existing investments, family involvement, business interests, tax considerations, estate planning, and philanthropic initiatives. She describes her role as a “financial physician.” Just as people visit a physician with symptoms, wealth managers must look beyond the surface to uncover the root cause. A physician must understand a patient’s condition before deciding on treatment. Davis applies the same approach to investment management, taking time to understand the circumstances surrounding a client’s assets before deciding how to manage them.
Money Momma Versus Ethical Ethel
One client nicknamed Ethel “Money Momma” after she helped the family manage a concentrated position, advised them on buying and selling a new home, uncovered assets, minimized taxes, and handled estate planning. The nickname reflects her personal approach to clients’ finances and her care for each client’s financial health. Another client calls her “Ethical Ethel” because she makes compliance standards her top priority in everything she does. She won’t let clients take shortcuts that conflict with her compliance process. VZD focuses on customized investment management, not models, predetermined portfolios, or commission-based products. The firm intentionally keeps its client base controlled, serving fewer than 37 households and managing approximately $53 million in assets. Davis supports a controlled model because she believes, “We will never compromise the client’s experience by taking on more clients than we can handle.” This statement links capacity to responsibility. VZD seeks to balance growth between client acquisition and capital appreciation of its assets. The firm’s primary investment process follows a bottom-up, growth-at-a-reasonable-price (GARP) approach, assessing the price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio, debt-to-equity ratio, institutional ownership, beta, and price-earnings-growth ratio. Portfolio performance is benchmarked against the S&P 500. Ethel continuously monitors Gross Domestic Product (GDP), inflation, the Consumer Price Index (CPI), economic conditions, and unemployment to develop action plans for client reviews and support portfolio rebalancing. A 2025 U.S. Government Accountability Office review found that, in 2022, 61 minority- and women-owned asset management firms managed about 3 percent of total externally managed assets across five of the nine federal plans selected for review. VZD’s identity adds another dimension to Davis’s work: the firm identified itself as a registered investment advisory firm that was 100 percent African American- and female-owned. This representation stands out in an industry where minority- and women-owned asset managers still account for a relatively small share of the market. The financial arena remains a “white male-dominated industry.” Ethel notes that women’s wealth has grown, along with their financial independence, control over assets, and shifting investment priorities. Higher education, entrepreneurship, and the ongoing Great Wealth Transfer are driving this transformation and reshaping the financial landscape. However, we still have a long way to go to level the playing field for other minorities and underserved communities. Until financial literacy is mandatory in every school, how can we expect younger generations to make savvy financial decisions?
Giving Back: Reach One and Teach One
For Davis, diversity is tied to the communities a financial firm can reach and educate. VZD provides customized workshops, financial seminars, coaching, consulting, and estate planning. The firm helps consumers recognize investment fraud and scams, research their financial professionals’ backgrounds, and understand financial decisions before committing their assets. Unfortunately, Ponzi schemes and elder abuse are on the rise, so financial advisors must remain closely involved to identify red flags early and help prevent investors from becoming victims. Financial education is essential for investors who may not yet have the assets required to meet a firm’s minimum for working with a financial advisor. Ethel has found it challenging to encourage other professionals to pursue careers in wealth management. After many of the people she mentored failed to succeed, she created an “Executive Mentoring” program to give committed individuals access to training and the opportunity to learn the industry from the ground floor to the penthouse. Her first candidate, Nikisha L. Johnson, became the firm’s Senior Vice President within four years. Nikisha’s progression illustrates the firm’s proactive approach to succession planning. Leadership development is taking place within the business, rather than being postponed until unforeseen circumstances make a transition necessary. Shane Bobo, a graduate of Rockhurst High School and the University of Kansas (KU), is the firm’s second hire. During his senior year at KU, he reached out to the firm about an internship—and the rest is history. With a background in finance and economics, he hopes to grow within the firm and become a successful wealth manager and senior executive. He is passionate about helping athletes of all ages build financial literacy and create a financial roadmap before turning pro in their respective sports.
The Meaning Behind VZD Capital Management, LLC
VZD stands for Vergie and Zether Davis, who adopted Ethel when she was five days old. Both passed away before Ethel founded the firm, but she chose its name to honor their memory and thank them for investing in her. She is proud of the name and carries forward the values and lessons they taught her early in life. Family legacy is central to the firm’s philosophy: VZD helps clients build wealth that can span generations. Her parents encouraged her to pursue a college education, strive for excellence in everything she does, remember that as an African American woman she may have to work harder than most to succeed, and always put God first. These principles guide how she works with clients and develops people within the organization.
The Next Generation of Leaders at VZD
Davis’s journey extends beyond the termination she remembers with the words, “She has the goals, but God has the plan.” She laughs about starting the business in her bedroom and making Starbucks her second office. She never imagined VZD Capital would grow into the respected company it is today. Ethel is grateful for the journey and believes the best is yet to come. For Davis, wealth has always meant putting people before numbers. Though the name comes from Vergie and Zether Davis, Ethel J. Davis built the business from the ground up, breaking the chains to establish a Registered Investment Advisory firm. Ethel doesn’t see herself retiring anytime soon, but believes everyone should have their affairs in order. She still has speeches to give, books to write, and VZD to grow into a first-class firm, brick by brick. .