MaKenna Nichole Cooley
Financial Advisor|ChFC®, CFP®
Get To Know MaKenna:
I currently reside in Utica with my beloved Sheepdoodle and partner. We enjoy cooking, time with friends and re-runs of Law & Order - I mean Olivia Benson? C'mon!
I am originally from Remsen, NY, which is about 30 minutes North of New Hartford/Utica, but Northwestern Mutual found me as an intern at Utica University in 2018. Ever since, I have been growing my practice, my impact, and myself. At the time, I didn't have plans to own my own business or be an advisor, but my lineage is a combination of generational dairy farmers, bankers and stock brokers, so you could say I was destined to be here!
Fun fact: My great grandfather was one of Doris Duke's advisors
Now, my practice serves households in 15+ states and industries spanning: medicine, beauty, tech and (of course) farming. To be the best for my clients, I have spent the last 5 years taking education very seriously. For a while, I was Northwestern Mutual's youngest female CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ Professional, but have also earned my Chartered Financial Consultant (ChFC®).
Building a team to efficiently serve you has also been paramount to my strategy. Please check out Marissa and Maddie's profiles to read more about them.
In addition to my personal practice, am the College Unit Director which means I recruit local students to our internship and teach them how to build an advisory practice. It's extremely important to me that I give students the opportunity to design their future the way I do now.
LET'S GO UU!
Interested in joining our growing firm?
Whether you are a college student looking for your first internship or a member of the community exploring what a new career could bring - give me a shout and I will do whatever I can to help.
Lending a hand in my community.
"The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others."
Mahatma Ghandi
Mohawk Valley Business Women's Network
I became an emergency board member of the group this year as it was facing an uphill battle coming out of the pandemic. Now, the group is thriving! Giving business women locally the opportunity to connect and learn from each other, as well as grow their businesses.
The Pink Fund
In the spirit of financial security, I organize our now annual Breast Cancer Awareness Month Fundraiser for The Pink Fund. A foundation founded by survivor Molly MacDonald, The Pink Fund provides 90 days of financial assistance to women currently in treatment for breast cancer. We call upon our coworkers, our clients, and members of our community to donate and at the end of the week I hand write homemade cards to our survivors.
Everyone Can Play 5k
I am a sponsor of Everyone Can Play 5k, an event founded by my college teammate. The mission: to represent the vision of medical practitioners, health care advocates, and families of those in our community to break stereotypes and facilitate inclusion of individuals with all level of ability.
Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation for Childhood Cancer (ALSF)
ALSF funds cancer research, raises awareness, and supports the families of children with cancer. Since 2012, Northwestern Mutual, its employees, and financial professionals like me have donated more than $20 million to support ALSF and fund over 400,000 research hours.
Beads of Courage
Beads of Courage is an art-in-medicine program that helps kids with cancer tell their unique treatment story through colorful beads that are symbols of their courage.
How Northwestern Mutual helps you live the life you want.
When people feel better about their money, good things happen—they become more confident and feel more secure. For more than 160 years, Northwestern Mutual has helped people achieve the financial flexibility they need to live more and worry less.
Being a mutual company means Northwestern Mutual reports to its clients, not Wall Street. They don't believe in chasing fads or taking undue risk for short-term gains. Instead, they take a long-term approach—both in the way we help people plan to reach their goals, and in the way they do business. This has served their clients (and mine) well through all kinds of economic ups and downs, including wars, recessions, even the recent pandemic.
It's why I'm happy to be part of a company that's in it for the long-haul and prioritizes clients over profit.
