Niko Candido learned pressure long before he ever sat across from a finance interviewer. At Wesleyan, he carried the responsibility that comes with playing quarterback and serving as a team captain, a role that demanded constant preparation, fast adjustment, and the ability to keep a group steady when momentum swings. Today, that same mindset underpins a path that has moved from an Economics major with a Data Analysis minor, to private equity work at MedEquity Capital, to an MSc in Finance at Durham University while continuing to compete as a student-athlete, and soon to TD Securities full time as an analyst on the Equity Capital Markets Biotech team in New York.
To be a Quarterback, Candido says, is often described as decision-making under pressure, but the deeper lesson is mental training. It is teaching your brain to adapt when conditions change, to focus when the noise rises, and to operate with clarity when the picture in front of you is not the one you expected. A week of practice can mean thirty hours of reps, film, and preparation for specific defensive looks, only for a defense to line up differently on game day. That is where the position becomes less about the perfect plan and more about building the habit of rapid recalibration. See it, process it, communicate it, and move. The snap clock does not pause, and neither can you.
That mental side, he explains, is inseparable from leadership. A quarterback cannot function without trust, and a captain has to build it intentionally. Candido describes leadership as something earned in small moments, not only in speeches or big games. It is the simple act of acknowledging teammates you do not talk to often, asking how they are doing, and creating a sense that everyone is seen. Over time, those short conversations become relationship equity, and relationship equity becomes the glue that holds a team together when stress hits. He has carried that same approach into finance recruiting and internships, where the work is technical but success still depends on credibility, communication, and the ability to build real working relationships quickly.
One of the most defining moments in his Wesleyan career was not a win. Candido remembers his junior year finale as the worst game of his life and, in the immediate aftermath, he worried it would follow him permanently. Instead, it became a pivot point. He leaned into tools like meditation and visualization as methods of rebuilding confidence and controlling attention. The takeaway was not that a bad performance disappears, but that you can decide what it becomes. In athletics, you learn to reduce a mistake to what it is, one moment, then reset for the next. Candido sees that as a professional skill as much as an athletic one, especially in competitive recruiting cycles where rejection and imperfection are part of the process.
Academically, Candido credits Wesleyan with giving him a foundation that was broader and more rigorous than he fully realized at the time. He describes the economics and data analysis curriculum as different from a typical business track because it forces you to think across systems and support claims with evidence. Macroeconomics in particular sparked his interest in markets, because it helped him understand how inflation, unemployment, and interest rates push and pull on each other in ways that shape everyday life. The data analysis minor added another layer. Learning tools like R and using regression models and summary statistics taught him how to turn messy information into clear arguments. At Durham, that training became real. In a curriculum built around finance theory, derivatives, econometrics, and risk, he says he felt a full circle moment when he realized the technical foundation from Wesleyan was helping him keep pace.
His decision to move to the UK for a master's degree was not automatic. Many of his peers were stepping into full-time jobs, but Candido wanted more technical depth and a new environment that would sharpen him. Family and mentors helped him see the opportunity in the leap: a chance to re-enter recruiting at a higher level, keep competing with less external pressure, and grow personally by stepping outside his routine. The biggest academic adjustment was self-discipline. Without the same steady cadence of graded assignments, the pressure shifts inward and you have to hold yourself accountable across the semester. Socially, he had to build a community from scratch. Athletically, training required more self-direction and consistency, even when the schedule felt less structured than it did in the U.S.
Within the program, Candido identifies advanced financial theory and financial risk management as the most difficult topics he has faced so far. His strategy mirrors how teams win seasons. You cannot fixate on the entire mountain at once. You focus on the next rep, the next concept, the next small improvement, and you stack progress until it becomes momentum. For him, that approach is also the best way to handle doubt. When the work gets hard, the mind tries to talk you out of believing you belong. The antidote is consistency and learning to win small battles daily.
That same mindset shaped his private equity experience at MedEquity Capital, where he worked on sector research, investment theses, and diligence in a small healthcare-focused team. Early on, he was thrown into high-level work immediately. The expectation was clear: do research independently, bring questions, and learn fast. The experience changed his view of professional growth. The learning curve is steep, but it becomes manageable when you accept you will not know everything immediately, and when you give yourself permission to work hard, ask questions, and keep going.
When Candido explains why he chose Equity Capital Markets, he frames it as a search for balance. ECM sits at the intersection of markets and relationships, with work shaped daily by macro conditions, sentiment, and timing. Biotech appealed because it is dynamic and volatile, but also meaningful. Capital raised can fuel innovation that improves lives, and the sector rewards curiosity and preparation. For Wesleyan student-athletes who want to follow a similar path, Candido's advice is practical. Read consistently to build fluency. Network even if it feels awkward at first. Do technical reps through prep and mock interviews. Most importantly, keep going through the no's. His story is a reminder that the athlete toolkit travels. Adapt, communicate, do the work, and take the next snap.