Zaneilia Harris

Harris & Harris Wealth Management Group

Zaneilia Harris leads Harris & Harris Wealth Management Group, LLC, with a clear focus: guiding executive and professional women through the financial decisions that accompany marriage, divorce and widowhood. As president of the firm, she brings more than 20 years of experience in the financial and accounting industry to clients navigating major life transitions.

Her path into the profession traces back to childhood. Harris watched her grandmother worry about money, and the memory shaped a lifelong curiosity about personal finance. In college, she bought Money magazine each month and committed herself to learning, trusting that repeated reading would eventually yield understanding. The habit turned her into the person friends and family sought out for money questions, and at every job she held before entering the industry, someone urged her to consider becoming a financial adviser. The encouragement felt like a calling, and today, she describes her profession, passion and purpose as aligned.

One early conversation continues to inform her perspective. When Harris was 8 years old, her grandmother asked whether she should take Harris’ father to court for child support. Harris told her no, reasoning that if he was not going to take responsibility, her grandmother should not have to chase him for it. That exchange became her earliest lesson in the value of money, not just in monetary terms but in its ability to provide comfort and stability.

A certified financial planner, Harris is also the author of “Finance ’n Stilettos – Money Matters for the Well-Heeled Woman” and is a former member of the CNBC Financial Advisor Council. Her expertise has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, CNBC, U.S. News & World Report, Forbes, Today Money, Women’s Day, Essence, Black Enterprise, Women’s Wear Daily and PBS. She lives in Prince George’s County with her husband and daughter.

This is an honoree profile from The Daily Record’s Managing Partners awards. Information for this profile was sourced from the honoree’s application for the award. The honoree profiles were written using an artificial intelligence program and supported by honoree nominations, applications and letters of recommendation. Each profile was reviewed, fact-checked and edited for accuracy by The Daily Record’s editorial staff.