Private equity can be a cut-throat business, but when it comes to a worthwhile cause that competitive nature can be used for a lot of good.
For the past three years, New York's private equity elite have gathered at Madison Square Garden for the Play Like a Pro Charity Hockey Game in memory of YouTube star and honorary CoverGirl spokesperson Talia Castellano, who lost her battle with cancer at age 13.
Talia's Dad, Marc Winthrop, took his passion for hockey and decided it was time to mobilize Wall Street for a cure to the disease that took his little girl.
Winthrop's private equity peers now come out in droves to play on the ice of the NY Rangers while raising money for the cause.
Since his organization — The Band of Parents – began, the group has become the largest private funder of neuroblastoma research at Memorial Sloan-Kettering hospital. With the help of MSG's Garden of Dreams organization, this year's Play Like a Pro Hockey Game raised over $80,000 and is now an annual tradition in Talia's honor.
Talia gained fame with her beauty tutorials on You Tube and continued to make them even after she discovered she had cancer.
Talia's story went viral after she appeared on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show." DeGeneres surprised the tween by announcing that CoverGirl was making her a spokesperson. Talia's social media following exploded and America fell in love with her.
So now, her Dad keeps her memory alive and advances towards a cure by reaching into the wallets' of New York's elite on the ice. But it's no hard sell. Turns out Wall Street does have a heart.
— CNBC's Grant Hill contributed to this report.