 This experience exposed Mary to professional finance and endowed her with the skills to be an effective negotiator and businesswoman.Using her inherited wealth, Garrett helped found the Bryn Mawr School for Girls in Baltimore, so named to reference the already-popular Bryn Mawr College of Pennsylvania, which focused on scholastic achievement in traditionally male-dominated disciplines, such as mathematics and science.She spent over $500,000 on the construction and decoration of the school, and she supervised much of the construction processes.