Broking aggregator
FAST has finished its fifth annual Women in Business event series with a continued strong turnout from finance professionals across the country.
Held in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth and Brisbane from 18 July to 3 August, the event saw more than 300 people in attendance. Most of these were women seeking further professional insights around the industry.
This year, the keynote speaker was
Money Magazine editor Effie Zahos who spoke about her two-decade career, common financial questions from consumers, and tips on topics such as maintaining a work/life balance, managing a good work ethic, and knowing your net worth.
FAST’s partnership managers also took the stage to share insights from their own personal experiences. In Sydney, Hien Nguyen spoke of her mother and how kindness and courage can give women an edge in the industry. In Queensland, Susan Kennedy went over the personal challenges she has faced in her professional and personal life.
“Everyone has had their challenges and no doubt we all have more to come. Whilst we make plans and decisions for our futures, unfortunately not everything will run to plan. Step up to the challenge, learn from your mistakes and make the most of what you have,” Kennedy said.
Jason Milne (SA), Kim Pyke (WA) and Natasha Ramantanis (VIC) also shared their views on the changing gender dynamics in broking and how women are progressing in the industry.
A third of FAST’s brokers are now women with more than 80 female brokers joining the network over the past 12 months. This means close to 200 women have joined the aggregator over the past two years.
FAST CEO Brendan Wright said the Women in Business event reinforced the aggregator’s commitment to empowering women in the broking industry.
“We kicked off the FAST Women in Business campaign five years ago to create a real tangible example of our commitment to diversity and we are proud of its ongoing success,” he said.
“The benefit to our industry in having a good representation and balance in gender – as well as ethnicity, experience and thinking - is that we can cater to a broader range of consumer and business owner preferences. This will enable sustainable growth for many years to come.”
Carol Curtis of Curtis Property Investments told
Australian Broker that the Women in Business event was a testament to the training and networking opportunities that FAST offered.
“Having a speaker like Effie Zahos was the highlight of the event. To hear her background, passion and dedication was inspiring. There are a lot of strong women out there and we can learn a lot from their experience.
“I am also glad that in addition to the growing number of women brokers attending this event, there was some attendance from our male counterparts as well – showing tangible support for women in the mortgage industry”.
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