In this article from Mattioli Woods, five women share the investments that shaped their careers. This feature is part of our coverage to mark International Women’s Day (IWD), which takes place on Sunday 8th March. Here on Wealth DFM, we’re highlighting not only at the gender gap when it comes to careers in the investment profession, but also when it comes to investing amongst the general public.
A mentor once told me that careers rarely move forward in straight lines. They move forward because someone, somewhere, decides to open a door.
Sometimes it’s a colleague who stays late to help you prepare for an exam. Sometimes it’s a manager who sees potential before you see it yourself. Sometimes it’s simply someone who refuses to let circumstance shrink your ambition. That idea sits at the heart of what we mean by give to gain.
This International Women’s Day, we asked women from across our business – at different stages of their careers and with very different stories – to reflect on the people and moments that shaped them. From first roles to leadership positions, from philosophy lecture halls to investment committees, a common thread quickly emerged. The most important investments in a career are rarely financial. They are the moments someone backs you, challenges you, or creates the conditions for you to grow.
Finance is often described as a transactional industry. The women in this piece tell a different story – one built on belief, sponsorship, resilience and relationships. Five women. Five different journeys. One shared conviction:
When people invest in one another, the returns compound in ways no spreadsheet can fully capture.
Finding your feet
Bal Kaur, Graduate Financial Adviser
Bal’s entry into financial advice arrived alongside what she calls “a perfect storm”: a failed final exam while most of her cohort passed, a wedding, and a relocation – all at once. What followed surprised her. “My cohort was genuinely upset I hadn’t passed with them. They immediately offered to help me study and share their strategies.” Her managers treated the upheaval not as a distraction but as part of building a sustainable career. Her mentor, whose wife worked full-time while they raised children, understood this balance personally, and guided her on not just technical skills, but how to navigate the full picture.
“That’s how give-to-gain compounds”, she says. “Each person who receives support becomes someone who extends it forward.”
The courage to belong
Josie Turi, Financial Adviser
Josie came to London from Italy to build her career – navigating not just a new profession, but a new culture and a city that rewards projected certainty even when you don’t feel it. “I know what it feels like to question whether you belong”, she says. What she found, though, was that the natural skills she’d built through the course of her life, resilience, empathy, listening before leading, mapped directly onto what good financial advice requires.
The most valuable thing she’s received in her career isn’t technical knowledge, but rather belief. A senior colleague trusted her with responsibility before she felt ready, and that experience now shapes how she shows up for others. Her message to the industry is direct: “We need more sponsorship, not just mentorship.” Mentorship offers guidance, sponsorship opens doors.
“When women give belief, opportunity and knowledge to one another, we don’t diminish ourselves. We multiply our impact.”
The unconventional path
Lauren Hyslop, Fund Manager
Few would have predicted a career in investments for Lauren – an artistic child, resistant to convention, who read philosophy at university. It turned out to be the perfect preparation. “Philosophy teaches you to interrogate assumptions, follow an argument to its conclusion, and tolerate uncertainty without losing rigour. Those are rather useful skills when assessing a VCT or an EIS opportunity.”
Her advice to anyone starting out is characteristically direct: be ruthlessly honest about what you actually want, not what social media has quietly convinced you that you should. “My career only began to flourish when I stopped editing out the inconvenient parts – the creativity, the independence, the unconventional thinking – and let them work for me.”
“Finance doesn’t come in one shape. Neither do the people who work in it.”
Leading with purpose
Saira Chambers, Managing Director of Employee Benefits
There were few female role models in the 1990’s when Saira first joined financial services, but she was fortunate to have some great managers in her early career who recognised her potential. One of these went so far as to greet her with “Right, we really need to get you on the consultancy ladder now – no excuses” on her first day back from maternity leave! Despite having some real challenges with her second child, who was diagnosed with a disability soon after her return, Saira’s manager continued to give her the support and encouragement she needed to stay in work.
Work soon became the safe haven where she could fulfil her potential, in spite of all the things happening at home. The experience inevitably helped shaped her approach to managing people.
Saira feels her success as a leader is inextricably linked to looking after people; nurturing amazing talent while challenging people to believe in themselves and succeed, but also recognising that from time to time, life happens and sometimes you must take time out to deal with it.
Having spent over 35 years in this sector, little has changed at a senior management level, and she often still joins meetings where she is the only, or one of very few women in the room. “But I recognise that I’m there for a reason. I’ve earned it, and I know I have the respect of my colleagues.” What drives her now is ensuring that, irrespective of gender, everyone can achieve the same seat. That for her feels like the best way to leave her mark.
A legacy of trust
Dominique Vinecombe, Managing Director of Wealth Planning
As the third generation to lead her family’s advice business before joining the MW Group, Dominique has always understood this profession in terms of relationships, not transactions. “I’ve gained something invaluable: clients’ trust, a seat at the family table, and the role of a strategic partner bridging generations.” What she gives is time and energy. What she gains are relationships that last a lifetime.
When she started out, finding another woman adviser was rare. Today, nearly half her office’s advisory team are women. “Financial advice is a wonderful career for women – it rewards empathy, communication, and an ability to juggle multiple priorities.” She has raised two sons without missing a school play or sports day and encourages colleagues to do the same. “A healthy balance between professional purpose and family life makes us better advisers and better human beings. That’s the legacy I hope to pass on.”
Five women. Five very different routes. The same conviction: that this industry, at its best, is one where investing in people pays the highest returns of all. None of that happens by accident. It happens because people choose it – and because the people who were chosen, choose it in turn.
That is give to gain. And it compounds.
