Women in Mortgage: Industry leaders discuss strategies for success
First National vice president of residential sales Elena Robinson (pictured, top left), who spent her early career working across renewals, arrears and tax departments before moving into sales, echoed that message. “You do learn regardless,” she said. “I have no regrets, because even if you make a mistake, you’ll learn from the mistake and it only makes you better.”
Mentorship is advice, sponsorship is opportunity
Another prominent talking point was the gap between ambition and action. “There are people, whether women or men, that actually think something’s going to land in their lap,” said Leanne Conroy (pictured, centre right), regional director of sales at MCAN.
And Robinson highlighted a clear difference between mentorship and sponsorship as a leading industry figure. “Mentorship is for advice, but sponsorship is for opportunities,” she said. “We can mentor someone and give them that advice, but as leaders, we also have to sponsor: see the opportunity, see people that you think you could help with their careers.”
The value of diversity, meanwhile, was also highlighted. “As a leader, my duty is not just to sponsor women, but to sponsor diversity so that you have diverse teams, diverse thought,” Walji said.
