5-Star Leading Women in Wealth awardee Danielle Skipp talks about firm’s work to promote gender diversity
During International Women’s day, firms take the opportunity to highlight the importance of gender diversity in professional domains like wealth management. At Nicola Wealth, that is an everyday priority.
Danielle Skipp, Managing Director, Ontario & Chief Legal Officer at Nicola Wealth, recently discussed how the firm actively works to empower women. Skipp was recently named one of Wealth Professional’s 5-Star Leading Women in Wealth. The full interview can be viewed here.
When asked how Nicola Wealth can help empower women in the company and in the wider financial industry, she said, “I believe that if you look back at our numbers over the years and as we’ve grown, we’ve always had a wonderful, fairly evenly-balanced gender diversity … If you look at our advisory side of the business, that’s our financial advisors that work with clients…we have excellent gender diversity.”
Based on conversations with people who have been at the firm from the beginning, Skipp said Nicola Wealth has, since day one, been taking steps to empower and support women as they balance their personal and work lives.
“When a woman advisor, for example, would need to go on a maternity leave, the firm had an excellent system to have another advisor to take over the effort it takes to take care of those clients,” she said. “We have examples of flexible work before Covid started, of women who needed to leave the office at 3 o’clock to get to the after school pick up. [The firm is] always just looking for ways to enable a woman to enable her passion for her career and do the job.”
The firm also recently launched a new initiative to highlight women in leadership, which is not just focused on women working within Nicola Wealth, but also female clients and the supportive men in their lives.
While women may find it difficult or intimidating to build a career in wealth management, Skipp encourages others to follow her lead and take the leap.
“Don’t be afraid to pivot and take the time to be deliberate about what you enjoy at your job and what you don’t. And look for opportunities to do more of what you enjoy,” she said. “Depending on what your natural skills are, what your interests are, go out and speak to as many people as you can…There’s a whole array of things to do within this wealth space.”
To view Wealth Professional’s 5-Star Women in Wealth for 2021, click here.
