Kathleen Peace credits her success in the male-dominated financial industry to speaking directly and being able to see the funny side of a situation
Over two decades in the financial industry, Kathleen Peace has developed a passion for helping women to get ahead.
Peace, who is a partner and senior financial consultant with Woodgate Financial, dedicates a majority of her time to championing successful and driven businesswomen.
Spending the first half of her working life on Bay and Wall Streets, which she described as “intimidating, but totally inspiring,” she returned to Toronto to start a family and spend more of her professional life directly helping people, especially women.
“Now I combine my financial prowess and love for building community by acting as a personal CFO and champion to a group of driven, successful women,” she said.
While she spends much of her time helping women, Peace says she enjoys working with men. She says that “speaking directly and maintaining a thick skin and sense of humor” have helped her to get ahead and earn respect from her male colleagues.
While a thick skin can be helpful in a male-dominated boardroom, emotional intelligence can be very useful on the client-side.
“In the advice business, it’s handy to have a high emotional quotient (EQ). I think that in general, women listen better and are more in tune with other people’s emotions. This really helps in terms of creating trusting relationships and relating well to our clients,” said Peace.
Her advice to women looking to pursue a career in finance is simple: “be yourself and don’t worry about what anyone else thinks!”
Peace supports organizations that she cares about, including a girls ‘empowerment club in Swaziland and providing financial guidance to Massey Centre, a community-based mental health organization that supports pregnant and parenting adolescents.
