03.27.24

Own Your Smarts: Women’s Networking Lunch Facilitates Deep Discussions

by: BISA Staff

Women in the financial industry gather to share experiences and advice at the BISA Annual Convention each year. This year’s Women’s Networking Lunch brought together more than 100 professionals and highlighted the inspiring perspectives of Jane-ellen Porter, Angela Holliday and Pamela Dawson. 

Turning Imposter Syndrome Into Strength

Andrea Sakomoto from Symetra, the networking experience’s sponsor for the fifth year in a row, led the first conversation of the lunch with Jane-ellen Porter of Wilmington Advisors at M&T, asking about her approach to navigating imposter syndrome over her multi-decade career. 

For Porter, imposter syndrome is asking, “Am I good enough?” She believes most women ask themselves this question at one point or another. While she isn’t sure if she has “overcome it,” she has learned to use it as a strength. 

Often in her career, Porter has been in board rooms filled with men. This can contribute to a feeling of imposter syndrome, even in simple things like those Monday morning football discussions, where not everyone was involved in the conversation. She learned to approach this by bringing new perspectives into the conversation — such as talking about a commercial she enjoyed — and carried this strategy throughout her career. It was during those meetings she realized she was really smart — just as smart as the men in the room. 

“I’ve taken that insecurity, figured out how to deal with it and made it a strength.”

Another part of the picture is imposter syndrome outside of work, with Porter often feeling she needed to be “super mom” to her children, and when looking back, realized she overcompensated. Ten years ago, her boss pulled her into an office to talk about succession planning, asking her to lead, but Porter shared she wasn’t sure if she could because she had two kids at home, and didn’t know enough. Her boss emphasized the importance of building a team around you who will support you.

Porter and Sakomoto reflected on how the post-pandemic world has afforded women new flexibility, allowing them to show other parts of themselves in the workplace. Now, it’s possible and even normalized to take work calls from the school pickup line.

Navigating Toxic Masculinity

Jermaine Perrien, from Symetra and a BISA DE&I Committee member, joined the stage of women to ask Angela Holliday of Frost about her recent experiences with toxic masculinity in the workplace.

Holliday has often experienced marginalization related to her gender and race — even now, as president of her company. Throughout her career, she’s experienced the expectation to work harder and smarter than her male counterparts, and that the consequences for failure seemed stiffer. “I have to be magical, while you can be mediocre,” she summarized. Despite having been in the industry for 27 years, Holliday is still regularly “tested” by people asking for double or triple proof of her expertise. 

These experiences sparked her interest in the “why” behind this. She realized men who expect women to behave in certain traditional ways may struggle to navigate a work relationship with those who subvert those expectations by holding “traditional male roles” like head of the company. This can lead to toxic behaviors. 

For example, Holliday was recently described as “too direct” by a male colleague in a lower position. She had to reflect on this comment, and ultimately realized it was coming from a place of insecurity. Complaints like this may stem from a man feeling threatened that a woman could know more than them about a topic, or because they feel entitled to a role or a position a woman is in. When a woman is in a leadership position, especially in the male-dominated financial industry, the perceived “traditional” dynamic is flipped. 

Through years of coaching, Holliday has learned vulnerability about these topics is key as a leader. She feels confident asking someone about their reactions, coming to the table and trying to understand what those insecurities are. In this instance, her vulnerability opened the door to conversations and strengthened the relationship on both sides.

It’s not about bashing men but about understanding what could be contributing to their reactions, Angela explained. There’s enough room for everybody at the table — a man does not have to fit the “strong boss” role to be a valuable member of the team.  

For someone dealing with a similar situation, Holliday advises having confidence and trust in yourself — “We shy away from saying ‘I am smart’ out loud and owning it” she shared. She advises women to have those conversations and be vulnerable. For allies, she recommends showing support. In the situation Holliday recently experienced, she was able to go to men on her team and trust their candid perspectives on her leadership style. “We can all learn from each other,” she said. “It’s not men against women — the workplace is about everyone.”

Life Lessons From an Industry Great

Sakomoto interviewed Pamela Dawson, U.S. Bank, about her career journey, filled with twists and turns, and her advice for women currently rising in the industry. 

Dawson’s story begins with her early aspirations to become a famous actress, which she left behind after marrying and following her husband to Houston. There, she chose a job at a bank for its perceived security. At that time, her role as a recruiter for tellers included finding and hiring those perceived as “pretty.” 

From there, Dawson earned promotions and was offered the opportunity to start one of the first licensed banker fixed annuity programs in the country, which springboarded her into the financial services world. She points to this as a key “moments of truth” in her career — if she had stayed in HR, life would be quite different. “Whether it’s your professional life or personal life, you have the choice to take the easy road or press on and further yourself,” she reflected.

When the bank decided they no longer wanted a fixed annuities program, Dawson learned there is no such thing as job security, but also realized, “Anyone can take your job, but they can’t take your talent, work ethic and reputation.”

From there she moved into sales management, managing financial advisors. Dawson was later promoted to divisional management and then offered the opportunity to become president of a large broker dealer. A major inflection point in Dawson’s career was when a reorganization eliminated this position. She reflected on what she wanted to do with her life and decided to reinvent herself, heading to AIG to run the bank channel for financial institutions. In September 2008, she found herself out of a job again. Her opportunities opened thanks to industry connections, which ultimately led to her current role as senior vice president, director of advisory business relations for U.S. Bank, where she is able to effectively use all of her industry experience and relationships.

 

Above: Pamela Dawson speaking at the BISA Annual Convention Women's Networking Lunch

From her long career of job losses, promotions and inflection points, three major lessons have emerged:

1. Don’t be afraid to take risks and embrace change. You have got to be flexible and go with the flow.
2. Don’t ever compromise your character for anyone — neither your values nor your beliefs. Your reputation is what people say about you when you’re not in the room.
3. Build and nurture your network. Find people you like and have common interests with. It’s a two-way street — not all about what they can do for you, but what you can do for them.

Dawson noted that some of the best advice she has received is that it isn’t about being better than everyone else, but about being the best that you can be. “There will always be people better than you, but as long as you know you’re doing your best, that’s what matters.”

Takeaways From a Future Leader

Elena Haman, MBA, of Protective Life and member of BISA’s Future Leaders Committee, shared a few takeaways from her time at the networking lunch:

“When Jane-ellen started the panel discussion with ‘impostor syndrome’ and saying that some of you may feel it sitting in this room, I think she hit the nail on the head. By her pointing to that feeling that we have as female financial professionals at times, it made the room a safe space to absorb every word of wisdom the panel was about to share. I was inspired by Pamela’s grit and determination. She went through several involuntary career changes but came out of each one gracefully and with an outlook that it was time to try something new. I also noted how she told the group that every key opportunity in her career was the result of her network and that having a strong professional tribe is very important.”

As a Future Leader, Haman also reflected on the value of networking opportunities through BISA and the Women’s Networking Lunch:

“The women’s lunch is always a session I look forward to at BISA. It’s important to feel represented and have a sense of belonging with others who are diverse, yet all have that common thread of being women working in our industry. I try to sit at a table where I may not know most of the people. It’s a great way to put names to faces and meet people who you may work with down the road. The biggest opportunity at BISA is making connections and these types of thoughtfully planned sessions are an important part of bringing together people in a meaningful way.”