The American author Helen Keller said, “Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.” This sentiment motivates me when I consider the coming year and my role as a leader among leaders throughout this extraordinary community of financial service professionals.  Members of WIFS, it is truly my honor and privilege to serve this 88-year-old female professional organization as your 2024 National President.As we concluded our 2022 “Rise Up! Be the Change” Conference in Phoenix I could not think of a more appropriate sentiment than the above words from Amy Poehler to describe how I feel about this amazing group of people who make up the Women in Insurance & Financial Services community. Our three days together were packed full of powerful, impactful takeaways from our inspiring and engaging speakers and panels, as well as opportunities to network, celebrate and recharge.

In February 2023, while representing WIFS at the LAMP meeting in Las Vegas, I was asked about the WIFS organization.  Specifically, “why women need their own [separate] organization.”  I believe he was being sincere and though my response satisfied him, I did not give him the answer I would give today.    

Women working in this industry deserve a professional organization where the spotlight and the program is 100% ABOUT and FOR our benefit. We need an organization where space is created and held just for us, where nearly everyone in the room understands us before words are exchanged. In this space, our guard is down, our mood is lifted. We are seen, we are heard, and our confidence emerges.  We are best positioned to succeed.As a community of #womenwholead and # menwhochampionwomen in our profession, we are poised to make meaningful change and intentional impact in our mission to attract, develop, and advance women in insurance and financial services.

WIFS is where expertise on how to ATTRACT, DEVELOP and ADVANCE women in financial service careers is practiced daily.  Grow with us.  Lean into us.  Share your treasure trove of knowledge.  Shift from heel to toe and experience the incalculable benefit of membership.

Here are a few suggestions to get YOU started:

  • Express yourself with a BLOG post!
  • Invite someone from outside of your organization in and enroll as a MENTEE.
  • Help make us a stronger organization, submit a request to join a national TASK FORCE.
  • Grow, join, or create a CHAPTER and experience the fulfillment of a local community.
  • Get published in 2024!!! Submit an ARTICLE for the SPRING publication of AdviseHer.
  • Lend a sister a hand and share your wisdom by signing up as a MENTOR.
  • And -- mark yourself to be OUT OF OFFICE October 14-16, 2024 to attend CONFERENCE.

In closing, I believe and subscribe to what Luke said in verse 12:48, “From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded…”.  Well, here I am, ready to do my part because without WIFS in my life for the last 11 years, I would not be where I am or who I am without this community of professional women.

 

Blessings for abundance and prosperity to all,

Toni Sova-Corfee 

 

PS. If this message resonated, my heart is glad, so please do not keep it to yourself.  Take a moment to reflect upon what WIFS has meant to you, then identify 10 people within your reach and share this message.

#GrowMoreIn24   #WIFS  #NotLessMenMoreWomen