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Forging careers through the power of strong leadership

Women and leadership
October 10, 2019
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By Damon Van Der Linde, BA 08


The Concordia Alumni Women and Leadership program empowers women graduates to connect, share professional experiences and expertise, and learn from each other. In this new series, meet leaders from among Concordia’s nearly 100,000 alumnae who fill the ranks of business, media, engineering, science, the arts, humanities and more. 

Investing for women

Anjali Pradhan, BComm 03 “In business, you want to be taught by people who are ‘in the trenches’ and Concordia has many of those,” says Anjali Pradhan.

Anjali Pradhan, BComm 03, left Montreal to build an investment management career in London, England, with nothing but her Concordia degree and a hockey bag full of belongings.

Already feeling confident working in finance thanks to her undergraduate Co-op placements, she quickly rose through the ranks at some of the biggest names in the industry, including Goldman Sachs and PIMCO. However, when she learned that women are twice as likely to be in poverty at retirement as men, that sobering statistic sparked a fundamental shift in how she envisioned using her financial expertise.

“When women feel confident investing, it changes everything. Not only their relationship with money, but also how they live their lives,” says Pradhan.

In the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, Pradhan returned home to Montreal a Chartered Financial Analyst with an impressive resumé. She sent out hundreds of applications and attended dozens of interviews across the country, but could no longer find a position she felt passionate about.

“The financial industry is still very much a boys’ club and it’s a white boys’ club at that. I’m neither of those things,” says Pradhan. “I had two choices, I could either abandon the industry altogether, or I could recycle my career and do something different. I always wanted to use my skills to help other people, so a friend suggested I teach women how to invest.”

Pradhan founded Dahlia Wealth, an online platform that gives women the tools and confidence to make the best financial decisions for themselves.

“What I hear over and over again from women that I work with is that they can’t find a financial advisor they connect with and they don’t feel comfortable and happy with the products they are being offered,” she says. “The lack of service geared toward women’s needs results in women investing half as much as men do, which is a real societal issue.”

Dahlia’s flagship product is an online coaching program, where students can go through the curriculum at their own pace and have a weekly video chat session with Pradhan. She says she felt inspired by the fact that Concordia professors were usually experienced financial professionals; something she can now offer to her students.

“In business, you want to be taught by people who are ‘in the trenches’ and Concordia has many of those,” she says. “My transition from a corporate employee to an entrepreneur has been extremely interesting and edifying. It has been almost like a second education.”

Leading from the middle

Anjali Pradhan, BComm 03 “In business, you want to be taught by people who are ‘in the trenches’ and Concordia has many of those,” says Anjali Pradhan.

Knowing the value of strong leadership has taken Catherine Barry, BComm 06, to a place in her career where she oversees projects across several continents for one of the biggest tech companies in the world.

As Head of Exchange Platforms at Google for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, she combines her passion for technology, advertising and relationship-management across an incredibly diverse range of geographies, cultures and languages.

“I’m working with companies that through their advertising support a free open web. I have always been interested in making information accessible and useful, which is very much at the core of Google’s values,” says Barry, who is based in London, England.

“Our clients are based in different places with different needs and their own unique set of customers. At Concordia, I studied with people from all over the world. I would recommend anybody with the chance to travel for work take advantage of the opportunity. Your curiosity can be endless.”

While studying at Concordia, Barry was active in the Commerce and Administration Students Association (CASA), where she was involved in projects that included fundraising for charities and case competitions with other students.

“I think I’ve always been a leader,” says Barry. “From a young age, I was the person to raise her hand to volunteer for things.” Barry says a key ingredient to becoming such a strong leader in her career is that she has always sought out other strong leaders to work with.

“One of the most important criteria I’ve had when picking my next role is that my direct manager inspires me. Along the way, I’ve had different kinds of leaders and managers who have helped shape me into the leader I am.”

Another principle that has guided Barry’s career is that you don’t need to work in management to be a leader.

“My first boss told me, ‘You need to lead from the middle. You don’t need to be in a formal position to do that.’ It’s more important to cultivate your network and be deliberate about who you are working for,” she says.

“We can all learn from each other because there are going to be challenging moments for everyone. This is especially true for women who can face different family obligations and other challenges in maintaining a work-life balance.”



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