Owner of brokerage on how she confounds industry perceptions
At the age of 27, Hannie Mason (pictured) has her own brokerage and heads up a team of six mortgage advisers, five of whom are women. She was spurred on into setting up Mortgages with Hannie & Co after struggling to become employed as a broker – and she believes that was, in part, because she was a young woman in a still male-dominated industry.
Mason’s experience has encouraged her to actively empower women in the business, and to voluntarily mentor young people in schools and colleges. She was recently named as one of Mortgage Introducer’s prestigious Elite Women 2025. Her career began with a six-year stint with a leading building society from the age of 17, during which time she rapidly took on more responsibility, in roles including underwriter and advising manager. She was managing a team of 20 before she was 21.
Though Mason was qualified, she had never actually been an adviser herself. Like many, the pandemic was a turning point for her and, bored of the role she was performing remotely, she decided she wanted to begin advising. But, it proved a challenge. “I could not get a job as a mortgage broker,” Mason explained. “I had a couple of interviews to be an employed mortgage adviser at firms, which I thought would went well, but then I ended up not getting the job. I was always interviewed by men - I've never been interviewed by a woman. Obviously that just knocks your confidence. It just baffled me. I knew I wanted to do it, I knew I'd be good at it, and it kind of forced me into going self-employed.“
She continued: “I do a lot now on the education side and do a lot to help empower women, but I also help people who don't have the experience and want to get into the industry. All my advisers in my firm now have come from a non-advising background, just like me, and they're fantastic. I make a point of being quite an open brokerage in that we don't need experience, it's more about you as a person.”
How much does Mason think the fact that she was a young woman stopped her getting a foot in the door as a broker? “Massively,” she told Mortgage Introducer. “That's one of the reasons that made it so difficult for me. I was 23 and I'd go to events and I would be the only female there. The amount of times, even now to this day, if I go to an event it’s said to me, ‘You must be an admin.’ It's definitely because I am a female and I'm young. People don't expect what I've done, that I have got my own brokerage and the six of us now in just four years. We're one of the highest rated brokerages in Yorkshire. They are shocked when I tell them we are directly authorised by the FCA - most firms are with networks.”
Read more: How important is life experience in becoming a successful broker?
Having to negotiate a male-dominated business
Mason recalls shadowing at a brokerage when she first went self-employed, and likens it to a hit movie about a New York stockbroker. “I honestly felt like I was in The Wolf of Wall Street,” she said, “because it was male dominated; a salesy environment, just bothered about getting the deals and making money. It wouldn't surprise me if a lot of firms are like that.” Were they sexist, in her view? “I think so, yeah,” she replied. “If there was something complex or specialist, it was very much, ‘You won't be able to do this, we’ll do this. You stick with the simple stuff you know.’”
She came away from that experience believing that she had to grow her own brand. “A lot of my clients I have now, I've actually really won over, especially male clients and developers or high net worth guys,” Mason noted, “I've got a good network of brokers and I am friends with a lot of female brokers, but there aren’t enough, and I think a lot of the contacts I’ve had have been in similar situations.”
Though Mason’s brokerage is currently female-dominated, it is – she emphasises – because of who was right for the job when she was recruiting. “I'm a business at the end of the day, I still need to make business decisions,” she said. “I don't know until I meet them, but I want to give everyone an opportunity. Don't get me wrong, there are male brokers in this industry who are absolutely fantastic. They want you to succeed and they do support you. I think people buy into my positivity.” Mason is clear, too, about the best business lesson she has learned so far. “Believe in yourself and trust your gut,” she said. “What's the worst that could happen? If you don't do it and you don't try, you won't know.”
