LaCentra wonders why women are pushed to side events before or after conventions
One way the mortgage industry is working to increase women's involvement is by creating women’s groups within its organizations.
This has allowed women to not only have their voices heard on a larger stage, but also make connections with other women to build a support network in mortgage.
While this is an important step, one industry veteran would like to see conventions take this support a step further, and make sure that creating women-only events doesn’t mean that these leaders are left out of main stage programs during the event proper.
Erica LaCentra (pictured top), chief marketing officer of RCN Capital, said things have changed since she started in private lending in 2013. She hopes that the change will continue, especially with major events.
“I've been in the private lending world since 2013, so I would certainly say that, since I started in this industry, we're definitely getting more women in the space in general, and they’re getting more visible,” LaCentra told Mortgage Professional America. “I think that's most apparent in the events that we're seeing now, too. There's just a larger percentage of women attending, which is great.
“We do see women speakers, but I still think that that's lacking to some degree. Certain industry associations are developing women's groups, which is great. I love that visibility. I love that community that a lot of organizations are building. But I still think we have a long way to go, and it's almost still like that separation that's occurring.”
Separated from the main event
LaCentra noted that some of these women’s groups are meeting the day before or the day after the main convention. She’s not sure why there isn’t room during the main program for these events.
“It's great that they're creating these women's groups, but what we're typically seeing is like the women's group will have an event on the day before the main conference, or the day after the main conference,” she said. “I understand they're trying to create that community, that safe space, but why can't we just integrate more women speakers into the program? Why does it have to be its own separate thing?”
She said that separating the women’s group event from the main convention leads to awkward situations where a more veteran woman is speaking to a smaller women’s group while a less tenured speaker is featured in the main program.
“There are just so many fantastic exec-level or managerial-level women who are speaking within these specialized women’s events,” LaCentra said. “Some of these people have greater seniority than some of the men who are speaking on the main conference agendas. Why are we not incorporating that level of diversity when you have somebody who has all that experience?
“It's a little bizarre because you're saying someone who's basically a veteran in this industry has to perform in the women's only event, even though their male counterparts get center stage during the main program.”
Despite that, LaCentra has noticed that representation for women has improved significantly during her time in the private lending space, even if sometimes an event could do a better job of integrating them into the main convention.
“I think that things are improving in that respect, but there's still that separation,” she said. “It almost feels like the contributions of women in the industry need to be separated into a before event or an after event, not just incorporated into the main agenda. But it is nice going to conferences and not being like one of 10 women in a room. Instead, you're one of 50 women in the room. That’s a big improvement.
“And I do appreciate what a lot of these groups are doing and bringing more visibility and really creating mentorship programs and things like that, which I think are so valuable in terms of bringing more young females into the industry.”
Reasons for optimism
Despite the fact that there is work to be done, LaCentra is optimistic about how far the industry has come and where it could go with a continued focus on the issue.
“I think what makes me really optimistic is, even though it's been incremental, just the changes that I've seen since I started in the industry to now,” she said. “I know there are small changes, but it is kind of drastic, too. Thinking about where the industry was when I started, and thinking about the atmosphere in conferences, and even the breakdown of attendees, men versus women, versus where we are now. I think that is a bright spot.”
Women in the industry, whether it is in private lending or in the mortgage space in general, have more people in higher positions to not only look up to, but also connect with for mentorship. Because there are more women in higher places, she hopes the slow and steady change will both continue and pick up speed.
“We have more female role models, and some very vocal female role models, which I think were desperately missing before,” LaCentra said. “Hopefully, this will continue to empower other women in the industry to speak up, to speak against the terrible things that happened to them. Hopefully, they will call out some of those bad actors and also develop more allies from men, too, so they do the same.
“I think the biggest thing is just continuing to highlight those women who are role models, and hopefully make strides where those separate women's groups just become part of the conference. I think that is the next logical step. I'm very hopeful that these small changes are going to continue. I see nothing to indicate the opposite.”
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This article is part of our Monthly Spotlight series, which in April focuses on women in mortgage. Full coverage can be found here.
