Marie Mortimer Marie Mortimer is the Managing Director of loans. com.au. Since its inception in 2011, Marie has been instrumental in the huge growth of this business and it now has over $6 billion worth of loans under management. Marie initially studied for a Bachelor of Business and majored in banking and finance with funds management as an extended major. After completing her studies, Marie travelled to the UK where she worked with an investment bank, the Bank of Scotland. Marie recalls, “I started with client valuations and its pricing derivatives, but I moved into the technology side of the bank. I found that I had a passion for change management and technology; being able to use technology to improve things for customers and employees at the bank.” She spoke about her passion to empower women to understand finance and tech, “it comes down to me in particular, being a leader. I’m not out there as a noisy leader. I’m kind of pretty introverted but you know, it’s about those one-on-one conversations. You can’t be what you can’t see.”
Have more confidence in yourself
What advice would Marie give to her younger self? “I’d say have more confidence in yourself. Nothing comes down to luck. It comes down to achievements and your hard work. Don’t doubt yourself. Own it. That’s what I would say.”
Marlena Lopez Dr Marlena Lopez recently obtained a Doctorate of Veterinary Science and so significant has her influence been, that she was recently named the Veterinary Business Thought Leader by the Australian Veterinary Association for her work in social media “I was incredibly honoured and humbled to win the award. Over the past few years, I’ve tried to be really open and honest about my veterinary school journey as well as offer advice to pre-veterinary students. I’ve also shared my personal struggles with mental health and wellbeing in an attempt to reduce the stigma around mental health.” Coming from a Latin background, Marlena didn’t see many Latina women in veterinary medicine and so didn’t have any role models or mentors to reach out to. To address this need, she started her website, veterinaryadventures.com and her social media veterinary_adventures. Marlena offered some advice for girls looking to become veterinarians, “find someone that is doing what you want to do and shadow them to see if it’s something that you would enjoy and also ask them for what you can do, how you can best prepare at the stage of life you’re at. Another piece of advice is to find good mentors, they don’t have to be in the veterinary field, but find good mentors that you can learn and grow from.” FEB/MAR 2021
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