The Stella Network

Changing the face of financial planning, by creating a community to enrich, develop and connect women and men who are passionate about the industry.

Who is Stella?

The Stella Network is a community that supports gender diversity in financial planning. Using the LinkedIn platform, www.bt.com.au/stella, we currently have over 2000 members – men and women who believe that greater balance in the financial planning industry supports a better future for our customers, people and communities.

While Stella is a BT-funded initiative, it is open to all in the industry who support the goal of more women in financial planning.

Why Stella exists

When the Stella network launched in October 2013, only 20% of financial planners were female. The figure was around 26% in BT. By March 2016, BT had females making up 34% of its planners. The idea behind achieving gender diversity is that diversity is better for everyone. It’s better for those working in the industry - making sure that all the best ideas are being heard and better for clients who have greater choice in planners that they may connect with.

Building a Network primarily to support women in financial planning was important to meet the needs and desires of the women working in the industry. They want to be able to connect with those who had similar experiences and able to support one another by having a forum in which to discuss issues, meet at events and find information that is particularly useful for them in their roles.

What we do

The Stella Network provides networking opportunities through educational events for financial planners and inspirational speakers that members are unlikely to find elsewhere. It also provides a range of educational and inspirational content which is hosted on our website www.stellanetwork.com.au and promoted in our LinkedIn group www.bt.com.au/stella

Stella is also keen to undertake some research soon to find out what we can do better to redress the gender balance in the industry.

How we do it

Some of the events we’ve held so far include:

Yours, Mine and Ours event — Yours, Mine and Ours – money and relationships (March 2016)

Divorce – Breaking up is hard to do event — Divorce – Breaking up is hard to do (August 2015)

Hitting the high notes event — Hitting the high notes – behind the scenes at the Australian Opera

Collette Dinnigan – book launch event — Collette Dinnigan – book launch (November 2013)

Changing the Cycle event — Changing the Cycle (February 2016)

Philanthropy – Doing Good, Giving Well event — Philanthropy – Doing Good, Giving Well

You had me at hello – asking for action event — You had me at hello – asking for action (March 2014)

Carla Zampatti – book launch event — Carla Zampatti – book launch (October 2015)

How to get involved

Please join the Stella Network at www.bt.com.au/stella and please fill out our survey here to make sure we’re supporting women in financial planning the way that best suits you.