Making It in Finance from a Non-Target Uni and No Finance Degree with Guinevere Taylor
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Hello and welcome to this special 12-part Career Insight series featuring interviews with inspiring women across finance, spanning trading, investment banking, data analytics, private equity and venture capital. These conversations are designed to deliver actionable career insights while educating and empowering the new generation of talent in our industry.

Guinevere Taylor didn't study in finance. She didn't go to a top-tier uni, but she still built a successful career in asset management after several years as a director at a major sell-side bank, and she now leads UK Capital Formation at Brightwood Capital. In this conversation, she shares how she broke into the industry, built confidence in client-facing roles, and juggled early motherhood with a demanding career.

If you're a student or a young professional looking for real, relatable advice on thriving in finance, this conversation is for you. Hello, Gwyn, and really nice to have you with me for this conversation. And looking forward to just firstly understanding a little bit more about you before then trying to lean into some of your career experience. I know you've got some really great practical tips there.

key skills around developing for client facing roles, which I'd love to unpack. But good place to start, as always, with all of our guests is maybe taking you back to your school student days and to get a bit of an idea about what you were thinking at that point and then kind of going through your career journey, because I know you were a non-finance student as well. So, yeah, what were you like as a student and what were you thinking career wise at that point?

Hi, Anthony. Thank you so much for including me on this podcast series. I'm really, really happy to be here. So thank you so much.

Yeah, so going back to my early years, I would say, I mean, I spent my initial years actually in Fiji. So my mum was Fijian and I went to primary school in Fiji, which was a very different experience, I think, to starting school here. So when I transitioned from Fiji to Chester, where I grew up, it was a very different sort of world there.

So I grew up in a very typical sort of working class family. My mum didn't work and my dad worked on cable ships around the world a lot when I was younger. So it was a very sort of, yeah, just a very working class, very modest upbringing. I didn't have anybody who worked in finance around me at that time.

that when I was growing up. So it's very sort of your typical blue. Well, yeah. Would you say is it blue collared that you say sort of experience where where a lot of people were like policemen, they worked in plumbers. It was it was those sorts of normal, typical jobs that were around me. And if you were good at maths, you became an accountant. And that seemed very boring to me. And it was just all all boring.

all old men was the was sort of the image that I had of what an accountancy would be like. So when I was younger, I actually wanted to be a pilot in my early years. So my mum had been an air hostess for Air Pacific over in Fiji when she was younger. And I always thought that was a very glamorous role and a very glamorous job.

But my parents always instilled in me that if you want to go into any sort of career that you go into, you want to reach the top of that career and do as well as you can. So I was always brought up with this image of whatever you decide to do, you can be the best at that job. So even though I had that very sort of.

um, a very humble upbringing. I was always told that you can be whatever you want to be and don't let anybody stop you. So, um, the whole concept of a glass ceiling was never there in my eyes as a child. Um,

But then I didn't become a pilot because I didn't have very good eyesight. So everything kind of changed after a while, basically. And I fell into finance really by after university going to a graduate fair and falling into it.

So graduate fair, let's talk a little bit about what you were studying at the time, because I know that you did a fairly unusual subject compared to, say, most people come from an economics, accounting and finance type backgrounds. But what was your background at university?

Yes, I did history and American studies at university. I loved history at school. I think it was mainly just that I had an amazing history teacher, Dr. Duffy, shout out to him at the Catholic High School in Chester. He just really made that subject come to life when I was at school.

And I just thought it was so important to learn about the past and how it shapes the future and how a lot of things that we're going through at the moment with geopolitics are very similar to things that have happened in the past and how we have to learn from that and be careful to not repeat those mistakes.

And I just I just loved history. And when I was at university, my parents helped out with the cost of education. I got a second job to support myself through it. So they helped out with my cost of my accommodation and I paid the rest of my fees and my cost of living when I was at university by having a job.

but then I wanted to do a master's to carry that on and then go and work in a museum or something. But unfortunately my parents couldn't help keep supporting me at that time. And that's why I ended up going to a graduate fair. And because I was, I wanted to stay living in Chester, everybody, any graduate basically goes to MB&A and,

well, it was MB&A at the time, it's now been bought by Bank of America, but it was the credit card company. And so that was my first sort of foray into finance was working in the world of credit cards. And at that point in time, not having done economics before,

didn't really matter because I was put on a sort of mini graduate program. I learned about marketing and writing campaigns for the credit card company. And I am sorry to say I was one of those people who sold that insurance to people for the credit cards that then there was a big scandal about. But yeah,

But I really enjoyed it at the time and it was quite interesting, but not having had that typical economics degree didn't matter in that point in time. It was only when I think I advanced in my career and moved more into the asset management side that that definitely would have been a benefit. And I noticed that gap between me and other people who had that experience and had that knowledge. But then...

At the same time, you can do different qualifications to catch yourself up and do different reading. But it was it was only when I got more into the complex side of finance that I noticed that obviously I had a different background to other people.

So how did that opportunity come then? So you're in Chester, you're working around credit cards, and then all of a sudden you mentioned asset management. So how did that opportunity materialize at the time?

Over time, so it wasn't a straight jump. So I worked up in Chester for a couple of years and then I took a year out to go backpacking and I went around Australia, New Zealand and Fiji. So I took a sabbatical quite early on in my career. And then I moved down to London with MB&A, but they got bought by Bank of America.

And then, and so they had a recruitment freeze on at the time where I rejoined and I actually moved into custody for a while first. So I wanted a permanent job and I got managed to move into, I moved into a global custodian and I worked there for about five years and that was on the client facing side, but learning about the back office and having different experience in finance, I think has definitely helped me in my career. So yeah,

doing credit cards so different but a different type of um of selling where you're doing that retail selling selling to individual people and then doing the custody understanding about how things move around the actual um mechanics of of of moving of trades etc and about the different markets that need to be set up and how those how they work and then it was after um

My role was actually was moved over to Ireland. And so the whole team's roles was moved over to Ireland from the custodian I was working in at the time. I took voluntary redundancy and then I moved into asset management for the first time.

And it was then I had the client servicing experience, but then it was a very different ballgame because I was on the other side. So we were actually in asset management then and looking after different institutions and their investments. So I think it was having that client servicing experience helped me get that role. But then it was a steep learning curve when I was in that actual, in that position, right?

Yeah, I know that kind of first period of learning into a new area, a subject matter, if you like, is really tough. So how did you get through that period? Because I think you just mentioned there briefly about when you made that pivot, there was a lot of your peers who were economic students who had some of the technical skills already. So how did you close that gap, so to speak?

Yeah, just by studying. So I'm doing the different qualifications. You can do your IMC, your CFA, ESG exam. So just trying to do as much reading and learning as I could and getting mentors as well. I think that's so important. So speaking to people who've already been in the role and asking them to help you and to mentor you and and.

and explain certain things that you find difficult. And just being humble and honest, I think, is very important. A lot of people have imposter syndrome when you go into a new organisation, especially if you don't fit in, if you've got a different accent and you're from a different sort of

even though we're not meant to have a class system anymore, but you stand out a bit. It makes you feel very sort of self-conscious and you can try and morph into other people. But I think it's important, definitely. And my advice to people is just be yourself and be aware of who you are.

of yourself and your strengths and your weaknesses and work on those weaknesses, be honest about them and ask people for help because people will help you, especially early on. If you try and hide it for too long, then people will ask questions if in a year's time you still don't know some of the basic things that you should know. But during those first six months, you can be as honest as you can in a new role and ask for as much help as possible.

Yeah, such good advice. I think you can almost lean into that naivety at the beginning, take advantage of the fact that people are going to help you at that point. But you're absolutely right. There does come a natural cut off, probably when you have to then, you know, do your own thing. But yeah.

A couple of things there then. So moving to London. So I can hear, it sounds quite subtle now, there's a slight accent. I know you went to Liverpool Uni, which in itself, I would say is very rare that I'd meet a lot of the students I interact with, looking at banks at bulge bracket, roles at bulge bracket banks or hedge funds. It's very rare that you get that uni as well. And you lived in Chester, England.

So yeah, what was the, what's your take then on, you know, being someone from the North or from a region of the UK and not from the Southeast coming to London?

Oh, it was a complete culture shock at first, to be fair. I mean, where I grew up was a small village. We had like two buses a day and stuff. So it was just very different moving down to London. And a few little nuances that I had to learn straight away is don't smile at people on the tube. And that doesn't go down very well.

Whereas up north, I was used to saying hi to everybody and smiling and making friends. But that's not a done thing. I looked like a proper weirdo when I first moved down here. My accent's definitely softened a lot now. But yeah, you can still pick it up. I still say grass, laugh and bath. And when I do say those things, people sort of notice it. But I think...

Yeah, it... I mean, it was very... It was different. I stood out a lot. Like...

Early days, you'd get a few of the little like Northern monkey jokes and things that you get. And people like just just just making assumptions about your upbringing because you are Northern as well, that you you are different and you don't really fit in as much. Like I didn't go on ski holidays every year or go to Henley and stuff. So you kind of just you are a bit of an outsider in a way.

But and at first I felt very like, like I said, a bit self-conscious about it. But it's it's just better to lean into it and just be like, yeah, I am different, but I'm different. And I'm still just as worthy to be here as you are, basically. And I think it is changing a lot and people are becoming a lot more aware of.

of the industry down and there are more opportunities up north than there used to be. Places like Manchester have a lot more opportunities for finance and Chester itself now having Bank of America there. So I think that divide is changing, but it definitely was there when I first moved down.

And the last question I have on this sort of segment then is about, I know having us had a previous conversation that you became a mother at a young age compared to, I guess, peers who work in the city, for example. And I just wanted to get your take on just that experience of trying to do that as from a balanced perspective of trying in your early career where

I guess you're kind of told or not told, you just led to believe that you've got to work really hard, you've got to do the extra hours. And how did you manage that with being a young mother at the time?

It was definitely difficult. I mean, we had to go into the office five days a week when I had my daughter. And so when I first came back from maternity leave, it was quite hard to manage the whole thing, making sure that I could drop her off at childcare and then get into the office on time. And I had to always leave dead on five to go and pick her up as well. And that was very challenging, definitely.

In my early in my early career, because a lot of people would work late or they would go for impromptu drinks after work or a boozy lunch. Things that I just couldn't do because I had to go home on time, drive, pick my daughter up and get her to bed.

And it definitely raised eyebrows within the team sometimes as well when there would be something happening and I would still have to leave at five, whereas other people could stay to finish a piece of work. And then I would have to leave, go pick my daughter up, feed her, get her to bed and then log in again afterwards afterwards.

um, to finish that work. Um, so it was always making sure that I, I could still manage it all, but it would be over a different timeframe, which I think now is not as much of an issue because we have more flexible working and people are more understanding of it. But at the time it was, it was definitely difficult and it was very stressful. It was a very stressful period of time. Um, and I was a single mum as well because, um,

me and my daughter's dad separated when she was one, so I had all the responsibility to do that. However, I actually think it didn't make that much of a difference because a lot of the women still do a lot of the running around anyway. It tends to...

tends to be that the mum will do the drop-offs and the pickups. Not always, and that's definitely not 100% of the time, but a lot of the time it does tend to be that way. So that probably would have been the case either way. Yeah. Is that flexible working then, the longer-term solution? Do you think that post-COVID then that's offered a greater chance to address some of these things? Oh, 100%, 100%. I definitely think that's definitely helped.

because it just means that you can do those school drop-offs and then log in to work from home. I definitely think it's helped. And people are less stringent on that you have to be at your desk at nine o'clock now as well. So people understand if things happen in the morning and you're in at like quarter past nine or 10 past nine or something as well. I definitely think the culture has shifted on that presenteeism within the office.

And I think that's definitely going to help a lot of working mums. Yeah, you mentioned culture there. We'll definitely circle back to that to keep that hat on. But one of the things then, so I just wanted to kind of shift the conversation to a little bit more now about, you know, I want people to get some real value out of your experience and the roles that you've done.

And I think probably one that, well, what's something that tends to happen with a lot of students is they get quite caught in this technical trap of,

trying to learn about financial markets, for example. But they sometimes then, and particularly I feel like talking to a lot of people recently, the adoption of AI tools has kind of almost leveled up a lot of the ability for people to have technical skills because they could just use the tools at their disposal. And actually now...

perhaps then we might lean back in towards people developing more softer skills, so to speak. And I know that you've had a whole career in sort of more client facing roles. And you've mentioned to me before about communication and body language and these types of things. So I just wondered whether you could explain to me a little bit more about your take on that and any practical tips that you could offer to young professionals about

about that side of things.

Yeah. I think, um, relationships are definitely becoming more important again. I think, um, we went through a little, uh, space, uh, space phase is the word I was looking for. Sorry. Um, where people were more focused on, like you said, the technical side and trying to be more product specialists, um, within their sales or their client servicing roles, rather than doing the relationship side of that. Um, I think the relationship side is so important and I think it always has been. Um,

And I think building those relationships is what is key. There's little tips that I advise, such as always making sure that you do a core report or a core note after every interaction that you have with a client where there's some important information. Writing notes, just little things like,

The name of their children, the name of what type of pets they have, where they've been on holiday. Little tips of information like that that you can then reinforce to that client at the next interaction just makes them feel valued more.

It's about listening to people, taking in what they're saying and to help build that relationship because listening is a key part in a client servicing relationship so that you actually, they feel comfortable, they feel valued and then they'll tell you more as well and they'll actually be more honest with you about either the service they're getting or the types of products that they need and what's happening within that company that they work for.

So I would just, yeah, listening, taking notes, reinforcing and just giving people time. I think they're key parts of that client servicing relationship. And yeah, body language is so important as well when you meet people in person. Seeing if someone's open to a conversation when you're at a networking event and by just seeing if they have an open body language, if they have like how they're

eye eye contact whether they're giving you eye contact or not or whether they're closed off and don't want to be spoken to because if you try and speak to somebody at an event and they don't want to talk to you that can go very horribly wrong um so it's just um and damage that relationship for the future so it's just learning how to read people um is is so important as well and making sure that you're projecting that welcoming body language too so don't be like

crossing your arms or closing yourself off, just making sure that you're open, you're using your hands, your arms and just being as open as you can be. Yeah, that type of, I guess, EQ level to pick up on signals, let's say about someone's body posture and things like that. Were you naturally that way inclined as a young person just generally through life experience? Or did you have to kind of learn and refine those skills?

I think it was a bit of both. I've always been a bit of a people's person and enjoyed building relationships and getting to know people. So that's why I kind of fell into this role because it fitted into my skill set, really. But in different organisations that I've worked in, we've done courses and

they've given training on how to network, how to go to events and how to read people. So that's definitely helped as well. And so a lot of organisations that you're working will offer these courses where you can go and actually do these practical exercises to learn about how to approach people and how to, how to listen to people and engage as well. So definitely take those up if you get the opportunity to do that. Great. And what,

one of the things that maybe I can reposition this next question, which is kind of a follow on a bit better, because what I was going to ask you was, what are the characteristics do you think that have been the most beneficial in your career? And I ask that because sometimes I think that people don't really know a great deal of roles

or opportunities. So it's more about they probably do know what they're like as a personality, for example. And so therefore, if we can try and work to bridge that gap between some raw characteristics or personality types, if you like, into then

like your role so perhaps maybe to start to answer that what do you do in your current role and what does that actually look like day to day and then maybe we could reverse engineer that then as to does that now is that playing into your ultimate strengths of what your your characteristics characteristics are and what are those

Yes, my role isn't probably a typical role at the moment because I'm head of UK capital formation for Brightwood Capital. And I work basically as a team of one on my own at home and doing basically the client relationships and the sales for Brightwood within the UK. So trying to build out their presence there. Yeah.

why does that suit my personality? I guess because I am a people person, which probably goes against working on my own. But because I am a people person, it forces me to go out and meet people and network and go to events and arrange lunches and meetings with people because I don't want to be sat on my own all day just talking to my two puppies in my study. So

So I guess that that side of it, I'm very I have to be very organized in my day to day and very self-motivated because I am working on my own. And also that is just part of a salesperson's role anyway. You have to make sure that you're following up on your leads, that you're sending the relevant information, that you're keeping on top of your client relationship requests from your existing clients.

and also motivating yourself to go out there and do things and get those and find those opportunities and source them yourself as well so I

I guess for me, it was being self-motivated. And I think that's part of having a daughter fairly young. I knew that I had to succeed. I couldn't rely on anyone else. I had to be self-motivated and want to win and being organised as just something that I tend to be anyway, just writing lots of lists, lots of post-its all over my office, basically.

and being a relationship person and enjoying those relationships so that I'm getting out and doing that because I like doing that and I have to do that as well as part of my role. So at the moment you're on your own, but presumably you're a part of a really big team when you were working at RBC. Yes, yes. So how's that transition been going from probably a floor, an entire division of people at your disposal to...

So being solo. Yeah, I mean, it was a bit of a shock to the system. So very different, very different dynamic. I definitely, I definitely miss having that team around me, bouncing ideas off each other and being able to rely on each other and support each other for different things as well. So if I couldn't make an event, someone else could go in my place and we would still be being represented. Obviously, that's not an option for me now. I have to try and do everything.

And bouncing ideas, I have to wait until the New York office or online at two o'clock in the afternoon before I can bounce an idea off somebody. But then I also do have a network of peers that I rely on as well. So I can message some of my people who work at different organizations, but in different areas.

but obviously selling different products, et cetera. And she's like, what do you think of this? What do you think of that? And it's really good to have that network around me that I can use as well. And we will help each other as much as we can.

Okay. And the next kind of question that is kind of follow on from that is about company cultures. And just to get what you've learned through different experiences that you've had, having worked a variety of different types of companies in different roles. So just wanted to get some perspective on that and ultimately,

Any advice that you can give to, I think young people sometimes think that first job is like the job for life. And so therefore there's a lot of burden of pressure to make the right decision for the right company and the right role and the right opportunity. But I know that sometimes you can just not fit in for whatever reason. And then so how do you identify when it's time to move and how do you find the right fit for yourself?

Yeah, I think the culture of a company is so important and I think it's something that we've become more aware of as well as time's gone on that that does matter.

I think there's different. So during the interview process, you get a sort of feel of a company, definitely. And I think it's very important to speak to the people that you'll be working alongside if you get that opportunity to do so. And also the person that you'll be working for to see whether you think you can get along with your new boss, your prospective boss, and how that relationship would work. I think asking certain questions around how does the team succeed is

How do you see success and how do you envisage that for the team? I think are key questions that you can ask during that interview process to try and get a bit of an insight into that.

Some organisations will also arrange drinks, etc. for you before you start a role so that you can meet the people that you would be working with and meeting them in an informal manner rather than in an interview process is quite important as well, because you can get a different idea of how they work and what type of

people they really are because in interviews people everybody always puts on a um an act and can make themselves seem different than they are um glass door is also an important um resource that we have um it's an online tool that you can look into and it'll tell you things about an organization's culture from um i mean it's it's not always correct because a lot of time it can be aggrieved um employees who've who've left but it can give you a bit of an insight

and also just LinkedIn I think that's such an important tool because you can look up the people that you're going to I mean it's always important to look up the people that you're going to be interviewing with anyway to get an idea about them but you can also see mutual contacts on there and then you can reach out to those mutual contacts and get a bit of an insight as well and just see if the

how they know that person and what they're like as well, if they've worked with them before and how it was like, what it was like working with them. So there's a lot of different resources that you can that you can utilise and try and get that idea. But if you do end up somewhere and you do feel as though you don't fit in after a while, there's always a benefit from every role I think that I've had.

I've always taken something away and learned something from that. So you've got to try and sort of look at what you can learn and what you can take away from it. But then it's never a failure if you move from an organisation to another one because you just didn't fit in. And I think it's important to look at it that way, see what you can learn, what you can take from it, and then just use your network and reach out and have a look for that other

that next role, but know what you didn't enjoy about your current role to make sure that you avoid that in your next one.

Great advice. And one of the things you mentioned there, which I get asked a lot about from a tool perspective is LinkedIn. Yeah. And I just wondered whether because I know that students particularly, but also people in their early careers can sometimes find it a bit intimidating because they're like, well, look at my resume. When people look at my profile, you know, I don't have the gravitas or the qualifications or experience. So why would someone want to engage in?

with me what what advice would you give for someone who's who's in that mindset oh it's such an important tool I think um even if you don't have a lot to put on there you can build up a profile always make sure you put a picture on there because I don't I hate it when people don't have their picture on there because I'm like are you real are you not um and then just start connecting with people that you meet you don't have to be posting on there every day you don't have to be um

like trying to become an influencer as it were but if you have something to say you can share it on there something that's insightful and trying and get a bit of traction on that and also it's just a way to connect with people on a professional basis you can reach out to people and ask them for a coffee and try and just learn from them as well so you can

find different types of mentors and different types of contacts within the industry by using that tool. And I've met a lot of people just for coffees because they've reached out to me and asked me questions on LinkedIn about different things and people that I've just not worked with before. And I'll always, if I've got time, go and meet someone and have a chat, have a coffee and just talk through different things with them that they just might want an outsider's perspective on.

Okay. And the final two questions that I have, if you've got time. One is looking at your LinkedIn. What I can see is that you've had a number of roles, whether it be in DEI, Ambassador to the Diversity Project, which I know have an amazing program that they run for young women trying to break into the investment community. And then you were the chair of

of our women at RBC. So I just wanted to get your take on what you'd hope to see change or evolve in the finance industry to make it more inclusive for future generations of women.

I definitely think things are changing for the better. I mean, the flexible working, like I said, I think that definitely is helping, helping future generations. It's just giving that flexibility to young families, young parents, young carers as well. So it's not always just children that people have responsibility for. And just having that flexibility around work is definitely helping.

um there's I mean there's the flip side I think that it can be that younger generations can find it harder to see people visibly in the office all the time but I think there's a balance to be taken there and I think a lot of people are going in a few days a week so I definitely think it's a

I think people are more aware of the importance of D&I now. I know when I was starting out, people would roll their eyes a lot when you would talk about it and talk about the importance of it. Whereas now I think it is accepted that it is a benefit and that having different perspectives within a team can make it a very...

a highly functioning team and a highly successful team. I think some of the teams that I've worked on are where everybody's had a different background, different experience and different early experiences in their life through education and through where they've grown up. And that's definitely made people

Because we've had different outlooks, when we've come to discuss and debate different perspectives, it's made us actually appreciate it a lot more and made those teams a lot more successful. So I think...

I think things are changing for the better. I think they're getting there. I think we just need to continue that trajectory because some people can be, I think there has been a little bit of D&I fatigue coming in in the last few years with certain people that I've worked with. But as long as we just keep that going, keep good internships going, keep good grad programs, bringing different types of people into the industry, then it's just going to carry on and it's going to get better and better.

But I think it's important that we don't go backwards and don't try and force people to come back in five days a week, work long hours again and go back to that. Because where we are now with that flexibility, I think it's definitely giving people more advantages. Yeah, couldn't agree more. And...

The last question to finish then is one I asked all of the guests in this series, which is the piece of advice that you would give to your younger self. If you would think back to, I guess, the...

the Chester days what what advice would you give yourself now looking back in retrospect or even through that early period you know I'm sure when you found out you were pregnant and then how that was going to impact your career now that you've lived this what would you go back and tell yourself

I think there's two key pieces of advice that I've been given that I try and share with people. The first one is just be your authentic self. Don't give in to imposter syndrome and don't try to be somebody else because you've been hired for that role because of who you are and not who you think you should be.

So your skill set and your talents are what has got you that job and why you deserve that role and why you're going to go far. So just be your authentic self and be the best version of yourself within that role that you can be.

And then the other piece of advice is it's actually something that I heard from a lady called Ethan Devitt, who was the former London CIV CIO. She shared it recently on LinkedIn. And it was that your network is your net worth. And I think that just really resonated with me so well. So it's just amazing.

building as many good relationships that you can with the people around you because you never know when you're going to need to rely on those people when they're going to need to rely on you and everybody goes through difficult parts of their career and having a solid network around you will help guide you through that and help support you so they're my two pieces of advice really

be you be your authentic self and build um as strong a network as you can brilliant great way to finish then gwyn so thank you very much for your time and for sharing your insights really appreciate it thank you thank you for having me cheers

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