Five things you need to know about Tamara Gillan

Self-made

Tamara Gillan always knew that she would be an entrepreneur and credits her parents for it. Her father started many businesses, whilst her mother comes from an academic, strong female family in New Zealand, where Tamara grew up. “I was lucky to come from this dual background, says Tamara Gillan. My father transferred the belief that I could do anything I wanted and that positivity can get you anywhere, whilst my mother gave me academic rigour and emotional intelligence.” Turning 30 was a milestone: it was the catalyst to start her own business. Tamara identified brand partnership as a niche area in the marketing landscape and decided to embrace this gap. This marked the start of Cherry London in 2009, a very successful independent marketing agency with a unique positioning on strategic brand partnerships. In 2019, she founded the WealthiHer Network, which brings together the UK’s leading financial institutions to help women become more prosperous.

Collaboration

Tamara Gillan strongly believes that collaboration and partnership are the way forward for successful businesses. She learned this from experience and placed it at the centre of her business and the WealthiHer Network. Cherry London uses the power of collaboration to engage people differently and overcome challenges. It has developed a unique collaborative approach to marketing which brings brands together for a campaign. Thanks to its visionary marketing approach, Cherry London has seduced leading brands such as O2 Priority Programme or HSBC Jade and is enjoying an unprecedented success.  “I believe in the power  of togetherness, she says. You can do amazing things by working together.” Partnership is also the driving force behind the WealthiHer Network, by making competitors in the finance industry work together to provide women with greater financial literacy and education about wealth management.

Female Empowerment

72 % of women in the UK believe they are not understood by the financial industry. As a result, a lot of them don’t invest in the right way or don’t protect their future by not investing in the first place. Tamara believes that there is a lack of understanding in the banking and finance industry about women’s wealth management. This is why she created the WealthiHer Network. “As a network, we want to equip women with the right knowledge and skills to grow their wealth and ensure they get the opportunities they never had before. And it starts by better understanding their needs so that we can better serve them. We have in our network some amazingly successful women founders and they advise a broader next generation of female entrepreneurs. We know the negative impact of Covid-19 on women, so we will use our education to help give them the confidence to become future leaders.”

Sustainability

Helping women to prosper more is not the sole positive impact of the WealthiHer Network. It also contributes to build a better world. How? Because women have different engagements and motivations when it comes to investing: 89 % of them want to invest sustainably and with social responsibility, which is 10 % more than men! According to Tamara Gillan, the financial sector and society at large have a lot to gain from listening to women. “Women want to act responsibly in the way they engage financially. For them, social responsibility is more important than the environment. 60 % of wealth will be in the hands of women by 2025. If we can shift more funding into women’s hands, I believe that we can build a better world! This is why it is so important that women’s voices are heard in the finance industry.”

Tamara’s tips

Creating lasting change, dreaming big and making it happen, and changing the world for the better is what has driven Tamara Gillan since she started her journey. She wants to turn her knowledge, experience, and connections into something good for business. She is very proud of what the WealthiHer Network has achieved so far and very thankful to her partners, and women in particular. When asked about her advice to female entrepreneurs, she has a lot to say: “Don’t take the easy or safe path. Hold your line for better because we need to as a society. Believe in yourself and be resilient because you will encounter many knocks and challenges as a woman. Don’t be afraid to ask for help and to hire people who terrify you because this is the way to get the best of the best. Take some time off to get more energy and more inspiration! It is vital to nurture yourself and grow your business. And of course, follow my father’s advice ‘Put back in what you take out’.”