She joined a bank as a school leaver at just 16, shortly after which she got a job inputting transactions on the trading floor where just five of the 1,200 people were female. She was asked at interview what her father did for a living; she recalls a notable scarcity of female toilets, inappropriate nicknames and working 70-hour weeks in a testosterone-fuelled culture where heavy drinking and staying out till 2am and being back at the desk by 7am was all part of the job description.
“It’s amazing to think about it now,” says Bragoli with a sense of wonder as she reflects on a career that went on to include a long stint at HSBC and Lloyds, most recently joining brokerage Monex Europe where she is Head of Corporate Sales. “Maybe I’m looking through rose-tinted glasses, maybe it’s because I grew up surrounded by brothers and football, but when I think back, despite the gender issue, it was never really a thing.”
In fact, her memories are enduringly positive. Like a visceral sense that everyone was on the same team and had each other’s back in a camaraderie that lives on today in regular get-togethers with the old crew. And although women were few and far between, the floor was notably culturally and socially diverse. In a highly charged, passionate environment she learnt to resolve altercations and move on, as well as laugh at herself.
She was empowered and encouraged to take chances, and experiences and opportunities came thick and fast. “At 19, I was going out and speaking to senior finance directors at the world’s largest companies. I was thrown in at the deep end, but with support,” she says.
Those years also framed her approach to corporate relationships, lighting a passion that continues to shape her career priorities today. At Monex, her clients know they will get honesty and straight answers, and will always be put before a quick win, deal closure and desire to onboard and move on, in relationships that put her own personal reputation on the line. “Many of my clients are family-run or founder-led, navigating tough government policies and these businesses are at the heart of our economy. I am in essence a relationship director, and making sure my clients are supported is my responsibility.”
Lessons in resilience
Those early years on the trading floor taught her resilience and tenacity too. Joining the cut and thrust straight from school was gritty enough. But she had to dig deeper still when it came to moving up the ladder because it felt that not going to university stood in her way compared to others. Her shot finally came when a woman hired her into a sales role. By this time, she also had significant support from colleagues rooting for her on the trading floor, she recalls.
“I would do well through the interview stages but then at the very end I would miss out to a graduate because they had more qualifications. The feedback was always the same: ‘I think you’re fantastic, I think you’d do a great job, but at the end of the day, you stopped at GCSEs.’”
Academic snobbery
Despite being one of the only women on a trading floor in her teens, Bragoli never felt excluded because of her age or gender. It was the fact she wasn’t a graduate that made her feel like she didn’t belong at times, she continues. “For a while, it felt like there was an over focus on ‘badges’ and not enough on experience or emotional maturity. It was academic snobbery really.”
She dates a change in culture which saw banks embrace more backroom talent to the launch of apprenticeships. Only then did more young people like her start to come up the ranks. “Some of the best people I’ve ever worked with have come off the apprenticeship schemes. The wider inclusion of more social backgrounds is evident.”
Still, she worries that current trends in recruitment could mean another backward step. AI fuelled algorithms that hunt for keywords in candidates video uploads are stopping many young starters with socially diverse backgrounds from securing jobs. “I am not a fan of how recruitment is being outsourced for many large firms. You see talented young people who have been very successful with extra-curricular items; have great experiences, skills and qualifications, but who still seem unable to get through. They never get feedback either.”
She also notices that outsourcing recruitment to technology increasingly negates internal recommendations and references in support of early-stage candidates. “I would have really liked to have recommended people in recent years, but unless they can get through the first few stages, it is not really possible.”
The motherhood penalty
As Bragoli contemplates the year ahead she describes an abiding sense of urgency. In a telling indictment of perhaps the most enduring barrier for women in finance today, she is in a hurry to make up time taken out of her career to have and look after her three children.
“I haven’t been full time for the last ten to 15 years because I went part time after my maternity leave. It was a conscious choice because I wanted to be a very present mother and juggle both career and kids together.”
She concludes: “There is a lot I want to do, and I’ve got a lot more to give. Although my mum’s old-fashioned and doesn’t really understand this about me!” she laughs with a nod to another vital ingredient to getting more senior women in finance: female role models.
