The [facilitator] is warm, understanding, encouraging and skilled. The co-participants are smart and lively and fun. Although I am still convinced I have implemented about every option out there, the first session triggered surprising shifts in my mind and heart, making room for me to start moving in new directions. I am excited about what is going to come out of this process. -Skylark Desraeli, One Hill Productions, Kamloops BC
Karen C. Mason, CFP, CLU, RHU, Mason Financial, Sooke
Karen C. Mason is all about the numbers. Since 1983 she’d been working in financial services in a variety of roles, including training financial advisors and acting as a development manager. She had a successful and highly lucrative career, but then one day she had a revelation: “I’m not the best employee!”
With that new understanding she realized that she might just be better off working for herself. Mason dove right in and started a business based on what she knew best. Through her company, Mason Financial, she now offers financial planning services in Sooke, BC.
What she quickly learned was that having a business is just as serious as having a career. “The biggest lesson was to treat my work as a business and take it as seriously as I would a job. My business is not a part-time hobby, it’s my career and my livelihood,” acknowledges Mason.
To get to where she is today, Mason says she had the help of a mentor. “The woman who introduced me to this industry was one of the very first people in my life who truly believed in me and my potential. She was a catalyst in my life to move forward after facing some difficult times.”
Understanding how important it can be to have a mentor in one’s life, Mason is taking on that role herself with Women’s Enterprise Centre. “Mentors are individuals who can inspire, motivate and understand the challenges of the mentee.”
As well as becoming a mentor, Mason also volunteers her time in her community as a Rotarian with the Rotary Club of Sooke, she sits on the Board of Directors of the Sooke Harbour Chamber of Commerce, she is a member of the Sooke Coastal Connections BNI Chapter, the AWEsome Women’s networking group and sits on the Board of Directors of the renowned Sooke Fine Arts Show.
.
