Angela Bradford Of World Financial Group On How We Can Increase Women’s Engagement in Leadership and Management
An Interview With Vanessa Ogle
I believe articles like this are really helpful for awareness. I think a lot of people are just unaware of what is happening and that women can be leaders is still a new development. Studies are showing women actually can do better generally speaking in leadership than men as they empathize more than their male counterpart. This of course is a generalization and doesn’t apply to all women or all men in leadership.
Despite strides towards equality, women remain underrepresented in leadership and management roles across various sectors. In this series, we would like to discuss the barriers to female advancement in these areas and explore actionable strategies for change. We are talking with accomplished women leaders, executives, and pioneers who have navigated these challenges successfully, to hear their experiences, tactics, and advice to inspire and guide the next generation of women toward achieving their full potential in leadership and management roles. As part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Angela Bradford.
Angela is a Senior Marketing Director with World Financial Group. Within 8 years of transitioning from the blue collar world of trucking and training horses, to the white collar world of finances and training people, she has opened multiple offices and is expanding rapidly into two countries. She has an amazing team working with her and has the goal of creating a presence in every state and province in North America in the next 4 years.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory”? What led you to this particular career path?
I was driving truck over the road for many years and then that industry slowed down. This caused me to look for other opportunities and into other positions. I was introduced to World Financial Group then and I saw that I could get into a brand-new career without much risk, so I thought “why not,” and I decided to try and go for it. I would give it my best and see… I am incredibly grateful I made that decision and haven’t looked back.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?
One of the most interesting stories or at least inspiring to me was getting to pay a $50k cancer claim to a 39 year old with breast cancer. The money helped her recover in peace and she was so glad she had that policy in place!
Can you share a pivotal moment in your career that significantly influenced your path to leadership?
The moment that changed me from “trying this thing out,” to all in was my first payday and listening to Steve Holbrook’s story with our firm. He talked about his story of being on a hospital bed for a year and still making over a 6 digit income. I realized that I was finally in an industry where I could give my family the life of their dreams while helping many others have the same opportunity. Trucking did not provide that same option.
I was put on the earth for a purpose, as I believe we all are, and I felt that I had finally found it with starting my own business. I saw that I could work for someone else for the rest of my life; or take the leap out of the employee world and build something for my family’s legacy.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
So many people have helped me and inspired me along my business journey, it is hard to pick just one! But today I am thinking of Adam Dawe. He was the one that introduced me to my business, and I wouldn’t be here if he hadn’t.
Adam also inspired me because he came from “nothing” and built and continues to build a massive agency in financial services also. Seeing that someone that was deep in debt, not exactly a ‘people person’ and very unhappy with his life could take that and turn himself around through personal growth and development, meant I could also. Thank you Adam for your belief in me!
Is there a particular book that made a significant impact on you? Can you share a story or explain why it resonated with you so much?
Besides the Bible, I would say the book “the Circle Maker” by Mark Batterson has had the biggest impact on my life. I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2019 and that year I went to spend New Years by myself. I took that book along that was recommended to me, and it’s about the power of prayer.
I realized I had big dreams and goals, but I was hoping to do them all within my own power. The book made me realize that in my ‘weakness’ I have a greater strength surrounding me. Since then, I have worked at stepping into a higher power instead of just my own power. Interestingly enough, our business grew 167% the next year!
Do you have a favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Do you have a story about how that was relevant in your life or your work?
My favorite quote is “things happen for us not to us.” I was diagnosed with MS (multiple sclerosis) in 2019. I had to decide if that was going to slow me down or if I was going to use it for fuel to grow faster. I knew that it was given to me for a purpose, and I used it for fuel to grow myself and my business. I knew it happened for me not to me.
How have you used your success to make the world a better place?
Giving to charity is something I have been able to do more and more of. I use my reach on social platforms also to help others in their times of struggle.
Ok, thank you for that. Let’s now jump to the primary focus of our interview. According to this report, only about 31.7% of top executive positions across industries are held by women. This reflects great historical progress, but it also shows that more work still has to be done to empower women. In your opinion and experience what is currently holding back women from leadership and management?
I believe a few things are holding women back from leadership. Fear of being too much and enjoying the feminine energy of just following along. Men can start to make women feel that if they are “too” much they won’t want to be in relationship with them. It seems like in a lot of circles it’s one or the other.
Some women don’t want the responsibility that comes with leadership and would rather be “low key” and just work for someone. They don’t want to make waves.
This might be intuitive to you but I think it will be helpful to spell this out. Can you share a few reasons why more women should become leaders and managers?
I think we need more people in leadership in general. We definitely need more women in leadership so they can empower the next generation of women to reach their full potential and not wait for a man to make things happen for themselves. The more women we can empower to become the best versions of themselves, the better this world will be. I believe there will be less sex trafficking and women doing things they don’t want to do because they feel they need to in order to survive. That would be a huge win for civilization!
Can you please share “5 Things We Need To Increase Women’s Engagement in Leadership and Management?”
1 . One of the first things that come to mind is empowering women to speak their mind more often. I think of some of the women around me that have been able to speak up whenever things get tough in the organization and how their ideas have helped correct problems that would otherwise continue to be problems.
2 . Second thing is just making sure that people are setting an example. Women who are leading need to encourage new women to step into leadership also. Setting the example of how to lead is important for younger people to follow.
3 . In our organization, we reward accomplishments. Gender doesn’t matter for promotions or recognition. I believe this is very important to increase women’s engagement in leadership. If women feel they are “less than” men, they will act that way.
4 . I believe articles like this are really helpful for awareness. I think a lot of people are just unaware of what is happening and that women can be leaders is still a new development. Studies are showing women actually can do better generally speaking in leadership than men as they empathize more than their male counterpart. This of course is a generalization and doesn’t apply to all women or all men in leadership.
5 . Last idea that comes to mind would be to have workshops and trainings specifically designed for younger women to start to be thinking in the direction of leadership. I believe a lot of people haven’t even had it cross their mind, so this could be a great idea so that women could see that they could actually become leaders.
In your opinion, what systemic changes are needed to facilitate more equitable access for women to leadership roles?
To promote more equitable access for women in leadership roles, several systemic changes could be beneficial:
Implementing policies that support parental leave, flexible work arrangements, and affordable childcare can help balance the responsibilities that often fall disproportionately on women. Creating structured mentorship programs that connect women with leaders in their fields can provide guidance, support, and visibility.
Organizations can benefit from training programs that emphasize the importance of diversity and unconscious bias, helping to create a more inclusive workplace culture. Establishing clear criteria for promotions and leadership roles can help reduce bias and ensure that women have equal opportunities to advance.
Facilitating networking events specifically for women can help them build connections and gain access to opportunities that might otherwise be unavailable. Increasing funding and resources for women-led startups can encourage more women to take on leadership roles in business.
These changes, among others, can help create a more equitable landscape for women aspiring to leadership positions.
What strategies have you found most effective in mentoring and supporting other women to pursue leadership positions?
For me, I have a lot of women on my team who are strong female leaders. I believe a big part of that is because of the example that I tried to set of female leadership and empowerment. In my mind, example is the strongest way to mentor and support other women.
If younger women and girls see those that they look up to in leadership positions and thriving, they’re way more likely to want to pursue those positions and situations.
How would you advise a woman leader about how to navigate the challenges of being a woman in a leadership role within a male-dominated industry?
First thing I would say here, is to not try to prove that you are better. When women go into an industry that is male dominated with a chip on their shoulder to try to prove that they are better than their male counterpart things normally don’t go well.
However, when women enter a male dominated industry and prove that they are as capable to do the work that needs to be done, I have found that most males start to respect them and leadership can happen. It is hard to lead if you don’t have respect. Respect is earned.
Another thing I would say is to respect the male. If a person, male or female, doesn’t respect the people they lead it is hard to lead them.
How do you balance the demand for authoritative leadership with the stereotypical expectations of female behavior in professional settings?
This is a really good question! It’s something I’m definitely working on myself. Being a leader but also being feminine. One of the things about leadership, you need to be ok with not being liked. Respect in leadership is more important than likeability. In saying that however, people do need to like you.
It’s definitely a balancing act. One of the things that has helped me, is having a core group of people who I really respect back and tell me what I need to work on. Some women err more on the soft side and some err more on the harder side. I definitely lean toward the harder side more often so I need people to tell me when to soften.
I would say that this has been one of the best things for me to balance out in order to become a better leader especially as a woman.
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good for the greatest number of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.
The movement I’m working on is empowering women to reach their full potential. I believe too many women hide their light because they’re scared of what others may think of them. I want women to shine bright!
How can our readers further follow your work online?
I am on all social media platforms under realangelabradford. I also have a podcast called “One Starfish with Angela Bradford”.
Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.
About The Interviewer: Vanessa Ogle is a mom, entrepreneur, inventor, writer, and singer/songwriter. Vanessa’s talent in building world-class leadership teams focused on diversity, a culture of service, and innovation through inclusion allowed her to be one of the most acclaimed Latina CEO’s in the last 30 years. She collaborated with the world’s leading technology and content companies such as Netflix, Amazon, HBO, and Broadcom to bring innovative solutions to travelers and hotels around the world. Vanessa is the lead inventor on 120+ U.S. Patents. Accolades include: FAST 100, Entrepreneur 360 Best Companies, Inc. 500 and then another six times on the Inc. 5000. Vanessa was personally honored with Inc. 100 Female Founder’s Award, Ernst and Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year Award, and Enterprising Women of the Year among others. Vanessa now spends her time sharing stories to inspire and give hope through articles, speaking engagements and music. In her spare time she writes and plays music in the Amazon best selling new band HigherHill, teaches surfing clinics, trains dogs, and cheers on her children.
Please connect with Vanessa here on linkedin and subscribe to her newsletter Unplugged as well as follow her on Substack, Instagram, Facebook, and X and of course on her website VanessaOgle.
Angela Bradford Of World Financial Group On How We Can Increase Women’s Engagement in Leadership… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.