President, CFO, CEO and broker of record
CYR FUNDING INC. #11681
In the 1970s, women couldn’t borrow money without a man’s signature, and at the banks, women were only secretaries or tellers, not bank managers or appraisers or mortgage brokers. It was in this setting that Rena Malkah became the first female mortgage broker in Ontario in 1975. Nearly 10 years after that, she became the first female president of the Ontario Mortgage Brokers Association.
Having paved the way for thousands of women in the mortgage industry today, Malkah is currently the principal broker at CYR Funding, a brokerage that arranges first and second mortgages on land, construction, residential, commercial, industrial and special-purpose properties.
What advice does she have for those who want to follow in her footsteps? “In order to succeed, I would advise young professionals to do marketing personally by phone or in person as much as possible,” she says, “not just send emails or use social media alone, because there is nothing better than face-to-face or the personal touch.”
