Broker shares how she swapped performing arts for a brokerage role
Sofía Zerené (pictured) was focused on a career within the performing arts after coming to the UK from the Canary Islands to take a university course in theatre studies. But now she is enjoying being centre stage at a mortgage advice business.
“At 19, I came over to the UK and followed that ambition to study theatre and dramatic arts,” Zerené told Mortgage Introducer. “I went to university in London and then, after that, you know how life is, it just takes a completely different direction and you need to make ends meet, don't you? You start doing other forms of work, so I fell into it by accident, but I really enjoy it.”
Zerené’s entrance into the mortgage business came via the property industry, where she had a six-year background in sales and lettings and found that her linguistic skills were in demand. “I worked for a property developing company in Spain because they needed Spanish speakers,” she said. “This was at a time where buying off plan on golf resorts was quite prestigious.”
Zerené made a brief career switch into recruitment, but realising that it wasn’t for her took up an opportunity with independent financial adviser Prospectus Financial. Her understanding of the property market helped inform her experience as a mortgage administrator there, and she eventually embarked on broker training, and later became director of its dedicated offshoot business Prospectus Mortgages.
Her theatre studies education has proved useful it seems. “When you study acting and performing arts, you learn a lot of social skills, you learn how to interact with people in different environments,” she reflected. “I think that comes into play with the different scenarios and the different type of clients that we deal with on a daily basis. There's no one same client - there's different ethnic backgrounds, different cultural backgrounds. We're quite a small company and our ethos is to really get to know our clients. We're very bespoke, we tailor package everything to each client's needs and I think you’re maybe not going to get that sort of level of service in a bigger brokerage firm.”
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As an independent, whole of market mortgage and protection adviser, Prospectus Mortgages has been operating for just over a year and advises first-time buyers, re-mortgagers and buy-to-let landlords, as well as helping those with adverse credit. “It’s been a challenging year,” Zerené explained. “The market is not great at the moment, but we are starting to see an increase in different type of enquires. I like to analyse each circumstance and make sure that we are getting the right deal for the client. I like the satisfaction of saying ‘the lender has accepted you.’ The best business lesson I have learned is about working smarter and not harder. Sometimes a case may look quite simple, but actually if you haven't got everything together in the fact find at your initial consultation with the client, it might take you a few steps back. It’s about attention to detail and making sure you've covered everything.”
Zerené doesn’t regret that her career has taken a path, away from the theatre world – though she does retain a link with it.
“It's quite funny because I'm seeing it through my children now because they're actually involved very heavily in performing arts and dance, especially my youngest - she's now performing,” Zerené said. “I just feel like maybe it was my experience that helped them. I think everything happens for a reason. I always feel and always say to them that you can always plan to do something in life, but sometimes that doesn't work out, and as long as you are giving your absolute all in something that you're doing and it's fruitful, and you're able to enjoy your career path, there's never a wrong or a right time to learn something new.”
