The WIN Member Spotlight is a new knowledge-sharing initiative designed to capture the experiences, insights and lessons of women within the WIN community.

Our first spotlight features Akira Galvin, who reflects on the gap between professional confidence and financial confidence—and what changed when she started treating wealth-building with the same strategic focus she brought to her career.

Introduction

After two decades building brands for some of Australia's most significant businesses and property developments, Akira Galvin reached a turning point most high-performing women will recognise: she was excellent at creating value for others, and significantly less intentional about building it for herself. What changed—and how—is a more useful story than her resume.

The Conversation

You've spent 20 years in property marketing, working at the highest levels of the industry. At what point did you realise your professional confidence and your financial confidence weren't the same thing?

Embarrassingly late, if I'm honest. I could walk into any room and articulate a brand strategy, a market positioning, a creative vision—with complete conviction. But when it came to my own money? I was reactive. Dealing with it when something forced me to, not because I had a plan. The disconnect was real. I think a lot of women in high-performing careers experience exactly this. We pour our strategic thinking into other people's businesses and somehow convince ourselves our own lives (and finances) can wait.

What finally shifted your thinking?

A few things collided at once. I started having more honest conversations—the kind that WIN makes possible—with women who were further along in their financial journey. And I realised the gap between us wasn't intelligence or income. It was that they had started making deliberate decisions earlier. That was confronting. But it was also clarifying. It's never too late to start, but the earlier you treat your financial position like a strategic asset, the better. I'd tell my younger self that. And it’s something that I keep reminding anyone that will listen. I’ve seen it in some close friends and family members too. If you don’t intentionally plan your finances and portfolio like it’s part of your job, it ultimately gets left behind.

"the gap between us wasn't intelligence or income. It was that they had started making deliberate decisions earlier."

You were recently on a panel at UNSW Business School's Empower Her program. What came up in that room that stayed with you?

I was invited to sit on this panel to talk to young girls (Year 11 and 12 students), planning their tertiary education and careers. What struck me was how hungry the young women in that room were for practical, direct conversation about money—and how little of it they'd been given through formal education. We spend so much time teaching young women to navigate the challenges—the gender pay gap, the systemic barriers—which matter enormously. But we're underinvesting in the practical and positive: how to negotiate, where to invest, how to build wealth with intention. Those conversations shouldn't start in your thirties. They should start much, much earlier. They have a ripple effect that is much stronger, the sooner you start.

Property and creative industries are both going through significant disruption right now. How does financial literacy play into that?

When an industry reshapes itself—and both of mine are doing exactly that—the people with financial clarity make better decisions under pressure. They can take calculated risks. They can back themselves at the right moment. The people without it get swept along. I've watched incredibly talented women in property and creative hold back from opportunities—not because they lacked skill, but because they hadn't built the financial foundation that makes risk feel manageable. That's fixable. And WIN is part of how we fix it.

What's a financial decision—or mindset shift—that had a bigger impact than you expected?

Deciding to treat my own wealth-building like a client account. Setting targets. Reviewing them. Holding myself accountable to them the same way I would with a client. It sounds simple but it was a genuine turning point. I stopped thinking of money as something that happened to me and started thinking of it as something I managed. The practical change was putting a structure around it—clear investment goals, a debt reduction strategy I actually followed, superannuation I paid attention to instead of ignoring. The emotional change was giving myself permission to take it seriously. I put people around me that were open to talking about wealth-building, that were hungry for measured risk, and that wanted to see success. I think a lot of people have been taught it’s not polite to talk about money, so shy away from all money conversations. That’s not helping anyone.

What's the biggest misconception you've let go of?

That being good with money was a personality type—something you either had or you didn't. It's not. It's a skill set. And like every skill set, it develops through reps, through information, through being in rooms where people talk about it openly. The women I've met through WIN aren't all finance experts. They're women who decided to be deliberate. That's the whole thing. I can honestly say, that I’ve never been great with money and money management.

What are you focused on right now?

Building something of my own from the ground up. Which means every financial decision is mine to own—not just advise on. It's the most exposed and most exciting position I've ever been in. The property industry is going through a lot of changes and reforms—it’s an exciting time to be focused on how that can be managed successfully into the future.

Key Takeaway

"Professional confidence and financial confidence don't automatically travel together. The gap between them closes when you stop treating your own wealth as something that can wait—and start applying the same strategic rigour to it that you give to everything else."

Quick Fire

• Best advice received: Back yourself earlier and more often than feels comfortable. That’s where growth will be found.

• What changed your thinking most: Honest conversations with women further along than me and being honest about where you are starting and what you really want in life.

• Current focus: Building intentionally—and making sure the financial foundation matches the ambition.

• What you'd tell your younger self: The practical money conversations you weren't taught? Go find them. Don't wait for someone to offer them.

The WIN Member Spotlight is a knowledge-sharing initiative. Where the Masterclass Series provides structured education, the Member Spotlight provides lived experience. Together, they help WIN become a platform for learning—not just events and networking.