The Unapologetic Ask: Cary Carbonaro on Cracking the Code of the Male-Dominated Finance World

Award-winning CFP® Professional and Women and Wealth Authority Cary Carbonaro shares her remarkable, decades-long journey through the financial industry, shattering the glass ceiling. Carbonaro reveals the bold, decisive moves that shaped her career, including walking away from a half-million-dollar Wall Street salary after 9/11, quartering her income, and ultimately choosing to build her own multimillion-dollar financial planning practice from scratch. 

She talks candidly about the challenges of operating as a woman in a male-dominated industry, detailing the effects of implicit bias and the constant need for resilience. Her personal story—from a high-stakes divorce that inspired her first book to a toxic corporate sale that sparked her second—delivers a powerful message. Finally, and notably, as the first woman on the NASDAQ Advisor Council, she advocates for the power of the ask, arguing that women must stop waiting to be noticed or rewarded and instead become 100% responsible for their financial future to close the wealth gap.   

• The Power of Self-Nomination: Carbonaro confidently “threw her hat in the ring” to become the first woman on the NASDAQ Advisor Council, proving the importance of asking for a seat at any table rather than waiting for an invitation. 
• Career Reinvention & Independence: Hear why she quit a high-earning NYC job, quartered her salary, and built her own firm, illustrating that true wealth requires building your own platform and never settling for less. 
• Resilience in a Male-Dominated Industry: A candid look at the implicit and unconscious bias women face in finance, stressing that resilience is the essential, non-negotiable trait needed to succeed. 
• Lemons to Lemonade: Hear how she calls on deeply personal, difficult experiences—a multi-million-dollar divorce and a toxic corporate sale—as the motivation to write her best-selling books and share crucial lessons with the world. 

Important Links:

• Savvy Ladies
• Precious Williams' LinkedIn
• Lisa Zeiderman's LinkedIn
• Cary Carbonaro's LinkedIn 

Important Links for Cary:

• Cary Carbonaro's Website 
• Cary's Women and Wealth Book 

About Cary Carbonaro:

Cary Carbonaro is an award-winning Certified Financial Planner™ with over 25 years of experience. She is the Managing Wealth Advisor and Women and Wealth Ambassador at Ashton Thomas, where she leads a multimillion-dollar financial planning practice focused on empowering women. Cary is the bestselling author of The Money Queen’s Guide and Women and Wealth: A Playbook to Empower Clients and Unlock Their Fortune, which offers actionable strategies for better serving women in financial services.  

 It was a #1 new release in wealth management and #1 in business finance and economics.  A respected industry voice, she’s been named as Investopedia’s Top 100 Financial Advisors list six times and is the first female member of the 2024 Nasdaq Advisor Council. She has been a CFP Board Ambassador for over a decade.  Through speaking, media appearances, and advocacy, Cary champions financial literacy and female empowerment.