Ripple Effect Leader Spotlight: Noelle Soncrant

The first word that comes to mind when I think about Noelle is generosity. She’s generous in spirit and generous in her commitment to serving and helping others.

When I first met Noelle at a networking event in Tampa, I immediately felt safe in her presence. She became a haven for me at events where I didn’t know many people, and quickly became a friend I respect and admire.

I am thrilled to spotlight Noelle Soncrant, Financial Advisor at Northwestern Mutual, and give you the opportunity to read a vulnerable, honest and authentic account of her story, experience, and perspectives on leadership.

What would you like our readers to know about you?

I'm bringing financial guidance to people based on the pillars of compassion, kindness and love. Yes, my advice is financially sound, too. But in many cases, our industry is cold. A lot of people are turned off by that, so I want people to feel welcome and safe and vulnerable when we're having these conversations about finances, because that's how we're going to be able to best serve them.

I came out of a fundraising background. So I bring a lot of that mentality to my work - about doing what's good for the people I’m trying to serve. I think those are important attributes in any industry; having a willingness to serve your clients and serve your community. I try to remember that every day.

What’s important and meaningful to you about your work?

I tell clients when I meet with them that my number one goal is that after we're done creating a plan for them, the stress and anxiety they may feel about finances is significantly less. I am never going to guarantee I can get rid of all the stress and anxiety, but at least they're going to feel much more comfortable. When I work with them on a plan with clear steps they'll know approximately where they'll end up to achieve their financial goals.

And it’s not just about retirement. It's about everything that happens between now and retirement, as well. I think many people get so focused on the retirement side of things, but they sacrifice the now for the future that we may not have. As important as it is to plan for retirement, it's more important to make sure we're doing the things to live our best lives now, too. Sometimes that requires putting off some of the retirement focus until later.

What does it mean to “bring your authentic self” to work? How do you practice this?

I think you can look at that in a lot of different ways. For me, being authentic as a trans woman is something I've strived to achieve for many years. It took me decades to get to the point where I was comfortable living as my authentic self.

What that means for me is that every time I go into a new room, especially in today's climate, I don't know what to expect. Anybody can say that, but the truth is, I know there are certain people that will not want to work with me specifically because I'm transgender.

What authentic really means, then, is trying to break down a lot of the stereotypes about transgender people. We aren't trying to indoctrinate anybody. I think you can ask any transgender or LGBTQ person, all we want is for kids to just be welcome and have a space where they can figure out who they are. I didn't have that growing up. So it's taken me longer to figure that out.

For me, being authentic is really just showing up and being visible so that others can feel comfortable in who they are. We never know if or when other people may be having similar feelings about their gender identity, or really anything else. I've had families come up to me at events and talk to me for an hour because I’m in an industry where there's very few transgender people around.

That makes it a little bit more difficult sometimes, but I think there's also some advantages to it. I walk into a room and most people are going to recognize that I am potentially transgender. I'm not going to have to really out myself to everybody because I think a lot of people pick up on that pretty quickly. I hope that changes someday. There's still a lot of growth for me as far as how I look and how I feel about myself.

Because I don’t have to come out, it takes a lot of pressure off me. I don't have to try to pretend I’m something I’m not, and in many ways that allows me to relax and just be myself. Not just in my gender identity, but my authentic personality; my authentic, caring, love for people.

What is your definition of leadership?

I think a lot of it has to do with just being your authentic self and creating a space for others to be their authentic selves, as well. There are so many different leadership styles and I don't think there's any one way that's better than the other. But I think it’s important to allow people to be who they are, to be authentic. To provide resources for growth and opportunity. And to do that with compassion, kindness and love.

We all have good days. We all have bad days. We all have things going on with our lives that are going to affect our work performance. I think you have to have a little bit of humanity and to empathize with what's going on in people's lives. To be that safe space for them.

How has your coming out journey and/or identity strengthened who you are as a leader? 

It's made me stronger in a lot of ways. I probably picked the worst time ever to come out as transgender, and in Florida, one of the worst locations to do it. Right before all these anti-trans laws started showing up. Certainly, it's made me stronger in the sense that I'm able to deal with or at least accept personal attacks. They feel like personal attacks because these laws are taking away rights and freedoms from us just simply because of who we are. So it's made me stronger in dealing with conflict and dealing with people that might not agree with who I am

and what I represent.

I think it's made me more patient with people, too, by trying to understand them more. I want to understand why someone would feel that I might be a threat to someone else. I want to break down those barriers and give people a different perception of what they think a transgender person is. So it has kind of forced me into that role.

I’ve also connected with communities that I didn't have before, which helps me grow as a person and to see things from different light. It's not just my story. Mine is one out of millions of coming out stories, whether it’s another trans person or anybody in the LGBTQ community. We all have different journeys. We all have different things that happened in that journey that are both positive and negative. So it's important to hear as many of those and listen to as many of those as you can to really get a better perspective on things.

What is something you still struggle with as a leader who identifies as LGBTQ+?

It's definitely still a struggle with confidence. I still struggle with emotions. I still struggle with anxiety, and because of what I do, I am out in the community and networking a lot. I push myself to be better about certain things, so I will challenge myself, which can go very positively. Unfortunately, sometimes it isn’t so positive. There’s a lot of stuff I’m dealing with in my personal life, too.

And that can impact my ability to be a good leader. In some cases, if something negative happens in a work environment, I will have a tendency to withdraw and isolate myself. I use the term death by 1,000 paper cuts a lot. Every time I go out, I'll get looks or snickers from people that build up over time, and eventually that 1 millionth paper cut will happen and will be more than I can deal with at that moment. I have a long way to go regarding my own personal mental well-being in order to be the most effective leader that I can be.

I also don't necessarily want to hide that because I like to be real. I think it's important for leaders to be vulnerable, important that they're not bulletproof. That, you know, they have the same struggles, the same problems as the rest of us. When we’re open and honest about our struggles, I think it connects us more with the people that we lead.

What resources do you tap into for support?

I am a member of PFLAG Riverview, which has been tremendously helpful. You know, I have built up a small little community of other trans women and men who have become great friends and we rely on each other a lot, especially over the last four to six months as these laws are being discussed. There were a lot of conversations about what we do. You know, creating Plan B's as far as possibly leaving the state of Florida. Where might we go?

In my role as an advisor, I have conversations with clients helping them figure out what it means financially to suddenly pack up their entire life and move to another state. To a place where they can live without fear and with the same rights as everyone else.

I have an incredible support group. With Northwestern Mutual, many of them have become like family to me. I want to give a shout out to my Managing Director, Nikki Stokes-Zolkos, who has been there for me through all this.

I have a group of friends that are always supportive and there for me, too. I feel very fortunate, and I really do my best to be there for others if they're going through a tough time. Because even though very few of my colleagues and friends are LGBTQ, they have things that they're going through in life as well.

One of my mantras for the year is to be the friend that my friends need me to be. Not the friend that I want to be for them. There’s a big difference. I want to be everybody's best friend and that may not be what they need from me. What they might need from me is to be a tiny voice of encouragement, or just be there to listen, or whatever it is they need in that moment. I’m really trying to connect more with what my community and people in my life need.

Tell us about something you’re especially proud of - work or non-work related.

I’m proud of my daughters. With everything they've gone through, they’re still doing well and focused on what they need in life. I'm proud of the people that continue to stand up for me and support me despite a lot of the rhetoric in our communities, in our spaces and in our society.

I'm proud that despite the most tumultuous first couple of years of a career, going through this in a field with a high failure rate, I'm still here. I'm still helping people, I'm still growing as an advisor. I'm still growing my business and really starting to help more and more people. And absolutely loving what I'm doing. I'm proud of the fact that I decided to make a career change at a much later age than most people do. In addition to finally deciding to live my authentic life at a much later age than many people do. Those are the things that I'm most proud of myself for.

What excites you about the future of work/leadership?

What's exciting is that I'm continuing to grow. I'm continuing to learn, I'm continuing to discover how to serve my clients and my community better. When I first came into this business, and first came out, I was really hesitant to work in the LGBTQ community because I didn't want to be pigeon-holed. What I found is that by embracing and helping my community, I’m growing my practice in areas I never thought I would.

As we work with the LGBTQ community, we are introduced to allies, to businesses and their employees. We’re introduced to a whole group of new people that we never would have had access to. So I'm just really excited to continue helping people, growing in my practice and developing partnerships with people that I care about.

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For more information about the QueeHR community we’re building, you can visit my community page and request to join our LinkedIn group. Each spotlight recipient nominates the next person; someone who embodies the core Ripple Effect Leadership values of vulnerability, kindness, empathy, curiosity and humility.