April 25, 2022 — Inkandescent™ PR + Publishing Co. shines a light on changemaker Cate Luzio and her NYC-based organization: “We are Luminary”

Monday Morning Magic, April 25, 2022: “I started Luminary as a way to bring women (and our male allies) together to advance each other’s careers, and it has quickly grown into a movement perfectly timed to push us through the current workplace crisis,” explains Cate Luzio, founder of Luminary, a membership-based career and personal growth platform and collaboration hub created to address the systemic challenges impacting women across all industries and sectors.

The former finance executive shared her vision and mission to celebrate Financial Literacy Month on the Inkandescent Radio show Margaritas with Marguerita Cheng, CFP® Pro. “What impresses me so much about Cate is that she founded and self-funded “We are Luminary” in 2018 with the mission to uplift, up-skill, and propel women forward through all phases of their professional journeys,” shares Marguerita, noting Cate’s company has grown to more than 3,000 individual members and 60+ corporate partners (representing more than 500,000 employees worldwide), including UBS, JPMorgan Chase, and Goldman Sachs. To date, the company has led well over 3,000 in-person and virtual programs, workshops, and events.

“What’s the worst that can happen? You can always go back,” Cate explains in an article featured in Fast Company magazine. “That’s what my mentor told me before I made the big leap from banking to become an entrepreneur.”

Here’s what she did next:

• I decided to leave my role as a top banker and all of the stability that comes with that to launch a mission-driven and inclusive startup, called Luminary to support, connect, and advance all women. The decision to start this was the culmination of so many things.
• After five rounds of IVF, I realized that I couldn’t have children although I had already saved extensively for their potential college tuitions. I later went through a painful divorce. At this turning point, I made the decision to invest those nonexistent children’s college savings another way. I wanted to build a physical space and community for women to solve so many of the pain points that I had experienced in my career, and I know so many other women are struggling with right now.
• It wasn’t easy, Cate admits. Click here to learn how she launched Luminary.

We leave you with this parting thought from Cate Luzio: “If you are strategic, you are seen as calculating; if you are passionate, then you are too emotional; if you’re assertive, you’re aggressive, and so on. I am all of those things, and I am not ashamed of that. ”

Until next Monday: May your week be packed with courage, determination, and so much joy that your life is luminary. — Hope Katz Gibbs, founder and president, Inkandescent™ Inc.

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