Sophie Benander’s career shows what can happen when you are willing to change course and build your own path. In a recent Bizwomen “In Her Own Words” feature, she reflects on moving from an early interest in forensic science to a career leading growth in wealth management. Throughout the piece, she returns to a simple thread: she is most energized by solving problems, building things, and understanding how systems work.
Sophie shares how that thread runs through roles at BNY Mellon, a growing RIA firm, and now Sentinel Group, where she serves as head of growth for wealth management. She writes that “the defining pattern in my career is that I tend to choose the path no one has written the playbook for yet,” and describes her work today as “building the systems that help great ideas scale.” She also talks about designing connections “between retirement planning and wealth management” and “between financial education and real financial guidance” as a core part of how she adds value.
Sophie uses the feature to unpack how her view of leadership and confidence has evolved as she has taken on growth-focused roles. She notes that in the early stages of building something new, “leadership can feel uncertain — even lonely,” and emphasizes that confidence develops over time through lived experience. As she puts it, “borrowed confidence fades, but earned confidence compounds,” and “meaningful progress rarely happens on the well-worn path. More often, it happens when someone decides to build a new one.”
“I often say that borrowed confidence fades, but earned confidence compounds.”
Interested in learning more? Find the full article here.
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