About Sophia Wealth Academy
What is the Sophia Wealth Academy?
Sophia Wealth Academy is a place where we use our shared intelligence as fuel to make the changes in our lives that bring us greater joy and allow us to take risks, build courage and use our financial muscle. After all, money is power. And that power can be used for great good. If you are hungry for high calibre financial education, objective advice, and honest interactions, you will find it here.
Our Motto:
We Lift As We Climb
Our Sophia Wealth Academy Mission
Since the first Sophia Wealth Academy opened its doors in a community gym, we have been dedicated to giving our audience the tools, strategies, and wisdom they need to manage their personal financial life, effectively and efficiently. Our mission has always been twofold:
1) To inspire our audience with the highest calibre of financial speakers and topics
2) To create a community of wisdom, encouragement, and mutual support
Since the beginning, we have donated our proceeds to Dress for Success, a feminist not for profit that helps women take control of their earning lives.
Sophia Wealth Academy Founders
As trusted financial advisors for over 20 years, Tracy Theemes and Kamal Basra are long-time champions of financial literacy and equality in Canada. Co-founders of Sophia Financial Group, Raymond James Ltd, they provide investment advisory services to high net worth clients, devote a day each week to pro bono clients, and are the founders of the Sophia Wealth Academy financial education platform.
About Kamal Basra
Kamal is deeply passionate about creating economic equality by providing education and quality professional investment advice. She started her career after graduating from Simon Fraser University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Molecular Biology. She performed heart disease research at UBC which led to her co-authoring a research paper in a prominent scientific journal. In her early career, she worked as a supervisor with the Canada Revenue Agency.
Kamal is a Certified Financial Planner, a Fellow of the Canadian Securities Institute and fully life insurance licensed. In 2009, she co-founded Sophia Financial Group a full-service advisory firm focused on providing a socially conscious financial planning and portfolio management firm on Vancouver’s west side.
About Tracy Theemes
Tracy is a leading authority on the issues facing women in our economic world. She graduated from the University of British Columbia with a Master of Arts in Psychology and experienced firsthand how poverty created long term disadvantage while working with women and families in some of Vancouver’s poorest neighbourhoods.
Tracy started her financial career as a financial consultant with Smith Barney, a US brokerage firm, and later worked with RBC Dominion Securities in Canada. In 2009, she co-founded Sophia Financial Group a full-service advisory firm focused on providing a socially conscious, financial planning and investment management firm on Vancouver’s west side.
Our Past Faculty
Our past faculty and event speakers are top experts in fields ranging from finance and psychology to health and leadership. They all come together to educate, inform, and inspire us all.
Susan Aglukark
Singer-songwriter. Three-time Juno winner. Founder and Chair, Arctic Rose Foundation. Recipient of the Officer of the Order of Canada. Activist.
https://www.susanaglukark.com/
Talk: Journey to Courage
Susan Bazilli
International human rights lawyer. Director, International Women’s Rights Project. Global women and human rights advocate. Researcher. Educator. Author.
http://iwrp.org/about/director/
Breakout Session: Passionate Activism. My Power.
Christine Bergeron
Executive Lead of Member Experience and Community Engagement at Vancity. BIV Top 40 under 40. Founding team member and VP of Chrysalix Energy.
https://www.vancity.com/AboutVancity/GovernanceAndLeadership/LeadershipTeam/ChristineBergeron/
Facilitator: Wealth Academy Power Panel
Dr Maria Gallo
Ph. D, Muscle Exercise Biochemistry. World Cup rugby player. Rugby Canada Hall of Fame. Director, UBC High Performance Coaching and Technical Leadership graduate program.
http://kin.educ.ubc.ca/person/maria-gallo/
Breakout Session: My Body. My Power.
Sandy Garossino
Former Crown prosecutor. Prominent media commentator. Columnist, National Observer. Winner of ‘Best Column’ in Canada, 2017 Canadian Online Publishing Association’s awards.
https://www.nationalobserver.com/u/sandy-garossino
Breakout Session: Words of Truth. My Power.
Senator Marilou McPhedran
Human rights lawyer. Professor and activist. Independent senator, Parliament of Canada. Co-founder of several internationally recognized non-profit Canadian organizations.
https://sencanada.ca/en/senators/mcphedran-marilou/
Breakout Session: The Law. My Power.
Karin Mizgala
Co-founder, Money Coaches Canada and the Women’s Financial Learning Centre. Certified financial planner. Co-author, 7 Stages of Financial Well-Being®.
https://moneycoachescanada.ca/about/karin-mizgala/
Breakout Session: UNSTUCK – how to get out to debt and start living the life you want
Dr Marshall Soules
Ph. D in Performance Studies. Founder and chair of the Media Studies Department at Vancouver Island University. Mediator and conflict resolution trainer. Author.
http://mediastudies.viu.ca/marshall-soules/
Breakout Session: Talking about the Hard Stuff (with Donna Soules)
Dr Jessica Tracy
UBC psychology professor. Director of the Emotion and Self Lab, UBC. Associate Editor, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. Author.
http://ubc-emotionlab.ca/people/dr-jessica-tracy/
Talk: PRIDE: The Secret of Success
Sheila Walkington
Co-founder, Money Coaches Canada and the Women’s Financial Learning Centre. Certified financial planner. Co-author, 7 Stages of Financial Well-Being®.
https://moneycoachescanada.ca/about/sheila-walkington/
Breakout Session: Your Money Map
