Cate Luzio on Building Luminary

Cate Luzio spent two decades in financial services leading global multibillion-dollar businesses. During this time, she also led many of the institutions’ women’s networks and saw the disproportionate number of men to women and women of color in the senior ranks. She recognized the problem was a lack of investment and development of talent in the female pipeline, rather than a lack of talent itself.

This observation sparked a new direction for Luzio’s own trajectory. In a sharp career pivot, she launched Luminary, a gender inclusive, global professional education and networking platform created to address the systemic challenges impacting women across all industries and sectors. Luminary's mission - and Cate's - is to help women and our allies see a path forward by arming them with the tools, resources, and community to navigate their paths -- regardless of their professional journey.

Cate had a number of amazing insights during our conversation. Some of them include:

“I wanted men to be part of the conversation, learn from the conversation, be educated” (7:20).

“If I can help empower all [not just women], then that’s the best-case scenario” (7:40).

“Our mission is to advance women in the workforce regardless of professional journey” (8:05).

“We are a join now community. There’s no application… I don’t want to be exclusionary; I want to be inclusionary” (10:00).

“For a male, there’s a lot of opportunities to get involved [with Luminary]” (11:30).

“I wanted all voices around the table” (13:25).

“We’ve got to make sure more and more men are attending our workshops and conversations” (15:50).

“If you feel like this is a community for you, be a part of it” (16:50).

“I didn’t learn in my career by being part of one group. I learned by being parts of lots of groups and big organizations” (22:30).

“There’s a program out there for everyone. You’ve got to individualize it” (22:40).

“As a businessperson, you have to be open to all ideas” (25:45).

“I have always taken risks in my career” (27:00).

“You can’t control everything” (29:10).

“You have to be okay with [the fact that] you don’t know everything” (29:25).

“When I’m backed against the wall, I’m going to continue to come out swinging” (31:00).

“If somebody tells me no, I look at that as a maybe. I’m a relentless person that will never give up if I believe in something (31:10).

“Our careers are not static” (33:55).

“I look at everything through a return-on-investment lens” (41:45).

“You’ve got to have boundaries” (43:10).

“I want my experiences, the experience I’ve taken from others, what I’ve learned, to impact someone else” (48:40).

“Whether 500 people walk away with impact or 1, it doesn’t matter to me. Because someone is walking away with impact and actionable advice they can apply to their life” (48:45).

“There’s never a full replacement for being in real life” (52:05).

“People just want to connect” (52:45).

“It’s the customer’s choice, and as long as we’re adding value and impact they will stay” (54:50).

“Everything we do is taking feedback and listening, and then making those decisions, because if it’s our way or the highway it will not work” (58:10).

“I look at everybody as a potential mentor and coach” (1:05:30).

Additionally, you can find the Luminary website here. You can also follow Cate on Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn. Lastly, you can check out articles written by and about Cate in Fortune, Entrepreneur, and Business Insider, as well as a podcast with her via Bloomberg and a video featuring her in Cheddar.

Thank you so much to Cate for coming on the podcast!

I wrote a book called “Shift Your Mind” that was released in October of 2020, and you can order it on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Additionally, I have launched a company called Strong Skills, and I encourage you to check out our new website https://www.strongskills.co/. If you liked this episode and/or any others, please follow me on Twitter: @brianlevenson or Instagram: @Intentional_Performers.

Thanks for listening.