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What does it take to thrive as a female mortgage broker in Australia — and what is the industry still getting wrong when it comes to attracting and retaining women? In this episode of The LVR Podcast, Ruan Burger and Marissa Schulze sit down with Kirsty Best from Living Home Loans for the second instalment of the Women in Business: Strong and Bold series.

Kirsty's path to becoming a female mortgage broker in Australia is an unexpected one. Coming from a teaching background with a love of numbers and problem solving, she had no idea what mortgage broking would look like when she started — which she now considers a blessing. The learning curve was steep, the early days were isolating, and walking into industry events as one of very few women in the room was genuinely confronting. But the female BDMs who took time with her, and the women she saw presenting on stage — including Marissa — gave her a visible path forward that made all the difference.

Kirsty is candid about what holds many women back from becoming a female mortgage broker in Australia in the first place: the income uncertainty of those first 12 to 24 months. Unlike some of their male counterparts who are more willing to throw themselves in and see what sticks, many women need a clearer picture of what the early days look like financially before they'll back themselves. Kirsty's suggestion is practical — aggregators and banks could do more through structured introduction bonuses, mentoring programs, and dedicated pathways that give women the confidence and support to get through that critical early period.

The conversation also explores what Kirsty has built at Living Home Loans — a business culture that is genuinely human, deliberately supportive, and designed to help people grow. She traces that commitment directly back to her teaching years and a previous workplace culture that fell short. As a female mortgage broker in Australia running her own business, she sees creating that environment not just as a nice-to-have, but as a responsibility — particularly toward other women coming up behind her.

Ruan and Marissa close the conversation with a point that resonates across both episodes in this series: competence and capability are rarely the issue for women in broking. Confidence — to speak up, to ask for the referral, to put themselves forward — is the real frontier. And the more visible female mortgage brokers in Australia become, the easier that gets for the next generation coming through.

Thank You To Our Hosts: Ruan Burger and Marissa Schulze

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