INTHEBLACK February 2024 - Magazine - Page 34
MEMBER PROFILE
INTHEBLACK, Michelle Wigglesworth CPA: Ethical investment
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“I was absolutely devastated. I had to dig
in deep and go, ‘Do I believe this person,
or do I still try to pursue my dream of
getting into equities investing?’.”
Wigglesworth persevered, striking gold
with a phone call to her mentor, Scott
Webster. He offered her a contract with
global financial firm UBS.
“I’ll never forget that time in my career –
when I was down, and there was someone
who said, ‘I believe in you. I believe that
you do good work’,” Wigglesworth says.
After a year with UBS, Wigglesworth
placed another fruitful call to the managing
director of investment firm Milton
Corporation Limited, Frank Gooch. The
conversation led to her joining the firm as
a junior analyst. The pair worked together
for the next 13 years.
The redundancy experience and the
proactive job searches that followed were
transformational for Wigglesworth.
“It just fits into my story about persisting
and creating your own luck,” she says.
The latest pivotal moment in
Wigglesworth’s career came in February
34 INTHEBLACK February 2024
2023, when she joined Australian Ethical
Investment. The company’s vision is to
“create a world where money is a force
for good”.
The company achieves this by seeking out
investment opportunities based on ethics
and sustainability as well as profitability.
“Australian Ethical has been doing this
for a very long time and really believes that
you can invest in companies that are climate
friendly and also make a profit,” she says.
INSPIRED INVESTING
Wigglesworth has always been drawn to
investing. She began in the early 1990s,
as soon as she had her first full-time job,
and has not stopped since.
Investing comes with its fair share
of ups and downs, as any investor will
attest, Wigglesworth says. She recalls one
particular “down”, when she offered her
boyfriend some investment advice amid
the tech crash of 2000.
“He ended up losing A$8000 of his own
money,” Wigglesworth says. “Thankfully, he
forgave me, and he’s now my husband.”
