Brighton Jones’ Tama Smith: Passion, Power, Purpose

Before Tyra Banks asked Tama Smith to serve as CEO of her eponymous company, Smith urged the television personality, model and producer to attend Harvard Business School’s Executive Education program.

When Banks finished two years later, Smith was out of a job. It was all part of the plan.

Empowering women has become Smith’s life ambition. She created the department “Women Living Richer Lives” at Seattle-based financial planning company Brighton Jones, where she leads client engagement around women and their financial well-being.

“It’s a community that is all about financial empowerment and building financial confidence through events and content connections,” says Smith, who served as an adviser and dealmaker to numerous celebrity family offices while at The Tyra Banks Co., including StevIe Wonder. “Every decision I’ve made in terms of my evolution has always been based on a purpose tied very much to my values.”

Smith grew up in Los Angeles and fell in love with Seattle and the Pacific Northwest on numerous visits as an angel investor. Prior to joining Brighton Jones in 2017, Smith launched Saventure, a Seattle advisory firm that provided C-level strategic assistance.

The first hint of my entrepreneurial streak was when I was in high school. There was a radio station giving away a road bike. You had to be a certain caller every hour 24 hours. I stayed up all night dialing. I ended up winning that road bike.

My sister was diagnosed with cancer. That’s maybe when I got bit by the bug around financial empowerment and the needs of women because my sister didn’t have her affairs in order. All of these documents were being signed in the ICU.

In that six-month period that I was consulting for Brighton Jones, I began to see how underserved women were by the financial services industry.

By 2030, women will become the new face of wealth. We will be in control in eight years of two-thirds of our country’s wealth. 

There’s a readiness gap. Ninety-five percent of women at some point will need to be the primary financial decision makers in the household. But one out of two women who are married defer to their spouse for those long-term financial decisions. A majority of women don’t feel financially confident.

We are empowering as many women as we can. It’s not a zero-sum game. It’s not women at the expense of men.

Melinda Gates said something to the effect that “women don’t need more empowerment; they need more power.” It’s complicated. It’s traditional power dynamics. It’s financial inequity.

Women overcompensate from making more money by coming home and doing more childcare and more household chores. Women often don’t have the time and energy to manage their financial well-being and it falls to the bottom of their priority list. 

Historically, women have been more comfortable with budgets and the proverbial checkbook. We managed the majority of spending and shopping. Men historically have been more comfortable with money whether they were knowledgeable or not.

Women generally have made for stronger investors. We’re more risk averse. In a volatile market, where men might be changing their investment positions and, therefore, losing on the rebound, women are more inclined to hold.

In talking to a lot of female clients and female executives, they want that sense of purpose in how they invest. Men want the same thing, but I think women make that point a bit louder.

Women are interested in impact investing and ensuring that their investments are making a difference. They typically will ask more frequently.

Nurture financial confidence in your children. Part of raising them involves raising them as confident financial decision makers.

It’s understanding how a budget works. It’s understanding how even when you get that first job, maybe in high school, you know what an IRA account is. And if you can put a little away each month from the time you get your first job up until you’re 30 and you invest it, you’re going to do even better than that friend of yours who starts putting money away at 30.

Exposing kids to how the stock market works as early as possible is a great thing.

You could start to have those conversations with your kids at 6 or 7. Elementary age is certainly the way to go. But it’s not too late if you start in middle or high school. Even in college or your early 20s.

It’s about having a game plan starting as early as possible so that you give your life as many choices as possible.

It’s not just about living a better life. It also gives you choices. It helps you to potentially leave a legacy for family and the causes that mean the most to you.

I heard a TED Talk that said boys are raised to be brave and girls are raised to be perfect. Maybe we should work harder to try to raise all of our kids in the same equal way so they’re informed, knowledgeable and have strong decision-making skills. They feel confident and brave, but perfection is not reinforced.

Our philanthropic advisory team has what we call community impact circles. One was on the environment. Another was on social justice. I’m involved in one about women’s equity. Clients can join with other clients with that same shared commonality. 

I’m in this chapter of empowering as many women as I can.

I think my journey has been full of twists and turns, but always upward and onward, always full of authenticity and purpose.

I’ve gotten into boating up here. I love the water.

I would love to be on some corporate boards.