By Alex Sullivan, Founder and CEO, Modern American Advisor
There are easier ways to create a Women in Finance cover.
We could have used the obvious image: A smiling executive in a navy suit, standing in a glass office, arms folded, skyline behind her. Polished, professional, and safe.
Also completely forgettable.
This was never going to be the cover of Modern American Advisor.
Our June cover is deliberately different. It is glamorous, provocative and loaded with history. The cigarette is not there to celebrate smoking. Quite the opposite. It is there because the image raises a much bigger question: who gets to define freedom, power and progress, and who benefits when that story is told?
The phrase “Torches of Freedom” comes from one of the most famous publicity campaigns of the twentieth century. In 1929, Edward Bernays, working for the American Tobacco Company, helped stage a group of women smoking cigarettes during New York’s Easter Sunday Parade. At the time, cigarettes were strongly associated with male privilege. The act was framed as liberation. The press was alerted. Photographs were taken. A commercial campaign became a cultural moment.
That is what makes it so relevant.
It was not simply a spontaneous act of rebellion. It was also a carefully planned marketing exercise designed to open a new market for cigarettes. Equality was used as positioning. Liberation became a sales strategy. Rebellion became a campaign.
The cover is not about tobacco. It is about visibility, symbolism, independence, manipulation and the constant battle over who controls the narrative. The women in that original moment were challenging a genuine social taboo. But the spectacle around them had also been engineered.
Finance has its own versions of packaged empowerment.
Too often, women in this industry are presented through slogans, staged panel photographs and safe corporate messaging. We celebrate “female leadership” without always asking the harder questions. Where does authority really sit? How is influence built? Why do talented women still become invisible? What happens when the old models of power no longer fit the people now entering the room?
This issue tries to go further.
The women featured in these pages are not here to satisfy a demographic brief. They are here because they have something worth saying about clients, leadership, ambition, business, communication and the future of advice.
Ken Boyd’s interviews, developed through introductions from the Wealthtender community, bring together women from across advice and wealth management with different stories, careers and perspectives. That matters. There is no single “women in finance” experience, and there should not be a single approved way of talking about it.
Elsewhere in the issue, we look at how authority is increasingly earned through trust, clarity and the ability to create meaningful conversations, not simply through titles or hierarchy. We examine Vanguard research showing that women may feel confident about saving while still needing better conversations around cash, security, family responsibilities and long-term goals. Caroline Holt explores why the next generation of women leaders needs more than technical competence. They need confidence, poise, purpose and the right relationships to fully occupy the roles they have already earned.
Importantly, this is not an issue built around the idea that women need fixing.
It is about recognising where influence already exists. Women are moving markets, building firms, shaping client relationships, creating communities, challenging conventions and defining modern leadership.
It is also about the industry around them. Are firms genuinely changing how opportunity, visibility and succession work? Or are they simply updating the imagery while leaving the old structures untouched?
That is why a standard boardroom photograph would not have been enough.
Modern American Advisor is designed to look and feel different because the profession itself is changing. We want covers that carry an idea, not simply illustrate a theme. We want imagery that makes people pause, question and look again.
The original “Torches of Freedom” were held by women, but the story was largely scripted and commercialised by men.
Nearly a century later, the women featured in this edition are not props in somebody else’s campaign. They are building the firms, voices, ideas and relationships that will shape what comes next.
That is the freedom, and the authority, we wanted on our cover.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What was the “Torches of Freedom” campaign?
The “Torches of Freedom” campaign was a 1929 publicity stunt orchestrated by public relations pioneer Edward Bernays for the American Tobacco Company. Women publicly smoked cigarettes during New York City’s Ester Parade as a symbol of liberation, helping transform cigarettes into a commercial product marketed to women.
Modern American Advisor Women in Finance cover features a cigarette because of its historical symbolism, exploring themes of power, visibility, influence, and how narratives about women’s empowerment has been shaped throughout history.
- What is the message behind this editorial?
This editorial examines how symbols of empowerment can be both authentic expressions of progress and carefully constructed marketing narratives. It asks readers to consider how authority, visibility, and leadership continue to evolve within wealth management and financial services.
- Why is Modern American Advisor focusing on Women in Finance?
Women continue to play an influential role across wealth management, financial planning, and financial services. Women in Finance highlights women whose leadership, expertise, and perspectives are shaping the future of the profession rather than simply celebrating representation.
- How are women changing the wealth management industry?
Women are leading advisory firms, influencing investment decisions, building client relationships, mentoring future leaders, and helping redefine leadership through trust, communication, and long-term client partnerships.
- What topics are covered in the Women in Finance issue?
The issue explores leadership, advisor-client relationships, career development, succession planning, communication, confidence, and the future of women in wealth management through interviews, editorials, and industry analysis.
