Speaking on the Diversity and Inclusivity Finance Forum (DIFF) about being a person of mixed race heritage in the sector, Hylton said she had an “inherent desire” to make the sector more diverse.
As she is in a position to recruit at her current job, Hylton said she made an effort to do this, and her last four recruits were people from different ethnic minority backgrounds.
Rob Gill, founder and managing director of Altura Mortgage Finance, also appeared on the podcast. He said while his team was small, it was diverse. Gill said there was no policy in place to enforce this because like Hylton, he “lived it”.
Supporting others
Gill mentioned that he and Hylton were part of The Accrue Network, a LinkedIn group for black and mixed black people in financial services.
He said the group enabled people of black heritage in the sector to support each other and while its 200 members gathered on LinkedIn, “the real work goes on behind the scenes”.
Through the group, Gill has met up with younger people and new entrants to the sector who want advice and help with their mortgage careers.
He said: “Two weeks ago, I spent the afternoon with a young guy who is of black heritage who has moved out of London and lost the job that he moved out of London for.”
Gill sat down with him and had a couple of meetings, which resulted in job interviews, some of which were with people Gill put him in touch with. Gill said this was a good way to put his own experience and connections to good use.
More progress to be made
Speaking about the mortgage sector and people within it, Gill said ethnic minority representation was “not quite there yet” in more senior positions.
He said he would often be at events where in a room of 200 people there were only “a small handful of brown faces” who tended to know each other because they were always the same people in attendance.
He added: “It’s at the higher levels… where the representation is not quite there yet so that’s the challenge. We may have a fairly diverse group within mortgage broking and the mortgage industry in general, but is it well spread? Is it lower and higher levels? And the answer is probably ‘there’s a way to go yet’.”
Assumptions about the mixed race experience
Hylton and Gill also discussed how being of mixed race heritage impacted their personal and professional lives.
Hylton said she had not had anyone assume anything about her mixed race heritage to her face, except to assume that she was fully white because of her lighter complexion.
She said generally, for mixed race people with a darker complexion, she had seen people assume they identify with one side of their heritage more than the other, “and there is no room to just be both in equal measure”.
“I suppose that speaks to a cultural adaptation of all the sides and parts of you… that you have to lean into one more than other and you should identify with one more than the other,” Hylton added.
She said there was a “given assumption” that if someone looked more white they would culturally be “more white” but for her, she was immersed in both cultures.
Gill agreed and said because he looks more black than white people, assumed he leaned into that side of his heritage more. However, he said the vast majority of his upbringing and culture was in a white culture.
He said this assumption probably had to do with how people perceived others depending on their appearance.
Gill said: “Sadly, people are probably right. They’re probably pre-empting the fact that you need to be prepared for prejudice because of the colour of your skin.”
The advantages of being mixed race
The discussion then moved onto how being of mixed heritage sometimes worked a person’s favour.
Podcast host Anna Sagar, reporter at Mortgage Solutions, said her English and Indian heritage sometimes made her feel she was able to engage with a wide range of people which made her better as a journalist.
Gill agreed and said being born in Paris, relocating to central London, moving just outside London then going to university in Exeter meant he socialised with different kinds of people in settings with varying levels of diversity.
“That was helpful in terms of meeting different groups of people. Usually, with me being a bit of an outlier, I had to learn my way around fitting in with different people,” Gill added.
“In terms of the industry, one thing that has happened relatively recently… is I’ve become involved in a couple of organisations that allow me to mentor people. These are networks I possibly wouldn’t be involved in if I wasn’t mixed race or of African heritage.”
Hylton was born in Liverpool, then moved to Birmingham and split her time between the two cities, spending time with both the black and white side of her family. She also joined the military.
She said: “I do agree that because of all those sides and elements of me…. it has helped me to just get on with anybody. To always be able to find that common ground and also have more of a sympathetic side when you do see somebody for whatever reason that appears to be a bit of an outlier, slightly ostracised, doesn’t quite fit the mould… I do tend to gravitate towards those people because I can sense they don’t necessarily feel comfortable.”
Hylton said being of mixed heritage and her experiences had cultivated a drive to make people feel welcome and comfortable.
Listen to the full episode [35:11] hosted by Anna Sagar, reporter at Mortgage Solutions and assistant editor of Specialist Lending Solutions, featuring Chloe Hylton, regional manager and surveyor at Legal and General Surveying Services and Rob Gill, founder and managing director of Altura Mortgage Finance.
