Sibley then worked for a regional stock brokerage firm in her hometown of Abilene, Texas, where she started handling stocks and bonds. After two years of doing calculations by hand and putting in overtime, she decided she was ready to start her own firm. “People in the office had a bet that I would fail the stockbroker’s test. Some of them bet against me,” she said, “and they all lost their money.”
At a meeting in Dallas, another group of men told her they would work with her once she started the brokerage firm but doubted her ability to bring it to life. “To be fair, I didn’t know much about how to start a brokerage firm,” Sibley said, “but I wasn’t going to let them know that.”
She successfully started the firm, becoming one of the first women in Texas to do so. The company consisted of 25 registered stockbrokers and financial planners, and millions of dollars passed through Sibley’s hands. After five years, she sold the firm, but her clients stuck with her as she became an independent broker. “Thinking back, I hope I helped women really do something,” she shared. “I wanted to be a pacesetter ahead of my time, and I wanted to help other women do the same.”
Though Sibley had achieved success in the workplace, she still had another mission: creating a space for women to learn and grow in their financial literacy together. She traveled frequently between her career in Dallas and her father in Abilene, and she picked the Abilene Women’s Club as a starting point for her ambitions. To her surprise, more than 100 women showed up for her first investment club. Since then, she has started seven more women’s investment clubs. “People thought I was kidding when I said I wanted to start these clubs. They told me I couldn’t do it,” she stated. “Of course, I did end up doing it.”
