Zara Coner’s achievements, in no particular order, are:
- “My family, Sam is just the cutest!”
- Meeting my now-husband whilst interviewing for a job (I got both!)
[I want it I got it! – Ariana Who?] - Completed ‘Tough Mudder’ for charity which was and still is a modern miracle because you see, at the time of taking part, Zara and mud did not mix.
Image of Zara Coner taking part in Tough Mudder. Zara is submerged in very muddy water with a look of shock on her face.
- Appeared in the Bunty annual aged 10.
- Like Nicki, I was also Mary in the school play in primary 3 and an angel in the years running up, however, I had peaked early, as one does, so naturally, my next role was as green pepper in Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves.
- A daily music playlist that’s stuck in the early noughties indie and rock scene.
- Keen festival-goer (favourite gig was seeing The Darkness – just amazing).
Zara loves anything house-related, whether it’s apparently being ASPC’s most frequent website visitor, binging renovation programmes (basically, if it stars Kirsty Allsop and Phil Spencer, Zara is watching it) or constantly redecorating her home, the garage, the garden… anything really. Heck, if you asked her to house-sit you’ll probably come home to a new and improved home design.
Part of the reason Zara joined the McLean Financial Services team back in August was that the progression to Advisor was planned from the first conversation with Cameron and Mabel; “They were immediately supportive of my ambition to bridge the gap between my previous Advisor experience in banking and my administrative experience in Mortgages and Protection. The end goal being Zara would become a Mortgage and Protection Advisor with the firm.” The journey so far from Administrator to Advisor, as with any big change, has been an intense learning curve full of eye-opening curveballs.
Zara is naturally creative, currently, her creativity is used to make up learning games for her son, Sam. Over lockdown, Zara created a version of Taskmaster for her four-year-old son (do you know how much fun they had!) and adapted other games to suit him. This lockdown also brought about “The Great British Sewing Bee” inspired by a new love of sewing mainly so she could “learn to make & alter clothes for (her) rather tall family”.
Zara is now in her third month as a trainee mortgage and protection advisor, and to her, an advisor should help a client do three things:
- Buy your home
- Keep your home in the event of illness, injury or death of a partner.
- Protect the bricks, mortar and valuables of your home.
In this case, Zara and an advisor like her (not many let’s be honest) will help you decorate it, or be a sounding board for how you would transform a property into your dream home.
In terms of lockdown learnings for Zara; “ One of the most valuable lessons I have taken from my journey so far is that when it comes to buying a home, we often take what we have available to us for granted. The best thing we can do for ourselves, and our family is to create a safety net to catch us if we ever fall.”
