Changing the Face of Trading

I recently had the opportunity to interview Charmel Delos Santos - amazing woman, mother of three, fellow Emergen member and first-time author of the newly released book “High Heeled Traders” (ISBN 1463797915). 

About Charmel Delos Santos

Charmel, the second of three sisters, grew up in the Philippines surrounded by a family of strong, influential women.  

‘Women of leisure they were not - they taught us business and life skills along the way’

As a young woman, Charmel worked in the family business exporting handicrafts made by women in her village. She also became active in civic activities - organizing and modelling in fashion shows, which prompted her to join Binibining Pilipinas in 1998 (Miss Philippines).  

Charmel has a Bachelor of International Studies from Miriam College in Manila, of which she achieved while also taking up computer programming. Charmel started her career as a business analyst, and has worked in information technology for 15 years. She moved to Australia in 2000.

Charmel is based in Sydney and currently volunteers in a mother’s group.  She is also a member of the United Nations Women National Committee Australia. 

Becoming a Trader

Charmel’s journey to becoming a trader started ‘in Australia, with three pieces of luggage, $2000 loose change and 7 of 11 years on one income due to maternity leave and job losses’.

She started actually trading at at time in her life when she was working full-time, was suffering from exhaustion, was highly stressed and was having problems conceiving.  Something had to change, and so she made the conscious decision to change her life and to adopt a less stressful, healthier and more fulfilled life.  

Many of Charmel’s colleagues at the time had been dabbling in trading, so she thought she would give it a go - after all, it was something she could do in her spare time.

‘I started trading because I wanted to be financially free and just do what I love. One of those was to be a mum - for sure, to be a mother is the hardest job in the universe,  but it is also the job with the most rewards.’

When Charmel had the opportunity to get pregnant she started pursuing it more so that she could have more free time to dedicate to what she was important to her.

Charmel has now been trading for 9 years.  After investing in real estate, Charmel started trading in shares and options. Her current focus is protecting assets and generating income using options and developing trading system for Forex. 

Today, Charmel trades because it helps her to have a desired lifestyle, with happiness as her motivating factor.

High Heeled Traders

“High Heeled Traders” (ISBN 1463797915) started from Charmel’s own explorations of trading.  She found that during her research to become a trader there was an awful lot of technical information as well as misinformation available, of which she had to wade through and test out herself.

She also found that as she quietly went about checking her trades on her phone whilst out and about, that many of her friends had started to show interest in what she was doing, requesting that Charmel teach them trading.

In order to make it easier for her friends to understand trading, and to help others by providing information of what has actually worked for her, she started the blog ‘High Heeled Traders’.  And from there the book was born.  

In “High Heeled Traders”, Charmel explains how women are natural traders: 

‘Trading is simply Buying and Selling.  And my belief is that women do this a lot.  In our world, this is called Shopping.    I admit the main activity is the BUYING, intended  for keeps – but we do Sell or otherwise get rid of something that has  less or no more value.    Anyway, considering women shop a lot, I thought we would be natural traders!  We just don’t realize it.’

Charmel revels in the writing process for the book and how much fun it was thinking of the analogies for trading. In "High Heeled Traders" Charmel aims to help women understand trading by using their knowledge of shopping right through to fashion and shoes.  

‘In talking with women, they say they are interested to trade but do not know how to start. They find current references too complicated and boring. “High Heeled Traders” uses girlie analogies that help women relate and show that what they already know can help them to trade profitably.’

Charmel says that the purpose of the book is to encourage people - especially women - to get out there and to get involved. The book is ‘for women with full, busy lives who still have big dreams to live for.’ She also provides valuable advise and examples on some of the pitfalls associated with trading, many from personal experience - on how to last financially, mentally and physically.

Indeed, Charmel is a woman who is leading the way with a busy life whilst chasing her dreams.  But how does she do it all?  Charmel is the first to admit that it is hard, as there is a lot of study and research involved, there are risks and losses associated with trading, and that time management is key.   The key is to make sure that you do something to help yourself grow every day.

"High Heeled Traders" is a must-have book for women interested in taking up trading, for women already dabbling in trading who need tried and tested resource, for partners (as men can, and are, learning from this book too!), or for people who are looking for inspiration - and a way - to pursue their dreams.  I know that I have been inspired by the book, Charmel's insights and by Charmel herself - as she has definitely become a strong, influential woman in her on right.

Charmel truly is changing the face of trading.

Further Information

“High Heeled Traders” is available for sale online at Amazon.com and via the High Heeled Traders website, and with every purchase you get a copy of the hardback and ebook.  Part of all proceeds of every sale also goes to United Nations Women empowerment projects world wide.

Charmel Delos Santo is available for mentoring and can be contacted on charmel@highheeledtraders.com.  You can also follow her on her blog High Heeled Traders.