EPISODE · Jul 7, 2026 · 1H 4M
From Wall Street Executive to Financial Thriller Novelist | Kristine Delano
from Insight is Capital™ Podcast
She forgot to hang up the phone — and what she overheard about herself in that boardroom became the seed of a Wall Street thriller twenty years in the making.In this episode of Insight is Capital, Pierre Daillie sits down with Kristine Delano — Independent Board Trustee, fiction author, former Managing Director at Eaton Vance, and host of the We Talk Careers podcast (brought to you by Women in ETFs). After two decades inside Wall Street firms, where she helped win the first SEC approval on an active non-transparent ETF, Kristine walked away from the corner office and did the one thing nobody saw coming: she wrote a novel. Her debut financial thriller, The Lies We Trade, opens on the best day of a woman's career — ringing the closing bell at the New York Stock Exchange — right up until the person she trusts most begins taking it all apart.Kristine reveals how a neuroscience and engineering background became her career superpower, why "it's all active" when it comes to investing, and the visceral true story of the conference call she never hung up on — where she heard colleagues she trusted throw her under the bus. She unpacks the power imbalances hiding in every boardroom, the micro-expressions that tell you more than any agenda, imposter syndrome at the very top (including a moving story about the late Kathleen Moriarty, the "Queen of ETFs"), and the warning her novel carries for advisors and wealth professionals: process and trust aren't always enough. Plus, a first look at her second novel — two estranged sisters, a journalist and a Wall Street CEO, on a collision course of truth versus power.Chapters00:00 – Cold open: The executive who walked away 02:00 – Welcome, Kristine Delano 02:38 – From neuroscience and engineering to Wall Street 05:03 – Why thinking differently became her career edge 06:49 – Behavioral risk: the investor is the biggest risk 09:10 – Bicoastal career, family, and what advisors taught her 11:01 – Life after Wall Street: skiing, scuba, and board work 14:04 – The family emergency that changed everything 16:52 – The call she never hung up on: overhearing the truth 25:24 – Meredith: a protagonist who introduced herself 29:12 – Writing fraud and betrayal: invention vs. lived experience 32:04 – Kathleen Moriarty and imposter syndrome at the top 34:28 – We Talk Careers and amplifying voices in ETFs 37:22 – Power imbalances and micro-expressions in the boardroom 42:26 – The warning for advisors: when process and trust aren't enough 46:30 – Alter egos, courage, and the head of sales named Dave 49:34 – The second novel: two estranged sisters, truth vs. power 55:08 – Sisterhood, family strain, and writing what's real 01:01:08 – Where to find The Lies We Trade and We Talk CareersFind Kristine DelanoThe novel: The Lies We TradeKristine Delano on LinkedinKristine Delano's Website: KristineDelano.com#KristineDelano #TheLiesWeTrade #FinancialThriller #WallStreet #WomenInFinance #WomenInETFs #ETFs #InsightIsCapital #BehavioralFinance #ImposterSyndrome #CareerAdvice #WealthManagement #FinancialAdvisors #BookTube #ThrillerBooks #CareerPivot #Leadership #PowerDynamics #FinanceBooks #Investing
What this episode covers
She forgot to hang up the phone — and what she overheard about herself in that boardroom became the seed of a Wall Street thriller twenty years in the making. In this episode of Insight is Capital, Pierre Daillie sits down with Kristine Delano — Independent Board Trustee, fiction author, former Managing Director at Eaton Vance, and host of the We Talk Careers podcast (brought to you by Women in ETFs). After two decades inside Wall Street firms, where she helped win the first SEC approval on an active non-transparent ETF, Kristine walked away from the corner office and did the one thing nobody saw coming: she wrote a novel. Her debut financial thriller, The Lies We Trade, opens on the best day of a woman's career — ringing the closing bell at the New York Stock Exchange — right up until the person she trusts most begins taking it all apart. Kristine reveals how a neuroscience and engineering background became her career superpower, why "it's all active" when it comes to investing, and the visceral true story of the conference call she never hung up on — where she heard colleagues she trusted throw her under the bus. She unpacks the power imbalances hiding in every boardroom, the micro-expressions that tell you more than any agenda, imposter syndrome at the very top (including a moving story about the late Kathleen Moriarty, the "Queen of ETFs"), and the warning her novel carries for advisors and wealth professionals: process and trust aren't always enough. Plus, a first look at her second novel — two estranged sisters, a journalist and a Wall Street CEO, on a collision course of truth versus power.
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From Wall Street Executive to Financial Thriller Novelist | Kristine Delano
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