From capital markets to the dance floor: How a Vancouver financial advisor finds freedom in hip hop

On a series of autumn nights in Olympia, Washington, in 2004, Tracy Theemes drove around aimlessly in the dark. Not only was she under pressure as a new financial advisor at Smith Barney (now Morgan Stanley), she also felt underappreciated for the extra labour she was putting in at home with her young family. So, she had decided to go on strike.

“I left home between 5 and 7 p.m., Monday to Thursday nights. I wouldn’t cook dinner, and I didn’t answer any questions. No one’s going to starve. They have a father,” Theemes recalls.

On one of those nights, she was driving in the pouring rain when a bright light caught her eye: a dance studio. “It was like this raw, raunchy music and [there was] this wild woman in front and 40 people gyrating and doing this music—and I could tell it was hip hop,” she says.

After she peeked into the studio one evening, the teacher came out to greet her. “I was like, ‘Wow, it looks so much fun.’ She said, ‘Join us.’” So, she did. And in this act of rebellion, Theemes connected with dance.

But when she relocated her family to Vancouver in 2005, she had to put her practice on pause while she re-credentialled in Canada and helped her kids adjust to the cross-border move. Eventually, after earning her accreditation and spending a two-and-a-half-year stint at RBC, Theemes would go on to co-found Sophia Financial in 2009, setting out to reshape the local financial advising industry’s approach to inclusivity.

It wasn’t until 2021 that she picked up hip hop again. “During COVID, I guess I must have felt the same level of  irritation because something sent me back to the dance studio,” she says.

Resuming hip hop 16 years later was also a new way for Theemes to challenge her body and brain (and dignity, she says). “Every move has to be thought out because there are five centres of the body being used in a different way… and then you’re doing it in rhythm and with other people,” she explains, adding that it makes her feel smarter and more alert.

“I rarely come out of a hip-hop class relaxed. I come out satisfied. And nourished. And joyful—I’m not always joyful at the end of a workday, working in the capital markets,” she laughs.

It’s because hip hop is so dissimilar to her day job that Theemes continues to be drawn to the dance form. “It fills the empty places in my body and inside of me that have been so organized and regimented all week. And then when I dance, I get to be disorganized in an organized way… I get to be rebellious,” she says.

On top of her classes at Harbour Dance Centre and at workshops with other teachers around town, Theemes also practices yoga and weight training—partly so she can keep up with the younger dancers. “Being with younger folks and seeing their expressions, the clothes they’re wearing and the things they’re talking about is also, for me, a connection. It keeps me diversified,” she says, noting that many of the clients she works with are older adults.

As Theemes continues to level up, she’s considering marrying her passion for financial literacy with her skills on the dance floor in the form of a hip-hop finance video (“I even have this song picked out,” she adds). “It’s just to show that if I can do hip hop, you can manage your money. They’re both equally hard, right? They’re both kind of unwieldy. And I’d like to show the process and how hard I have to work to do hip hop,” she says.

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Warrior spotlight

Tracy Theemes is an award-winning author, TEDx speaker and nominee for several awards, including the YWCA Women of Distinction Award for Education. She also co-founded Sophia Financial Group to ensure people felt heard, understood and respected for their experiences. “My business partner and I… were feeling discouraged and frustrated with what we saw as inequality in the delivery of financial advice and services, particularly along the line of gender,” Theemes says.

Part of her work includes running Sophia Wealth Academy, a day-long event (and fundraiser for Dress for Success) to educate women on managing their money, which just had its 11th iteration in March 2025. “We’ve grown, certainly, and we’re very successful here at Sophia. But we’re a drop in the bucket,” she notes. Theemes says the  financial advising world still has a long way to go when it comes to inclusivity. Despite that, she believes her team has made a difference. “I’m proud of what we’ve done. I’m proud of our clients,” she says.