When you walk into Julianne Hertel’s office, there’s more than spreadsheets and portfolios. You see a person committed to lifting others, driven by deeply-rooted values born of her upbringing and sustained by a fierce belief in community, compassion, and mentorship.
“I’ve always believed in Worcester,” she said. “I built my business here. I champion this community.”
Hertel’s story began in Brooklyn, New York.
“I grew up in a working-class household there,” she said. “My mother emigrated from Ireland, and my father worked on the railroad until he retired. They are humble, generous, salt-of-the-earth people. They taught me that kindness matters and that you always look out for others.”
After earning her undergraduate degree at Providence College in 2001, Hertel started her professional life in higher education. In 2007, she transitioned into financial services, seeking a path where she could combine expertise with meaningful relationships. She relocated to Worcester where she made her commitment to the city clear and, in 2015, established her financial management firm, Dream Big Wealth Strategies.
“Julianne is a natural leader,” said Karen Pelletier, the executive vice president of the Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce, who first met Hertel 20 years ago while they were colleagues at Assumption University in Worcester. “She has made Dream Big Wealth Strategies a trustworthy resource and has fostered a healthy culture with her team. People love working with her and for her.”
Over nearly two decades in financial services, Hertel has weathered the ups and downs of business partnerships, market disruptions, and the challenge of being taken seriously in a male-dominated industry.
“Early on, people would mistake me for someone’s assistant, even though I held all the requisite licenses,” she said. “I heard colleagues say, ‘Oh, women in finance always leave when they have kids.’ I believe those assumptions are falling away, but not fast enough.”
Her philosophy toward adversity? Use it to mentor others.
“I would never have reached where I am without some key mentors,” she said. “I see it as both a privilege and duty to be that person for others. I’ve mentored women and men, in finance and beyond … When [a mentee] puts in the work, I push them, connect them, help their name be known in the right rooms.”
In the financial services sector, she is a sought-after speaker, having addressed multiple conferences for the Million Dollar Round Table and National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors, where she previously served on the board. From 2023-2025, Forbes named her one of its Top Best-In-State Financial Security Professionals.
As for work–life dynamics, Hertel prefers harmony to balance.
“Balance implies everything is equal all the time. It’s unrealistic,” she said. “I believe in harmony: sometimes business takes precedence, sometimes family, sometimes self-care. That’s how the full-person model works. Success in life isn’t just professional achievement.”
In her firm, she encourages the same mindset.
“I tell my team: Work is important, but not most important. Family, faith, health; they come first. If you get a call that your child is sick, there’s no question about what you’ll do. That’s your priority,” she said.
At her office, she lives what she preaches. Tuesdays through Thursdays are clientheavy: meetings, strategy sessions, crisis calls, celebrations. Mondays and Fridays are for buffer: planning, continuing education, industry committee work, and giving back. The team she has surrounded herself with are more than staff; they are coowners of the relationships she builds with clients.
Hertel completed a three-year term on the board of trustees for the Million Dollar Round Table Foundation, an Illinois-based organization allocating nearly $2 million annually to nonprofits worldwide. In Central Massachusetts, she is active with the Safe Exit Initiative, which helps survivors of human trafficking by offering trauma support, mental health services, and pathways toward stability and healing.
Then there is the corner of her heart reserved for animals. For over a decade, Hertel has fostered more than 200 dogs for Cambridge nonprofit Broken Tail Rescue.
“That work is so deeply fulfilling,” she said. “Some of these dogs have known cruelty. If I can help them heal, to walk forward into a new life, that gives me faith in humanity.”
As she continues in her career, Hertel hopes to be remembered as someone who gave back to her community, who impacted many lives, and who created opportunity.
“That’s the legacy I’m building: one act of love at a time,” she said.
