Podcasts

Being a Modernist in Finance

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Episode 67: Being A Modernist in Finance
Guest: Georgia Lee Hussey

With training in instillation sculpture and creative writing, Georgia Lee Hussey was focused on becoming a professional artist. However, after 12 years, Georgia decided it was time to try something new. At the time she was living in Portland, Oregon during the sub-prime mortgages phase and Georgia found herself with two mortgages: the first had a 7.5% interest rate and the second had 11.5% interest, and both were variable. She had never been taught about money or budgeting and found herself in a difficult, unstable position. Georgia began reading everything she could about financing and budgeting and found that she loved it. She became inspired to become a financial planner and went back to school to get her CFP.

By the time Georgia successfully passed her CFP exam, she already had some clients, which meant that she needed a home for her business. She looked to a brokerage firm to help and was extremely grateful for all the support that they provided. However, she felt out of place because it was very male-dominated and there was a general sense of inequality. She also quickly came to realize that the institutionalized structures of the industry weren’t going to support her vision. As a result, Georgia started Modernist Financial, which was built on a foundation of creativity and collaboration.

Today, Georgia is working with Jennifer Armbrust, with Armbrust & Co. to create a feminist business model. The basic core of the model is equity and inclusion, and flattening inequalities. Modernist Financial is built on values of inviting and including, investing in people, innovating and iterating, and doing good work well. Georgia is striving to create a sense of partnership and empowerment between her advisors and clients and ensuring her staff can support the innovative advice that they are providing to clients.

If you’d like to learn more about Georgia, visit modernistfinancial.com. Thanks for listening. If you liked what you heard, be sure to hit subscribe, share it with others and write us a quick review on iTunes.

Slowing Down to Speed Things Up

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Episode 66: Slowing Down to Speed Things Up
Guest: Laura Moore

Welcome back to the Women Rocking Wall Street Show! This week’s show is all about how slowing down can actually help you speed things up.

Laura Moore has a very interesting business story. Having moved to Australia from the UK several years ago, she fell into the health and wellness industry. Starting as a personal trainer she found that she loved it and therefore threw herself into her work. With several years under her belt, Laura started her own gym, which became her pride and joy. Eight months into the business, and just as it was starting to become profitable, Laura received a call that changed everything. Unfortunately her gym had caught fire and she was faced with a whole host of challenges. She was able to relocate her gym to another location but at that point she had come to the realization that it wasn’t working for her anymore. She also found some changes were happening with her body that put her on a new journey. Eventually she came to the realization that her mind was causing her health issues. This forced her to learn where the problems were stemming from and how to change her behaviour. Today, Laura is the founder of Uppy, a performance and health coaching program that aims to help professional and driven women to make changes in their life to achieve what they want.

When we’re busy and on the go all the time, our body thinks that we’re in danger, and releases adrenaline and cortisol. These hormones release energy so that we can fight or run. The problem is, if we’re not actually running or fighting, these hormones don’t get used and are left cycling through our system, which results in the extra fat in our hips and belly (known as a cortisol belly). Unfortunately, this fat likes to attract more fat. There are other side effects, including erratic energy, causing extreme exhaustion and moments of high energy, especially at night. Our body can also stop anything that isn’t necessary to function, including digestion, which is what leads to bloating.

If these symptoms resonate with you, perhaps it’s your body telling you to slow down. There are several things that Laura recommends that you can do to make subtle changes. The biggest thing is becoming aware again with your body and how it responds to different situations. Second, allow your brain to take a break, sometime in the day, so that your body knows that you’re not in danger. You can do this by breathing deeply for several minutes. Third, determine what is important to you and identifying your real, deep level goals and values. Finally, she suggests setting boundaries that create more space for you to do the things that meet your goals and values.

If you would like to learn more about Laura and Uppy, visit Uppy.com.au. Thanks for listening. If you liked what you heard, be sure to hit subscribe, share it with others and write us a quick review on iTunes.

Battling Inequality Through Words

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Episode 63: Battling Inequality Through Words
Guest: Kelly Shikany

Welcome back to the Women Rocking Wall Street Show! This week’s guest was spurred to contact me when she heard the Women Rocking Wall Street episode where I had the pleasure of interviewing Kathleen Burns Kingsbury about embracing being a female and not being afraid to ‘ski like a girl.’ As someone who has held different positions in the financial industry, Kelly Shikany is familiar with being the only female at the table and is now working to change public perceptions around women and finance.

Kelly’s first experience with gender inequality occurred while she was working at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. Although she loved her job (in the late 80’s) it was not a female friendly workplace. Treated differently by colleagues as well as clients (some weren’t even interested in hearing a women’s voice), Kelly accepted both at the time because of the experience she was gaining. Kelly was aware what was going to happen and accepted it because she wanted the experience. However, today Kelly is glad to see that there has been substantial progress when it comes to women’s rights and has made it her mission to help mentor the next generation.

As a Financial Advisor at Lakeside Wealth Management, Kelly now has the pleasure of working with clients from across the United States. She spends her time building women’s confidence on their financial investments while battling the conception that women aren’t able to understand money. There have been many times where she has been sitting in a boardroom where complex concepts are being discussed and the presenter has said, “I’ll make it so easy that your mom will understand.” Whenever this happens, Kelly takes the time to speak to the presenter about not singling out women or using gender pronouns. It’s important to raise awareness so that the next generation has more confidence and doesn’t have to battle the gender issues.

For any women looking at getting into the financial industry, Kelly recommends joining the CFP mentorship program, known as WIN-to-WIN, which strives to build up female advisors. Also, don’t be afraid to share your knowledge and network so that there can be more females in the industry. If you would like to learn more about the work being done for women within the CFP program, tune into the Women Rocking Wall Street episode with Eleanor Blayney. If you would like to learn more about Kelly, you can connect through Lakeside Wealth Management’s Facebook and Twitter account.

Thank you for listening. If you liked what you heard, please write us a quick review on iTunes and share this with others whom you think might find it interesting or valuable.

Financial Freedom Through Intention

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Episode 62: Financial Freedom Through Intention
Guest: Julia Carlson

Welcome back to the Women Rocking Wall Street Show. This week’s episode is all about the power of intention and setting your mind to achieving your goals.

My guest this week is Julia Carlson, founder of Financial Freedom Wealth Management. She was one of the 40 Under 40 in InvestmentNews and won the 2015 Women’s Choice Award for Financial Advisors. In 2000, Julia started her company in Newport, Oregon and has now grown her business to include 4 locations. Fortunately for Julie, in 2008, Financial Freedom was endorsed as a local provider, which brought in 20 to 30 referrals per month.

Julia is an extremely entrepreneurial person and she has always been a go-getter. Here she was in her 20’s trying to build her business. Like all of us at that age, she had to work hard to prove herself and now she has the established confidence that is driving her dream big. Her drive comes from her passion for her work and attributes some of her success to the goals that she has set throughout the years. Rather than being reactive, Julie focuses on always being in a state of intention and strives to be proactive when it comes to problem solving.

Through education, Julia works to help women embrace their wealth. One such example is their Women Wealth and Wisdom seminar which encourages women to discuss the values that are put on money and how to take charge of their financial future. She also makes her own personal learning a priority so that she can better help her clients.

One final thing that Julia that she attributes to her success is visualizing what the end result looks like while meditating. A book that Julie recommends, which illustrates the power of the mind is You Are The Placebo: Making Your Mind Matter by Dr. Joe Dispenza.

If you’d like to reach out to Julia, you can connect with her on Facebook and Twitter. Thank you for listening. If you liked what you heard, please write us a quick review on iTunes and share this with others whom you think might find it interesting or valuable.

Financial Power

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Episode 58: Financial Power
Guest: Rosemary Frank

I have been looking forward to speaking with this week’s guest of the Women Rocking Wall Street Show. Rosemary Frank, Financial Advisor, had a 30-year career in the corporate sector. She was always deeply immersed in financial issues and eventually decided that she wanted to transition to a personal approach, specifically personal finance. When she began transitioning, she realized that she had a lot to learn. She studied and worked her way up to where she is today.

Throughout her entire career, Rosemary found that it was a lonely road, mainly because she was a woman.  As a result, when she started her practice, she spent a lot of time listening, sympathizing and educating her clients, rather than just telling them what she thought they should do. As a result, she has a successful practice that has a majority of female clients. Also, through her processing of listening, she was led into the specialization of divorce finances.

When she started her divorce work, she was finding clients who would come to her fearing their financial future. Rosemary would then have to contact the attorney and explain how she was helping in the process, especially with settlement options. This is definitely not an easy part of Rosemary’s job because traditionally they run the show. However, more and more attorneys are becoming more educated on the financial processes that are crucial during the divorce process.

It seems that Rosemary tripped into her niche but now owns it and uses it to her advantage. She received specialized training to handle divorce situations and was eventually the only person in the country to have three certifications. Not only was she the most educated person in the country, but she also wrote a course, Avoid The Potential Pitfalls of Divorce Cases, which  was approved for continuing legal education in her state. This changed the dynamic between her and attorneys because they were paying her to learn more about finances and divorce proceedings.

Rosemary has some great advice for her female clients. She implores you to be knowledgeable about their household finances – don’t give up your financial power to someone else. Also, keep your retirement in mind. Determine what the challenges are and meet them head on. If that means changing one’s lifestyle, it’s within your power to do so.

Thanks for listening to this week’s episode of Women Rocking Wall Street! If you liked this episode, share it with others and write us a quick review on iTunes.

Women in Securities Law

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Episode 57: Women in Securities Law
Guest: Linda Riefberg

My guest this week was recently acknowledged as one of the 25 Most Influential Women in Securities Law. Linda Riefberg started out as a general commercial litigator in a large Wall Street firm where she was an associate working part time with two young children. When asked to increase her hours to full time, Linda decided it was time for a change. While job searching, she stumbled upon a position at the New York Stock Exchange and immediately loved the subject matter as well as the work environment. Collaboration and team work fit well with Linda, in addition to her ability to specialize in one particular business sector of the stock market.

After working in that position for 18 years, Linda decided to venture into private practice. She is now a member of the Cozen O’Connor’s Commercial Litigation department, where she represents clients in securities enforcement investigations.

Throughout Linda’s career, she has seen that the business side of the financial industry is mainly men. In contrast to that, there are many women who have made their careers as regulators and attorneys on Wall Street. Linda believes that the collaborative environment that regulators work within is why there is a higher female presence.

Now that Linda is in private practice, she has been struck by the struggles that women face. For example, she has seen the small percentage of women in upper management. She also sees the misconception that women can’t be as aggressive as men or as good at developing business. Linda feels that women make great lawyers because they’re good communicators and are great at thinking analytically. She believes that women are good at counseling clients as well but that they aren’t as direct at taking credit for achievements, like bringing in business.

To achieve success in your work, Linda recommends maintaining a happy career, which sometimes means making changes. Also, she advises not to take things personally. Often, if you’re having a difficult time with someone, it’s their behavior that is causing the conflict. Lastly, Linda recommends focusing on your skill sets because your achievements come from the investment that you put into your own work.

Thanks for listening to this week’s episode of Women Rocking Wall Street! If you liked this episode, share it with others and write us a quick review on iTunes.

Thriving in Business

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Episode 56: Thriving in Business
Guest: Martine Lellis

Happy May! I have been enjoying the outdoors recently since the weather has been so gorgeous and I hope you’ve had the opportunity to do the same.

My guest this week is Martine Lellis has a passion for learning. She grew up in a small town in South Carolina and was fortunate to gain admissions into Duke University, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in mathematics. Upon graduation, Martine began working within the IT industry building systems for banks and insurance companies. While this was her first exposure to the financial industry, her real awakening came when she realized a gap in knowledge within general concepts around money that occur in primary as well as post-secondary schooling. When she looked at the gap in her knowledge and paired it with what drove her, she found a match in financial planning.

For the past 14 years, Martine has been Sullivan Bruyette Speros & Blayney (SBSB) where she has worked her way up to Chief Operating Officer. Considering herself a life-long student, Martine has not only her MBA from Georgetown University, but she also has become a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and a Certified Financial Planning (CFP). Her passion for learning and knowledge seeking has led her to her career today. Her learning today comes from taking different projects, gaining knowledge through application and experience.

As someone who is the COO of a company that manages nearly $3 billion in client assets, Martine was initially surprised when she was asked if she wanted the position. Knowing her limits and skill sets, believing in herself and her ability to think critically about any situation, Martine had the self-confidence to take it on and be successful. She partnered with others in the company so that she could ask for assistance when she needed it. She feels that this is key to succeeding in any position. Martine surrounds herself with team members, mentors, and advisors who have different skills sets than her. They are not only there to help her solve problems but to also jolt her out of your current opinion, or tunnel vision, to see the potential in a situation.

Recently, Martine and several of her partners decided to purchase back the Sullivan Bruyette Speros & Blayney from their bank parent and start a new endeavor as a private company once again. Through her relationships over the years, Martine has been able to bring together external resources to ensure a successful transition.

Martine in thriving in her role and has some great advice for anyone who may be feeling stagnant in their role. She recommends never saying no to various situations and to be open-minded about opportunities because everything is an open door to learning. If you are stuck in a position, look around and ask yourself how you can continue to learn and to grow. If you’re not happy with the way things are going, talk to others and gain some different insight.

If you’d like to reach out to Martine, you can do so through her company website. Thanks for listening to this week’s episode of the Women Rocking Wall Street show! If you liked what you heard, be sure to hit subscribe, share it with others and write us a quick review on iTunes.

Business Is in Her Blood

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Episode 55: Business Is in Her Blood
Guest: Miriam Diwan

Miriam Diwan’s family has always been in business or finance, so you could say it runs in her blood. She attended the University of Pennsylvania to obtain her undergraduate and found that she had varied interests. She graduated with a dual degree in liberal arts and finance. From there, she began investment banking and eventually moved into hedge funds. With her first position, at a private equity firm, she was one of the first three women that were hired in a 10-year history.

When her mother fell ill, Miriam ended up being the primary caregiver. Trying to manage her career and supporting her mom, she found that it was becoming too much for her to handle. Miriam made the decision to put her career on hold and eventually moved to L.A for her mother to receive the best medical care available. Through this process, Miriam and her mother had to move to several different states and experienced the difficulties in finding a neighbourhood that met all their needs.

After Miriam’s mother went into remission, she began considering re-entering the workforce. The trouble was that the finance industry was fast moving and extremely difficult to get back into. So, deciding to try something new, Miriam began her own company in the field of technology. NowMoveMe aims to help adjustment periods when it comes to moving and also fosters community among local residents. Through the use of technology, Miriam is working to create a digital “welcome wagon” where users can find information about their neighborhood. NowMoveMe currently focuses on Santa Monica, but will soon be branching out to all of Los Angeles and then branching out from there.

The hardest part that Miriam found in starting a new company is the lack of resources. She’s had to think outside the box and willing to try something new every day. Miriam has found it really rewarding too because she is building something “brick by brick.” Advice that Miriam has for anyone working on a startup, make sure you set yourself up financially for the next two to three years because you may not earn anything within that period of time. Also, always try to operate like you’re bootstrapped, even if you have substantial funding (you never know how long something can take). Lastly, find a mentor; someone a few steps ahead of you in the startup path and can help you through some of the common roadblocks.

To connect with Miriam, you can follow her on Instagram and Facebook. Thanks for listening to this week’s episode of the Women Rocking Wall Street show! If you liked what you heard, be sure to hit subscribe, share it with others and write us a quick review on iTunes.

Challenging the Gender Gap

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Episode 52: Challenging the Gender Gap
Guest: Emily Viner

I am so excited that it’s April and winter is finally past us. I hope that you’re enjoying the weather and being outdoors as much as I am.

My guest this week has been making a difference in gender balance in the financial industry and sales, and she is calling on others to help. Emily Viner, Vice President of Agency Management & Leadership at The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America has found her passion and is hoping to help other women find theirs too.

After graduating  with a degree in Marketing and Economics, Emily spent some time applying for marketing positions. During one interview she was asked to do a typing test. Concerned that she would be seen more as a secretary, she knew that there was more purpose in her life and turned down the job. Eventually, she came across an ad for sales in finance. Not knowing what that meant, she went and spoke with people at the company. After learning more, she became fascinated, especially by the fact that she could help others while making a comfortable living.

Knowing that women make great advisors and that women tend to buy from other women, the Guardian conducted research on why there was such a gender gap in the financial industry. After surveying several thousand women, they found that it was the sales portion of the industry that wasn’t appealing. They also found that women spent most of their time being competent and less time being confident, which has also been validated through brain science. This results in women not being comfortable with taking risks.

If this sounds like you, Emily recommends being authentic but to also learn how to say “yes” even when you don’t know how. The pressure to always be perfect and to avoid risks is holding you back. Also, we all need to get better at helping other women gain more confidence and to pull each other up.

Emily took her research and presented it to the industry through a conference with over 26,000 attendees. After her presentation, Emily challenged the industry to form a coalition to help encourage change towards gender imbalance. Over 400 people came together to look at several pieces that needed to change, and to encourage the sales aspect of the industry. During a 90 minute session, there was a huge response, which included companies from 8 different countries. At the end of the conference, 150 people signed up to take part in the coalition, with a goal to make an impact by March of 2017.

I’ve provided the executive summary and infographic to provide more context to what was discussed today. To find out more or to get involved, reach out to Emily at EViner@glic.com.

Thanks for listening to this week’s episode of the Women Rocking Wall Street show! If you liked what you heard, be sure to hit subscribe, share it with others and write us a quick review on iTunes.

 

The Truth About Your Finances

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Episode 50: The Truth About Your Finances
Guest: Tammy Johnston

Tammy Johnston has broken the rules within the financial services by doing things differently. Rather than speaking in acronyms and industry jargon, she has created a new way of doing things to educate people about their finances.

While temping at Investor’s Group, Tammy was drawn into the financial side of things and that’s how her journey began. Over the past 9 years, she has worked in regional offices, for independent agents and has managed two different MGA’s. Eventually, she decided that she wanted to do more than just sales, so she started The Financial Guides. Her purpose is to provide accurate and unbiased information in a way that is easy for her clients to understand. In addition to working with clients, Tammy created several seminars including “Sandwich Safaris”, “Business Builder Nights”, and “Small Business Class”.

Not only does Tammy work to create comprehensive financial plans for her clients, she digs deep into their emotional well-being to determine the reason behind their financial decisions. See sees herself as a financial counsellor, to help move her clients forward and increase the success of her financial plans. She also lives by the rules that if her clients aren’t going to listen to her advice, then they are not the right clients for her.

If you’re interested in learning more about finances, Tammy has written several books, geared towards educating even the most novice person about how finances work, including children. You can also reach out to her through Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or through email at tammyjohnston@thefinancialguides.com.

Thanks for listening to this week’s episode of the Women Rocking Wall Street show! If you liked this episode, be sure to hit subscribe, share it with others and write us a quick review on iTunes.