Money Tales

In this episode of Money Tales, our guest is Tanaha Hairston. Tahana always had a curiosity about money. But when life threw her an unexpected curve, she found herself at a financial crossroads. A former computer engineer who had stepped away from her tech career to raise three children, Tahana realized she needed to take control of her financial future. So, she made a bold move to enroll in graduate school and study finance. That decision opened a surprising door; 100 investors, all men, urged Tahana to run their investor network. What began as a personal hedge turned into a powerful mission. Tanaha Hairston supports investors in building portfolios that reflect their values, deliver passive income, and drive measurable impact. As the founder of IIC Capital, she curates and shares private investment deals across real estate, sustainable ventures and tax-optimized private offerings that deliver both returns and purpose. She also leads RISE, a nonprofit organization that educates private investors—especially women—across all asset classes. RISE empowers its members with community, education, and access to vetted opportunities that build both profit and purpose. A published author (Changing the Game of Venture Capital – The Journal of Private Equity), MBA focused on Finance graduate from Thunderbird School of Global Management and a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and Engineering. Tanaha brings decades of experience as an entrepreneur, impact investor, and impact strategist. She’s also a successful founder who built and exited a company before shifting her focus to building legacy through capital.

In this episode of Money Tales, our guest is John Dinsmore, PhD. Fear of failure can be a powerful motivator. John never intended to become a marketing expert. During college and beyond John was in a rock band called "Fried Moose." He tells us that, at the time, he was so afraid of letting his bandmates and family members down as he pursued a career in music that he threw himself into band promotion and merchandising. That fear-driven hustle accidentally built the exact skills that would later land John his first marketing job and eventually make him a professor who is focused on financial decision-making. John Dinsmore is a Professor of Marketing at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio and author of The Marketing of Debt: How They Get You. He is regularly featured in publications such as Forbes, CIO, CBS Marketwatch and US News & World Report for his market commentary and is a frequent conference speaker at organizations such as the American Marketing Association and the Association for Consumer Research. At Wright State, Professor Dinsmore teaches a variety of courses including Digital Marketing, Strategy and Creativity & Problem-Solving, garnering multiple teaching awards. He has provided executive training services to the United States Air Force and Speedway Corporation. His academic research primarily focuses on financial decision-making, methods of payment, and mobile applications, having been published in academic journals including Psychology & Marketing, Journal of Business Research and International Journal of Research in Marketing. He also recently wrote a chapter for the Handbook of Experimental Finance. Dinsmore has published business cases designated at “Best Sellers” by Harvard Publishing focusing on strategy and analytics. These cases are taught in MBA programs across North America, Europe, Asia, and South America at institutions such as University of Chicago, Peking University, and King’s College. This Fall, he will be a featured speaker at TEDx-Dayton to discuss his research on financial decision-making. Prior to earning his PhD, John Dinsmore worked in the marketing industry for 14 years in various roles. Dinsmore holds a BA in Political Science from James Madison University, an MBA in Marketing & Finance from University of Georgia, and a PhD in Marketing from University of Cincinnati. He lives in Dayton, Ohio with his wife, two sons, and a gigantic bulldog named Creed.

In this episode of Money Tales, our guest is Leisa Peterson. What happens when financial chaos becomes your childhood normal—when repossessed cars and lost homes are a typical week, and your grandmother is the only thing standing between your family and complete collapse? For Leisa, this wasn't a cautionary tale but the foundation of her life's work. Instead of letting scarcity define her, she became obsessed with understanding it. What makes some people live in fear of never having enough, while others thrive with less? Leisa shares her journey from financial survival to soulful abundance, and how she's now helping others rewrite their money stories, one mindset shift at a time. Leisa Peterson is an author, financial educator, and money coach who helps entrepreneurs revolutionize their relationship with money. Author of “The Money Catalyst” and “The Mindful Millionaire,” Leisa was recognized by Forbes as one of the pioneering “10 Women Driving Growth in Wealth Management and Investing.”

In this episode of Money Tales, our guest is Filipa Lancastre, PhD. Filipa is someone who has never been afraid to do things differently. While most young adults in Portugal stay under their parents' roof until their 30s, Filipa took a different route. As a rising McKinsey consultant, she bought her own place, got her parents to guarantee the loan, and walked away five years later with a 50% return. But that was just the beginning. Filipa is an Assistant Professor (adjunct) of Strategy at Universidade Católica Portuguesa. She holds her PhD in Management from NOVA SBE. Filipa was a senior researcher and faculty at Nova SBE and Universidade Europeia. Prior to her academic activities, Filipa worked in telecom, serving as advisor to the board at ZON and leading the customer relationship management department at TV Cabo. She was also a strategy consultant at McKinsey & Company. Filipa is an Industrial Engineer from Instituto Superior Técnico (Universidade de Lisboa) and holds an MBA from INSEAD.

In this episode of Money Tales, our guest is Gregory Roll. What happens when parents tell their two children they can afford to send only one of them to college—so they aren’t going to send either? Greg shares how this pivotal family moment became a guiding lesson for his future money conversations and decisions, especially within his own family. This milestone 250th episode of Money Tales is all about fairness and family dynamics. Greg is, above all else, curious. An optimistic agent of change, he is a champion of the principle “Show, don’t tell,” and a firm believer in the power of creativity and clarity to drive transformation. Whether summiting mountains or navigating complex business terrain, Greg approaches challenges with a spirit of exploration—always seeking new paths to insight and innovation. A passionate brand strategist, Greg believes that in today’s crowded and often commoditized investment and wealth management landscape, differentiation is not a luxury—it’s a necessity. As the needs of high-net-worth individuals and families grow in sophistication and complexity, so too must the strategies that serve them. Greg is dedicated to helping entrepreneurs, founders, and business leaders define and execute brand and growth strategies that set them apart and support purposeful, sustained growth. Greg’s career has been devoted to crafting growth strategies for many of the nation’s most prestigious multi-family offices and leading RIA firms. He brings deep experience working with multi-generational families, focusing on the complex dynamics at the intersection of family, enterprise and wealth. His work often involves direct engagement with high-net-worth families to understand the key factors influencing their decisions around wealth management, investment strategy and family office services. He has developed particular expertise in data aggregation and consolidated wealth reporting and keeps a close eye on emerging technologies and platforms reshaping the industry. As a management consultant, Greg has partnered closely with a wide range of trusted advisors, including estate attorneys, CPAs, philanthropic strategists and family governance consultants. Greg is a frequent presenter at industry events hosted by Family Office Exchange, Family Wealth Alliance, and Worthy Circles. He also plays a behind-the-scenes role in shaping thought leadership initiatives for MFO and RIA firms launching their own events for families and advisors. He serves as an Advisory Board Member to StoryKeep and Tapestry, two specialized providers supporting high-net-worth families and is a longtime judge for the Annual Family Wealth Report Awards.

In this episode of Money Tales, our guest is Nancy Davis. At age 8, Nancy watched her mother make what she instinctively knew was a terrible financial decision—buying an excessive number of Persian carpets from a traveling merchant parked in a semi-truck on the side of the road. While most kids would have stayed quiet, Nancy spoke up. She not only convinced her mother that the purchase was reckless, but she also successfully negotiated a return of the carpets her family couldn't afford and didn't have room for. That early lesson in financial prudence shaped much of what followed, from Nancy’s decade at Goldman Sachs to founding her own investment firm, Quadratic Capital, in 2013. Nancy Davis founded Quadratic Capital in 2013. Nancy is the portfolio manager for The Quadratic Interest Rate Volatility and Inflation Hedge ETF (NYSE Ticker: IVOL) and The Quadratic Deflation ETF (NYSE Ticker: BNDD). Prior to founding Quadratic, Nancy spent nearly a decade at Goldman Sachs primarily with the proprietary trading group (Goldman Sachs Principal Strategies) where she rose to become the Head of Credit, Derivatives and OTC Trading and headed the team for about 5 years for the prop desk. She also served as a portfolio manager at JP Morgan’s hedge fund and in a senior executive role at AllianceBernstein. Nancy has been the recipient of numerous industry recognitions. Barron’s named her to their inaugural list of the "100 Most Influential Women in U.S. Finance." Institutional Investor called her a "Rising Star of Hedge Funds." The Hedge Fund Journal tapped her as one of "Tomorrow's Titans." Nancy has been profiled by Forbes, and interviewed by The Economist, The Wall Street Journal, and The Financial Times. Nancy is a frequent guest on financial television including CNBC, Bloomberg, and Fox Business. She is a sought-after speaker for industry events.

This episode of Money Tales is about the balancing act between time and money. Our guest, Lauren DiCerbo, watched her mom pause a career to raise kids—then start over as a temp to rebuild it. That experience shaped Lauren’s approach when she faced the same fork in the road as a new mom during the pandemic. Instead of choosing between work and parenting, she built a consulting business that values flexibility over income. Lauren DiCerbo is the founder of Magenta Mountain, a consulting practice focused on fractional investor relations for fund managers and strategic operations for founders. She brings a thoughtful and pragmatic lens to her work, shaped by a career spanning alternative investments, institutional asset management, and early-stage fund operations. Lauren began her career in finance at a fund of funds investing in hedge funds and private equity, giving her foundational exposure to a wide range of managers, strategies, and investor expectations. Most recently, she served as Head of Investor Relations at a quantitative global equities fund, where she was a strategic partner to clients including family offices, foundations, pensions, and other institutional investors. She works with emerging and established managers across private equity, venture capital, and hedge funds—bringing a cross-functional perspective to investor relations and fund infrastructure. Earlier in her career, Lauren held client service and human resources roles at global firms, deepening her understanding of how organizations scale and operate effectively. Motivated by the challenge of building clarity, efficiency, and long-term relationships, she enjoys partnering with funds and founders to drive operational and strategic decision-making that enables growth. Lauren holds a BS in Human and Organizational Development from Vanderbilt University and currently serves as Co-Chair of 100 Women in Finance, Northern California—where she leads programming and community-building for women in the financial sector. Lauren lives in the Bay Area and enjoys hiking in the redwoods with her family.

In this episode of Money Tales, our guest is Brenda Campbell. Imagine receiving a hysterical phone call from your college-bound daughter: five small purchases under $5 each have just triggered $195 in overdraft fees—$39 per transaction for what seemed like innocent mistakes. For Brenda, this became an opportunity to calmly help her daughter learn an invaluable financial lesson. Brenda takes us from her childhood in a family of seven where mac and cheese was stretched into soup to feed everyone, through her journey as the first in her family to attend college, to becoming Wisconsin's leading advocate for teen financial literacy. Her story reveals how well-timed money conversations paired with financial literacy can transform someone's entire financial future. Brenda Campbell is the President and CEO of SecureFutures, a nonprofit she has led since its inception in 2006. Under her leadership, the organization has grown into a leading force for teen financial empowerment, impacting more than 126,000 teens and young adults through innovative programs and community partnerships. Brenda drives SecureFutures' strategic vision while overseeing daily operations, program development, board engagement, and fundraising. She also serves as the organization’s spokesperson, sharing her insights widely as a writer and speaker. With a professional background spanning financial education, workforce development, and child welfare, Brenda brings decades of experience in program design, management, and evaluation. She was appointed to the Governor’s Council on Financial Literacy and Capability in 2021 and currently serves as Chairperson. A passionate advocate for women in leadership, she also serves on the boards of Milwaukee Women Inc. and TEMPO Milwaukee. Brenda was named a Milwaukee Business Journal Woman of Influence in 2010 and received the Governor’s Financial Literacy Award in 2017.

What do flying Navy helicopters in the Philippines, founding an investment company and steering unmanned ocean drones have in common? They're all part of one woman's incredible journey. Today's guest, Julie Cane, takes us on a remarkable journey from Navy pilot to entrepreneur to startup mission manager. She reveals how the absence of money talk in her childhood led to some of her most powerful financial discoveries as an adult. Julie Cane is an impact-driven defender of democracy, in both financial markets and on the high seas. Her adventurous career began as a US Navy helicopter pilot conducting combat search and rescue training exercises and torpedo recovery in the Philippines and Coronado. After serving, Julie spent 20 years in financial services developing market leading innovations at Wells Fargo, Charles Schwab, SEI Investments and Autodesk Ventures. Five years ago, Julie became the CEO and co-founder of Democracy Investments, a registered investment advisory firm focused on promoting democracy in international markets. The firm serves as the advisor to the Democracy International Fund, an ETF listed on the New York Stock Exchange (ticker DMCY). She has presented the firm's democracy weighted international (ex-US) strategy on Bloomberg, The Economist Magazine’s Summit and at the 7th Annual Copenhagen Democracy Summit, alongside pro-democracy politicians and diplomats focused on the global fight for freedom. This year, Julie took on an additional role of Mission Manager at Saildrone, a Bay Area startup that designs and deploys autonomous surface vehicles to be the eyes and ears for maritime safety and freedom on oceans around the world. She grew up sailing, racing both dinghies and large yachts and has enjoyed bringing this expertise along with her Naval Operations background to the day-to-day mission management of Saildrones for domestic and international customers. For the last 10 years, Julie has been Chairman and served on the Board of Swords to Plowshares, a nonprofit helping 3,000 military veterans in the San Francisco Bay Area. She holds a BA from the University of Virginia and an MBA from the Anderson School of UCLA. In her spare time, she enjoys mountain biking, trail running and protecting the future of democracy.

In this episode of Money Tales, our guest is Mike Shannon. Picture this: On a Friday night, you're 22 years old, standing in front of 8 million viewers on Shark Tank, shaking hands with Mark Cuban after closing a deal for your startup. The next morning? You're back in the Chicago Bulls locker room, folding towels and doing laundry like nothing happened. This is the extraordinary double life that our guest Mike Shannon lived while building his first company. By day, he was pitching investors and building a start-up. By night, he was mopping floors during Bulls games and running errands for NBA superstars. It's a story that perfectly captures the wild contradictions of entrepreneurship—where dreams and reality collide in the most unexpected ways. Mike Shannon is the CEO and co-founder of Impruve, an AI-native operating system built for financial advisors. Before launching Impruve, he co-founded Packback, an AIpowered education platform used by millions of students and recognized by TIME as a Top EdTech Company and by Fast Company as one of the 10 Most Innovative Companies. Over 12 years, he scaled the business from scrappy startup to $20M ARR and a $50M+ acquisition. Earlier in his career, Mike appeared on Shark Tank and secured a deal with Mark Cuban. His entrepreneurial journey began—uniquely—while living a double life as an NBA ball boy and evolved through years navigating the highs and lows of startup life. Those stories are captured in his upcoming book, Sweaty Equity: A Ball Boy, a Billionaire, and the Bonkers Startup Tale You’ve Never Heard. Mike holds a B.S. in Finance from Illinois State University and sits on the board of directors for Future Founders, a nonprofit supporting thousands of aspiring young entrepreneurs nationwide. He lives in Chicago with his wife and two young boys.

In this episode of Money Tales, our guest is Dana Garnett. What happens when a privileged life built on international corporate success suddenly implodes? Dana discovered the high cost of poor communication during conflict when she and her ex-husband burned through $270,000 in legal fees to get through their divorce. That was equivalent to the money they had saved for their daughters' college educations. But Dana's story doesn't end there. As a former Coca-Cola executive turned mediator, she transformed her painful divorce experience into a mission to help others navigate life's most challenging conversations with greater ease. Her story reveals powerful insights about how we can preserve not just our financial wealth, but our health and our relationships during times of crisis. Dana Garnett, Mediator & Conflict Resolution Strategist, helps you resolve conflict preventing you from successfully living and running your personal or professional life – like clashes over business strategy or operating values, C-suite or team confrontations, succession rivalries, generational and family fallouts, divorce, and disputes over trusts and estates. Anything where conflict poses a risk to your professional or personal well-being. From years of experience as a Mediator for the State of Texas for civil and family cases, Dana has developed and refined a unique conflict resolution coaching process outside of mediation where you get to the heart of and clear complex conflict fast with lasting change, without needing everyone around the table. It takes two or more to tangle, but it only takes you to achieve real resolution so you can focus freely on matters most in your life. Founder of The Mindful Strategy, Dana merges CPA Big 8 Accounting and her international career with The Coca-Cola Company with vast global life lessons from working and living for 22 years across diverse cultures on six continents – including seven years in Bangkok, Thailand where she learned mindfulness directly from Eastern philosophical teachings. First-hand experience as a party to litigation that resulted in personal and financial loss prompted Dana’s deep dive into relationship dynamics and her passion for helping you avoid the pitfalls of unnecessary conflict. Dana is a national speaker, certified trainer, and holds a Master of Arts in Dispute Resolution and Graduate Certificate in Executive Coaching from Southern Methodist University, and a Master of Science in Accountancy and a Bachelor of Music in Voice Performance from the University of North Texas. She sits on the Board of Fulfilling the Vision, a nonprofit that supports the arts in Dallas, Texas and beyond through books and media that publicizes Dallas artists who are successful around the world.

In this episode of Money Tales, our guest is Jamie Yuenger. At 17, Jamie explicitly told her mother not to buy her a car because the family couldn't afford it—yet came home to find one in the garage anyway. When she pressed about insurance, her mother assured her it was covered, but after the car was totaled in an accident, Jamie discovered the insurance had been canceled. Next, Jamie was told she'd have to stay home from school to pay back the damages. In that pivotal moment, just two months before starting college, Jamie made a defining choice: despite her fear of confronting her mother, her fear of not escaping the cycle of financial chaos was greater. As the first person in her family to attend college, she refused to let her mother's financial decisions derail her future, demonstrating how breaking free from inherited patterns sometimes requires the courage to choose your own path. Jamie Yuenger is the founder and CEO of StoryKeep, the premier legacy media company serving ultra-high-net-worth families globally. With a background in folklore and a deep passion for human stories, Jamie leads a creative team that produces bespoke films and private podcasts to preserve family history, values, and legacy. Her work is rooted in the belief that storytelling is a powerful bridge across generations, fostering connection, belonging, and meaning. Jamie speaks internationally on the role of narrative in wealth transfer and family resilience. She and her partner, Piet Hurkmans, run StoryKeep together and live with their daughter in the Netherlands. Prior to launching the company, Jamie worked in public media and studied Scandinavian culture and oral tradition. She’s known for her grounded style, her curiosity, and her ability to help families reflect on who they are, where they come from, and what truly matters.

In this episode of Money Tales, our guest is Margaret Katz Cann. Most of us carry our family systems into adulthood without even realizing it, from how we parent, to how we think about success, to how we handle money. But what happens when those inherited patterns stop working - when life hands us something so unexpected, we’re forced to question it? Margaret calls it the 'family force field', that invisible pull to repeat what we grew up with, even when it no longer serves us. Margaret shares how her son’s crisis shattered that force field and pushed her into deep self-examination, revealing just how hard, and necessary, it can be to break the script and forge your own path. Fundraising coach Margaret Katz Cann spends all day long talking about money. The founder of MKC Coach, Margaret helps people who need to raise money to do the work they want to see happen in the world. She specializes in executive fundraising and leadership coaching, working with nonprofit and startup executives to stop tripping over their ask, to connect to passion and leadership – and step into the world of compelling fundraising. After growing up with her own money story, Margaret became an experienced and joyful fundraiser herself, spending 22 years at the Community Foundation Boulder County, where she helped raise over $160 million for the community. She is passionate about helping clients address their own money stories, step away from anxiety and dread, so they can raise the money they need to do their work. Margaret is passionate about drawing from our own lives, about growth and healing, and about storytelling. She is the author of I Used To Be Good: How I Found My Voice by Losing My Pleaser, due out later in 2025. The raw and vulnerable story is about her personal journey, through a wealthy and chaotic childhood that looked great from the outside, to find her own voice. She lives in Boulder, Colorado.

In this episode of Money Tales, our guest is Caroline Lewis. Caroline was checking all the boxes for her career: climbing the corporate ladder, leading big teams at Nike, and chasing the next promotion. Then, suddenly, she was off the ladder entirely. Caroline shares the moment her fast-moving, say-it-like-it-is style clashed with corporate politics, and how that unexpected exit became the launchpad for a more purpose-driven, powerful relationship with money. Caroline is the MP and founder of Rogue Women. She is also a Partner at Rogue Ventures and Kauffman Fellow. Before entering venture capital, she was Senior Director of Global Strategy and Operations at Nike where she managed a portfolio of strategic programs focused on consumer experience, digitization, and big data. Her love for start-ups comes from her early career experience as a founder of an e-commerce business and as a leader at a consumer health product company. Caroline holds an MBA from Portland State University and a B.S. in Behavioral Psychology from Davidson College where she played D1 Field Hockey.

In this episode of Money Tales, our guest is Sophie Bertin. You know that feeling when everything looks good on paper, a great job, supportive colleagues, a solid paycheck, but something inside keeps whispering, this isn’t it! That was Sophie. She had a comfortable life, but comfort wasn’t enough. It took a spark - an unexpected stat about entrepreneurs from a business school dean when Sophie was at a less-than-satisfying moment in her career - for her to realize: “Why am I in the 50% who haven’t taken the leap?” That catalyzed her turning point. Sophie Bertin has a varied career path, from strategic consultancy, to banking operations, to the European Commission and now turned entrepreneur. She recently founded Serapy with the aim of improving corporate compliance training through the combination of simulations, gamification, role play and online tools. Serapy uses the latest educational theories to provide trainings with increased retention rate, and combines that with AI tools to enhance the learning process. Serapy is currently present in Switzerland, Bulgaria, Portugal, France and the UAE. Serapy has been accepted in the incubation program of the Unicorn Factory Lisbon and of Station F in Paris. In addition to Serapy, Sophie has her own consultancy (Parnima Consulting) since 2016, where she works with top legal and regulatory firms, consultancy firms and financial clients on EU Regulations in the area of Financial Services, Foreign Subsidies and State Aid. She also serves as independent board member of Eastnets, a leading provider of AML, SWIFT and payments solutions. She sits on the Remuneration, Nomination and Governance Committee. Before becoming entrepreneur, Sophie was Group Head of Corporate Development and Managing Director of SIX Group (in Switzerland), in charge of strategy development, innovation and regulatory affairs. During the Financial Crisis, she served as Head of Unit at the Directorate General for Competition within the European Commission. There, she was responsible for the review and approval of the State aid provided by Member States to the financial services (mostly banks) during the financial crisis of 2008-2014. Prior to her role with the European Commission, Sophie held senior positions within SWIFT, where she was globally in charge of Asset Servicing; with The Bank of New York Mellon; and worked with the top consultancies McKinsey and later Bain &Co. She started her career path as IT and database programmer, which is very helpful now with the latest AI tools she uses in her start-up. She started her studies in Vienna, graduated from the Ecole Supérieure de Commerce de Paris, holds an MBA from INSEAD and a post-graduate diploma in EU Competition Law from King's College. She holds also a diploma from the Swiss Board Institute. She is member of the Executive Committee of the INSEAD Alumni organization, and she is also the founder and president of the global INSEAD Women in Business Club. Recently, she finished an advanced AI Mastery class and won the award for the best AI Application Builder. She is promoting and advocating for AI literacy among women and through the INSEAD Women in Business Club organizes events for Women in AI.

In this episode of Money Tales, our guest is Dr. Marianne Cooper. Marianne has built a career exposing inequality, while living inside it. As a sociologist and parent in Silicon Valley, she’s seen firsthand how even the wealthy fear falling behind, and how families across the spectrum quietly hustle to secure their children’s futures. In this episode, Marianne shares what it’s like to understand exactly how privilege is reproduced while trying to avoid passing it on herself. Marianne Cooper, Ph.D., is a sociologist, speaker, writer, and expert advisor. She is a senior research scholar at Stanford University’s VMware Women's Leadership Innovation Lab and an affiliate at the Stanford Center on Poverty & Inequality. Dr. Cooper is an expert on gender, women’s leadership, inclusion, economic insecurity, and the future of work. Her book, Cut Adrift: Families in Insecure Times, examines how families are coping in an insecure age. Dr. Cooper was the lead researcher for Sheryl Sandberg’s NYT best-seller Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead and she is an author on all of the Lean In & McKinsey Women in the Workplace reports. Dr. Cooper regularly speaks, writes, and consults on these topics for media outlets like The Atlantic, The New York Times, and Harvard Business Review and companies such as Adobe and Sony. She is an affiliated educator for the Center for Institutional Courage and a LinkedIn Top Voice for Gender Equity. She received her Ph.D. in sociology from the University of California, Berkeley.

What happens when you leave a thriving medical practice—not because you’re burned out, but because your definition of success changes? Rishma Walji, our guest this week on Money Tales, spent two decades as a doctor where she helped others navigate emotionally complex decisions about life, hormones and healthcare. But when her own crossroads arrived, Rishma made a bold pivot choosing family, personal growth and intentional living over her credentials and paycheck. Rishma shares the emotional calculus behind pivoting away from the work she trained so long for, how she reconciled ambition with motherhood and why her definition of success had to expand beyond income. Rishma Walji trained as a Naturopathic Doctor and PhD. She spent over 20 years in clinical practice helping patients make big decisions about health, hormones and family. She's currently writing a book about intentional decision making. A lot of her work is related to awareness and emotion that can either guide or mislead our life choices. She is host of the XO Conversations Podcast and a TEDx speaker.

In this episode of Money Tales, our guest is John Anderson. What happens when the rockstar lifestyle starts to feel more like a death sentence than a dream? For John, the parties, the wealth, and the wine cellar full of excuses were all just masks for something much darker. He had it all—or so it seemed—until two tragic losses and one haunting realization stopped him in his tracks: If I don’t change, I’m next. This is a conversation about money, privilege, and the moment you realize that real wealth isn’t what’s in your bank account—it’s in the life you choose to live. John Anderson is a lifelong business strategist and entrepreneur. Through his published book Replace Retirement: Living Your Legacy in the Exponential Age, and in his coaching business Anderson shares his passion for living the second half of life better than the first half. For 30 years he has coached CEOs and executive teams in developing clear, measurable goals underpinned with structures and insights to achieve both professional and personal success. Anderson’s entrepreneurial spirit has guided much of his professional life starting in the office furniture industry where he built, then sold, a leading office furniture dealership. He was the first coach to work with Verne Harnish, during the time Harnish developed Scaling Up, now considered one of the leading executive coaching organizations. Anderson is active in corporate speaking and coaching and has equity in a variety of entrepreneurial companies. The focus of his current work is developing holistic plans for individual executives utilizing the Exponential Leader Practice. In the late 90’s John Anderson founded the Detroit Chapter of the Entrepreneurs Organization, was recognized by Michigan’s Future 50 award, “Today’s Workplace of Tomorrow” award, and in Crain’s list of Forty under Forty. He served on the Leadership Oakland board, the Oakland County Business Roundtable and is considered one of the most networked entrepreneurs in the region. Anderson started his career with IBM.

When people talk about climate change, they’re focused on saving the planet. This episode of Money Tales is about the economic possibilities that addressing climate change can open. Our guest this week is Tito Jankowski. For Tito, climate change isn’t just a crisis, it’s one of the biggest opportunities of our time. When he looked at the scale of carbon removal needed, he saw a trillion-dollar industry on the horizon. Tito realized this global challenge could be a launchpad for innovation, impact and massive business growth. It’s about shifting from fear to possibility—and building the future we actually want to live in. Tito Jankowski is the CEO and founder of AirMiners. AirMiners has helped accelerate 200 carbon removal startups, collectively raising $200 million and selling $93 million in carbon removal. One of AirMiners’ graduates, CarbonRun, was recently featured on the cover of the New York Times.

Picture this: You’re a kid shivering in your home, which never goes above 68 degrees in the winter. And you decide right then– your future includes a thermostat set at 72. That desire sparked Shellye Archambeau’s life’s ambition. Shellye is our guest this week on Money Tales. Her experience spans from being the new kid at school in seven states to breaking barriers as a Black woman CEO in Silicon Valley. Shellye talks about the intentional financial decisions that shaped her path and the raw, courageous conversations with her then-future husband that helped her build the life she envisioned as a teenager. Shellye’s story is a masterclass in ambition and authenticity. Fortune 500 board member, Former CEO of MetricStream, advisor and author Shellye Archambeau is an experienced CEO and Board Director with a track record of accomplishments building brands, high performance teams and organizations. Shellye currently serves on the boards of Verizon, Roper Technologies, Okta and Lineage. She is also a CEO mentor with the EXCO Group and serves on the board of two national nonprofits, Catalyst and Braven. Shellye has over 30 years of experience in technology. She is the former CEO of MetricStream, a Silicon Valley-based governance, risk and compliance software company. During her tenure, MetricStream grew from a fledgling startup into a global market leader. She is the author of Unapologetically Ambitious: Take Risks, Break Barriers and Create Success on Your Own Terms, a book that will inspire you and provide the tools to enable you to fight the battles, make the tradeoffs and create the life you want. She is also a Forbes contributor and the protagonist of the Harvard Business School Case Study: Becoming a CEO. Shellye is the founder of Ignite Ambition, a community focused on the professional development of people in the early to mid-stage of their career. Their mission is to provide professionals with the knowledge, inspiration, perspective and tools that they need to overcome their challenges, achieve their aspirations and excel in their professional careers. Shellye enjoys the performing arts, traveling, cooking and writing a blog, shellye.com, that provides career advice, insights and other musings.