Money Tales

In this episode of Money Tales, our guest is Rachel Bloom. Rachel is best known as the co-creator and star of the CW musical dramedy “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend”. She grew up as a theater kid and spent the early part of her life honing her craft. As Rachel tells us, she was focused on making music, videos and sketches that she thought were funny and that would help her make a name for herself. Money was...

In this episode of Money Tales, our guest is Shannon McCombie. When Shannon was in college, one of her older brothers was a Navy jet pilot. Just after 9/11, he was killed, and Shannon learned that he didn't get to finish the mission he started. That launched Shannon into government service. She worked internationally for the CIA and Naval Special Warfare Development Group to finish what her brothe...

In this episode of Money Tales, our guest is Jeff Savlov. Jeff started working at an early age in his family business, a growing commercial printing operation. His first role was to peel off strips of silver in the film that was otherwise garbage so they could sell the silver for cash. Jeff learned firsthand the challenges that come with working for your dad. As Jeff shared with us, his dad took o...

In this episode of Money Tales, our guest is Laura Renner. Laura’s a U.S. Air Force graduate with an MBA who found herself walking dogs and dog sitting to make ends meet as she launched her third and current business. While she enjoyed being with the dogs, she knew it wasn’t prestigious work and felt a little bit ashamed because that's not something that you imagine an MBA doing. However, after ta...

In this episode of Money Tales, our guest is John Lanza. John is on a mission to help parents raise money-smart kids and help families live happier, more fulfilled lives. He and his wife were inspired to develop Money Mammals, a kid friendly brand centered around financial education, when their firstborn was six months old. They wanted to be sure to raise their daughter to be money smart, and John...

In this episode of Money Tales, our guest is Jonathan Wess. Jonathan’s Dad died when he was 5 years old. His mother raised him and his two older sisters, supporting the family through her single income. As Jonathan explains, he was always having to piece things together about how the family was doing financially. His mom's rule was that it's not a kid’s place to worry about the money. She was tryi...

In this episode of Money Tales, our guest is Sylvie Sadarnac. Sylvie made an extreme career pivot in her third act of life. She had a career in corporate communications, and in her mid-40s she decided to pursue comedy writing. As a matter of fact, Sylvie was the only middle-aged woman in her Second City writing class. She blossomed in that environment, and has been facing the ultimate question eve...

In this episode of Money Tales, our guest is Dr. Lois Frankel. Lois is the bestselling author of the inspirational Nice Girls series of books, which include Nice Girls Don’t Get the Corner Office, Nice Girls Don’t Get Rich, and Nice Girls Just Don’t Get It. She came from a background where nothing was expected of her. Lois shares that her brothers were encouraged to go out and make a lot of money...

In this episode of Money Tales, our guest is Emily Brower. Growing up, Emily always wanted to fit in. She perceived herself as shy, with an awkward haircut, and clothes that never fit just right. Emily thought her value was in her weight. If she could just be skinny, she told herself, then people would see all she had to offer. As an adult, Emily married, became the mother of two children, and sto...

In this episode of Money Tales, our guest is Rebecca Walker. Rebecca has contributed to the global conversation about race, gender, power, and the evolution of the human family for three decades. In her most recent book, Women Talk Money, Rebecca created a collection of 29 essays by different female writers who explore the profound impact of money on women’s lives. The collection includes previous...

In this episode of Money Tales, our guest is Sarah Van Voorhis. Sarah is a high-powered family law attorney in the San Francisco Bay Area. From as far back as she can remember, Sarah has been a saver. Is that nature or is it nurture? Sarah tells us her parents, who adopted her, weren’t necessarily savers so they weren’t modeling that behavior. But when Sarah met her biological grandmother when she...

In this episode of Money Tales, our guest is Nike Anani. At 9 years old she went to the UK with her mom and brothers for what she was told was a summer vacation, but they never left. Nike’s dad stayed behind in Lagos, Nigeria to run the family business, and it wasn’t until she was in her 20s that she learned how extremely successful the family business was. Nike’s parents’ intentions of not sharin...

In this episode of Money Tales, our guest is Coach Pamela Mitchell. We first met Coach Pamela while listening to her compelling story on NPR’s The Moth Radio Hour. In this week’s episode, we dive deep with her into her stories of reinvention and the roles money played in them. For instance, Coach Pamela describes herself as having been a high-powered hider in her career on Wall Street. She was gre...

In this episode of Money Tales, our guest is Julie Greenham. Julie had a major money transformation as an adult. As a child she was never taught about money and it wasn’t discussed, but Julie sure could feel the weight of it. Julie knew that money was coming in and the next day it was going out. She explains that her mom has bipolar disorder which contributed to her spending money extravagantly an...

In this episode of Money Tales, our guest is Dr. oec. Sonja Kissling. After working as a corporate law attorney, Sonja found her true passion when she realized she could use her skills to help families in business resolve conflicts. Regular Money Tales listeners will appreciate that Sonja’s process is steeped in family values; she finds that families need to identify their shared values, create a...

In this episode of Money Tales, our guest is Julie Goodall. At age 30, Julie learned she wouldn't get a loan because she was young, female, and didn't have a college degree. When Julie heard that verbal slam, she thought, “Tell Me I Can’t, I’ll Show You I Can.” That was enough to help her decide she was moving forward with transitioning her personal training business to full-fledged gym ownership....

In this episode of Money Tales, our guest is Dr. Michele Madansky. Michele is a digital advertising expert and sought-after media and market research consultant. She is also co-author of the most widely cited research study on gender bias in tech, “The Elephant in the Valley”. Michele acknowledges that money isn’t a popular discussion topic and she observes that people definitely don’t talk about...

In this episode of Money Tales, our guest is Tovah Feldshuh. Chances are you’ve seen her in one of her many performances which have spanned Broadway stages, film and television. Tovah is also an author, having recently published a memoir entitled, “LILYVILLE: , Mother, Daughter and other Roles I’ve played.” She is currently raising funds to bring a theater production called “Becoming Dr. Ruth to N...

In this episode of Money Tales, our guest is Julie Gustafson. After nearly three decades in wealth management and banking, Julie decided to dramatically change gears; she left her reliable job and transitioned to video and documentary production - this was quite a pivot from financial services. The common thread was that her work continued to focus on harnessing personal experiences. Julie and her...

In this episode of Money Tales, our guest is Sanford Livingston II. Sanford is from Trenton, New Jersey, and a question he often heard from his mom while growing up was, “What are you going to study? Because you’ve got to get a job”. And, as Sanford explains, where he came from job stood for Just Over Broke. As a result of talking money with his college roommate, who came from a very affluent fami...

In this episode of Money Tales, our guest is Sharon Reynolds. Sharon is a successful serial entrepreneur. Her first entrepreneurial role model was her grandfather, who had to hide money in the walls of his home to protect his earnings from the Klan. She had the same perseverance as she launched her first start-up in high school as a seamstress and bespoke neighborhood designer. Today, she’s in the...

In this episode of Money Tales, our guest is Patrick Veroneau. Patrick found himself in a cush job; the money was great, he was good at the work, and the boss … well … they just didn’t see eye to eye. Patrick was pretty sure he was going to get fired, which turned into the ultimate push to make the leap into a financially risky position of starting his own business. The transition was possible as...

In this episode of Money Tales, our guest is Johanna (José) Zeilstra. Johanna wants to change world, and she’s doing that by harnessing the power of how we spend our money. Johanna is the CEO of Gender Fair, a platform where you can find out which companies support gender equality and use your dollars to drive fairness by buying only from the best. The Gender Fair Seal and 100-point scoring system...

In this episode of Money Tales, our guest is Andrea J. Simon, Ph. D. (“Andi”.) Andi is a culture change expert and an explorer at heart, someone who is interested in the stories we tell ourselves and each other. She advocates for smashing those myths that hold us back. In this episode, Andi brings her expertise and tools to money conversations, helping us understand what we can do to create new mo...

In this episode of Money Tales, our guest is Lisa Danforth. Lisa woke up on her fiftieth birthday needing change. With her eyes closed, heart racing and mind running 100 miles an hour, she knew that this was unsustainable. Lisa was an entrepreneur several times over; at that time, she had a catering company and was launching her fifth business. Lisa made the intentional decision to focus full-time...