In this episode of 'Her Career Her Way', Lori Atwood, a certified financial planner, shares her journey into finance and offers valuable insights on budgeting, saving, and investing. She emphasises the importance of understanding one's relationship with money, the need for emergency funds, and the significance of tracking spending. Lori also discusses the realities of entrepreneurship and the importance of having a financial runway before starting a business. Her advice aims to empower individuals, especially younger generations, to take control of their financial futures.
Takeaways

• Empowerment comes from understanding personal finance.
• Budgeting should focus on happiness and satisfaction.
• Tracking spending can reveal underlying issues.
• Emergency funds are crucial for financial security.
• Investing in index funds is a smart strategy for beginners.
• Desire less and focus on what truly matters.
• Credit cards should be managed carefully to avoid debt.
• Savings should be a habit, not a one-off event.
• Entrepreneurship requires financial planning and runway.
• Financial literacy is essential for young adults.

CONNECT with Lori Atwood
Instagram: @fearlessfinance
Tiktok: @fearlessfinance
FOLLOW & CONNECT
Instagram: ⁠@HerCareerHerWay⁠
TikTok: ⁠@HerCareerHerWay
RESOURCES:
https://fearlessfinance.com/contact/
Enter "Her Way" in the promo code field and get $50 off your first meeting
Rate, review, and subscribe so other ambitious women can find us!
CHAPTERS

00:00 Introduction to Financial Empowerment
02:58 Lori's Journey into Finance
05:54 Understanding Budgeting and Scarcity Mindset
08:39 The Importance of Happiness in Financial Decisions
11:45 Saving vs. Spending: Finding Balance
14:42 Emergency Funds and Financial Security
17:31 Navigating Economic Uncertainty
20:34 Tracking Spending: The Autopsy Approach
23:25 Grocery Spending and Overconsumption
26:24 The Role of Credit Cards in Financial Health
29:17 Investing Basics: Starting with Index Funds
32:16 Managing Student Loans and Debt
35:13 Retirement Planning: 401k and Roth IRA
38:14 The Reality of Entrepreneurship
41:10 Final Thoughts and Financial Advice

In this bonus episode of 'Her Career Her Way', Hazel Ann reflects on five transformative lessons learned over the past year, emphasising the importance of self-acceptance, the power of starting despite fear, the influence of one's social circle, the significance of recognising personal strengths, and embracing uncertainty as a pathway to growth. The conversation encourages listeners to set intentions for their next chapter, focusing on authenticity, meaningful connections, and the beauty of life's journey.

Takeaways

• Let go of judgment to embrace personal growth.
• Confidence is built through action, not waiting.
• Surround yourself with like-minded individuals.
• Your self-worth is inherent, not tied to achievements.
• Embrace uncertainty as a space for opportunity.
• Trust the process and take aligned actions.
• Comparison should be a tool for self-improvement.
• Your 20s are a time for exploration and learning.
• You don't need to have everything figured out.
• Every experience contributes to your unique path.

FOLLOW & CONNECT

Instagram: ⁠@HerCareerHerWay⁠

TikTok: ⁠@HerCareerHerWay

💫 Rate, review, and subscribe so other ambitious individuals can find us!

Chapters

00:00 Reflecting on a Year of Growth

02:57 Letting Go of Judgment

05:47 The Power of Starting

08:56 The Company You Keep

12:12 Owning Your Strengths

15:05 Leaning into Uncertainty

17:54 Intentions for the Next Chapter

In this episode of Her Career Her Way, Hazel Ann explores the concept of perfectionism, discussing its impact on self-worth and personal growth. This episode reframes perfectionism from a character flaw into a strength you haven't learned to channel yet.

We break down the science (30-42% genetic), explore the 5 perfectionist types, and expose why society wants women "balanced" instead of powerful. You'll get practical tools to transform perfectionism from prison to power—including self-compassion techniques, restoration strategies, and language shifts that separate your work from your worth.

Bottom line: Your perfectionism protected you. Now let it serve you differently.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

✨ Perfectionism is 30-42% genetic—you're wired this way, not broken

✨ 5 types exist: Intense, Classic, Parisian, Procrastinator, Messy—each needs different strategies

✨ Adaptive (playing to WIN) vs. Maladaptive (playing NOT to lose)—shift your approach, keep your standards

✨ Self-worth ≠ performance. "That didn't go well" ≠ "I'm terrible"

✨ The Balance Trap: Society limits women's bandwidth to limit their power

✨ Self-compassion reduces maladaptive perfectionism WITHOUT lowering standards

✨ Language matters: "This could be better" (opinion) vs. "I'm terrible" (self-judgment)

✨ You're not living in preparation—this IS your life

FOLLOW & CONNECT

Instagram: @HerCareerHerWay
TikTok: @HerCareerHerWay

Tag us with your perfectionist type—we're reading every message!

📚 RESOURCES

• "The Perfectionist's Guide to Losing Control" by Katherine Morgan Schafler
• Perfectionist Type Assessment

💫 Rate, review, and subscribe so other ambitious women can find us!

Her Career Her Way — Honest conversations for ambitious women building careers in their 20s.

Stop apologising. Start building. This is YOUR career, YOUR way.

Have you ever felt like there's never enough time—only to realise you've been managing the wrong thing entirely?

In this episode, Hazel Ann breaks down why time management feels impossible and reveals the game-changing shift that transformed her productivity: stop managing time, start managing energy.

We dive deep into the psychology behind why your brain sabotages your schedule, the science of procrastination, and practical strategies that actually work with your brain instead of against it.

In this episode, you'll discover:

• Why you constantly underestimate how long tasks take (and how to fix it)
• The neuroscience behind why unfinished tasks haunt you at 2 AM
• How ADHD brains process time differently—and strategies that help
• The Eisenhower Matrix simplified: urgent vs. important tasks
• Why multitasking is actually destroying your productivity
• Evidence-based strategies: from micro-steps to body doubling
• Why procrastination is an emotional regulation issue, not a time management one

✨ Time is finite. Energy is renewable

✨ You're not bad at time management—you're using a broken system

✨ Working smarter (aligned to your values) > working longer ✨ Your time struggles aren't a character flaw, they're a design flaw

If this episode resonated with you, screenshot it and tag us @hercareerherway

What's your biggest time struggle? Let us know in the comments—we read every single one

FOLLOW THE PODCAST

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hercareerherway/
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwyh9xa5Ua4JuMsPfhIayYw

Chapters

• 00:00 Why Time Management Feels Impossible
• 07:19 The Psychology Behind Your Time Struggles
• 14:29 Behavioral Traps & Environmental Factors
• 21:19 The Science of How We Relate to Time
• 28:45 8 Practical Strategies That Actually Work
• 36:12 Energy Management Over Time Management
• 42:30 Reclaiming Control in Your 20s

Have you ever talked yourself out of an amazing opportunity because you were terrified of making the "wrong" choice?

In this episode, Hazel Ann sits down with Gracie Rotman, who went from decision paralysis to living her dream life studying in Milan while building her own business. We dive deep into why our brains trick us into thinking there's only one "right" path—and how to move past that fear to grab the opportunities waiting for you.

Gracie is a Marketing graduate from the University of Florida. After a transformative internship at Coach, she took the leap to study abroad in Milan while launching her own networking business to help ambitious women network and build meaningful connections.

In this episode, you'll discover,

• Why your fear of making wrong choices is actually keeping you stuck
• The science behind why uncertainty feels so terrifying (hint: it's evolutionary)
• Gracie's real-time decision-making process when choosing between safety and her dreams
• Tips to move from fear to inspired action
• Why "misalignments" actually self-correct when you trust the process

✨ There are no wrong decisions, only different timelines✨ Your fear voice vs. your true self—how to tell the difference✨ Every choice is either a blessing or a blessing in disguise✨ Everything that is meant to happen, happens

Gracie's Socials:

• LinkedIn
• YouTube

If this episode resonated with you, screenshot it and tag us @hercareerherway

What opportunity have you been overthinking? Let us know in the comments—we read every single one

FOLLOW THE PODCAST

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hercareerherway/
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwyh9xa5Ua4JuMsPfhIayYw

Chapters

• 00:00 Navigating Fear and Ambition
• 07:19 Understanding and Embracing Fear
• 14:29 The Complexity of Decision Making
• 21:19 Surrendering to the Unknown

This episode, Hazel Ann explores the real challenges of goal-setting in your 20s—from lack of clarity and fear of failure to the behavior-intention gap that keeps us stuck between what we say we want and what we actually do. She dives into the science behind habit formation, discuss practical strategies like keystone habits and understanding your "why," and explore how to break big dreams into actionable steps. The conversation emphasises the importance of self-awareness, planning, and embracing uncertainty as part of the growth process—because fear isn't a stop sign, it's often a signal that you're heading toward something meaningful.

Mentioned in the Episode:

"The Power of Habit" by Charles Duhigg

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Power-Habit-Why-What-Change/dp/1847946240

In this episode of 'Her Career Her Way', Hazel Ann discusses the complexities of productivity, workaholism, and the importance of rest. She reflects on her personal experiences transitioning from a high-achieving internship to a period of downtime, exploring feelings of guilt associated with rest and the societal pressures surrounding productivity. Hazel Ann emphasises the need to reframe our understanding of productivity, recognising that rest is not a sign of laziness but a crucial component of creativity and personal growth. She offers practical solutions for achieving a balance between work and rest, encouraging listeners to embrace their unique career paths and the importance of self-reflection.

Works Cited

• Biwer, Felicitas, et al. “Understanding Effort Regulation: Comparing “Pomodoro” Breaks and Self‐Regulated Breaks.” British Journal of Educational Psychology, vol. 93, no. S2, 2023, pp. 353–367, bpspsychub.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/bjep.12593, https://doi.org/10.1111/bjep.12593.
• Dore, Madeleine. I Didn’t Do the Thing Today. Allen & Unwin, 5 Jan. 2022.
• Kreider, Tim. “The “Busy” Trap.” Opinionator, 30 June 2012, archive.nytimes.com/opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/06/30/the-busy-trap/.
• McKinsey & Company. “What Is Burnout? | McKinsey.” Www.mckinsey.com, 14 Aug. 2023, www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/mckinsey-explainers/what-is-burnout.
• Szigeti, Zara. “What’s the Verdict on Academic Guilt? Separating “Doing” from Productivity.” RehabINK | a World of Rehabilitation Research, Practice, and Advocacy, 8 June 2021, rehabinkmag.com/previous-issues/rehabink-summer-2020-volume-1-issue-9/whats-the-verdict-on-academic-guilt-separating-doing-from-productivity/.

Internships aren’t always easy — but the challenges can teach you just as much as the wins. In this episode, I talk about handling tricky mentor relationships, learning how to ask for the feedback you need, and building intentional connections that last. I also share how I turned what once felt like “weaknesses” into strengths. This is the real behind-the-scenes of growing in your 20s — reminding you that setbacks are part of the process, and that your path forward is more within reach than it sometimes feels.

Wrapping up my internship felt surreal — I came in full of questions and left with lessons I didn’t expect. In this episode, I share how setting intentions early shaped my experience, the skills I built along the way (from Excel shortcuts to confidence in networking), and what working a 9-to-5 taught me about structure and balance. These takeaways are for anyone trying to make sense of the messy, exciting start of a career — with the goal of making it feel a little more clear and a lot more doable.

Check out this article for more information about the case study mentioned: https://jamesclear.com/implementation-intentions

Figuring out your passions in your 20s isn’t easy—especially when outside voices and endless choices drown out your own. In this episode, Hazel Ann Felder unpacks distractions (like thinking Suits meant law school was for me), and dives into psychology research and practical tools to help you tune into what you really want.

Along the way, we’ll explore:✨ The Asch conformity experiment on why we follow the crowd✨ Dan Gilbert’s paradox of choice and how too many options keep us stuck✨ Why, as Ben Hardy writes, achieving goals doesn’t always equal fulfilment✨ Insights from Rick Hanson on why pleasure is fleeting✨ Mastery of Love by Don Miguel Ruiz

Come away with tools to sift through the noise, reconnect with what excites you, and take small steps toward clarity—without the pressure to have it all figured out.