Invested: Advancing Women in Work and Wealth

How do you know when to take the leap, especially before you feel completely ready? In this episode of Invested, Marcia Page, co‑founder of Värde Partners and founder of MPowered Capital, shares the leadership decisions and moments of conviction that shaped her more than 30‑year career in finance. 

Marcia reflects on her nontraditional path into finance, the difference between mentorship and true sponsorship, integrating family life with a growing career, and the realities of building and scaling a firm through uncertainty. She also discusses the importance of self-awareness in leadership, identifying top talent and creating performance-oriented cultures, and why women should feel more emboldened to take the leap early – not just for yourself, but for others. 

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1:18 Meet Marcia Page

2:10 How Marcia got into financial services

6:05 The power of sponsorship vs. mentorship

10:06 Co-founding Värde Partners

14:24 Transformative moments at Värde

21:10 The origin story of MPowered Capital

31:30 How to find and cultivate a sponsor

35:48 Integrating career and family

41:25 Taking the leap before you're ready

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Find Marcia Page on LinkedIn 

Find Angela Pittman Taylor on LinkedIn  

Find Sarah Gaul on LinkedIn  
More about Baird  

More about MPowered Capital

  
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Kitty Brandtner was totally engaged and fulfilled in her corporate sales role when a pivotal event led her to advocacy work. What began with Kitty tapping her passion and taking initial action eventually led to her founding a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization, March Fourth.

In this episode of Invested, Kitty reflects on her dynamic career path, starting with falling in love with an early career in sales, a pivot to advocacy work and most recently launching a local boutique. We talk with Kitty about how many of her decisions to follow her instincts and passion and act – to say yes to things even when you don’t feel smart enough or prepared enough – are what paved the way for her extraordinary path. Kitty’s story shows how a powerful experience and the courage to act, even in the face of uncertainty, can drive meaningful change and personal fulfillment.

Find Angela Pittman Taylor on LinkedIn

Find Sarah Gaul on LinkedIn

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More about March Fourth

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Neha Ruch built a successful career in digital strategy before making an intentional decision to step back, transition to stay-at-home motherhood, and rethink what ambition could look like beyond a linear career path. That choice ultimately led her to found The Power Pause (formerly known as Mother Untitled) and pen a 2025 book of the same name. Her Power Pause framework reframes career pauses, downshifts, and transitions as purposeful, growth-oriented chapters.

In this episode of Invested, Neha shares her personal journey and insights from years of amplifying the experiences of ambitious women navigating work, caregiving, and identity. She discusses the realities of pausing or downshifting a career, and how making space for different priorities at different moments can lead to greater clarity, confidence, and long-term fulfillment.

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Time stamps: 

1:07 - Meet Neha Ruch

2:08 - Neha's early career & background

6:50 - The decision to downshift

8:34 - Navigating other people's feedback & building confidence

15:41 - Financial planning & the "brass tacks" of a career pause

25:58 - The concept of a "Power Pause" — pause is not a period

27:06 - Setting goals during a pause 

36:20 - Parenthood as leadership training

37:46 - Where to find Neha

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Links: 

Find Neha Ruch on LinkedIn

Find Angela Pittman Taylor on LinkedIn

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More about The Power Pause

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Katie Sturino’s career centers around supporting women from a variety of angles. As the founder of Megababe, Katie created a category-defining body care brand that addresses “taboo” body issues with honesty and humor. In addition to her entrepreneurship, she is also a noted content creator, a well-known body acceptance advocate and a bestselling author.

In this episode of Invested, Katie talks about what it takes to build a fulfilling career around something you deeply believe in. She shares the origin story of Megababe, the challenges of launching a self funded business and how staying anchored to a clear mission has helped her navigate tough career challenges. She also reflects on navigating major life changes, embracing vulnerability in creative work and why advocacy remains more important than ever.

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Time stamps: 

00:33 - Meet our guest Katie Sturino

3:56 - How the idea was first received and challenges with retail partners

6:56 - Being self-funded and bootstrapping the business

8:32 - Dealing with self-doubt and competition

11:10 - Body acceptance advocacy

15:49 - Has the body advocacy message changed? 

18:21 - Advice on building a career around something you believe in

26:35 - Divorce at 34 and channeling adversity into building MegaBabe

32:22 - Biggest secret to a dynamic career

33:12 - Where to find Katie

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Links: 

Find Katie Sturino on Instagram

Find Angela Pittman Taylor on LinkedIn

More about Baird

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Caring for yourself and your family while planning for the unexpected is a difficult balance. Samantha Russell, Chief Evangelist at FMG, and Linda Grant-Smith, Wealth Strategist at Baird, share their personal and professional experiences with caregiving. Tune in for resources and strategies to tackle tough conversations and ensure readiness for unexpected life events.  Both of our guests share how women can proactively prepare for a variety of caregiving roles and situations. From specific financial tools to use to the important decisions to make sooner rather than later, the conversation covers a myriad of tips to navigate life’s curveballs. 

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LINDA:  What impact does it have on generally a woman's life? Generally, the woman is the caregiver and oftentimes the oldest daughter is called into that role for their in-laws or their parents. It can be devastating to your career. So I was thinking about the three things that matter. It seems you've got to communicate with your partner about these things before it happens, even when you're young.  You've got to understand where the other one is coming from, and then you've got to find yourself standing alone in a stable position.

SAMANTHA:  If someone's listening to this, and you're not going through this, but you're wondering how you can help someone, I think about not waiting to be asked. Because so many people are used to being self sufficient, they don't want to ask. You know, my friend group set up a meal train, and I did not cook a meal for over six months at one point. Every single day, there was something dropped off, and I would have never in a million years asked for that. But they didn't wait for me to say, "Can we?" They just did it.  I think that's how you can help people. JALEIGH: Yeah, that's great advice. I saw someone that had gone through some similar situations say, "Don't just ever ask me, oh, let me know if there's anything I can do to help. I will never call you. But if you say, I'm going to do this for you, unless you tell me not to, or here's three things I could do to help tell me which one would be the biggest help you that specificity that leaning in, in a very specific way, can sometimes be the biggest help."

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• 01:02 - Meet our guests 
• 03:25 - Samantha’s story
• 08:34 - Linda’s story
• 10:40 - Stepping into a caregiving role
• 15:24 - Prepare your documents
• 18:01 - Starting conversations with family
• 25:45 - Basic financial prep
• 34:36 - Helpful resources
• 38:34 - Where to find our guests

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Find Samantha Russell on LinkedIn

Find Linda Grant-Smith on LinkedIn

Find Angela Pittman Taylor on LinkedIn

Find Jaleigh White on LinkedIn
More about Baird

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OBGYN expert Dr. Rebecca Booth and Womaness founder Sally Mueller discuss options for women to be informed and proactive about their health. They say that starting good practices means that physical, mental and financial health planning should begin in midlife – ideally even earlier. Our hosts also describe the need for institutional and systematic support for women navigating these life transitions.

Womaness is the leading women’s wellness brand that’s modernizing aging. Womaness empowers women to feel and look great as they age through clinically and doctor-tested supplements, sexual wellness, and skincare products formulated to meet the needs of a changing body.

Dr. Booth is the author of The Venus Week: Discover the Powerful Secret of Your Cycle…At Any Age. Together with her sister, Cecil Booth, she co-founded VENeffect, an anti-aging skin care line and wellness platform dedicated to helping women with hormonal optimization. 

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BOOTH:  Let's face it, when you don't understand something, how can you be comfortable with it? …  What's happened is there's been an absence of that information, the practical information for both men and women. 

BOOTH:  I have to say, having been through the sandwich generation phase, it is so difficult and the most difficult for my patients through these years that I've been taking care of them, especially with regard to adding elder care, because there are so many mysteries there.  “When is this going to get easier? How is this going to be economically?” A lot of times with raising children, you sort of know there's an end in sight or a level of maturity, but when it comes to elder care, it's easy to get in a rabbit hole, and you just have to go back to that same old metaphor that we all have seen on the plane, you got to put the oxygen on yourself first.

BOOTH:  I do think for the first time that employers are seeing opportunities to help women navigate their health challenges as a possible recruitment tool. And that's really exciting. We know there's a lot of data out there, that when you get women in high places, like on boards, all of a sudden the performance of the board, no matter what the industry, improves…  institutions are becoming more aware of how they can attract women throughout their entire life, from the earliest worries about the biological clock to the later worries with coping with aging and how that affects the aesthetic,  their acceptance with regards to their appearance and so on. When it comes to economic effects, in other words, recruitment and workforce, then you're going to see a big impact. And I'm really feeling excited about that in the future.

MUELLER:  We have so much wisdom to share and I think as we extend our lives, we're staying more relevant longer in terms of technology and trends and how to do our job. .. It's going to be just an open conversation. You know, and not shoved under the rug. I think in the last three years, it's changed dramatically. But I think as that generation starts to age into menopause, they're going to be even more vocal about changes. I think it's a generational shift that's happening. 

MUELLER:  We all have to become informed and that's the first step.  And we say this all the time to our community, you have to become informed and then you will feel more empowered to make a decision. I think there's a lot of other, you know, practical things that women are starting to do, like nutrition levels, protein intake, weight bearing exercise, all of that is so important to start even in your 30s. And it's never too early to start these good practices. 

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00:46 - Meet Dr. Becca Booth

01:46 - Meet Sally Mueller

09:27 - The state of women’s health practices

11:24 - Finding accurate information

19:50 - Setting realistic aging expectations

23:47 - Systems and institutions that offer support

31:56 - Women’s roles in families

35:00 - Looking to the future

47:10 - Where to find our guests

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Find Rebecca online

Find Sally online

Find Angela Pittman Taylor on LinkedIn

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Caring for elderly parents can be challenging in many ways. In this episode, we get expert advice from Dr. Chris Pierson, Founder and CEO of cybersecurity firm BlackCloak, and Jessica Bell, JD, Senior Estate Planner at Baird.

Chris describes how you can help your parents avoid new tech vulnerabilities like scams and phishing, while Jessica emphasizes the importance of understanding elder law and estate planning. Both agree that communication is key to transitions and future planning.

With structured family meetings, a secured online presence, and aligning financial goals, you can help set your aging parents up for success.

BlackCloak is the pioneer of Digital Executive Protection, providing online privacy protection, personal device security, home network security, and incident response to corporate leaders in their personal lives.

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CHRIS:  When we think about eldercare in the area of cybersecurity or privacy, the number one topic is going to be privacy. How do you help harden your loved ones against scams, fraud, swindling, all the rest of that? 

JESSICA:  As a baseline, always have as much open and honest communication and healthy communication between you and your siblings and with your parents. That’s key.

CHRIS:  First and foremost, have a meeting, have a conversation, hopefully with your Gen 2 siblings. Get everyone together. Every person is going ahead and figuring out a different area that they have expertise in. One could be on the healthcare side, other on the real estate side, other on the finances side. Somebody on the cyber and IT side, right? We need someone there. So figure it out amongst yourselves. Who's responsible? Who's consulted? Who's informed on the different life big buckets that we could consult for each “thing.”

JESSICA:  It really boils down to what's going to speak to mom or dad, and you want to think about their personality, what they fear, what they trust, what motivates them before having that conversation, and then find out how to communicate using those motivations.

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02:18 - Chris’ role

02:44 - About BlackCloak

05:54 - Jessica’s role

07:33 - About Baird

09:09 - Today’s elder care issues

14:46 - The transition to new tech

18:00 - Taking steps for tech safety

32:30 - Forward thinking

41:54 - Today’s action items

48:32 - Where to find our guests

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Find Jessica Bell on LinkedIn

Find Dr. Chris Pierson on LinkedIn

Find Angela Pittman Taylor on LinkedIn

Find Jaleigh White on LinkedIn
More about Baird

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In today’s episode, we’ll hear from Jeannette Haen, Education Planning Consultant at Baird, and Kyra Tyler, Senior Director at Bright Horizons Education and College Advising. Kyra’s expertise lies in helping families navigate the college admissions process. Jeannette highlights the financial aspects of education planning and 529 savings plans. 

We’ll talk about which conversations are most important to start early, the nuances of saving for college, and how to approach discussions about college within the family. 

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00:28 - Meet our guests

01:29 - Kyra’s role

03:29 - Jeannette’s role

06:22 - When should I start saving for college?

08:49 - Which savings vehicles to consider

11:23 - About 529s

12:54 - Starting the college conversation

17:27 - The ROI of college

25:34 - The impact of COVID

35:54 - Saving for retirement vs. college

43:02 - Alternatives to traditional schools

47:26 - Where to find our guests

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Find Kyra Tyler online

Find Jeannette Haen online

Find Angela Pittman Taylor on LinkedIn

Find Jaleigh White on LinkedIn
More about Baird

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Angela and Jaleigh speak with Courtney Pullen about preparing your children for their financial futures, a common situation for members of the sandwich generation. Courtney describes the challenges of discussing money, the importance of starting early, and how to share your money values and expectations. No matter what, he says, it's important to use intentionality and openness to facilitate those family conversations.

Courtney is the author of Intentional Wealth, a family psychologist, and President of the Pullen Consulting Group. He has more than 25 years of experience in individual and family coaching, business and management consulting, leadership development, communication and team building.

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02:10 - Courtney’s journey

05:09 - How to approach taboo topics

10:10 - When to start money discussions

15:49 - Let each family member have a role

21:22 - Aligning money values

26:46 - COVID’s impact

35:43 - Today’s action items

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Find Courtney Pullen on LinkedIn

Find Angela Pittman Taylor on LinkedIn

Find Jaleigh White on LinkedIn

More about Baird

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Welcome to Invested: Advancing Women in Work and Wealth. This show is a resource for women who aspire to break barriers, enrich their lives and gain wisdom along the way. Join us as we explore the intersection of life, career and finances with extraordinary women leaders.

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