Money Tales

Money Tales

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Money Tales episodes

  • Going Dutch, with Dorien Morin-van Dam
    In this episode of Money Tales, our guest is Dorien Morin-van Dam. The first airplane Dorien ever took landed her in Boston from her home in the Netherlands. It was July 1988. She had $100 in her pocket and was ready for adventure! Dorien made wonderful memories as an Au Pair, found the love of her life at a bus stop, got married at 19 years old, and stayed... forever. Dorien was a stay-at-home mom until her fourth and youngest child started kindergarten. At that time, she pivoted to entrepreneurship. Suddenly she was navigating a business world with people who had gone to college and had a lot of work experience, which she didn’t have.
    Dorien is a Certified Agile Marketer, Social Media Strategist, International Keynote Speaker, Organic Social Media Specialist and Community Manager! She’s been a social media professional for over 11 years, working with diverse clients all over the world.
    In her spare time, Dorien is a marathon runner, hiker, skier and mom to four kids and four
    dogs. After several family travel adventures which brought her to live in fun places like Brazil and Europe, she now calls the Green Mountain State of Vermont home.
    You’ll recognize her on stage and online by her always present orange glasses, a nod to her Dutch heritage.
    33 min
  • Inspired by Beyoncé, with Rohit Bhargava
    In this episode of Money Tales, our guest is Rohit Bhargava. Rohit prides himself on being a non-obvious thinker. Dismayed by traditional publishing practices, Rohit decided with his wife to launch IdeaPress, an alternative to the big book publishers. He was motivated by an entrepreneurial spirit and the desire to have greater control. Rohit tells us that he was inspired by Beyoncé. If she could create her own label, he figured he could to the same in publishing.
    Rohit a leading authority on marketing, trends and innovation. He is the Founder of the Non-Obvious Company and previously spent over 15 years leading advising large organizations on digital and marketing at two respected global agencies: Leo Burnett and Ogilvy. Rohit is widely considered one of the most entertaining and original keynote speakers on marketing disruption and innovation in the world. He is the Wall Street Journal bestselling author of five books on topics as wide ranging as the future of business, building a human brand with personality, and why leaders always eat left-handed. He has been invited to deliver sold-out keynotes and workshops to change the way teams and leaders think at the World Bank, NASA, Intel, LinkedIn, MetLife, Under Armour, Univision, Disney and hundreds of other well-known organizations. Rohit also teaches a popular course on marketing and storytelling at Georgetown University in Washington DC and writes a monthly column on trends for GQ magazine in Brazil.
    32 min
  • $avvy, with Robin Hauser
    In this episode of Money Tales, our guest is Robin Hauser. Robin is an award-winning director of documentary films at Finish Line Features. In 2021 she released the documentary, $avvy, which contemplates the historical, cultural and societal norms around women and money and explores why it’s critical for women to take an active role in managing personal finance. This film was inspired by Robin’s personal experience of going through divorce after twenty-four years of marriage. As Robin tells us, she felt shame at that time for having taken her eyes off of their personal finances. Simultaneously, she realized she was solely responsible for her own financial wellbeing.
    Robin is the director and producer of award-winning documentaries (CODE: Debugging the Gender Gap, Bias, $avvy, Running for Jim) made to illuminate causes about which she is passionate. Those include the gender gap in tech, unconscious bias, equality and financial literacy. Robin’s work has carried her around the world, from the TED and TEDx stage to the White House, NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, and conferences worldwide, speaking about mitigating bias in artificial intelligence, diversity, inclusion, financial wellness and gender equality. A self-described “disruptor,” Robin is committed to provoking thought to address the most important socio-economic issues we face today.
    32 min
  • Inspired and Terrified, with Afam Onyema
    In this episode of Money Tales, our guest is Afam Onyema. When Afam was graduating from Stanford Law School he decided to pass on the lucrative job offers he received to help co-found the GEANCO Foundation. Up until that point, Afam thought a person had to first be wealthy to create a foundation. But he decided to make the leap and had to figure out how to raise money for GEANCO, and also figure what his personal plan was for money. He had expenses to cover, including law school debt. As Afam describes it, he was operating without a net.
    Afam was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1979. He graduated cum laude from Harvard University. After graduation, Afam worked for Hill & Knowlton, Inc., a global public relations firm. Afam entered Stanford Law School in September 2004. During his time at Stanford, he served as Vice President of the Black Law Students' Association and a two-time Public Interest Fellow. In January 2006, Afam traveled to Ghana as part of the law school's International Community Law Clinic.
    While in law school, Afam co-founded the GEANCO Foundation (www.geanco.org). After graduating, Afam declined multiple corporate law firm offers in order to lead GEANCO full-time as CEO.
    GEANCO’s mission is to save and transform lives in Nigeria. GEANCO leads complex surgical missions to Nigeria. It runs an innovative program to fight anemia and builds modern maternity clinics to help poor, vulnerable pregnant women deliver healthy babies. Through its David Oyelowo Leadership Scholarship for Girls, GEANCO provides tuition, medical care, and social & psychological support to young female victims of terrorism and gender inequality in Nigeria
    Afam has been profiled and/or interviewed by BBC News, National Public Radio (NPR), US News & World Report, Forbes.com, Hollywood Reporter, Huffington Post, American Lawyer, NBC News, KTLA, Harvard Magazine, Stanford Magazine, Stanford Lawyer, Ebony Magazine and Newsweek.
    GEANCO’s supporters include, among many others, Oprah Winfrey, Angelina Jolie, Charlize Theron, Benedict Cumberbatch, Daniel Craig, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Daisy Ridley, Tyrese Gibson, Chris Rock, Forest Whitaker, Djimon Hounsou, Jimmy Kimmel, Chris Rock, David Oyelowo, Bryan Cranston, Steven Soderberg, Whoopi Goldberg, civil rights legend Rev. Jesse Jackson, United Airlines, Google, Disney, The Oscars, Showtime Networks and Netflix.
    In 2020, Afam was named one of the Top Ten Most Influential Africans in the Diaspora.
    33 min
  • Money Was Never the Goal, with Rachel Bloom
    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 never the goal.
    Rachel is an award-winning actress, comedian, writer, singer-songwriter and producer. For her acting work as “Rebecca Bunch”, she received a Golden Globe, Critics’ Choice Award and Television Critics’ Association award. Her songwriting work on the show recently earned her a 2019 Emmy Award for Original Music and Lyrics for the song, “Anti-Depressants are So Not a Big Deal”. In 2019, she headlined sold-out shows at Radio City Music Hall and the London Palladium as well as a live tour called “What Am I Going to Do With My Life Now?”. She recently appeared in “Trolls World Tour” as Barb and her first book, “I Want To Be Where The Normal People Are”, was published by Grand Central Publishing in November 2020. She will also be starring in the new Hulu show "Reboot" this fall.
    27 min
  • The Unexpected Expectedly Happens, with Shannon McCombie

    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 brother was unable to complete. From there, Shannon left for the corporate world and experienced an impactful financial awakening.

    Shannon is the Head of Operations, North America, for a British tech company. In addition to this, she consults for several technology start-ups, to include a molecular diagnostics lab. Prior to this work, Shannon was an Executive Director of Strategic Development at Comcast NBCUniversal, where she managed the ideation process for new growth entities, after having served as the Chief Operating Officer of an acquired cybersecurity firm.

    Throughout her career, Shannon has worked in both the public and private sectors. She was a Principal at McChrystal Group, advising clients in various industries on leadership and team performance. Shannon lived and worked internationally for the Central Intelligence Agency and Naval Special Warfare Development Group, with the majority of her government career spent in sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East. Shannon combined that experience with time spent building and managing teams within a Fortune 30 company focusing on media, technology, healthcare and security.

    Shannon received her Bachelor of Arts degree in International Politics with minors in French and International Studies from Penn State University, graduating Phi Beta Kappa. She completed her master’s degree in Psychology of Leadership from the same university. Shannon is a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

    See all episodes >

    30 min
  • Turning Garbage Into Money, with Jeff Savlov

    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 out the business frustrations on Jeff because it was safe. Jeff, after all, was family. They ultimately hired a therapist to help address the challenging family dynamics. This experience inspired Jeff’s ultimate career decision.

    Jeff is founder of Blum & Savlov, LLP – Family Business & Wealth Consulting and works with family businesses, high net-worth families, family offices and their advisors with a focus on balancing family dynamics with ownership and management of shared assets across generations. Jeff’s specialty is working with families that want their wealth to serve current and future generations in healthy and productive ways and he loves coaching parents on raising children in a family business/wealth context to harness potential and avoid common, painful pitfalls. He speaks in the U.S. and internationally, has been quoted in the NY Times, Family Business Magazine, and authors a popular blog – “The Family Business Minute.”

    Jeff brings more than 25 years of unique experience in sales and marketing, business ownership, entrepreneurial endeavors and family dynamics training, along with a common sense style, to his consulting work with families. By integrating his diverse business background, extensive academic work and family dynamics/psychological training with his experience working in his family’s commercial printing business, Jeff helps enterprising families to balance family dynamics and business so both will thrive for many generations.

    Having participated in his family’s business, Jeff understands first-hand the challenges of balancing the interplay between family and business and the devastation that can befall an otherwise healthy business when this balance is not proactively managed. In the business Jeff’s family owned, a consultant was brought in to work with the family, facilitated a successful reorganization of the business and helped rebuild family relationships. This is one of the primary experiences which motivated Jeff’s career in family business/family wealth consulting.

    Jeff holds a Master of Social Work degree from Rutgers University with specializations in group dynamics and family systems theory and has a post-graduate certification from the Institute for Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy of New Jersey (now the Center for Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy of NJ) where he is a member of the faculty. He earned an Advanced Certificate in Family Business Advising and Fellow status from the Family Firm Institute (FFI), Boston, MA. In addition, he has consulted with Fortune 500 companies such as Bristol-Myers Squibb, Johnson & Johnson and Schering Plough. He also devotes a portion of his time to performance enhancement with corporate executives and elite high school athletes.

    Through membership in the Family Firm Institute, an international organization comprised of family business and family wealth advisors, consultants, educators and researchers, and the Purposeful Planning Institute, Jeff has access to the latest trends, developments, best practices and research in family business and family wealth consulting. Jeff is the founder of the Princeton Family Business Consultants Group – an interdisciplinary group of professionals serving enterprising families across the U.S. and convening to develop best practices.

    Jeff lives in New Jersey with his wife and two children. He coaches youth sports and makes time for his lifelong passion – ice hockey. Jeff approaches his life and work with creativity and a sense of humor.

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    33 min
  • Money vs. Time vs. Energy, with Laura Renner
    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 talking about it with a friend, Laura realized that she was happy, and doing this temporary work allowed her to self-fund a business that she cared so much about.
    Laura, a member of the U.S. Air Force Reserve, founded Freedom Makers out of a passion to help small business owners and military families. As a small business owner herself, she understands the stress and challenges that come with being a business owner and also the difficulties that military spouses have building and maintaining a career when they may be transferred at a moment’s notice. By founding Freedom Makers, Laura is able to create freedom for business owners AND military spouses.
    Laura graduated from the U.S. Air Force Academy with a Bachelor’s of Science in English and a minor in Chinese-Mandarin. She served as a Public Affairs Officer before leaving the Air Force to earn an International MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. In the Air Force Reserve, she serves as a Force Support Officer, which manages personnel programs.
    Laura has worked for nearly twenty years dealing directly with people in foreign and public relations, education and human resources. Throughout her career, she has studied people — what drives us, what inspires us and knows how to help people reach their potential. When Laura is not working to grow Freedom Makers Virtual Services, she very much enjoys traveling, outdoor activities, and having story-worthy adventures!
    34 min
  • Money Mammals, with John Lanza
    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 came up with the idea of Money Mammals as a way to get kids excited about money. It worked!
    John is the author of The Art of Allowance: A Short, Practical Guide to Raising Money-Smart, Money-Empowered Kids, host of The Art of Allowance Podcast and creator of The Art of Allowance Project featuring The Money Mammals and now the new program for tweens and teens called Adolescent$. The Art of Allowance Project is a nationwide program for credit unions that helps them connect with families to help parents raise money-smart kids of all ages. An expert on youth financial literacy, John’s work has appeared in the NY Times, LA Times, The Wall Street Journal, CU Broadcast and CU Insight.
    John, an avid runner, boardgame enthusiast, is the Chief Mammal of Snigglezoo and he lives in Los Angeles with his wife and Money Mammals co-creator, Eileen and their two daughters who have inspired and informed his work.
    29 min
  • Keep Making Mistakes on Purpose, with Jonathan Wess
    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 trying to protect Jonathan and his siblings and make them feel safe. While he understands that, in hindsight he felt it was a missed opportunity for his personal financial education.
    Jonathan is the founder and head of the family at TimeCapsule Family Connections. TimeCapsule is a legacy building company that provides the questions to create a heartfelt legacy.
    Jonathan has a degree from Canisius College in Political Science and Entrepreneurship. He has used his degree to help new entrepreneurs grow their businesses and add to the startup community in Buffalo, NY. Early in his career he had a focus on large organization management and organization growth. This part of his career influenced how he looks at problem solving today, and by extension, how he manages TimeCapsule.
    31 min

About Money Tales

From the publisher's feed

In American society, money is a taboo topic. By not talking with loved ones and friends about money, we miss opportunities to sort through the noise and learn the vocabulary and skills we need to…