Based in Los Angeles, Ilinca Sipos works full-time forming partnerships with e-commerce brands in the beauty and fashion industry for fintech start-up, Klarna. Last year, after "productively procrastinating" on ideating a new business and brand venture for herself, she launched RARA CLUB on the side, leveraging sales and other skills she’s picked up in her full-time career. RARA is a mission-driven beauty lifestyle brand that marries self-care, beauty and self-development. As a Georgia Tech grad, yogi, and online retail wizard, Ilinca has so much to share with us about the realities of how she started and scaled her product-driven business to where it is today.

Today, we talk about:

Questions asked:

And so much more!

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Recommended in this episode:

Color Science Tinted Sunscreen: https://www.colorescience.com/collections/total-protection-collection 

Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the founder of Nike, Phil Knight: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/shoe-dog-phil-knight/1123427012 

Use code "PASSAGES" for 20% off You Grow Girl CBD Lash and Brow Boost by RARA Club: https://raraclub.com/you-grow-girl-cbd-lash-and-brow-boost/

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Follow Along:

Ilinca Sipos on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ilincasipos/ 

RARA CLUB on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shopraraclub/ 

RARA CLUB Website :https://raraclub.com 

Passages on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/passagespod/ 

Chloe Belangia on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chloebelangia/ 

Alex Berry is a dedicated mentor, a supply chain generalist, and a social entrepreneur (to name a few). He works full time at Intel Corporation as Technical Program Manager and founded his own company, Chocolate Milk Diplomacy. CMD is a social business designed to help underrepresented, under served, and marginalized communities get equitable access to the career development their communities need. Alex graduated with a degree in Industrial Engineering from Georgia Tech where he also minored in Chinese and Technology & Management. Alex is a lover of stories, an introverted leader and the strategic voice we all need in the career search process.

Today, Alex tells me about:

Questions Asked:

Follow Along:

Chocolate Milk Diplomacy Website: https://www.instagram.com/chocolatemilkdiplomacy/

Video: What is Chocolate Milk Diplomacy (CMD)? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0voT_iTt7M&feature=youtu.be

Connect with Alex: alexberrycmd.youcanbook.me

Chocolate Milk Diplomacy on Instagram: https://chocolatemilkdiplomacy.com/index.html

Passages Podcast on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/passagespod/

Chloe Belangia on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chloe.belangia/

Rachel Raisin is a marketing professional for Microsoft and a devoted artist and climate activist on a mission to live a zero-waste lifestyle - and illustrate her journey along the way. She has turned a passion for thrift shopping and upcycling into a sustainable lifestyle overhaul through her climate advocacy blog and artwork. Rachel knows sustainability fits perfectly into the young professional lifestyle and has shown us how simple it can be to start making some lasting changes.

Rachel tells us:

- Mindful first steps towards sustainable living for young professionals

- The reality of fast fashion and how we can make a difference

- Tips for shopping second-hand

- The wider context of climate change and environmental degradation and how it affects low-income communities more extremely

- Ways to encourage sustainability in your social circles if it isn’t the norm

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Questions Asked

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Follow Along

Rachel on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rachelraisin/

Rachel’s website: https://www.rachraisin.com

Passages on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/passagespod/

Chloe Belangia on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chloebelangia/

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Recommended in this Episode:

Ama Appiah was the first African American female to hold the position of Undergraduate Student Government President for the University of Connecticut (UConn) and after launching her career at TJX Companies, is now enrolled as an MBA student at George Washington University in Washington D.C. She's a fellow podcaster and side hustler as the host of The Bonnett Talks, a show with tangible advice and relatable stories about life in your 20’s, with experience launching and leading . Ama is a firm believer in curiosity for curiosity’s sake, a natural leader, creative, and... my new best friend.

In this episode, I pick Ama's brain on:

- Gaining a holistic perspective and the importance of adaptability in the workplace

- Deciding to get an MBA and choosing the right grad program for you

- Finding your identity outside of college or grad school

- Taking time to do things you love and reinforcing those skills

- Self-advocating and handling healthy confrontation in the workplace, and why it’s so important to be clear about the support you need

Questions asked:

- How and why did you choose to start your podcast?

- Why did you choose an MBA program?

- Who is the person you aspire to be? How are you building her at the back of your mind?

- Can you share your experiences advocating for yourself as a woman of color?

- How do you have appropriate confrontations at work?

- As a curious person, how have you found easy, fun, creative ways to keep learning and growing every day?

...and so much more!

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Follow Along:

Ama on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/amaappiah/

The Bonnet Talks on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thebonnettalks/

Passages Podcast on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/passagespod/

Chloe Belangia on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chloe.belangia/

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Recommended in this Episode:

On the one year anniversary of her cross-country move from Georgia to San Francisco, Chloe unpacks the real-talk experience of embracing a new reality in your dream city. In her first solo episode, Chloe talks about:

- Choosing the right city or community for you

- Reminding yourself that longing for a new adventure does not diminish the people or experiences you have known and loved in your past

- Acknowledging that a move this big can be scary, sad, and overwhelming at first

- Building friends and community (even virtually) in a brand new city

- Embracing homesickness and redefining what home means to you

- Reverse engineering your big dreams through small, meaningful decisions

...and so much more

Follow along:

- Passages Podcast on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/passagespod/

- Chloe Belangia on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chloe.belangia/

- 1:1 Empowerment Coaching with Chloe: https://www.chloebelangia.com/ 

Tori Dunlap is a millennial money and career expert who founded her company Her First $100K, a financial education website which gives women resources to manage their money to fight the limitations of the patriarchy. Tori set a goal to save $100,000 by the time she was 25 and, when she achieved this goal early, quit her corporate marketing job to work full-time advocating for women’s financial rights. Her goal is to eliminate the narrative of shame and judgment surrounding female spending and teach women that they can take control of their money and achieve the finance wins they deserve. Tori is a nationally recognized finance expert whose work has been featured on Good Morning America, the New York Times, Forbes, the New York Magazine and more.

Today we talk about:

- The emotional and psychological side of our personal spending

- How financial systems in our society affect women; Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC); and LGBTQ+ members of our communities differently, and action-items to overcome these barriers (including actually learning what your 401K can do for you)

- Bringing financial stability under the “self-care” umbrella -- and prioritizing it as part of your personal wellness, in the same way as you do exercising or eating healthy foods

Questions asked:

- Where do behavioral psychology and personal finance intersect?

- How do finance barriers affect female-identifying, LGBTQ+, BIPOC, and other demographics uniquely?

- What are the most straightforward, important action-items you would give to young professionals in this stage?

- Where is the balance between actively prioritizing your finances but still ensuring that your self-worth is not dependent on how much you have in the bank?

- An aspect of entrepreneurship you couldn’t have predicted?

Follow Along with Her First $100K:

Website: https://www.herfirst100k.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/herfirst100k/

LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/toridunlap/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/herfirst100K/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/herfirst100k

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/herfirst100k/

Email: [email protected]

Follow Along with Passages:

Passages Podcast on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/passagespod/

Chloe Belangia on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chloe.belangia/

Ashwini Iyer is a Product Manager at a tech startup in Silicon Valley and an advocate for women in entrepreneurship and technology, serving as Director of Sponsorships and Outreach for Generation She, a nonprofit which aims to close the gender gap in leadership by empowering young entrepreneurial women. In her position at Gen She, she connects high school girls with female entrepreneurs and mentors who they can sit down with to get their own businesses up and running. Ashwini has a degree in Computer Science at Georgia Tech, which is how we know each other, and also served as the President of the Women at the College of Computing, where she realized her passion for supporting and encouraging women in tech.

In today’s episode Ashwini talks about:

- Her journey to feeding her multifaceted interests as a young professional

- How normal it is to feel like your job doesn’t fulfill all your passions and how to actively seek out a side hustle or “extracurricular” that will

- Unlocking the mindset behind longer-term entrepreneurial dreams, and the list of skills to pick up before pivoting to CEO-status

- We dig into the experiences of women in tech and empowerment you all might need to hear

- How Ashwini has followed breadcrumbs to unexpected opportunities

- And so much more.

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Some questions I asked her include….

- How did you decide to study Computer Science and where has it led you today?

- How has your idea of what you would be doing after college been different from your current reality?

- What is it like being a woman in tech and how do you advocate for women in a male-dominated field?

- How did you find the intersection of all of your interests and build them into your career path?

- How would you advise someone who loves their job but doesn’t feel like they are able to express their full personality or creativity in it?

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Follow along:

Ashwini on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ashwinnie20/

Ashwini on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashwinii

Passages Podcast on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/passagespod/

Chloe Belangia on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chloe.belangia/

Emily Eliza Moyer is a career and leadership development coach on a mission to help professionals find their purpose so that they actually want to wake up and go to work. We deserve to feel motivated and inspired by what we do every day; Emily makes that dream a reality. Now with over a decade of experience helping working professionals move past imposter syndrome and approach their career with confidence, Emily puts her all into her coaching programs and ways of connecting with her community.

In today’s episode, Emily talks about:

- Her personal story towards career self-discovery

- Steps to take towards unlocking your purpose and the importance of viewing your work through a lens of purpose

- How to know whether you’re on the right path and how to adjust if you’re not

- Crafting a career made for you

- Redefining “pivoting” as a natural step in your career

- Preventing burnout

- Making career decisions based on your own intuition

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Questions asked:

How could someone right out of college start to exemplify or grow into their purpose from the very beginning?

What does alignment (working for the right role and employer for you), and misalignment, look and feel like?

How do you know what’s “right” for Present You versus what was right for Past You or Future “Dream” You?

How does looking at your life through a mind-body connection lens impact your career growth?

….and so much more!

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Follow Along:

- Emily Eliza Moyer website: https://www.emilyelizamoyer.com/

Resources Recommended in this Episode:

- Headspace: https://www.headspace.com

Chloe Elise is the 20-something CEO of Deeper Than Money, a company she started as a resource for young millennials to understand and get ahead with their money, for good. The key to her science? Understanding that your life and your value is in fact deeper than money. She explains how shifting your mindset about money towards your own experience and self worth better equips you to take actionable steps towards overcoming financial barriers and creating a life you love.

In today’s episode Chloe talks about:

- Her personal journey in overcoming debt

- Owning where you’re starting to get where you want to go

- Coming to terms with your innate beliefs about money and claiming ownership of your personal finance story

- Actionable steps to prioritize saving and spending to take control of your adult finances

- Making money talks empowering, instead of stress inducing.

Questions asked:

- What are smart strategies for college-aged saving and spending?

- How should young professionals be thinking about their money goals?

- Do you find it uncomfortable to talk about money with friends?

- How do you recognize your worth and actualize financial success while still staying humble?

...and so much more!

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Follow along:

Chloe Elise on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/deeper.than.money/

Deeper Than Money on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/deeperthanmoneyco/

Deeper Than Money Podcast Instagram: https://open.spotify.com/show/1RNkcNZKobPAhruwqbQEoR?si=CrtWvYXmRiCaRCB9ByUTGQ Passages Podcast on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/passagespod/

Place and Passage: http://www.placeandpassage.com

Chloe Belangia on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chloe.belangia/

In Episode 12, I am joined by former Undergraduate Student Body President of Georgia Tech, Pooja Juveka. Raised to believe in her own ambition and capacity to cultivate community, Pooja started out at Georgia Tech wide eyed and open for whatever the student experience brought her way. As she leaned into student government after enjoying high school student council, Pooja quickly found her people, her place, and her platform to impact. In this conversation, I sat down with Pooja and asked her for some real talk. What was the experience of leading the Georgia Tech student body really like? What are your fears? How do you navigate the opinions of thousands, and where did vulnerability play a part in unpacking your true potential?

This conversation not only opened my eyes to the world of student government but also to Pooja: who she is, where she comes from, and everything she has left to give. I cannot wait to continue watching her soar, at the intersection of community, policy, and technology. This episode is one for the books.

In today’s conversation, Pooja and I discuss:

- What or who influenced your drive and the paths you’ve pursued?

- When you started at Georgia Tech, what were your goals? What were you afraid of?

- What inspired your interest in joining student government?

- What advice would you share with anyone facing their first election?

- How did you discern what to do and then muster the courage to do it?

- Talk me through your experience growing through student government

- What kept you grounded when everything turned too scary to manage?

- Why did you not think you were capable, initially?

- What might no one have known about your experience as President?

- How did you navigate hearing what others thought you should do with your influence?

- What advice would you have for your younger self and best friends listening to this episode?

- What’s your dream job?

- What’s the best book you’ve ever read?

….and more.

Pooja, it is an honor to host this story and share it with the world, today. I adore you and cannot wait to continue cheering you on from afar. Let’s do this!

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Connect with Pooja: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pooja-juvekar-278b21107/

Follow Passages Podcast: https://www.instagram.com/passagespod/

Follow Chloe: https://www.instagram.com/chloe.belangia/