The Power of the Ask

Beth Pinsker, financial planning columnist at MarketWatch, CFP® professional, and author of My Mother’s Money: A Guide to Financial Caregiving, joins The Power of the Ask to talk about advocating for yourself, preparing families for financial caregiving, and why sometimes the most important ask is the one you have to make more than once. 

Drawing from both her career in journalism and her personal experience caring for her mother, Beth shares how asking for opportunities helped shape her professional journey and how navigating financial caregiving revealed just how difficult it can be to put even the best-laid plans into practice. 

Beth, Lisa, and Precious cover: 

• Asking for the Opportunity: Beth shares how asking her employer for educational reimbursement to pursue her CFP® certification helped her expand her expertise and take an important step forward in her career. 
• Preparing Before a Crisis: From powers of attorney to healthcare proxies and estate documents, Beth explains why families shouldn’t wait for an emergency to begin planning. Having the right documents in place early can make an already difficult situation easier to navigate. 
• Starting the Caregiving Conversation: Talking with a parent about money and aging can feel uncomfortable. Beth shares why asking rather than telling, and approaching the conversation as a shared responsibility, can help preserve a parent’s independence while opening the door to important planning. 
• Protecting Your Own Financial Future: Women often become the default caregivers in their families, sometimes at a high personal and financial cost. Beth discusses why caregivers need to be thoughtful about protecting their own retirement savings, income, benefits, and long-term financial security. 
• Managing Someone Else’s Money with Their Values in Mind: Beth reflects on one of the central lessons from My Mother’s Money: when you’re managing finances for someone you love, the money remains theirs. Your role is to make decisions for their benefit and in line with their values. 
• Making the Ask That Changes What’s Possible: Beth opens up about the personal decision that gave her more time and self-determination to pursue her own goals, including earning her CFP® certification and building the next chapter of her career. 
• Being Relentlessly Tenacious: For Beth, the power of the ask means being informed, being kind, and being willing to ask again. Whether you’re dealing with doctors, banks, insurance companies, Medicare, or another complicated system, persistence can be essential to getting the help you or your family needs. 

Important Links:

• Savvy Ladies (https://www.savvyladies.org/)
• Precious Williams' LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/precious-l-williams/)
• Lisa Zeiderman's LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisazeiderman/
• Beth Pinsker (https://www.linkedin.com/in/bpinsker/)

Important Links for Beth:

• Beth's Website: (https://bethpinsker.com/)

About Beth Pinsker:

Beth Pinsker is a financial-planning columnist at MarketWatch. She has been a CFP® professional since 2018. Previously, she worked at Reuters, Fidelity, and Walletpop.com. Before covering personal finance, she was a film critic and entertainment business reporter, writing for Entertainment Weekly, The Dallas Morning News, and other publications. Her book, "My Mother's Money: A Guide to Financial Caregiving," came out in November 2025 from Crown Currency. Book orders are available at bethpinsker.com. You can follow her on all major platforms, listed in this episode's bio.  

Katrina Volker, Vice President of Professional Relationships at OurFamilyWizard, joins The Power of the Ask to talk about what it takes to advocate for yourself, build trusted relationships, and create opportunities for long-term career growth. Drawing from her journey from an administrative role to executive leadership, Katrina shares how asking for the job, the promotion, and the compensation she deserved helped shape her career. 

Katrina, Lisa, and Precious cover: 

• Asking for the Opportunity: Katrina shares how asking to be considered for a full-time role helped her pay for college and opened the door to future leadership opportunities. 
• Knowing Your Worth: When Katrina received an offer to join OurFamilyWizard, she made a bold counteroffer based on the experience and value she brought to the role. The experience reinforced the importance of doing your research and confidently advocating for yourself. 
• Building Trust Before the Ask: Katrina explains why the strongest professional relationships are built over time through listening, showing up, helping others, and earning the trust that makes people want to say yes. 
• Growing Within an Organization: Rather than waiting for a new title, Katrina asked to take part in high-impact projects, collaborate across departments, and assume greater responsibility. Those opportunities helped her grow into an executive leadership role. 
• Creating Structure During Divorce: As a child of divorce and a leader at OurFamilyWizard, Katrina discusses how structure, documentation, and thoughtful communication can help families make better financial and parenting decisions during an emotionally difficult time. 
• Why Women Must Keep Asking: Katrina reminds listeners that women need to know their value, advocate for themselves, and ask for help when they need it. Financial independence creates greater freedom, flexibility, and the ability to walk away from situations that no longer serve them. 

Important Links:

• Savvy Ladies (https://www.savvyladies.org/)
• Precious Williams' LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/precious-l-williams/)
• Lisa Zeiderman's LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisazeiderman/
• Katrina Volker's LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/katrinavolker/)

Important Links for Katrina:

• Our Family Wizard Website: (https://www.ourfamilywizard.com/)

About Katrina Volker:

Katrina Volker is the Vice President of Professional Relationships at OurFamilyWizard, where she has spent more than a decade building strategic partnerships and advancing the organization's professional outreach. Since joining the company in 2013 as a Professional Liaison, she has progressed through leadership roles, including Director of Professional Relationships, before being promoted to Vice President in 2023. She holds a bachelor's degree in Marketing, Management, and Entrepreneurship and a master's degree in Organizational Leadership from St. Catherine University.

Lynnette Khalfani-Cox, known as The Money Coach, joins The Power of the Ask to talk about what it takes to advocate for yourself, negotiate from a place of strength, and build lasting financial freedom. A personal finance expert, bestselling author, former Wall Street Journal reporter, and CNBC correspondent, Lynnette has spent decades helping people get out of debt, build wealth, and take control of their financial futures.  

Lynnette, Lisa, and Precious cover:  

• Knowing Your Value: Lynnette shares how asking Charles Schwab to write the foreword for her first book taught her to understand the value she brought to the table, even when she was the one making the ask.  
• Negotiating Creatively: When a raise negotiation hit a ceiling, Lynnette asked for Fridays off to write her book instead. The experience taught her powerful lessons about advocating for herself, getting agreements in writing, and turning setbacks into opportunities.  
• Asking From Strength: Lynnette explains why asking from a place of need or fear rarely works, and why the strongest asks come from clarity, confidence, and knowing your walk-away point.  
• Building Financial Freedom: For Lynnette, financial freedom means becoming “time billionaires,” having the flexibility to choose how she spends her time, what work she takes on, and what kind of life she wants to build. 
• Why Women Must Keep Asking: Lynnette reminds listeners that what you don’t ask for, you won’t get. No one will care more about your financial well-being than you do. 

Important Links:

• Savvy Ladies (https://www.savvyladies.org/)
• Precious Williams' LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/precious-l-williams/)
• Lisa Zeiderman's LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisazeiderman/
• Lynnette Khalfani-Cox's LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/lynnettekhalfanicox/)

Important Links for Lynnette:

• Website: https://lynnettekhalfanicox.com/
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwx-n-uHchjtlv938l9ogdA/featured

About Lynnette Khalfani-Cox:

Lynnette, known as The Money Coach®, is a personal finance expert, keynote speaker, bestselling author, and Founder of the Financial Influencer Network. A former Wall Street Journal reporter and CNBC correspondent, she is the CEO of TheMoneyCoach.net, a financial education company helping people build wealth and achieve financial freedom. Lynnette is the author of 16 books, including the New York Times bestseller Zero Debt: The Ultimate Guide to Financial Freedom. She has appeared on Oprah, Good Morning America, The Today Show, CNN, CNBC, and many other major media outlets. 

Marcia Mantell, founder of Mantell Retirement Consulting and former VP at Fidelity Investments, joins The Power of the Ask to talk about what it takes to own your financial future. With 30 years of experience translating complex topics like Social Security and Medicare into language everyone can use, Marcia explores why women still remain disengaged from financial decisions, and how to change that. 

Marcia, Lisa, and Precious cover: 

• Defining Your Value: When Marcia launched her business, someone told her she couldn't charge her rate. She said, "Watch me." Knowing what you're worth and standing by it is non-negotiable, whether you're negotiating a salary or building a retirement strategy. 
• How to Reframe Your Ask: The most powerful asks focus on what the other person stands to lose, a principle Marcia uses with Social Security clients who want to claim early. 
• Why Rejection is Critical Data: Marcia has quit three jobs, been told she'd never earn more, and launched a business that just celebrated 20 years.  
• Practicing Asking Out Loud: Before a high-stakes conversation, Marcia stands in front of a mirror and asks for what she wants. Hearing your own words builds confidence, and confidence builds momentum. 

Important Links:

• Savvy Ladies (https://www.savvyladies.org/)
• Precious Williams' LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/precious-l-williams/)
• Lisa Zeiderman's LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisazeiderman/
• Marcia Mantell's LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/marciamantell/)

Important Links for Marcia:

• Mantell Retirement Consulting (https://www.linkedin.com/company/mantell-retirement-consulting-inc./)

About Marcia Mantell:

Marcia Mantell is a nationally recognized retirement expert, speaker, author, and founder of Mantell Retirement Consulting. With over 30 years of experience, she helps individuals and financial professionals understand complex topics like retirement income, Social Security, and Medicare in clear, actionable ways. A former Vice President at Fidelity Investments, Marcia is known for translating technical financial concepts into everyday language that empowers people to make confident decisions about their future. She is a frequent media contributor, podcast guest, and author of several books focused on retirement planning. 

Beth Battaglino, RN, CEO of HealthyWomen.org, joins The Power of the Ask to illustrate how health literacy and financial security are directly connected. Beth draws on more than three decades of women's health advocacy to explain why delaying care, skipping screenings, and staying quiet in the doctor's office can carry real financial consequences. She also shares how she made the boldest ask of her career, turning a hospital's about-to-close nonprofit into one of the country's leading women's health organizations. 

Key takeaways from this important conversation: 

• Health Literacy and Financial Security Go Hand in Hand: Women who understand their health and act early live longer, work longer, and face fewer financially devastating medical crises down the road. 
• Delayed Care Has a Price Tag: Skipping preventative screenings delays diagnosis, increases treatment costs, and can derail a woman's ability to work and earn. 
• Ask for the Second Opinion: A second opinion is not a betrayal of your provider. The smartest healthcare professionals encourage it, and the most empowered patients demand it. 
• Know Your Numbers (All of Them): Blood pressure, cholesterol, glucose, and Lp(a) are non-negotiables. One simple blood test for Lp(a) can reveal a hidden heart risk most women don't know to ask about. 
• Alignment Before the Ask: When building partnerships, Beth leads with shared values, not a wish list. That philosophy has sustained HealthyWomen for 35 years. 

Important Links:

• Savvy Ladies (https://www.savvyladies.org/)
• Precious Williams' LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/precious-l-williams/)
• Lisa Zeiderman's LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisazeiderman/
• Beth Battaglino's LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/beth-battaglino-14b6165/)

Important Links for Beth:

• Healthy Women (https://www.healthywomen.org/)

About Beth Battaglino:

 Beth Battaglino is the president and chief executive officer of HealthyWomen, the nation’s leading independent, nonprofit health information source for women dedicated to educating women to make informed health choices. 

Beth brings a unique combination of sharp business expertise and women’s health insight to her leadership of the organization. She has worked in the healthcare industry for more than 25 years, helping to define and drive public education programs on a broad range of women’s health issues. 

Beth launched and has expanded the HealthyWomen brand. As a result of her leadership, HealthyWomen was recognized as one of the top 100 women’s health websites by Oprah magazine and by Forbes, for three consecutive years. HealthyWomen now connects to millions of women across the country through its wide program distribution and innovative use of technology. 

She is also a practicing nurse in maternal child health. In addition to her nursing degree, Beth holds degrees in business and public administration from Marymount University. 

Leadership coach, somatic practitioner, and Café con Pam podcast host Pam Covarrubias joins The Power of the Ask to talk about what keeps high-achieving first-generation women stuck, silent, and overworked, and what it takes to break free. Pam introduces the concept of Calladita Culture, the inherited system of silence and submission that conditions women to stay small, underpay themselves, and perform for approval rather than lead from truth. She walks through her Unmute & Reclaim Method and explains why certainty, not confidence, is the real foundation of lasting change. 

Pam, Lisa, and Precious explore: 

• Certainty Before Confidence: Confidence without roots won't hold. When you know who you are and what you want without needing external approval, confidence follows naturally. 
• How Your Body Keeps Score: If you're getting sick after every work trip or only resting when forced, your body is sending a signal. Learning to listen is the first step toward change. 
• The Five Wounds of Calladita Culture: Silence, worth, power, and the other wounds underneath this system show up as both over- and underperformance. Awareness is where healing starts. 
• Why Woleness-Based Leadership Starts with Self-Knowledge: The best leaders don't borrow a style. They do the inner work to understand how they lead best, then build from that place. 
• One Somatic Step You Can Take Today: Place your hand on your chest, slow your exhale, and ask your body what you're carrying that's stopping you from asking for what you want. 

Important Links:

• Savvy Ladies (https://www.savvyladies.org/)
• Precious Williams' LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/precious-l-williams/)
• Lisa Zeiderman's LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisazeiderman/
• Pam Covarrubias's LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/pamcovarrubias/

Important Links for Pam:

• Pam Covarrubias's Website: https://www.spreadideasmovepeople.com/

About Pam Covarrubias:

Pam Covarrubias is a leadership coach, podcast host, and somatic practitioner… but what she really does is help first-gen high-achievers break up with performance culture and lead from presence instead of proving. She is also the creator of the Unmute & Reclaim™ Method and Calladita Culture® frameworks built for women who are tired of biting their tongues, betraying their bodies, and burning out just to belong. Through her coaching and consulting work, she has partnered with big brands and organizations, helping teams and individuals lead from wholeness instead of burnout. 

 Through nervous system regulation, somatic healing, and cultural deconditioning, she helps women stop hustling for their worth and start leading from wholeness. And she has spent a decade using her podcast, Café con Pam, to elevate Latine voices and people of the Global Majority, dismantling the BS conditioning that keeps us playing small. Because before there’s confidence… there’s certainty. And Pam believes, certainty lives in the body. 

Financial thought leader and author Manisha Thakor joins the show to share her approach to financial health and emotional wealth. With over 30 years of experience in financial services, Manisha provides a clear roadmap for dismantling the cultural pressure on women to be perfect. She discusses the core principles of her book, MoneyZen, and explores how women can reclaim their power by asking the right questions of their employers, their partners, and themselves. 

You’ll hear Manisha discuss: 

• The Perfection Trap: Why the societal expectation for women to be perfect prevents them from asking for raises, and how to embrace the bravery required to advocate for your worth. 
• Joy-Based Spending: A practical exercise to audit expenses and identify where life energy is being drained by social obligations or costs that offer no emotional return.  
• Financial Compatibility: The necessity of discussing money values early in relationships to ensure long-term alignment and stability. 
• The Reality of Wealth: Why assuming net worth based on outward appearances is a mistake and how to stop comparing yourself to a curated image. 

Important Links:

• Savvy Ladies (https://www.savvyladies.org/)
• Precious Williams' LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/precious-l-williams/)
• Lisa Zeiderman's LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisazeiderman/
• Manisha Thakor's LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/manishathakor/)

Important Links for Manisha:

• Manisha's Books Link: (https://moneyzen.com/my-books/)
• Money Zen Website: (https://moneyzen.com/)

About Manisha Thakor:

Manisha Thakor has worked in financial services for more than thirty years, with an emphasis on women’s economic empowerment and financial well-being. 

A nationally recognized thought-leader in this space, Thakor has been featured in a wide range of publications, including the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, NPR, PBS, CNN, Real Simple, and Women’s Health. In her most recent book, Money Zen, she breaks down the personal, cultural, and societal forces that have led us to falsely believe we can never have, do, or be enough, and shows us a fresh new path toward “MoneyZen”—her joy-based approach to living a life rich in financial health and emotional wealth. 

Entrepreneur, nurse practitioner and Manhattan medspa founder Andi Assebian, MSN, AGNP-C, joins the podcast to share her journey from the Ivory Coast to the heart of New York City’s aesthetic medicine scene. Drawing from her extensive background in physiology and perioperative nursing, Andi discusses how she built a practice that supports anatomy-driven beauty standards. She shares the stark reality of navigating the medical field as a woman of color and the determination required to scale a business while raising a family. 

You’ll hear Andi discuss:   

• The Global Mirror: How growing up in the Ivory Coast and living across France and Canada shaped her view of beauty as a tool for identity and community rather than a quest for perfection. 
• Precision Under Pressure: Andi shares insights from her time as an operating room nurse, exploring how that high-stakes environment still dictates her meticulous approach to patient safety and treatment plans today. 
• Anatomy-Driven Aesthetics: Why she travels the globe to learn techniques that focus on balance and harmony over simple volume, and why the best aesthetic work should remain undetectable. 
• The Courage to Ask: How asking for support and networking allowed her to expand from a single room to a thriving Midtown Manhattan practice in just two years. 
• Rapid Fire Favorites: From the French classic Coq au Vin to the skincare trend she wants everyone to stop immediately. 

Important Links:

• Savvy Ladies (https://www.savvyladies.org/)
• Precious Williams' LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/precious-l-williams/)
• Lisa Zeiderman's LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisazeiderman/

Important Links for Andi:

• Andi Assebian, MSN, AGNP-C's Site: https://dermartisan.com/

About Andi Assebian, MSN, AGNP-C's:

Andi is a board-certified Nurse Practitioner with extensive experience in medical aesthetics. She received her Bachelors in Physiology from University of Calgary, Nursing degree from Duke University, and Masters as a Nurse Practitioner from New York University.  

She began her career in the operating room at Yale University hospital as a Perioperative Nurse and transitioned to NYC to work with world-class plastic surgeons and aesthetic practitioners. Andi founded Derm Artisan to share her passion and vision for a MedSpa – one built on an unwavering commitment to care, excellence and empowerment.  

Andi has lived in France, Canada, U.S., the Ivory Coast. Her appreciation for different cultures, beauty standards, and people of all backgrounds is deeply reflected in the makeup of Derm Artisan. She is an avid learner and travels the globe to stay on top of the latest techniques and technologies. Andi currently lives in NYC with her husband and baby boy.  

She enjoys spending time with family and friends, traveling, and is fluent in French a language that connects her to her roots and enriches the welcoming, multicultural spirit she brings into her practice each day. 

Financial expert Tricia M. Taitt shares her journey from Wall Street and Broadway to writing the Amazon bestseller Dancing with Numbers and founding FinCore, a financial planning platform for women entrepreneurs. Discover the mindset shifts that define a CEO, why financial literacy is essential for women entrepreneurs, and the most overlooked opportunity for increasing your business profit. Tricia also reveals the two biggest asks that transformed her life, including deferring a six-figure job offer to pursue her passion for dance. 

You’ll hear Tricia discuss: 

• The CEO Mindset Shift: Why she avoided the CEO title for years, and how she realized the role means building a team, not doing everything herself. 
• From Layoff to Liberation: The pivotal moment in 2009 that led Tricia to combine her expertise (Wharton, Duke, Wall Street) with her passion for dance to create FinCore. 
• Unlocking Profit: The single most overlooked profit opportunity Tricia sees across industries. 
• Tough Love with Honey: How she balances compassion and accountability to help entrepreneurs face their money stories and understand the consequences of inaction. 
• The Bold Ask: Tricia’s most uncomfortable asks, including the time she asked a major corporation to defer her employment to dance. 

Important Links:

• Savvy Ladies (https://www.savvyladies.org/)
• Precious Williams' LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/precious-l-williams/)
• Lisa Zeiderman's LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisazeiderman/)
• Tricia M. Taitt's LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/triciataitt/)

Important Links for Tricia:

• FinCore Website (https://fincorestrong.com/)
• Dancing with Numbers (https://a.co/d/7WZIpem)

About Tricia Taitt:

Tricia M. Taitt is the CEO of FinCore and Author of the Amazon best-selling book, "Dancing with Numbers: Grow A Financially Healthy Business and Choreograph the Life You Want".   

She holds an M.B.A from The Fuqua School of Business of Duke University, and a BS in Economics with a Finance concentration from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. For over 20 years, she’s been a finance professional. Half of the time was spent working on Wall Street while the other half was spent in the trenches side by side with small business owners.  

As a result of working with FinCore, clients have been able to take control of their numbers and feel more confident in their ability to make decisions, while increasing profits by 10% and building a cash stash to invest in growth. 

Ready to level up your money game? This episode of The Power of the Ask podcast—brought to you by Marshalls—features CEO and financial mastermind behind the Your Rich BFF brand, Vivian Tu. Vivian takes us behind the scenes of her journey from Wall Street trader to one of today’s most trusted voices in personal finance. She shares how and why she built her viral, community-centered brand, what she’s learned about empowering women through money, and why financial literacy doesn’t have to feel overwhelming — in fact, it can feel like chatting with your bestie. 

Just in time for the holiday season, Vivian also shares how to set clear, achievable financial goals, beginner-friendly budgeting tips, and her signature luxe-for-less shopping hacks (hint: she’s a proud Marshalls girl). If you love a good deal, smart money moves, and a little bestie-to-bestie real talk, this episode is for you. 

Important Links:

• Savvy Ladies (https://www.savvyladies.org/)
• Precious Williams' LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/precious-l-williams/)
• Lisa Zeiderman's LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisazeiderman/)
• Vivian Tu's LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/viviantu-yourrichbff/)

Important Links for Vivian:

• Your Rich BFF (https://www.yourrichbff.com/)

About Vivian Tu:

Vivian Tu is on a mission to make the financial world less intimidating—and way more accessible—for everyone.  

A former Wall Street trader turned content creator, Vivian’s titles include financial expert, speaker, entrepreneur, and the voice behind the wildly popular brand, Your Rich BFF. 

In just three short years, she’s grown a massive community—over 8 million followers across platforms—by breaking down everything from credit scores to investing in an approachable manner and speaking to her fanbase like her peer– or as she likes to call them–her besties. You may have seen her featured on Forbes’ 30 Under 30 and Top Creators lists, or listened to her hit podcast, Networth and Chill. It’s one of the first of its kind, blending expert insights and real talk about money—and it shot straight to the top of the business charts. 

Vivian’s unique ability to make finance feel friendly and fun has made her one of the most in-demand voices in the space. She’s partnered with Marshalls to to show us how we can all boost our financial literacy as a way of getting “the good stuff” in life, however we may individually define it.. 

And because getting “the good stuff” is a team effort, Marshalls partners with organizations like our own. With Marshalls’ support, Savvy Ladies helps equip women across the country take control of their finances with real tools that make financial empowerment possible. 

As a long-term partner of Marshalls, Vivian has brought her inspiring, bite-sized lessons to women across the country through The Marshalls Good Stuff Social Club and The Marshalls Good Stuff Accelerator Program. 

And if that’s not enough, she’s also a New York Times bestselling author—her debut book, RICH AF released in 2023 with rave reviews, and another on the way, hitting shelves in 2026.