Veronica Yanhs closes Season 3 of School of Moxie — and she's also the first talent Mary has ever signed at Sasquatch Media Grounds, making this episode a full-circle moment for the show itself. Using Ted Lasso, Hacks, and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel as a syllabus, Veronica and Mary unpack what it took to rebuild a business and an identity after a controlling long-term relationship ended.

This episode also marks the relaunch of Veronica's YouTube channel and kink education brand, Desires Laid Bare — live the same day this episode drops.

In this episode:

• The exact day Veronica realized her business was paying for her life
• What health insurance subsidies made possible during her hardest year, and the real cost without them
• Relaunching Desires Laid Bare to 16,500 subscribers who kept engaging for 3+ years with zero new content
• Why operations — not hustle — is the piece most business programs skip
• Why hyperindependence and healthy self-reliance are not the same thing

Connect with Veronica Yanhs:
Veronica has spent over a decade inside two worlds that rarely share a stage. A Stanford graduate (2012), she cut her teeth in operations and product design, work that led to projects for Apple. Since then, she has consulted for major brands such as Nike as well as a roster of small and mid-sized businesses, helping them build better operations. She has also been part of the kink and BDSM community since 2013, where she learned that the clearest, most rigorously negotiated conversations in the world are not happening in conference rooms. They are happening in scenes. Her flagship training, The Negotiation Table,  is where those two worlds meet.
 🌐 Website: http://www.desireslaidbare.com
📱 Follow: https://www.youtube.com/@DesiresLaidBare

This is the final episode of School of Moxie Season 3 — but it's not goodbye. This fall, Mary is launching a new studio-based show pulling back the curtain on life at Sasquatch Media Grounds. Subscribe at sensiblewoo.com/subscribe so you don't miss it.

This season was produced and edited by Mary Williams through Sensible Woo and Sasquatch Media Grounds, out of Vancouver, WA.

Support the show

I'm Mary Williams — host of School of Moxie, and the founder of Sensible Woo. 

You can find the full episode archive at sensiblewoo.com/school-of-moxie-podcast, and every link, resource, and guest mentioned in this episode is in the show notes.

If this episode was useful, subscribing and leaving a 5-star review is the easiest way to help someone else find it too.

Want more? 

Sensible Woo is where you'll find the thinking — sensiblewoo.com/subscribe for updates and resources. Or visit me at Sasquatch Media Grounds — that's where the work happens.

Until next week: be sensible, be woo, and most of all, be you. 🤗

Rebecca Graves Prowse is a potter and the founder of Gravesco, the studio behind the viral "Not today, fascist" mug. Her comfort show, Peaky Blinders, mirrors her business philosophy: gritty, adaptive, willing to pivot the second something isn't working.

In this episode:

• Why Rebecca built a 14-person team, hated it, and scaled back on purpose
• Surviving a 47% revenue drop last year with a $25 mug flash sale
• Getting denied a business line of credit because banks wanted her husband's income info — despite her being the sole earner
• What she pays for health insurance, and why she's weirdly proud to pay it
• Why "unlimited growth" isn't the right goal for every founder, and how she defines "enough"

Connect with Rebecca Graves Prowse:
Rebecca is the founder and potter behind Gravesco Pottery, although lately she spends almost as much time writing and observing human behavior as she does making pottery—often simultaneously. She has an uncanny knack for turning everyday objects into conversations about branding, attachment, and why people will drive past ten stores to find the thing that feels right. She believes the most interesting life lessons are hiding inside ordinary moments, and she’s always happy to follow a weird observation further than most people think is necessary. She’s convinced the best business strategies—and the best pottery—both begin with paying close attention to the people around us.
 🌐 Website: https://gravesco.com
📱 Follow: https://instagram.com/gravesco

If you're a business owner who wants help building your own media engine, subscribe at sensiblewoo.com/subscribe.

This season was produced and edited by Mary Williams through Sensible Woo and Sasquatch Media Grounds, out of Vancouver, WA.

Support the show

I'm Mary Williams — host of School of Moxie, and the founder of Sensible Woo. 

You can find the full episode archive at sensiblewoo.com/school-of-moxie-podcast, and every link, resource, and guest mentioned in this episode is in the show notes.

If this episode was useful, subscribing and leaving a 5-star review is the easiest way to help someone else find it too.

Want more? 

Sensible Woo is where you'll find the thinking — sensiblewoo.com/subscribe for updates and resources. Or visit me at Sasquatch Media Grounds — that's where the work happens.

Until next week: be sensible, be woo, and most of all, be you. 🤗

Cris Caruso is a fee-only financial advisor who left a big national firm to build an independent practice serving LGBTQ+ people, women breadwinners, and Gen X clients. Her comfort shows — Alias, Wednesday, and 10 Things I Hate About You — set up a conversation about identity, not fitting the mold, and building a business anyway.

In this episode:

• Why Cris documents every business relationship, even collaborations with friends
• What health insurance actually costs without an employer subsidy (roughly $20-30K/year for two people)
• How market downturns hit her revenue directly, and how she prepares for it
• Why "entrepreneurial poverty" disproportionately hits women, people of color, and queer founders
• Her advice for anyone uncomfortable talking about money with collaborators or clients

Connect with Cris Caruso:
Cris is Principal, Owner, and Financial Advisor at Savoire Financial, where she provides financial planning focused on LGBTQ individuals, couples, and women decision-makers. With a career in financial services since 2004 and both CRPC and BFA designations, she starts every client relationship by exploring values and vision before ever talking strategy — using behavioral finance to help people navigate the emotional side of money, not just the numbers. Outside the office, she's had a yoga practice since 2004 (certified teacher since 2022) and spends her time near the ocean exploring the East Coast with her spouse, Tina, and their dog, Daisy.

🌐 Website: http://www.savoirefinancial.com
📱 Follow: https://www.linkedin.com/in/criscaruso/

If you're a business owner who wants help building your own media engine, subscribe at sensiblewoo.com/subscribe.

This season was produced and edited by Mary Williams through Sensible Woo and Sasquatch Media Grounds, out of Vancouver, WA.

Support the show

I'm Mary Williams — host of School of Moxie, and the founder of Sensible Woo. 

You can find the full episode archive at sensiblewoo.com/school-of-moxie-podcast, and every link, resource, and guest mentioned in this episode is in the show notes.

If this episode was useful, subscribing and leaving a 5-star review is the easiest way to help someone else find it too.

Want more? 

Sensible Woo is where you'll find the thinking — sensiblewoo.com/subscribe for updates and resources. Or visit me at Sasquatch Media Grounds — that's where the work happens.

Until next week: be sensible, be woo, and most of all, be you. 🤗

Jeanne Grabowski coaches high-achieving, high-net-worth entrepreneurs and splits her time in Costa Rica. Her comfort show, Oprah, opens up a conversation about sitting comfortably in uncertainty and meeting people (and yourself) exactly where they are.

In this episode:

• Why Jeanne canceled a $400/month NYC office to hire a $600/month business coach — and how that reallocation changed everything
• The over-leased car that taught her "just because you can doesn't mean you should"
• What healthcare costs and looks like living as a US expat in Costa Rica
• The "expense of keeping the CEO happy" — the unglamorous cost nobody warns you about
• Why she took a full-time job in 2015 while keeping her practice running, and doesn't see it as a step backward

Connect with Jeanne Grabowski:
Jeanne is a Career & Business Strategist who's helped founders, entrepreneurs, and executives turn ideas into profitable, purpose-driven ventures since 2010. She goes beyond strategy — helping founders activate what she calls their "hidden magic" and build the authority and ownership to define success on their own terms. She's supported standout brands like Melissa Wood Health, Electric Picks, and Glamsquad, and co-developed The Creator's Path to Product course with talent agent Jennifer Powell to help creators scale sustainably. Originally from New York, she now splits her time between Costa Rica and Chicago.
 🌐 Website: http://www.thefoundersplace.com
📱 Follow: https://www.instagram.com/thefoundersplace_ 

If you're a business owner who wants help building your own media engine, subscribe at sensiblewoo.com/subscribe.

This season was produced and edited by Mary Williams through Sensible Woo and Sasquatch Media Grounds, out of Vancouver, WA.

Support the show

I'm Mary Williams — host of School of Moxie, and the founder of Sensible Woo. 

You can find the full episode archive at sensiblewoo.com/school-of-moxie-podcast, and every link, resource, and guest mentioned in this episode is in the show notes.

If this episode was useful, subscribing and leaving a 5-star review is the easiest way to help someone else find it too.

Want more? 

Sensible Woo is where you'll find the thinking — sensiblewoo.com/subscribe for updates and resources. Or visit me at Sasquatch Media Grounds — that's where the work happens.

Until next week: be sensible, be woo, and most of all, be you. 🤗

Rachel Allen is a brand strategist and copywriter whose comfort show, Supernatural, becomes the framework for a conversation about narrative control, creative risk, and why conditional commitment quietly wrecks businesses.

In this episode:

• Rachel's exact, repeatable process the moment her revenue drops (she's been through it more than once)
• What health insurance costs for two self-employed adults, no employer subsidy
• Why "you can't be half a gangster" — commit fully or don't commit at all
• The markers Rachel looks for before she's vulnerable with someone new in business
• Why "your business doesn't have to grind you into burnout to be legitimate"

Connect with Rachel Allen:
Rachel Allen is a fast-thinking, deeply nerdy marketer with broad-ranging experience in for-profit and non-profit sectors. She’s written for some of the biggest (and smallest) names in business, and excels at marketing that's equal parts data-driven and human-centered. Having run a marketing business for 17 years with clients in 21+ countries, Rachel’s written for some of the top names in entrepreneurship, as well as influencers, brick-and-mortar businesses, and non-profits around the world. Her work has contributed directly to high-ROI launches, leaps in audience engagement, industry awards, relationships with top venture capital firms, and national honors.
 🌐 Website: https://www.boltfromthebluecopywriting.com/
📱 Follow: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachelallenwrites/ 

If you're a business owner who wants help building your own media engine, subscribe at sensiblewoo.com/subscribe.

This season was produced and edited by Mary Williams through Sensible Woo and Sasquatch Media Grounds, out of Vancouver, WA.

Support the show

I'm Mary Williams — host of School of Moxie, and the founder of Sensible Woo. 

You can find the full episode archive at sensiblewoo.com/school-of-moxie-podcast, and every link, resource, and guest mentioned in this episode is in the show notes.

If this episode was useful, subscribing and leaving a 5-star review is the easiest way to help someone else find it too.

Want more? 

Sensible Woo is where you'll find the thinking — sensiblewoo.com/subscribe for updates and resources. Or visit me at Sasquatch Media Grounds — that's where the work happens.

Until next week: be sensible, be woo, and most of all, be you. 🤗

Eunice Brownlee is a narrative strategist who's spent years running her business full-time and location-independent, all while solo-parenting her daughter. Her comfort movie, The Holiday, sets up a conversation about daring to imagine — and build — a wildly different life.

In this episode:

• Why Eunice pushes back on the advice that "Plan B" work distracts from your real goals
• What it's actually like to run a business with no fixed address — including invoicing clients mid-train-ride
• Living out of a storage unit and cutting expenses down to two fixed monthly bills
• What healthcare costs outside the US system, and why she pays for travel insurance instead
• Why "when business is good, people stop doing the thing that brought them business" is the trap to watch for

Connect with Eunice Brownlee:
Eunice Brownlee is a speaker coach, storyteller, and strategist who helps leaders turn lived experiences into lasting impact. A longtime writer and activist, she knows firsthand that storytelling isn’t just catharsis; it’s strategy that, when done well, is good business.
 🌐 Website: http://eunicebrownlee.com
📱 Follow: http://instagram.com/eunicebrownlee 

If you're a business owner who wants help building your own media engine, subscribe at sensiblewoo.com/subscribe.

This season was produced and edited by Mary Williams through Sensible Woo and Sasquatch Media Grounds, out of Vancouver, WA.

Support the show

I'm Mary Williams — host of School of Moxie, and the founder of Sensible Woo. 

You can find the full episode archive at sensiblewoo.com/school-of-moxie-podcast, and every link, resource, and guest mentioned in this episode is in the show notes.

If this episode was useful, subscribing and leaving a 5-star review is the easiest way to help someone else find it too.

Want more? 

Sensible Woo is where you'll find the thinking — sensiblewoo.com/subscribe for updates and resources. Or visit me at Sasquatch Media Grounds — that's where the work happens.

Until next week: be sensible, be woo, and most of all, be you. 🤗

Ashlan Glazier-Anderson runs a marketing agency and co-hosts the Take the Leap podcast. Her comfort watch — the entire Jurassic Park/Jurassic World universe — sets up a conversation about avoiding the same mistakes on repeat and building systems that actually scale.

In this episode:

• Why Ashlan directly asks prospects and clients for the work she wants, instead of waiting
• Her milestone timeline: from paying herself back her startup costs to fully replacing her W-2 income
• The client red flags that are now instant no's
• What she pays for health insurance, and the bronze-plan trade-offs of self-employment
• Why "repeatability is scalability" and how templatizing her process changed her business

Connect with Ashlan Glazier-Anderson:
Ashlan is the founder + CEO of AshbeanPDX, a marketing and communications agency partnering with nonprofits and small businesses making a positive impact in their communities. With 20+ years across agencies, corporations, and nonprofits, she audits what's already working for a client and builds on it — pairing deep marketing strategy with serious technical chops, and working alongside existing teams instead of replacing them. She holds a Master's in Strategic Communications from the University of Oregon and is a Professional Certified Marketer and Certified Digital Marketing Professional. Born in Hawaii, raised in Oregon, now soaking up the sun in Las Vegas with her husband, Jon, and their senior dog, Ahri.

🌐 Website: http://ashbeanpdx.com
📱 Follow: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashlan-glazier-anderson/

If you're a business owner who wants help building your own media engine, subscribe at sensiblewoo.com/subscribe.

This season was produced and edited by Mary Williams through Sensible Woo and Sasquatch Media Grounds, out of Vancouver, WA.

Support the show

I'm Mary Williams — host of School of Moxie, and the founder of Sensible Woo. 

You can find the full episode archive at sensiblewoo.com/school-of-moxie-podcast, and every link, resource, and guest mentioned in this episode is in the show notes.

If this episode was useful, subscribing and leaving a 5-star review is the easiest way to help someone else find it too.

Want more? 

Sensible Woo is where you'll find the thinking — sensiblewoo.com/subscribe for updates and resources. Or visit me at Sasquatch Media Grounds — that's where the work happens.

Until next week: be sensible, be woo, and most of all, be you. 🤗

This episode's guest, Arianna Smith, is a licensed professional counselor turned copywriter, messaging strategist, and tarot reader. We used her comfort show, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, as the doorway into a conversation about why business success is never a solo act.

In this episode:

• Why Ari reframes her niche as "the puzzle I never get tired of solving"
• The two-moment timeline of realizing her business truly paid for her life
• Paying off $80,000 in student loans without ever carrying business debt
• What she pays for health insurance as an independent business owner
• Why "do I like this" is the wrong question for business spending — it's "will this ROI"
• Human design, tarot, and why Ari builds her support team around complementary types

Connect with Arianna Smith:
Arianna knows what it's like to build a business that doesn't fit in a box — because hers doesn't either. As a messaging strategist and copywriter, she helps service providers turn what makes them different into words that actually bring in clients. As an IFS Certified Therapist, she works with queer and neurodivergent adults navigating identity and trauma recovery through EMDR, IFS, and tools like tarot and human design. She also offers trauma-informed tarot readings for people facing grief, uncertainty, or big life transitions, and founded Therapist Chillout, a low-key summer networking series for therapists to connect as humans first. Raised in Alaska, now in Denver — and no, she still doesn't need to save that jar.
🌐 Website: https://www.ariannasmith.com
📱 Follow: https://www.linkedin.com/in/arianna-j-smith/ 

If you're a business owner who wants help building your own media engine, subscribe at sensiblewoo.com/subscribe.

This season was produced and edited by Mary Williams through Sensible Woo and Sasquatch Media Grounds, out of Vancouver, WA.

Support the show

I'm Mary Williams — host of School of Moxie, and the founder of Sensible Woo. 

You can find the full episode archive at sensiblewoo.com/school-of-moxie-podcast, and every link, resource, and guest mentioned in this episode is in the show notes.

If this episode was useful, subscribing and leaving a 5-star review is the easiest way to help someone else find it too.

Want more? 

Sensible Woo is where you'll find the thinking — sensiblewoo.com/subscribe for updates and resources. Or visit me at Sasquatch Media Grounds — that's where the work happens.

Until next week: be sensible, be woo, and most of all, be you. 🤗

Jessica Lackey is a business consultant and author who spent roughly four years running two businesses simultaneously: fractional COO client work funding the audience, book, and membership she was building on the side. Her comfort show, Younger, sets up a conversation about invention, ingenuity, and getting knocked down repeatedly without quitting.

In this episode:

• How Jessica funded four years of audience-building with high-touch consulting income
• What COBRA health insurance actually costs for a self-employed household
• Why "paying for curated rooms" has been her biggest business accelerant
• The deliberate decision to keep her membership priced at $50/month
• What she'd do if she lost 50% of her revenue tomorrow — and why recurring revenue was the whole point

Connect with Jessica Lackey:

Jessica is the founder of Deeper Foundations, a consulting and training firm that turns experts into expert business owners. She brings a unique blend of corporate expertise and soulful business building, drawing on an MBA from Harvard Business School, a coaching certification from iPEC, and experience at McKinsey & Company and Nike, Inc. Jessica has supported over 200 entrepreneurs through her programs, blending systems thinking, operational rigor, and deep values alignment. She lives in Charlotte, North Carolina, with her husband.
 🌐 Website: https://www.deeperfoundations.com/
📱 Follow: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessica-lackey/

If you're a business owner who wants help building your own media engine, subscribe at sensiblewoo.com/subscribe.

This season was produced and edited by Mary Williams through Sensible Woo and Sasquatch Media Grounds, out of Vancouver, WA.

Support the show

I'm Mary Williams — host of School of Moxie, and the founder of Sensible Woo. 

You can find the full episode archive at sensiblewoo.com/school-of-moxie-podcast, and every link, resource, and guest mentioned in this episode is in the show notes.

If this episode was useful, subscribing and leaving a 5-star review is the easiest way to help someone else find it too.

Want more? 

Sensible Woo is where you'll find the thinking — sensiblewoo.com/subscribe for updates and resources. Or visit me at Sasquatch Media Grounds — that's where the work happens.

Until next week: be sensible, be woo, and most of all, be you. 🤗

Welcome to the final season of School of Moxie. This season's theme: my business pays for my life — not someday, not kind of, actually. Every guest answers the same discussion guide, so to kick things off, host Mary Williams turns the questions on herself.

In this episode, Mary covers:

• Her comfort movie, Spy (Melissa McCarthy), and what it reveals about community and not doing it alone
• The six-year timeline from side-blogging to full-time income, and the catalyzing (and pretty terrible) event that pushed her to leap
• What she actually pays for health insurance every month, and why
• What changed when her business became fully responsible for her life
• The bill she's weirdly proud to pay: the lease on her brick-and-mortar studio, Sasquatch Media Grounds
• Why "not making a decision" is still a decision… and a luxury

Connect with Mary Williams:
Mary helps experts and founder-led organizations turn ideas into media that actually moves the business forward. She combines strategy, production leadership, and AI-enabled workflows to make that happen. The creator economy works better when it works for everyone. Sasquatch Media Grounds builds the infrastructure, strategy, and community that gets underrepresented creators to sustainable, monetized platforms — because 'I will not be silenced' shouldn't be a radical act.
🌐 Meet the studio: https://www.sasquatchmediagrounds.com/
🌐 Mary’s website: https://sensiblewoo.com/
📱 Follow: https://www.instagram.com/sensiblewoo 

If you're a business owner who wants help building your own media engine, subscribe at sensiblewoo.com/subscribe.

This season was produced and edited by Mary Williams through Sensible Woo and Sasquatch Media Grounds, out of Vancouver, WA.

Support the show

I'm Mary Williams — host of School of Moxie, and the founder of Sensible Woo. 

You can find the full episode archive at sensiblewoo.com/school-of-moxie-podcast, and every link, resource, and guest mentioned in this episode is in the show notes.

If this episode was useful, subscribing and leaving a 5-star review is the easiest way to help someone else find it too.

Want more? 

Sensible Woo is where you'll find the thinking — sensiblewoo.com/subscribe for updates and resources. Or visit me at Sasquatch Media Grounds — that's where the work happens.

Until next week: be sensible, be woo, and most of all, be you. 🤗