Woman Owned: The Growth Podcast for Women Entrepreneurs

Ekaterina Walter is a globally recognized business and marketing innovator, international speaker, and the author of The Wall Street Journal bestselling book Think Like Zuck and The Power of Visual Storytelling. After leaving her corporate career working with several Fortune 500 companies such as Intel and Accenture, she co-founded a startup that is now acquired by Sprinkler – a social media management platform.

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Today, she helps global companies build customer-centric digital transformation strategies and scaling plans. She has been featured in many major media publications including CNBC, ABC, Fox News, Forbes, Tech Crunch, Inc. Magazine, and The Wall Street Journal. In 2013, she received the Marketer of the Year Award and was named number 3 on Forbes' 2014 World's Top 40 Social Media Marketing Talent.

She joins me today to share her unique insight and experience on building her personal brand, the importance of building your network and community, and why she believes that your customer service skills are what sets you apart from your competition.

"To be known, you have to be respected. Your reputation is your only currency." – Ekaterina Walter

Today on the Fierce Feminine Leadership Podcast:

• The importance of striving to do better in your personal and professional life
• What it means to build customer-centric digital transformation strategies
• How customer service helps you stand out in the noisy business world
• Why you shouldn't start with your personal brand and what to focus on instead
• Building your network and community
• How taking risks can create the biggest turning points in your career
• The importance of people and purpose to your overall success

Ekaterina's Powerful Success Tips:

• Build your network and community
• Evaluate your hiring process
• Have a variety of experiences
• Work hard
• Understand when to pivot
• Be flexible

Connect with Ekaterina Walter:

• Ekaterina Walter's website
• Ekaterina on Facebook
• Ekaterina on Twitter
• Ekaterina on Google+

Love the show? Let us know!

Are you a fan of the Fierce Feminine Leadership Podcast? If the tips and interviews we share in each episode have helped you gain the confidence and inspiration to become a better, more powerful leader, head on over to iTunes, subscribe to the show and leave your honest review to let us know! Each month, one lucky podcast reviewer will be selected to receive a free coaching session with me – Eleanor Beaton!

What are you waiting for? Head on over to iTunes, subscribe and leave a review to enter your name into this month's drawing!

And, if you really want to ramp up your fierceness…

Reach out to us for a free 30-minute Bold Women in Business Makeover Session with me or one of the fabulous coaches on my team!

Explore your path and discover how you can be the fiercest lady-boss possible. Visit EleanorBeaton.com/Discover.

A Special Thank You to Our Sponsors

This episode was made possible by our wonderful sponsors, BMO – Bank of Montreal – The Bank for Women.

Join the conversation at BMO for Women to gain the insight, knowledge, and support you need to succeed and to truly understand how to manage your money!

Many women struggle with self-confidence and courage – which often prevents them from achieving their true potential. Surrounding yourself with brave, courageous women is critically important as a fierce feminine leader and entrepreneur. It can help you step into your power and bring the best of who you are – unapologetically.

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My guest today is powerhouse entrepreneur, Mandy Rennehan. Mandy is a blue-collar CEO and the founder of the retail construction company, FreshCo. FreshCo is the first and most successful full-service on call retail maintenance and construction company in the United States today. Mandy and her company have worked with countless retail giants including Tiffany & Co, Apple, NIKE, The Gap, Banana Republic, and Home Depot.

Mandy has been named as one of Canada's top female entrepreneurs. Currently, she is one of the Women's Executive Network's Top 100 Most Powerful Women, Profit Magazine's Top W100, and Atlantic Business Magazine's Top 50 CEO's. Additionally, she has been featured in the Globe & Mail, Financial Post, and the Business News Network. Today, she joins me to share how her experience as a talented athlete and 4-H member has helped shape who she is today. She also explains the impact that being herself and staying confident in her abilities has helped improve and grow her business to the highly-successful company that it is today.

"Women just need the permission to hear their voice and go after it." – Mandy Rennehan

Today on the Fierce Feminine Leadership Podcast:

• How she got started in the construction industry
• How changing the way she sourced people on her team became one of the biggest turning points in her career
• How being herself helped her grow her business
• Hiring team members that align with your personality, ambition, and work ethic
• Making the shift from "do-er" to CEO
• How confidence led her to winning her first $3-Million contract
• Others relate to those who are unafraid

3 Critical Factors of Scaling a Business:

1. Identify when you are ready to grow
2. Ask yourself: Are you prepared to put time into other people, technology, and the results of growth
3. Ask yourself: Are you prepared for what might happen

Connect with Mandy Rennehan:

• ca
• FreshCo on Instagram
• Mandy Rennehan on Twitter

Love the show? Let us know!

Are you a fan of the Fierce Feminine Leadership Podcast? If the tips and interviews we share in each episode have helped you gain the confidence and inspiration to become a better, more powerful leader, head on over to iTunes, subscribe to the show and leave your honest review to let us know! Each month, one lucky podcast reviewer will be selected to receive a free coaching session with me – Eleanor Beaton!

What are you waiting for? Head on over to iTunes, subscribe and leave a review to enter your name into this month's drawing!

And, if you really want to ramp up your fierceness…

Reach out to us for a free 30-minute Bold Women in Business Makeover Session with me or one of the fabulous coaches on my team!

Explore your path and discover how you can be the fiercest lady-boss possible. Visit EleanorBeaton.com/Discover.

A Special Thank You to Our Sponsors

This episode was made possible by our wonderful sponsors, BMO – Bank of Montreal – The Bank for Women.

Join the conversation at BMO for Women to gain the insight, knowledge, and support you need to succeed and to truly understand how to manage your money!

Courage is the fuel behind the fire of achieving major accomplishments for many fierce entrepreneurs. Without courage, it is nearly impossible to live out your purpose and to live a full, complete, and vibrant life. But all too often, we let our self-doubt get inside our head and overpower our courage – preventing us from achieving the amazing success we were destined for.

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My guest today is Margie Warrell. Margie has been named by The Wall Street Journal as an international authority on courageous actions. She is the host of Raw Courage TV, an acclaimed keynote speaker and guest lecturer at Columbia and Georgetown Universities, and a certified Master Coach. She is also a highly sought-after expert commentator on several leading media outlets including The Wall Street Journal, Redbook, Psychology Today, Fox News, and the Today Show. Her insights on courage, leadership, and business have been shaped by her work and interviews with several highly-respected industry leaders including Richard Branson, Bill Marriott, and Cathy Calvin.

Margie joins me on the show today to share how courage has played a role in her own life and provide some courage-building tips. She shares her journey into the entrepreneurial world and how she built her incredible global business that has impacted thousands of people around the world.

"When we are comfortable, our muscles for life start to wither." – Margie Warrell

Today on the Fierce Feminine Leadership Podcast:

• What inspired Margie to become the entrepreneur that she is today
• How risk held her back early in her career
• Looking at courage through the lens of risk
• Listening to your inner voice before the "experts"
• The importance of forging your own path, finding your own way, and trying different things
• The benefits of building relationships and seizing opportunities
• Understanding the sense of urgency and the importance of having patience
• How her daily routines and "restorative rituals" help her protect and sustain a high level of energy

Connect with Margie Warrell:

• Margie Warrell's website
• Raw Courage TV
• Make Your Mark book by Margie Warrell

Love the show? Let us know!

Are you a fan of the Fierce Feminine Leadership Podcast? If the tips and interviews we share in each episode have helped you gain the confidence and inspiration to become a better, more powerful leader, head on over to iTunes, subscribe to the show and leave your honest review to let us know! Each month, one lucky podcast reviewer will be selected to receive a free coaching session with me – Eleanor Beaton!

What are you waiting for? Head on over to iTunes, subscribe and leave a review to enter your name into this month's drawing!

And, if you really want to ramp up your fierceness…

Reach out to us for a free 30-minute Bold Women in Business Makeover Session with me or one of the fabulous coaches on my team!

Explore your path and discover how you can be the fiercest lady-boss possible. Visit EleanorBeaton.com/Discover.

A Special Thank You to Our Sponsors

This episode was made possible by our wonderful sponsors, BMO – Bank of Montreal – The Bank for Women.

Join the conversation at BMO for Women to gain the insight, knowledge, and support you need to succeed and to truly understand how to manage your money!

Whether we realize it or not, gender stereotypes and gender inequality often starts at an early age. In fact, if you have ever walked into a toy store or children's clothing store, you may have seen this issue creeping up in the toys and clothes available for our young girls. My guest today is Jodi Bondi Norgaard, and she is on a mission to smash the gender stereotype that is currently trending in the toy industry – particularly with dolls.

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Jodi is the founder and former owner of the Dream Big toy company – the company responsible for creating the Go! Go! Sports Girl line of dolls, books, and apps that encourage healthy and active play for girls. Today, she focuses her energy on speaking about issues regarding gender stereotypes, gender equality, and girl empowerment. On today's episode, Jodi shares her experience and passion for educating others on gender stereotypes, her mission to empower young girls today to achieve their dreams beyond fashion, and shares what lead her to create a business around female empowerment.

"I feel so strongly about women rising to their full potential because we have so much to offer." – Jodi Bondi Norgaard

Today on the Fierce Feminine Leadership Podcast:

• What inspired her to create a sports doll that encouraged girls to be physically, mentally, and emotionally healthy
• The "process and puzzle" of starting a doll company
• How she sold 500 Go! Go! Sports Girl dolls to the U.S. Open – and sold out within six days
• Her experience with displaying her product at Toy Fair
• Why she put her mission first – instead of her business revenue and growth
• How working with Wal-Mart was the turning point for her business
• The biggest lesson she has learned as an entrepreneur when selling her business

Connect with Jodi Bondi Norgaard:

• com
• com

Love the show? Let us know!

Are you a fan of the Fierce Feminine Leadership Podcast? If the tips and interviews we share in each episode have helped you gain the confidence and inspiration to become a better, more powerful leader, head on over to iTunes, subscribe to the show and leave your honest review to let us know! Each month, one lucky podcast reviewer will be selected to receive a free coaching session with me – Eleanor Beaton!

What are you waiting for? Head on over to iTunes, subscribe and leave a review to enter your name into this month's drawing!

And, if you really want to ramp up your fierceness…

Reach out to us for a free 30-minute Bold Women in Business Makeover Session with me or one of the fabulous coaches on my team!

Explore your path and discover how you can be the fiercest lady-boss possible. Visit EleanorBeaton.com/Discover.

A Special Thank You to Our Sponsors

This episode was made possible by our wonderful sponsors, BMO – Bank of Montreal – The Bank for Women.

Join the conversation at BMO for Women to gain the insight, knowledge, and support you need to succeed and to truly understand how to manage your money!

What makes you fascinating and intriguing to your clients, your customers, your business partners, and the people around you? Some of you may already be able to answer this question – and that is great! However, some of you may not realize the fascinating elements of yourself that make you intriguing to others. In fact, you may even believe there is nothing really fascinating about you at all.

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My guest today, Sally Hogshead, is passionate about helping brands discover – or rediscover – what makes them fascinating to the people around them. Sally started her career in the advertising industry. In her early 20s, she skyrocketed to the top of the advertising profession and by the age of 24, she became the most award-winning advertising copywriter in the United States. She has worked on numerous advertising campaigns including Mini Cooper, Nike, Godiva Chocolate, and Coca Cola and her work has been displayed in the Smithsonian of American History.

By the age of 27, Sally opened her first advertising agency. Drawing on her remarkable branding legacy, she created The Fascination Advantage Assessment and wrote the book Fascinate: How to Make Your Brand Impossible to Resist. The Fascination Advantage Assessment is the first algorithm to measure how the world views personal brands.

Sally has appeared frequently on national news media – including NBC's Today show and The New York Times. She joins me today to share why she created The Fascination Advantage Assessment, how it can help you identify what makes you and your brand fascinating, and how identifying what makes you fascinating can help you market your business with more authority.

"You are fascinating. You don't have to change. Just find those qualities and do more of it." – Sally Hogshead

Today on the Fierce Feminine Leadership Podcast:

• We have all killed off parts of our authentic selves in favor of playing it safe
• When you shut your authentic-self down – you are denying the world that "spark"
• How The Fascination Advantage Assessment can help you rediscover your "spark"
• How identifying how you are different and what you do best can help you develop and improve how you market your brand

Sally's Advice to Fierce Feminine Leaders:

The world is not changed by people who sort of care. The world is changed by people who passionately, irrationally, excitedly care. It is changed by you. In order to do that, you have to know how the world sees you. Once you know how the world sees you – it's game on!

Get Your Fascination Advantage Assessment Today!

Visit Fascinate.com/you and enter the secret code: FIERCE17 (not case sensitive) to claim your free Fascination Advantage Assessment today!

Love the show? Let us know!

Are you a fan of the Fierce Feminine Leadership Podcast? If the tips and interviews we share in each episode have helped you gain the confidence and inspiration to become a better, more powerful leader, head on over to iTunes, subscribe to the show and leave your honest review to let us know! Each month, one lucky podcast reviewer will be selected to receive a free coaching session with me – Eleanor Beaton!

What are you waiting for? Head on over to iTunes, subscribe and leave a review to enter your name into this month's drawing!

And, if you really want to ramp up your fierceness…

Reach out to us for a free 30-minute Bold Women in Business Makeover Session with me or one of the fabulous coaches on my team!

Explore your path and discover how you can be the fiercest lady-boss possible. Visit EleanorBeaton.com/Discover.

A Special Thank You to Our Sponsors

This episode was made possible by our wonderful sponsors, BMO – Bank of Montreal – The Bank for Women.

Join the conversation at BMO for Women to gain the insight, knowledge, and support you need to succeed and to truly understand how to manage your money!

Mansplainers. Ladies, you know what they are – even if you've never heard the term. Mansplaining is a blend of the words "man" and "explaining." Its when you are explaining something to someone – most often a man to a woman – in such a way that is condescending or patronizing.

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Today's episode is all about the mansplainer. As you listen to today's show, I want you to ask yourself: "Am I a mansplainer?"

Mansplaining has become a commonality throughout our lives and cultures. In fact, research has shown that female doctors are twice as likely to be interrupted by their patients as male doctors. Until recently, mansplaining has affected primarily women, but today, the tables are beginning to shift as more and more women begin to assert themselves professionally.

So, how do you know if you are a mansplainer?

5 Signs You Are A Mansplainer

1. You lack the self-awareness to recognize – even after you've learned the description – whether or not you are a manslplainer. (For example: you've heard my description of a mansplainer, and still haven't asked yourself if you fall into this description.)
2. You automatically think you know more than women and it is your place to mentor, guide, and advise them? #HeresYourSign
3. You frequently interrupt women on a regular basis.
4. Women around you are not coming to you with their thoughts and ideas.
5. You don't ask many – if any – open-ended questions.

Love the show? Let us know!

Are you a fan of the Fierce Feminine Leadership Podcast? If the tips and interviews we share in each episode have helped you gain the confidence and inspiration to become a better, more powerful leader, head on over to iTunes, subscribe to the show and leave your honest review to let us know!

Each month, one lucky podcast reviewer will be selected to receive a free coaching session with me – Eleanor Beaton!

What are you waiting for? Head on over to iTunes, subscribe and leave a review to enter your name into this month's drawing!

Starting over in our businesses or careers is often one of the least-thought-about aspects that many powerhouse professionals ever consider. In fact, once you get into your "stride" and begin reaping the rewards of your hard-earned success, the thought of starting over may never come to mind – unless you are forced to face it.

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My guest today is an award-winning entrepreneur, Yasmina Azhari. Yasmina is the Founder, Owner, and General Manager of Mira Trading, LLC, the Vice President and Partner of Trade Coordination Office, and the founder of her newest company, Al Yam International Commercial Brokers. She has been recognized as one of the Top Entrepreneurs in Syria and is the Honorary Council of the Netherlands in Syria. This powerhouse businesswoman and entrepreneur built a highly successful career for herself – until her country broke out into a civil war, forcing her to flee the country and seek safety in another country where she decided to pick up the pieces of her amazing career and start all over.

Today, Yasmina shares her story of starting her entrepreneurial journey over, what it was like, and what motivated her to continue moving forward to achieve success once again. She also shares some valuable insight and tips on how to reinvent yourself – or your career path – as an entrepreneur to achieve success.

"Try and fail, but never fail to try." – Yasmina Azhari

Today on the Fierce Feminine Leadership Podcast:

• How her fortune wasn't in her bottom line – but in her network
• Why you can't sit back and wait for opportunities for success
• You never lose. You have to win or learn. It's all experiences
• How she built and leveraged her network to create success
• Networking isn't about the quantity of people on your It's about the quality of people on your list.
• The challenges she faced – and overcame – while working in a male-dominate industry
• What she means by "imposing "
• The role that charitable work plays in her life

Yasmina's Top 3 Success Tips to Reinvent Yourself as an Entrepreneur:

1. Teach yourself and learn how to love what you are involved in – even if it's not what you dreamed.
2. Make your choice. Have your voice Tell your story.
3. Whatever you decide – jump.

Connect with Yasmina Azhari:

• Yasmina Azhari on LinkedIn

Love the show? Let us know!

Are you a fan of the Fierce Feminine Leadership Podcast? If the tips and interviews we share in each episode have helped you gain the confidence and inspiration to become a better, more powerful leader, head on over to iTunes, subscribe to the show and leave your honest review to let us know! Each month, one lucky podcast reviewer will be selected to receive a free coaching session with me – Eleanor Beaton!

What are you waiting for? Head on over to iTunes, subscribe and leave a review to enter your name into this month's drawing!

And, if you really want to ramp up your fierceness…

Reach out to us for a free 30-minute Bold Women in Business Makeover Session with me or one of the fabulous coaches on my team!

Explore your path and discover how you can be the fiercest lady-boss possible. Visit EleanorBeaton.com/Discover.

A Special Thank You to Our Sponsors

This episode was made possible by our wonderful sponsors, BMO – Bank of Montreal – The Bank for Women.

Join the conversation at BMO for Women to gain the insight, knowledge, and support you need to succeed and to truly understand how to manage your money!

We all have those moments – the moments in our business that totally frustrate us, drive us crazy, or burn us at our core. Minor – and major – frustrating moments happen periodically in our business. They are completely unavoidable events, but how you handle them and use them to improve yourself, your business, and impact the world around you is important and within your control.

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Today, I want to share with you some tips on how you can glean information from those frustrating moments in your life and business as well as how to make these moments your best friend while growing your business.

"Frustration is completely inevitable, but frustration is also a source of some incredible information."

Today on the Fierce Feminine Leadership Podcast:

• Coping with "mini-failures" and using them as a source of information
• How to use pain points in your business to discover your next steps
• Using your frustrations to map your forward momentum
• How frustration is a sign of growth and helps challenge your limits
• Why it's important to learn h ow to get comfortable with the discomfort
• Leaning into your frustrations, but looking at them with interest

3 Critical Pieces of Information from Frustration:

1. Frustration shows you where you need to go
2. It paints a picture of your progress
3. It teaches you where you need to approach your life with a greater level of acceptance

Love the show? Let us know!

Are you a fan of the Fierce Feminine Leadership Podcast? If the tips and interviews we share in each episode have helped you gain the confidence and inspiration to become a better, more powerful leader, head on over to iTunes, subscribe to the show and leave your honest review to let us know! Each month, one lucky podcast reviewer will be selected to receive a free coaching session with me – Eleanor Beaton!

What are you waiting for? Head on over to iTunes, subscribe and leave a review to enter your name into this month's drawing!

And, if you really want to ramp up your fierceness…

Reach out to us for a free 30-minute Bold Women in Business Makeover Session with me or one of the fabulous coaches on my team!

Explore your path and discover how you can be the fiercest lady-boss possible. Visit EleanorBeaton.com/Discover.

A Special Thank You to Our Sponsors

This episode was made possible by our wonderful sponsors, BMO – Bank of Montreal – The Bank for Women.

Join the conversation at BMO for Women to gain the insight, knowledge, and support you need to succeed and to truly understand how to manage your money!

Going through a challenging, potentially life-destroying situation is never easy. No know knows this better than my guest, Jas Boothe, founder of the non-profit organization – Final Salute Inc – for homeless female veterans. Jas is an Army Reserves veteran with 17 years of military experience as well as a cancer survivor. She has been recognized by Oprah Winfrey, People Magazine, and CNN for her work within her organization.

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Jas joins me on the show today to share her story of overcoming some of the biggest challenges in her life – including being discharged from the military, being diagnosed with an aggressive form of head, neck, and throat cancer, as well as losing her home during Hurricane Katrina. She explains how these experiences motivated her to start her organization and dedicate herself to helping over 2,000 female military veterans each year find safe, suitable housing.

"I realized no one was RSVP-ing to my pity party." – Jas Boothe

Today on the Fierce Feminine Leadership Podcast:

• Coping with a devastating cancer diagnosis after losing her new home to Hurricane Katrina
• Finding motivation to change the outcome of her situation – and the situations of others
• The birth of Final Salute Inc and its mission to serve the women who have served
• Services and programs available to homeless female veterans and their children
• What it was like to talk with Oprah
• How she transformed the leadership skills she learned as a soldier to become a successful business woman

Connect with Jas Boothe:

• Final Salute Inc
• Final Salute Inc on Twitter
• Final Salute Inc on Facebook
• Jas Boothe on LinkedIn
• Jas Boothe on Twitter

Love the show? Let us know!

Are you a fan of the Fierce Feminine Leadership Podcast? If the tips and interviews we share in each episode have helped you gain the confidence and inspiration to become a better, more powerful leader, head on over to iTunes, subscribe to the show and leave your honest review to let us know! Each month, one lucky podcast reviewer will be selected to receive a free coaching session with me – Eleanor Beaton!

What are you waiting for? Head on over to iTunes, subscribe and leave a review to enter your name into this month's drawing!

And, if you really want to ramp up your fierceness…

Reach out to us for a free 30-minute Bold Women in Business Makeover Session with me or one of the fabulous coaches on my team!

Explore your path and discover how you can be the fiercest lady-boss possible. Visit EleanorBeaton.com/Discover.

A Special Thank You to Our Sponsors

This episode was made possible by our wonderful sponsors, BMO – Bank of Montreal – The Bank for Women.

Join the conversation at BMO for Women to gain the insight, knowledge, and support you need to succeed and to truly understand how to manage your money!

When it comes to running your business, there are many moving parts – this includes the people, tools, and apps that make your life easier and more productive. From calendar and meeting scheduling apps to automating your social media and creating brilliant marketing materials, there are literally thousands of systems, programs, tools, and apps that can help you be more productive and allow you to focus on other important tasks of running your business.

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Today, I want to share with you my top 10 favorite tools and apps that help me put certain tasks within my business on virtual cruise control – and make some of the more challenging or easy-to-forget tasks much easier.

My Top 10 Tech Tools to Get Things Done:

1. Pipeline Management App – PipeDrive
2. Receipt Storage App – Receipt Bank
3. Guided Meditation App – HeadSpace
4. Communications Tool - Slack
5. Password Storing App – Last Pass
6. Trip Planning App – TripIT
7. Video Conferencing App – Zoom
8. Audio & Video Recording App – Ecamm Recorder
9. Cloud Storage Apps – Google Drive and DropBox
10. Graphic Design Tool – Canva

Additional Resources Mentioned:

• LiveCA LLP – Canadian virtual CPA firm

Love the show? Let us know!

Are you a fan of the Fierce Feminine Leadership Podcast? If the tips and interviews we share in each episode have helped you gain the confidence and inspiration to become a better, more powerful leader, head on over to iTunes, subscribe to the show and leave your honest review to let us know! Each month, one lucky podcast reviewer will be selected to receive a free coaching session with me – Eleanor Beaton!

What are you waiting for? Head on over to iTunes, subscribe and leave a review to enter your name into this month's drawing!

And, if you really want to ramp up your fierceness…

Reach out to us for a free 30-minute Bold Women in Business Makeover Session with me or one of the fabulous coaches on my team!

Explore your path and discover how you can be the fiercest lady-boss possible. Visit EleanorBeaton.com/Discover.

A Special Thank You to Our Sponsors

This episode was made possible by our wonderful sponsors, BMO – Bank of Montreal – The Bank for Women.

Join the conversation at BMO for Women to gain the insight, knowledge, and support you need to succeed and to truly understand how to manage your money!