Women's Million Dollar Conversations

In this episode of Women's Million Dollar Conversations, Alice Tang sits down with Bree Katulak—President and CFO of RenoSys, host of the Unstoppable You podcast, and veteran executive leader. Drawing from more than two decades in corporate finance, Bree breaks down the essential shifts required to scale multi-million-dollar organizations while creating a life that feels as authentic and grounded on the inside as it looks on paper. From early childhood money lessons to executive boardrooms, Bree and Alice explore what it really takes to transition from peer to leader, command respect without sacrificing warmth, and view financial data not just as numbers, but as human stories. Key Takeaways:

• Unlearning the Debt Taboo: How Bree shifted from the traditional mindset of "all debt is bad" to treating low-cost capital as an engine for long-term strategic investments—and why financial confidence requires trusting your own lived experience.
• The "Velvet Hammer" Leadership Model: How high-achieving women can overcome the exhausting double-edged sword of warmth versus decisiveness. Bree shares her exact playbook for delivering tough, data-backed decisions with absolute grace.
• Psychological Safety as a Growth Engine: Why bad news should always travel faster than good news, and how building an environment free of retaliation transformed Polygon's employee retention rates over a four-year turnaround.
• Dismantling the "Indispensability" Trap: The subtle, toxic habit of hoarding responsibilities for job security, and how documenting processes, cross-training, and building backups actually accelerates your own promotion.
• The Executive Network Audit: Applying the rigor of a corporate talent review to your personal circle. Learn the telltale red flags of draining relationships and the power of alignment in core values.
• Redefining True Wealth as Radical Presence: Why a spreadsheet is just a report card, and why the ultimate currency in a hyper-distracted world is the ability to be completely "where your feet are"—whether commanding a boardroom or unplugging at home with your children.

Your network is your prosperity. 💼✨ Ready to scale your practice and build a lasting legacy? Head to askalicetang.com for more strategies from top female leaders in finance and business.

In this empowering episode of Women's Million Dollar Conversations, host Alice Tang sits down with Kari Ellis—founder and CEO of Waypoint Consulting Partners—to unpack how she left the perceived safety of corporate America to build a thriving, legacy-driven consulting firm.

Episode Overview Kari shares her exact playbook for helping seasoned financial advisors navigate major career transitions and practice shifts. From grinding through 300 cold calls a day on an outdated laptop to building a high-value, relationship-driven firm, Kari details the mindsets, operational pivots, and boundaries required to scale a enterprise on your own terms.

Key Takeaways

• Fact vs. Feeling: Defeat imposter syndrome and fears like public speaking by separating emotional noise from reality ("Is this an actual fact, or just a temporary feeling?").

• The "Go-Giver" Mindset: Distinguish yourself from average producers by building deep professional networks and strategic centers of influence early in your career.

• Buying Back Time: Scale effectively by outsourcing non-core business functions—like social media and content creation—to buy back time for high-value strategic execution.

• Non-Negotiable Boundaries: Protect your energy and longevity by establishing hard boundaries around family life and team well-being.

• Paying it Forward: True legacy lies in lifting up the next generation, actively mentoring up-and-coming women, and advocating for bold risk-taking in financial services.

Featured Guest Kari Ellis is the Founder and CEO of Waypoint Consulting Partners, where she specializes in helping experienced financial advisors navigate career pivots, evaluate distribution channels, and transition books of business. She is a passionate industry leader and past national board member for Women in Insurance and Financial Services (WIFS). Your network is your prosperity. 💼✨ Ready to scale your practice and build a lasting legacy? Head to askalicetang.com for more strategies from top female leaders in finance and business.

What happens when you decouple your identity from your job title and build a business anchored strictly in your core values?

In this episode of Women's Million Dollar Conversations, Alice Tang connects with Shannon Berg, Founder & CEO of Berg & Associates—an award-winning strategic communications and crisis management firm. Shannon shares her journey from farm worker to solopreneur, detailing how she built a top-ranked company culture without compromising on pricing or principles.

Key Takeaways:

• Identity Beyond the Title: How high-achieving women can decouple personal self-worth from executive status.

• Calculated Scaling: Why saving a full year's salary before your first hire eliminates growth fear.

• Crisis Psychology: Leading with value-driven responsiveness instead of fight-or-flight reactivity.

• Pricing Integrity: Protecting your brand, team, and profit margins by standing firm on non-negotiable rates.

  Ready to take this conversation beyond the podcast episode? Connect with Alice and the WMDC community on Instagram for daily leadership insights, episode clips, and behind-the-scenes moments. 🌐 Connect & Resources
  • Host: Alice Tang | Women's Million Dollar Conversations
  • Website: www.askalicetang.com
  • Watch More Episodes: WMDC YouTube Playlist
  • Guest: Shannon Berg | Berg & Associates

Welcome back to Women's Million Dollar Conversation with your host, Alice Tang! In this episode, Alice sits down with Cara Turano—Portland community leader, CEO of the Oregon Entrepreneurs Network (OEN), Angel investor, 2025 Portland Business Journal Woman of Influence, and a 34-time marathon finisher (including 11 Boston Marathons!). Cara breaks down how she single-handedly rallied her team to turn OEN from a $250,000 budget deficit into a thriving $1M+ revenue powerhouse. Alice and Cara explore the critical difference between personal finance and business finance, how to unlearn the taboo around discussing debt, smart real estate wealth moves, and how to spot the difference between a calculated risk and a reckless gamble in the startup world. Whether you're scaling your first business, navigating real estate investments, or learning how to leverage capital to buy back your time and peace of mind, this conversation is packed with actionable wisdom you can apply today. If today's conversation with Cara Turano inspired you to take control of your numbers and dream bigger, don't let the conversation stop here! Head over to Instagram and follow me @askalicewmdc I'm sharing quick reels , behind-the-scenes clips, and strategies to help you reach your first—or next—million. Drop a comment on our latest post and tell me: What's one belief about money you're ready to unlearn? See you over on Instagram!

• 🚀 Learn More About OEN: Oregon Entrepreneurs Network
• 🏫 Find Your Local SBDC: Small Business Development Center Network

Connect with Cara: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/caraturano Connect with Alice:

• Visit Alice Tang's Website: www.askalicetang.com
• Instagram: askalicewmdc
• Subscribe to Women's Million Dollar Conversation: WMDC YouTube Playlist

What happens when you spend 20 years climbing the corporate ladder, hit the executive level, and then decide to completely reinvent yourself? In this episode of Women's Million Dollar Conversations, host Alice Tang sits down with her longtime friend Caroline Carr, a former high-flying CPA and finance executive who traded corporate boardrooms for handcrafted ice cream sandwiches. As the founder of Portland-based Maddie's Cream Bike, Caroline shares her incredible journey from public accounting to entrepreneurship, how she built her first million, and what it truly means to define success on your own terms. Learn more about Alice Tang: www.askalicetang.com Youtube: https://youtu.be/qy-JMiTP6s4 Instagram: askalicewmdc Learn more about Caroline Carr: Visit www.maddiescreambike.com or email her directly at [email protected].

Can a culture of kindness actually impact your company's bottom line? In this episode of Women's Million Dollar Conversation, host Alice Tang sits down with "Chief Heart Officer," professional speaker, and author Linda Cohen. Together, they pull back the curtain on how Linda and her husband earned and saved their first million dollars by bootstrapping a business fueled by a unique and powerful framework: kindness. Linda shares her deeply personal journey from grieving the loss of her father to launching a global speaking brand. She dives into the exact strategies she used to build a lean, low-overhead model using independent contractors, and how she pitches the hard "ROI of Kindness" to numbers-driven CFOs facing employee retention challenges. 💡 Missed a key takeaway? Head over to Instagram where we break down every episode into bite-sized, actionable wealth strategies you can implement today. Don't miss our weekly reels, graphics, and community discussions! Connect With Alice:

Learn more about Alice Tang: www.askalicetang.com Subscribe to the WMDC Podcast Playlist: Women's Million Dollar Conversations on YouTube Youtube: https://youtu.be/qy-JMiTP6s4 Instagram: askalicewmdc

Connect With Linda Cohen: Learn more about Linda Cohen: https://lindacohenconsulting.com/ Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lindamcohen Instagram: kindnessfromcohen

In this episode of Women's Million Dollar Conversations, trial attorney and Markowitz Herbold President Laura Salerno Owens reflects on her journey since her first appearance on the show during the pandemic. Laura shares her "unlock" moment: transitioning from a mindset of constant accumulation to valuing Time Wealth—the autonomy to control the who, what, and when of her life. She opens up about overcoming a childhood scarcity mindset, the importance of celebrating big wins (like hitting her first million-dollar revenue goal and taking her team to Vegas), and how she is teaching her children the value of "saving for the yes." Key Takeaways:

• The Three-Legged Stool: A stable life requires balance between Family, Work, and Community.
• Work-Life Integration: Moving away from the myth of "balance" toward a life where personal and professional circles blend and support each other.
• The Zone of Genius: Reaching a point in your career where success isn't just about money, but about flow and intentionality.
• Legacy through Space: Building communities and "getting out of the way" to let the collective alchemy of women happen. Connect with Alice Tang: Website: www.askalicetang.com LinkedIn: Linkedinlinkedin.com/in/askalicetang Instagram: Instagraminstagram.com/askalicewmdc

  Connect with Laura Salerno Owens:LinkedIn: Linkedinlinkedin.com/in/laura-salerno-owens Markowitz Herbold Firm: MarkowitzherboldLaura Salerno Owens

In our latest episode of Women's Million Dollar Conversation, Alice Tang sits down with the brilliant Melissa Angeli, founder of Undaunted Future. Melissa shares how she built her first million by playing the long game, delaying gratification, and learning to view "failing" as just part of the learning curve. "When we learn to walk, we fall down and pick ourselves up. No one thinks of that as a failure. The same thing can be said about doing business." — Melissa Angeli Key Takeaways from this Episode:

• Pay Yourself First: Wealth building isn't about watching the clock; it's about consistency, living below your means, and prioritizing your long-term goals over instant gratification.
• Work at the 'Top of Your License': To scale your business, stop trying to do everything. Surround yourself with experts who round out your weaknesses so you can focus on your unique genius.
• Normalize Failure: Build a circle of cheerleaders who lift you up. Your identity doesn't change just because a project didn't go right the first time.
• Live Your Legacy Now: Why wait? Impact the world and use your resources to make a difference today, not just after you're gone.

Connect with Melissa: Linkedin Connect with Alice: Linkedin Instagram Youtube Ready to up your money game, conquer your fears of taking risks, and scale your entrepreneurial dreams? Want to keep the momentum going? The next million-dollar conversation is already waiting for you. We post the best highlights and extra wealth tips from these episodes every single week on Instagram at @AskAliceWMDC, so make sure to follow us there too so you don't miss a thing.

Are you letting the pursuit of a perfect plan stand in the way of your actual progress? In this powerhouse episode of Women's Million Dollar Conversations, Alice Tang welcomes back a dear friend and returning champion of the million-dollar milestone: Bonnie Treichel, CEO and Founder of Endeavor Law and Endeavor Retirement Consulting. Since her last visit, Bonnie has scaled her businesses, launched a best-selling book (Our Retirement Sketchbook), and completely transformed her internal relationship with wealth. Alice and Bonnie dive deep into what happens after you hit the million-dollar mark, how the value of money shifts from "safety" to "time wealth," and why your financial future should be treated as an adaptable sketch rather than a rigid blueprint. In this episode, you'll discover:

• Progress over Perfection: Why an imperfect leap of faith beats a flawless, unexecuted business plan every single time.
• The Power of "Resketching": How to boldly erase, refine, and edit your life and financial goals through life's unexpected bumps—from career pivots to late-in-life structural changes.
• Time Wealth vs. Number Wealth: Why maximizing your time and human relationships is the ultimate return on investment.
• Firing the "Legacy" Clients: The raw, honest truth about transitioning away from people-pleasing to strategically scale your business.
• The Partnership Wheel: Why a collaborative network of CPAs, financial advisors, and attorneys is critical to avoiding legislative tax dents in your wealth.

If today's conversation inspired you, the breakdown doesn't stop here. Come join our community on Instagram at @askalicewmdc I share insights, behind-the-scenes moments from these millionaire mentorship sessions, and tips to help you build your own legacy. Hit follow and say hi in the DMs! Connect with Alice: Website: https://askalicetang.com/ Instagram: @askalicewmdc Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/askalicetang/ Connect with Bonnie: https://endeavor-retirement.com/our-team/

Are you a CEO or just the world's most overworked employee in your own company? In this episode of Women's Million Dollar Conversations, Alice Tang is joined by Adi Klevit, an Industrial Engineer and the visionary behind Business Success Consulting Group, to discuss how to stop being the bottleneck and start being the leader. Adi has spent over 30 years helping entrepreneurs step out of the daily grind and into the freedom they actually started their businesses for. If you feel like your business would crumble if you took a two-week vacation, this conversation is your wake-up call. Inside this episode:

• The "Magic" Trap: Why relying on your "personal touch" for every task is actually killing your ability to scale.
• Industrial Engineering Your Life: How to apply high-level efficiency to any size business to bring order to the chaos.
• Stepping Out of the "Day-to-Day": The exact moment you need to stop doing and start documenting.
• The Freedom Metric: Why true wealth isn't just about the bank account—it's about owning your time.

About Adi Klevit: Adi is a management consultant, international speaker, and host of the Systems Simplified podcast. She specializes in empowering entrepreneurs to create businesses that run themselves. Connect with Alice Tang:

• Website: www.askalicetang.com
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/askalicetang/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/askalicewmdc/

Connect with Adi Klevit:

• Website: https://bizsuccesscg.com
• LinkedIn Series of business articles by clicking here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adiklevit
• Systems Simplified Podcast: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMU4_U9_jvxzoUeEvnRHwD009nCIEXcXq&si=46dJJDtHUXniSQ4z
• Interested in Adi's Forbes article about AI? Click the Link below to read more: AI As Your Early Warning System: How Leaders Can Use Predictive Processes To Protect Performance