Today’s guest was love at first listen for us. Some people are so warm, friendly, and inspiring, that it’s impossible not to light up in their presence too. And Tiffany Aliche is all of that and more. America’s favorite Financial Educator, Tiffany has built a career off of educating women on understanding their finances and nurturing a positive relationship with money. The Tiffany we spoke to today was confident and self-assured. But she wasn’t always that way.

Every entrepreneur has that ‘aha’ moment. And for Brett Larkin, one of YouTube’s finest yoga teachers, it came on the drive back home from a YouTube creator conference in San Bruno, California. Working in the video game and tech industry for years, Brett had always been a staunch believer in the power of the online space. In fact, one of the most impactful yoga classes she’d ever taken was a virtual one she streamed from a tiny hotel room in India in 2012.

In our society, women are treated like they have shelf lives. Once we reach a certain age, we’re told that it’s time to wrap up, settle down, and start looking for more appropriate passions → like knitting and gardening. All that’s really left for us to do is reflect on our lives, and quietly make our way to the end of our lives. Nothing new, exciting, or groundbreaking can be expected of a woman past a certain age. Not according to today’s guest, Juju Hook.

Be prepared to have your mind blown and your perspective on the world changed. Because that’s what happened to us. Today’s guest, Mary Shores, is someone we’ve wanted to interview on And She Spoke for a long time. Last year, Sandy was preparing to be a guest on Dr. Meghan Walker’s incredible Entrepology Podcast. While she was doing some research before her appearance, she stumbled across Mary’s episode, intriguingly titled ‘How to Get Comfortable Asking People for Money.’

Picture this. Your life and business are both stuck in a rut and you know you need someone’s guidance to get out of it. Someone who looks, talks, and acts like you and who’s been through similar struggles. So, you decide to get the help of a female lifestyle coach and log onto their website. And are immediately greeted by…

Who is a leader? What is leadership? Can you only lead if you’re an owner, founder or a C-suite executive? According to today’s guest, Claudia Chan, absolutely not. And as a leadership and culture change expert, she’s made it her mission to provide the world with a more holistic, inclusive, and purpose driven definition of leadership. One that doesn’t discriminate against gender, race, economic background, or even your job title.

Lately, we’ve been paying a lot more attention to bias around us - gender bias, wealth bias, and of course, racial bias. As white women, we’ve never really had to face the burden of racial bias. It’s on us to check our privilege, continue having these important conversations, and educate ourselves on how to dispel bias by being the best allies we can. And do ALL of that in a way that goes beyond posting a black square on social media. Today’s guest, Femily, has made it her mission to help businesses get allyship right.

Who would’ve thought rose farms could teach you important lessons about money. But our guest, Denise Duffield Thomas, has us converted. A money mindset mentor and author, Denise is passionate about teaching women about money, helping them charge the right amount for their work, and getting them over that dreaded income plateau. Oh, and she also purchased a rose farm 18 months ago. As one does.

Being a woman in corporate is tough. Especially if you’re working to challenge ideas and beliefs as old as the company you’re working for. Meet Joy Altimare, Chief Engagement and Brand Officer at EHE Health, an NYC based healthcare company specializing in preventative employee health. EHE partners with other businesses to help them understand how best to provide their employees with a holistic healthcare experience and make sure they’re the healthiest they can be. That includes helping ALL employees, regardless of gender, age, or color, and catering to their unique needs. In fact, inclusivity and a life-stage approach to health is one of the pillars of EHE’s philosophy. But it wasn’t always that way.

As business owners, we’ve spent a lot of time with finance coaches, gurus, and budget advisors. And that’s why we can confidently say, we’ve never met someone quite like Allison Baggerly. Allison is a blogger, influencer, and the founder of Inspired Budget where she combines her passion for teaching and finance to help other women learn about managing their money. In our conversation with her, Allison was warm, funny, and seriously easy to talk to. But what really stood out to us was her honesty and vulnerability.

All around us, businesses are changing due to COVID-19. The pandemic is forcing us to pivot, to really take a look at ourselves, reflect, and ask what can be a pretty scary question: ‘Why am I doing what I’m doing?’ Jenny Gaither, our guest for today, is no different. Like so many women we know and admire, Jenny wears many hats — she’s a business and life coach, a SoulCycle instructor, and the founder of ‘The Movemeant Foundation’ - a non-profit organization that uses the power of movement to teach young girls to be more comfortable in their own bodies.

When we re-launched The Soulful MBA as And She Spoke, we wanted to really lean in and dig deeper into the different paths female entrepreneurs take, and that meant sharing stories other than our own.

And that’s why we’re so excited to host Marlo Ellis, the founder and CEO of The Uncommon Woman with us this week.

When you think of a leader, what voice immediately comes to mind? A cisgender, white, male news anchor? A politician? Or a popular old- Hollywood actor? Culturally, these male symbols have been associated with leadership and authority. And that extends to their voices too. So what does this mean for those whose voice varies greatly from this definition of authority? In other words, what does it mean for women? Actress and singer Casey Erin Clark started Vital Voice Training to help change the conversation around what women are supposed to sound like to be taken seriously.

Picture an auctioneer. If you’re like most people, you just pictured an elderly, bespectacled British gentleman, with a gavel in one hand and a glass of scotch in the other. Not a 20-something woman in a brightly colored dress with heels et al. That’s where Lydia Fenet comes in.

It’s been a long few weeks. And full disclosure, they’ve been some of the worst for us and our business. We’ve had to process the fact that our partnership with our work, our business’s core values, and our day-to-day operations have been shaken up, maybe even permanently. All in the span of a few days. Our business has always stood for sustainability, digital artisanship, and slow growth. It’s what we’re passionate about and we’ve worked very hard for over the years.

We’re a female-owned software company, and take a LOT pride in what we’ve built. And we love supporting other woman-owned ventures, which is part of the reason we were both big fans of THINX. This was a product developed by women, for women, and it helped to change the public conversation about women’s bodies. Good for women, and good for the environment? Consider us sold. So when we heard about what went down with THINX and Miki Agrawal, we knew we needed to talk about it.

Remember when you’d work your tush off just so that you get handed a shiny gold star in front of the whole class? Yeah, us too. Our theory is that this behavior is why so many women in business identify as perfectionists today. When we had a show of hands in our community, there were SO many of you who identified as loud and proud perfectionists…

With more and more women getting into online business, we decided that it was time to have an honest conversation about what it means to grow an online business in 2020. Running an online business has its advantages: you can work when you want, where you want, while wearing what you want. But..there’s a downside.

On an average day, we make 35,000 decisions. It can be as simple as deciding what to wear, or what to eat for breakfast, or something a little consequential like deciding to diversify your business revenue streams, or as tense as dealing with conflict. As entrepreneurs, our power comes from being decisive. Making a decision, following through, and knowing when to pivot.

Welcome to the first full episode of And She Spoke. This week, we’re diving into everything that’s changed in the three years since we first launched the Soulful MBA Podcast. Entrepreneurship has been a journey of personal transformation for both of us. It’s given us a sort of unshakeable sense of self and confidence, and with it comes the comfort of knowing that no matter what happens we’ll be okay.