"It started as an initiative just within the firm to do things better, to create well, to invite women to a table and to make that table a comfortable, safe space to come and talk and be a part of."

Welcome to WomenShare: a marketing guide for women in financial services. On today’s episode, Joanna Ehresman and Leah Alter are joined by Karen Reifel, CFP®, a senior wealth advisor at Beacon Pointe Advisors.

Beacon Point is the largest female-led RIA firm in the country with women making up over 60% of their corporate team and features the Women’s Advisory Institute, a branch of the firm committed to serving women.

Karen joins us to share the ways that she and her team are tailoring services to address women's unique financial concerns and creating meaningful content and engaging events that marry finance with social experiences.

Karen opens up about the emotional intelligence she brings to her client relationships and the double-edged sword of nurturing that characteristic. Our conversation touches on the timely shifts in societal norms towards empathy in wealth management, the pressures women face juggling multiple roles, and the vitality of asking for help.

Key takeaways:

1. Tailored Financial Guidance for Women: Karen Reifel shares insights into the development of financial content and events designed specifically for women's financial needs, focusing on the significant question of their financial security. This addresses the unique challenges and concerns that women face in financial matters.

2. Importance of Representation and EQ: The feedback from female clients has led to a more diverse representation in the company’s materials and events. Additionally, Karen discusses the pivotal role of emotional intelligence in her work, including both its value and the challenge of managing it, and the societal trend towards empathy in wealth management.

3. Challenges and Support for Women: Leah highlights the pressure on women to juggle multiple roles and the importance of recognizing their limits and seeking assistance. This acknowledges the often-overlooked need for support systems in the professional and personal lives of women.

4. The Value of Continuous Learning in Leadership: Karen places a strong emphasis on the role of curiosity and ongoing education in career advancement, and the normalization of admitting when one does not have all the answers, especially in mentorship roles. This promotes a culture of growth and humility in professional settings.

5. Beacon Point Advisors' Growth and Culture: Karen Reifel details her role at Beacon Point Advisors and the firm's focus on hiring for culture fit, with over 60% of its leadership being women. She underscores how female leadership has become a competitive advantage, attracting similar talent and contributing to the firm's growth strategy, which includes client retention, organic growth, and a strong corporate marketing team.

So it wasn't that the firm sought to create a

female focused enterprise. As I'm sure you know about Beacon

Point, it's really about culture fit. What we're looking for in hires is

somebody that is, you know, knowledgeable or teachable, a good fit for the

role, and just a good personality fit for the firm. That

is, you know, really the most important. And that has led, I

think, by coincidence to female leadership.

But it's just been all I would say that all of our hires have just

been a continuation of the desire to keep a good strong company

culture.

Thanks for joining us. I'm Leah Alter. And I'm Joanna

Ehresman. And this is Women Share, a marketing guide for

women in financial services. And today we are getting

insight into how one of the country's leading advisory firms has

found success. We're so happy to be joined by Karen Reifel, senior

wealth advisor at Beacon Point Advisors. Beacon Point

has more than $30,000,000,000 in client assets and is

the largest female led RIA firm in the

nation. Karen wears many leadership hats within the company.

She works with clients in Beacon Point's private client group.

She's board director for the Beacon Point Women's Advisory

Institute. She coauthored an international best selling book

with other women leaders in the firm titled your dollars, our

cents, a fun and simple guide to money matters. And she

cohosts the firm's financial planning podcast dollars and cents. So,

Karen, with all that you have going on, we are just so happy that

you are here to join us on Women's Share, and welcome to the show. Thank

you so much. I'm excited to be here. I love what you're doing, and I

love the podcast. Thanks for having me. We are just absolutely thrilled that you're

here today. So let's we just like to dig right in. So

Beacon Point is a lead is leading the industry in terms

of women and leadership positions, which we just love,

with over 60% of your corporate leadership team being

women. So first of all, congratulations. That is a huge

accomplishment. We know in the industry that that is

60% is really, like, way above that in

terms of what your peers are doing. So we're curious. Was

this done by design? Is it a by product of having a

woman as a CEO? We just love to hear your thoughts around

that. Yeah. I mean, I I gosh. I wish I could take credit

for that, but I I can't and I won't. But,

you know, it really was. I do know that it wasn't by

design. And I know that because, you know, our CEO,

Shannon Ussi, she is obviously a female. But

she wasn't involved she wasn't solely involved in the hiring process. I mean, my

hiring process for me, I mean, this was 12 years ago. I met with

7 7 different leaders at Beacon Point before they decide I mean, they called

me, but then I went through 4 interviews, you know, met with multiple people on

the hiring process, before they decided that I was a good fit. So it

wasn't that the firm sought to create a female

focused enterprise. As I'm sure you know about Beacon

Point, it's really about culture fit. Right? What what what we're looking for

in hires is somebody that is, you know, knowledgeable or teachable,

a good fit for the role, and just a good personality fit for

the firm. That is, you know, really the most important. And that has

led, I think, by coincidence to female

leadership. But it's just been, you know, all

I would say that all of our hires have just been a continuation of the

desire to keep a good strong company culture. And I would also say

or I would imagine that women going through the hiring

process are probably going to see that representation

and be more drawn or compelled to say yes to I mean, I'm speaking for

myself personally. I think that would really stand out to me if I were in

a position of, you know, hey. I'm looking at a role at firm a

versus firm b, and I could see myself represented in

leadership. That it's so compelling. Yeah. I mean, it was I from

personal experience, it was great to meet with Shannon and our director of wealth

planning, Connie Stevens, you know, and see what they were doing. I mean,

yeah, from a an attracting female talent,

it certainly gives us the competitive edge, I think, because we we

are represented and we do feel, you know, the sky is the limit.

Now so Leah and I are marketers by by

background, as you know. And so we'd love to hear a little bit more

about your growth strategy as a firm at Beacon Point. So $30,000,000,000

in assets is sizable. Right? And you all have grown

from my understanding knowing someone, personally who works at

Beacon Point, right, is that there's a lot of intention to how you operate.

So and we had the pleasure of meeting Ali Warner, from your

corporate marketing team. So we know you've got a strong corporate marketing team, plus

advisors are out doing their own business development. Is that right? So,

yeah, tell me what like, how does a typical practice grow within the Beacon

Point ecosystem? Yeah. So I'll speak first to where I

sit as an advisor that has, you know, a pretty full book of clients. I've

been here for 12 years. So, you know, there is only so much time in

the day, and I can only serve so many clients well. And so the most

important contribution, I think, that I make,

as a seasoned adviser with Affirm is in client retention. Right? I

mean, one one way to grow is to just keep what you have. And so,

you know, taking care of my clients, being in front of

my clients to make sure that they feel safe and secure

and, you know, we continue to have a trusting relationship that

answers their life questions as they arise. Like that's that that is my probably my

biggest contribution to growth. But it also lends toward multi

generational planning and and and client relationships, right?

So organic growth comes in that way, be it by family

members or, you know, just good friends or

professional colleagues and so forth. So that referrals

is, I would say, the second. The first is making your clients happy enough to

wanna stay with you and continue to work with you and then talk about you

to other people and make those those connections. And I think

one of the ways that I feel just so grateful for

that to to be able to do that and be, you know, in front of

my clients, which is very important is through our

marketing team efforts. Right? And they're, you know, our marketing team is

fantastic. You met Ali. I mean, she is just also a female and wonderful

to work with. And, she and her team help

create my digital brand that allows it just saves so much time for

me to then, you know, again, be client facing and do those things that I

I need to do to wear an advisor hat. So and that's been really great.

And then, of course, like, community. Being being present in the

community, you know, our local communities just in our day to day lives is also

helpful in a way to just build relationships and possibly bring on new clients. I

you know, because this is a female focused podcast, though, I'll be honest

and say that my community involvement ebbs and flows, with life. I've got

2 young boys at home. So, you know Yeah. Right right now,

it's ebbing. It's not necessarily flowing. Oh, I see. But, you

know, when they get into sports and bigger and, you know, we can be out

more with them, in a public setting, and then I think that

that will that will come in time. Great. And I think it's also oh, go

ahead, Leah. No. No. I was just, I was just gonna say

too something you said just sparked to me, which is, you know, you

all at Beacon Point have made a real

investment. That's what I like to call it when we talk about marketing and investment

in a marketing team, right, that has helped you on that.

Because I think a lot of advisors feel like they

have to take that on themselves, and it always ends up getting

moved to the bottom of the list. Yeah. And when you actually have a dedicated

resource, whether that be in house or outsource, it

takes that to the top of the list. It becomes a

priority without being your responsibility. And and and you said

you've been there for 12 years, so you've you've probably gotten very used to that.

But have you seen that make a big difference in

in your business, in your retention, your growth?

Oh, absolutely. Yeah. I mean, you're you make such a good

point, Leah, because, you know, when if you're tasked with

serving clients, right, and then also being

solely responsible for additional growth and business development, something

is gonna have to give or or both things only get half of the effort.

Right? Because we can't do all things really well. And so, yeah, I mean, having

that team to support me. If you tell me to post on LinkedIn 10 times

in a quarter and you'll get, like, a prize, I'm not going to post on

LinkedIn. The prize is not worth it. You know? It's just not I mean, depending

on the prize, of course, but probably not going to be you're

right. It would be deprioritized, amongst the other

competing priorities. And you know, I mean, sitting in a client

facing role, you never know what can become of

higher priority, you know? And when you have a full book of clients, you

could your complete your day could get derailed because you had a client's father pass.

And that is the most pressing thing that you can help somebody with in that

day and other everything. Forget LinkedIn. You know? So, yeah, it's been a

tremendous, tremendous resource for me as an

adviser. Joanna, what were you gonna say? I know you were

probably picking up on, a different part of her her response there.

Well, no. What I what I was kinda chuckling about is you're talking, Karen.

So talk about having to take my own medicine. So in my own

consulting business, it's like I'm as a marketing consultant, I am not

marketing my business because I'm busy, you know, working it's the same thing.

And I'm like, oh my gosh. I'm I feel like such a hypocrite, but I

get it even more now that I am not just the person in corporate

marketing being like, but, Karen, there's the prize for the LinkedIn post.

Why aren't you doing it? You know? Yes. You're you are perspective

page. Joanna, you're the chef that eats pizza at home. Right? Or top

rock? I mean, it's yeah. Yes. I get it. I get it. Yeah.

Mhmm. Yeah. We just had a conversation with our producers actually

about some of this stuff and, you know, it's it's always humbling

to to know that you're really good at your

job and helping other people, and

you too have a lot to learn and grow as well.

And it's always that sort of balance of being able

to celebrate the successes and also knowing that you've got like

room to grow. Yeah. I think there's something to be said I I mean, we

could spend a whole podcast on this, so I don't wanna get distracted. But, Leah,

you're so right because there's something about

acknowledging where we could be doing better or where we need

help that is. It's good for us personally when

we do it. I think it's something that is just so helpful for us as

females to do, especially with the number of hats that we all

wear. But I also think it's in being open about that dialogue

is so freeing for other women to say,

that really takes a load off of my shoulders. You know? I saw a

girlfriend's kid's drawer not long ago, and, I mean, their folding

was not happening. I could tell she was letting the girls put away their things

on her own, you know, and I it was a little bit chaotic and I

thought, oh man, that makes me feel kinda good. I don't have to have perfectly

folded clothes and look, they're they're living a happy life, you know. So there's a

lot of permission in being open about that. So we digress, but I I

think No. But we live in this, like, very curated world,

right, where we think that we're on this this island where we're

not as successful or as productive or

as organized or whatever word it is that you wanna Yeah. You

know, do. But the truth is is like none of us have it figured out.

We're all just doing the best that we can. Right? That's right. That's right.

So we'd love to hear more about the Women Advisory Institute

at Beacon Point. Several several, excuse me, of our guests

have found breakthroughs by focusing on certain niches,

and that appears to be the same for you at Beacon Point.

So how did the Women Advisory Institute come to be, and

how is it growing? Yeah. So, gosh, I'm gonna take us back to

2011. So we noticed early on,

obviously, that we were in a unique position in the RIA

space to be female led. At the time, I think we've done

we've had so much growth since then in other channels. But at

the time, even our small group, I think our holiday party was maybe

40 people including spouses back then. So pretty wild. And

but even still we had female leadership roles. We had senior wealth

advisors like myself, who I mentioned before our director of planning was

female, head of marketing female, CEO female. So that that presence was there and we

wanted to leverage it. It wasn't enough for us to say, wow, this is really

cool. Like, we are women here as Roar. We wanted to do something with it,

and we we knew 2 things. We knew that we were in a unique position,

and we also knew that most of our client meetings were with men. And

not because our relationships were only with men, but we just weren't

seeing the female counterpart come to the table. And

I I will take a little bit of responsibility for that. I mean, it it's

embarrassing, but honest to admit that there was a time

in our process where, you know, the portal through which you could see

your accounts with us got assigned to the primary account

holder. And you can guess who that was 9 10 out

of 10 times. Right? It was the the first listed

account holder, which is usually the male. And so we weren't even

sending portal invites to the to the female. And acknowledge

it started actually more as an initiative. It's become an institute, but it started as

an initiative just within the firm to do things better,

to create well, to invite women to a

table and to make that table a comfortable, safe space to come and

talk and be a part of. And so even something that started as small as

again, like, the portal adjustments, getting everybody involved,

addressing emails and including both parties on even on a meeting

follow-up. So if I don't see wife in a meeting, she's still going to be

looped in on any meeting follow-up and summary. So that she, at a

minimum, knows who I am. But then what we see happen is you can probably

see where this is going. Wife ends up coming to meeting number, maybe not 2,

but maybe meeting number 5. Right? And so it was

an awareness that led to action. And then we started creating

content that was around the things that we knew were

most important to women. You know? Not, you know, what risk adjusted

return do you need to retire, but, like, am I going to be okay? Right?

And then at the end of the day, kind of here is what women want

to know. And so I wouldn't say that the content is miraculously

different when it comes to finance. Like, finance principles are not

wildly different between men and women. But I think the delivery of them can

be can be different. And that's what we sought out to do. So it started

with a content development. We started creating more content, posting it on our website, sending

it out to our female clients. And then that evolved into events. We would

do local office events where we'd have women come together, and

talk about something finance related but then we'd always have to try to tie

something fun into it just to make it, like, light and entertaining and social,

very social. That was also an important aspect. And then

that led to, like, an email blast. We were sending

emails, like, a weekly email blast, and we turned that email series

ultimately into the book. And that's where, you know, kind of the book was born.

So it was a long road. Yeah. Can I just tell

you the primary contact in the CRM system issue

went through the same thing at the firm where I spent a bulk of my

like and it was I was mortified as a

woman in the company that, you know, we hadn't solved that

sooner? And Yes. You know? Right. Like and now, I mean, in 2024, you're

like, oh, how could that ever have been? You know? Mhmm. But in 2010, it

was like, oh, boy. We gotta fix that. Yeah. Yeah. And I would also say

credit to and I don't know if this is necessarily a generational thing, but

a lot we learned a lot from our women clients

speaking up and calling it out in a couple of places. Right? In a

in a not in a horrible, you know, mean way, but, like, we would

have case studies in some of our seminar presentations or webinars, and

they're like, why is the case study a male engineer? Why

can't it be yeah. And and it just those I just

feedback is a gift and that was such a great gift that helped us to

change and do better. And so it seems like there's parallels.

Yeah. You can point it. Yeah. That's it's such a funny example because we're preparing

for, one of our women's advisory institutes, are we're doing a

virtual webinar next week. We have someone doing a presentation,

so it's a 3rd party presentation. And a few of their slide decks had

really great these super cool, like,

visual aids to go with what they were talking about. And they were real I

mean, right when I saw them, I thought those were really neat. That, like, hits

hard. And then Ali, of course, as Ali does says,

the men the the the characters on those slides are men. Can we change

those to women? And I thought, oh, yeah. They are. You know? Even I can

still kind of like look past it, which is bizarre. But, yeah,

that little things like that go a long way. And you're right. Sometimes you learn

because you just get some honest feedback from clients.

Mhmm. Well, and we always say I mean, this has come up

so many times in this podcast, which is things don't change

until you shine a light on it. Yes. And then once you shine

the light on it, once you have that awareness, you can't go

back. Right? You have to make changes. You have to

evolve and grow. And

sometimes it takes, yeah, a client saying, hey.

What about me? Why aren't I represented on this slide or, you

know, on that email? And then it changes everything. Yeah.

And and and it's not true of everybody though. Right? I mean, some client feedback

is such I'll never forget I had a a female client say to me, and

she was working with me at the time because she was going through a divorce.

So that's what brought her to our table was, you know, a money transition as

it is often as the case. And so it was a divorce scenario, and she

said to me, you know, I just Karen, it was

not because I wasn't interested. It's not because I don't feel like I

can or that I, you know, didn't want to. It's that it was a

necessary division of labor between my husband and I on who did what.

And he did this, and I did it. You know? And so she was

she was almost kind of I think during her married years when her kids were

young, I think she was almost just as happy being not a part of it.

And not Nina, I'll tell you right now, my husband is very happy. He doesn't

need to be that where that happened in our marriage, you know. He cheats because

I'm an advisor. So, like, he really leans into it. But, you know, so and

that's okay too. I think the important thing then is just

understanding that position that our female clients have and making sure that they

know well enough, you know, we're here. This is what we're

doing for you. These are the things we can help you with. So if ever

you need independently, you know, turn to us. Well, and related

to the Women's Advisory Institute and the female leadership, you

know, as we're having discussions about you coming on Women's

Share, you shared the perspective that, you know, you see one of

the unique advantages we have as women is emotional

intelligence and bringing that EQ to the table. So would love to

hear you expand on, you know, how has that showed up for you personally?

And then how have you how do you see that within the industry

more broadly? Yeah. So I know that the female

the audience will certainly relate to this, and I I haven't found a better way

to describe it, so I'm gonna steal some paraphrase. I'm gonna paraphrase,

Maggie Dent. She's an author, an Australian author who writes on parenting a

lot. And I recently caught an interview that she said something to the effect

of, like, there is a mental load that women carry for the

people that we love. It is part of our nature to be nurturing.

And so we're always kinda our minds are always assessing.

Right? We're assessing if everything is okay. We're making sure that we didn't miss

something. Right? You know, did I remember my son's show and tell

project? Are we running low on type pods? Are we you know, I mean, did

I forget something for a client that is time sensitive? I mean, I mean, our

minds are just very full, at full capacity at every

moment. I mean, they're working to do something. And again, with that nurturing mentality,

it's what we do for the people we care about. We want to make sure

everyone is okay. And I don't know about you, but that doesn't leave me. It

is always with me. I cannot turn it off. And that's true

in sitting across from somebody in a room, speaking about

something that is very personal and also very important to them, which is money.

I am assessing. I'm assessing if what I said landed in the way that

I expected it to land. Right? It's that social awareness.

What words are they using? And then I know to

use those same words. Right? They're I mean, we speak in the language that we

know. And so if my client is telling me if they're using a certain word

or phrase because that's what's resonating with them, well, then I need to stick with

that or phrase. Right? There's just that awareness, I think, that comes from

our our nurturing natural disposition that

helps create trust and understanding in

client relationships. And I really don't think that it, you know, there's

just so much value in that. And

I don't sometimes I wish I could turn it off. I mean, it's not really

even something that I'm trying to do. In fact, sometimes I have to try not

to do it based on the circumstance, you know.

So, yeah. Lighten that mental load. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. And

so it's, you know, it's like many things. Some of the things that we wish

we could change about ourselves make us strong in other ways that we wouldn't change.

And so that is definitely one of them. So I think there's just a an

awareness, a social awareness part of, you know, EQ that I

think we we had to manage. You know? Yeah.

Yeah. It's interesting. We had, Julie

Raggots from Carson Group on, in January in one of our

episodes, and she's a researcher, right, and has studied. And one of

the the areas or points she made is she's

like, yes. That is something women tend to be stronger on, although

she doesn't believe it's necessarily natural.

It's from socialization. Right? Which is true. I mean, the end result is the

same where I believe it's broadly true that women tend to be more empathetic.

But if you have boys, like you mentioned, I think it's just really

interesting to think about, I believe, anyway, the generation

that's coming up. Like, our kids, you know, kids these

days, but, like, have more more more empathy or

it's more acceptable or it's modeled socially, right,

for them to to display that regardless of gender, which I think

is exciting because, because specifically

in this space, in wealth management and financial advisers who are client

facing, it's, yeah, been proven time and again the importance of, yes, you need to

have IQ, but, like, there's there's also technology for that and

automation for that, which is only accelerating. So EQ is the name of the game

moving forward. So Yeah. You're absolutely right. I always there's you know, when I

speak about females specifically, there's always this little

voice in the back of my mind that is like, don't generalize or don't over

generalize. Right. I wanna be I wanna be very sensitive to that because I think

it's important not everybody is the same. Like, my client had said, I didn't wanna

be involved. Like, you're not offending me. I don't care, you know. I prefer not

to. You know? You don't need to email me or I'll call you when I

need you kind of thing. And so I think but I think you're right. I

think that overgeneralization will become less obvious

or, you know, less of a need to do it because it'll just be more

of the social norm. I agree with you completely, Joanna, that the social norms are

changing and becoming more empathetic. Is

not a gender, you know, faux pas one

way or the other, you know, which I love. And and and this idea

that, like, women are, like, we're supposed to be able

to hold it all and carry it all and do all the

things. Right? Which is unrealistic

in a lot of ways. And where you see a lot of

women just completely burn out because they're trying to be

all the things all the time and never let a ball drop, and that's just

not realistic. And those same set of expectations aren't

necessarily set upon the

male camp counterparts. And I think we're seeing a really

interesting time right now where there's an acknowledgement of that,

where women are getting to say, I don't wanna hold all the

balls. I don't wanna I don't wanna juggle every single thing, like,

I'm gonna focus here and outsource this, or get help

here, or ask my partner for this. And

it's it's a really nice shift,

to see. And and yeah. The the

nurture versus nature, I think that is just gonna be an interesting

conversation that's gonna continue for years as we

as people continue to evolve with help to your point,

Joanna, of having technology that can help take some of those things

off our plate. Yeah. And really get to

expose us as individuals on and really

where we want to spend our time and energy. And I think some of that

is because we we're

we expect it of ourselves too, to wear and to handle those hats. And only

until we say, I I can't or I need

help can we expect somebody to stand up. You know? I mean, my, you know,

my my husband is not gonna do something that he knows I do all the

time unless I say to him, I can't do it this time. I need your

help. Right? So Yeah. Well, Karen, we ask every

guest what is the best career

advice that you've received? Gosh. That's hard. Because there

have been several. But I think the one that makes that keeps

me doing what I'm doing and genuinely interested in having a good time is

to always stay curious. Don't stop learning.

Always stay curious. And because I mean, in the world of finance,

the just the scope of topics that I can have to

mentally task myself to to comprehend and deal with on a daily

basis is so broad. And that's a good thing

because I know as a certified financial planner, I tell my clients I

know

client is great. Or the I mean, the economy is, you know,

always something worth redigesting and comprehending and trying to

figure out, and that'll never that's never going anywhere. But, yeah, I

think that that is what really kind of fuels me. It's just like a genuine

interest in what I do, an excitement to have conversations,

and new ones. Right? So, you know, just

looking more into information and data and understanding and regurgitating

it is really exciting. So I would say just be find something you're interested in

and then keep learning about it always. I love that. And it's also too,

I think, paying attention to you know, we talk on this podcast quite a bit

about just people assessing what is the right career for

them and that sort of thing. I think it's it paying attention

to where your curiosity takes you as well as your

career evolves, and and refining

what what works for you. But I can imagine in service of your

clients that curiosity, a, there's the automatic

trust if the answer is, that's a great question. I'm not gonna rattle off

some, you know, unreliable answer. We'll put it that way since this

is a PC podcast. But, but,

but I'll I'll look into that and get back to you. Right? Like, that just

builds the credibility and trust of, like, oh, great. Karen's got the resources. She

knows exactly what to do. She's a smart cookie. She'll get it. So but you

don't have to have it all. It is so funny that you use that example,

Joanna, because if I were to think about something that I tell, like, our junior

team of advisers when I, you know, work to mentor them,

it is the reminder that it's

okay to say I don't know. But it's a very I mean, when you're starting

out, I don't care what your career is. It's it's uncomfortable to admit that

you don't know. Well, when you've been in Riser for, you know, 16 plus years,

if you say I don't know, it's because it's a really good question. You know?

Like, I don't know, or I can't remember because I have 50 other things, you

know, that I was working on today. And I can't I can't pull it from

my memory bank fast enough to get back to you. So I tell my team,

you know, listen. It's okay to not know the answer. Don't don't lie don't make

it up. Confidently say I don't know. Be just be

confident in the I don't know. Like, that's a great question. I don't know, but

I I'm gonna leverage my team, and I'm gonna get back to you. There is

nothing wrong with that. Don't be uncomfortable saying that. You just gotta

be confident in it. And I think that's that's okay. Because that that's what makes,

I think, a lot of, you know, people starting out really nervous.

And it just adds a whole layer of not being able to pay attention or

socially aware because you're in your mind, and it's just like, okay. Yeah. I don't

know something else. I don't know. Totally. I had a coach once say,

what if your only job is to stay curious

and open to where that leads? Mhmm. And

that just opens up so many things. Like, if my only job is

to be curious and follow those little

paths and not try to couple them with an

answer, create a plan, know what the outcome is, all of those

things, and just be curious in what

is coming. I'm like, it was a game

changer for me both professionally and personally. Yeah. I think the

advice that you gave about staying curious is just great life

advice. It's great career advice, but it's great life advice too. Yeah.

Yeah. Mhmm. This has been so good. We could keep talking for

a long time. Is Is it already time? I know.

It's so fast. It goes so fast. Just thank you

again for being here and sharing your story and

the Beacon Point story and just, like, the authenticity that you

brought to this conversation. Just love it. So assuming

everyone who's listening will be as big of a fan of you and Beacon Point

as we now are from this conversation, what are the best ways for them

to connect with you? Any Yeah. Places you wanna direct our listeners?

Definitely to the website. We have offices all across the country. It's actually hard to

keep up with how many offices we have. I'll be honest. I don't sit on

that side of the business, but, beaconpoint.com. That's,

beaconpoint with an e. I don't know why they did that, but point with an

e, dotcom is is the place to go.

Excellent. Excellent. And we'll make sure that's in the show notes.

And and also just, you know, recommendation, check out their content, check out

the Women's Advisory Institute, the Dollars and Cents podcast. If you love Karen and

want to hear Karen more often, she cohosts that podcast.

Just thank you. Thank you for being here. Thank you. I

mean, definitely the highlight of my day. I like I said, I'm disappointed. I'm sad

it's over, but thanks so much for having me. You guys are great. I love

the podcast. Thanks for everything you're doing for women. It's it's really inspiring.

Oh, thank you. Welcome. We appreciate that. Well, that's our show for

today. If ours is a mission that you want to share in, join

our email list, right from the homepage of our website, women womensharepodcast.com.

And with that, I'm Joanna Erisman. And I'm Leah Alter,

and we'll catch you on the next episode of Women's Share.