Are you a woman ready to break barriers and become a part of something bigger?

Tune in to this uplifting and insightful episode where Tara sits down with Mel C—multi-business entrepreneur, author, and unstoppable advocate for female empowerment. Together, they explore the power of community, storytelling, and giving back, all through the globally expanding platforms of Six Figure Chicks and Her Write to Rise.

Episode Overview:

In this episode, Tara welcomes Mel C, founder of Clover C Executive Virtual Assistant Agency, Six Figure Chicks, and Her Right to Rise. Mel C shares her inspiring journey from running a virtual assistant business to launching a nonprofit aimed at mentoring and empowering young women. The discussion dives deep into the importance of community, the realities of entrepreneurship for women, the need to be transparent about financial goals, and how platforms like Six Figure Chicks and Her Right to Rise are creating lasting impact.

Whether you’re a budding entrepreneur, a seasoned professional, or someone searching for a supportive sisterhood, this episode is filled with practical wisdom, motivation, and opportunities.

Highlights & Key Takeaways:

• Creating Impactful Communities: Hear how Mel C’s passion to help others inspired Six Figure Chicks, turning a collaborative book series into a global movement with over 130 women authors and counting (15:04).
• Turning Stories Into Superpowers: Find out how sharing the "messy middle" of your career and life isn’t something to hide, but rather a tool to uplift others (19:15).
• Virtual Business, Real Talk: The realities behind the “work-from-anywhere” boom, the ups and downs of the virtual assistant industry, and valuable lessons for any woman navigating the new business landscape (05:36).
• Talking Money Without Apologies: Tara and Mel C dive into the lingering taboo around women's financial conversations—and why it’s time to be open, proud, and unapologetic about success (10:06).
• Global Movement & Historical Legacy: Six Figure Chicks isn’t just a book—it’s a "historical record" of women's business journeys and hard-won wisdom, preserved in libraries and communities around the world (24:23).
• Giving Back to the Next Generation: Learn about Her Write to Rise, a nonprofit empowering young women (ages 18-28) through mentorship, advice, and opportunities like the upcoming free Virtual Fishbowl event (29:04), where they can ask their burning questions on life and business.
• Ongoing Support and Lifelong Connections: Unlike most book anthologies, Six Figure Chicks is deeply community-focused, with in-person events, retreats, continued support, and opportunities for new collaborations even after the books are launched (15:04), (25:35).

What You’ll Gain From This Episode

• A behind-the-scenes look at building supportive women's networks that go beyond surface-level interaction and foster real growth.
• Motivation to ditch fear and judgment and embrace your story—no matter how messy it is.
• Insights on how discussing money and ambition can change your trajectory and help others do the same.
• Details about how to get involved as a published author or mentor, and how these platforms can accelerate your business and personal development.
• Information about upcoming opportunities and free mentorship events for young women looking for guidance on their journey.

Empower yourself and others by joining this global wave of positive change:

• Visit sixfigurechicks.com to learn about becoming an author, joining the network, or attending a local or online event.
• If you’re 18-28 (or want to share with someone who is!), check out herwritetorise.org for details and registration for the upcoming free Virtual Fishbowl.
• Connect with Mel C and her team to discover how your story can become a beacon for others.
• Share this episode and help spread the word: Every woman’s voice and every story matters!

Join the movement and be a part of a supportive, thriving community where collaboration, financial success, and women’s voices are celebrated—now and for generations to come.

Mentioned in this episode:

Plus Fitness with Tara is part of the eWomenPodcastNetwork.

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Hi, I'm Tara from Plus Fitness with Tara. I'm a curvy, fun body, positive coach and personal trainer. I love business and fitness. Do you have the tools you need to be a rock star in fitness? A healthy love of yourself and help for me and sifting through health news will do that. I've got fitness topics and guests. Rock stars aren't born, they're bred. An experience with fire. Let's do this together.

Hello and welcome to Plus Fitness with Tara, the podcast today. Today I have with me Mel and she is going to have some great information for you in this podcast. So I want you to listen up as to where you can reach her. She's going to introduce herself and then we're going to get going and we're going to get to the juicy bits about where she is, what she does, how you can reach her, you know what's coming up and then also what her message today for our listeners is not just for E Network, but people listening on different platforms around the world. Thanks so much for joining Mel. You know, where can people. Yeah, awesome.

Thank you so much for having me. And yes, you know, I tend to go by Mel C. It's just quick and easy to remember. But you know, I have a number of businesses to finance. So Clover C Executive virtual assistant Agency I have run for many years. All us women work for me and support our clients and then Six Figure Chicks. So Six Figure Chicks is a global movement book series. Anyone can just google it and you'll have pages and pages of fantastic females in their stories to empower and inspire others.

And lastly, I have a nonprofit, Her Right to Rise. And that's W R I T E like writing and that has been birthed from six Figure Chicks to enable the authors to go deeper than just writing their stories in the books, which is pretty big. But we use our experience, our knowledge to mentor young women, the next generation of female leaders.

Perfect. Great. And so, so all of this. So I'm sure they can find Six Figure Chicks on Amazon. Correct. If they just type it in. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Perfect.

And then you know, what website would you like them to look at where they can find more information?

Definitely. Just check out 6Figurechicks.com and you know, you can find out everything about the, the movement, the book series and the non profit. Clover C. Cannot be forgotten. But you know, it's kind of like the, the mothership of everything else. But everything is revolving around six Figure Chicks and the nonprofit right now. Perfect.

Well, I love, I personally love the name because I mean, I just, you know, I mean, it's kind of funny because I just love so. I mean, sometimes it'll come out of me. Like, if I'm at a networking meeting and somebody says, you know, this is what I do. I'm like, well, that sounds like a really cool idea. And then I'll say to somebody else, I just met this chick, and it's just because they have, like, landed an impression on me that I'm just so enthused that I labeled them as chick. Do you know what I mean? Rather than business women professional. Because I'm just like, you gotta meet this chick. You know what I mean? So it's a great name.

So I love that name so much.

Yeah, I love hearing that. Because, you know, I have gotten some mixed reviews. Not as many as, of course, like, you, who absolutely love the name. But I can remember there was this one message back on LinkedIn from a lady that I contacted. I was like, hey, you look like an amazing woman. I'd love to know more about your story and possibly feature you in one of the books. She just came right back, and she was like, well, one, I'm not a chick, and two, I'm not six figures. I'm seven.

And I'm like, okay, well, congratulations. Yikes. Just such a catchy name. And that's why I love it.

Yeah, I love it, too. I think it's great. So what I hear about this is just from listening to you for the first few minutes, is that you started this business, but you came out with a nonprofit as well, to help support women. As. As long. As long as you go with the business, which I love, because often, you know, some people are saying, well, I'd like to do a nonprofit someday and do this whole thing. How did the idea for the business come along and what prompted the nonprofit work? Let me know.

Yeah, no worries. Thanks for asking that. So it all started, of course, with the mothership. Clover C. Was that a business mastermind? And the coach, My coach at the time, brought in a publicist to speak to the group, and she was like, the easiest, quickest way to become a published author is to do an anthology, which is a book collaboration with other people. I knew about them. My clients had done them. We've helped them in the past.

So I was like, okay, well, I can do it. Like, so I just bought the package. I was like, let's do it. And then, you know, six or months or so later, I finally figured out what I was going to write about, because she was like, well, why don't you write about virtual assistants? And that was like when Covid was going on, so everybody and their brother was a va and writing about it, you know, how to become a virtual assistant in 30 days or whatever.

I know, I was like, I don't

want to be like everybody else.

So Sidebar for everybody listening. I am a fitness and wellness professional and during the COVID years, it was suddenly like, oh, you can have a virtual business now, be just as successful as in person. I mean, yes, you can have a virtual business, but it's also going to completely different than an in person one. And you have to learn quite a bit to understand how to do it. And then, you know, and people, there was people who did learn and then people who just exit completely out of the industry because they didn't understand how to do it or want to do it. And now some of them are back years later because there's more in person. So sidebar for everybody listening, just know that we love virtual, but we also love in person. So, you know, we're not coming out and saying you can't do it, but at the same time we're just saying it might have flooded the market so much to the point that everyone had an online course and we're all trying to survive.

But you know, at the same time I just had to laugh because it was like a steep learning curve for a lot of people. And I'm sure you probably saw that happen to some too in your industry, right?

I'm licensed. The virtual assistants, you know, companies, advertisements popping up like all the time. There's hundreds of thousands of them. But you know, that's like, okay, yeah, you can call yourself a virtual assistant or whatever, do something, but doesn't mean you're an expert just because people are fascinated by the so called easy online job. Yeah, like work anywhere. But you have to have that expertise and experience and knowledge to go behind that.

Yeah, I think there's a lot of that in the wellness industry as well. I'm sure you can agree with that too. Having probably worked for different people and then also experienced it yourself, is that people want the magic pill for almost everything. And for a lot of us, we're not afraid to get dirty and do the groundwork and do the whole thing. But we're also trying to pave the way for different generations, I'm sure, which is why you probably do the non profit. So to lift people up so there's less barriers to entry, less things going on. So we do the work, we do make it easier, but you still have to do some work in order to get from A to B to C, you know, And I just, and I want to let you know that I totally agree with the fact that some virtual assistants were great, but others, you know, maybe did not have the experience or the expertise to really understand the nature of the job and what's involved and the hours. Because, like, I think people assume virtual assistants just like clock off at like 3 o' clock every day and that's it.

Do you know what I mean? Stereotype. I'm like, I'm sorry, you know, I'm like, you know, I just, I'm not sure we talk about language like, you know, you know, in that I think. Do you think virtual assistants just have it easy? Like, it's probably one of the hardest jobs I've seen people do. So. But why don't you tell us more about that, you know? Yeah.

Okay. So, yeah, so I, I had, you know, a thriving virtual assistant company and wanted to venture out into the book anthology side. And I thought, what better way to, you know, a market my current business. But then also, you know, once I figured out what I wanted to write about, really elevate, empower and uplift other women who may not know about the power of being a published author. So I, I figured out what I wanted to write about, like over a weekend. I sat by myself and I was like, okay, no virtual assistants, what else am I going to write about and bring authors in to want to write about the same thing. I thought back to my 20 plus years in corporate and, you know, women in corporate day, like when I was in corporate, I don't know about now, but women didn't lift each other up. We didn't like, empower each other.

It was like dog eat dog a little bit, you know, like, who can get to the top the fastest?

Yeah.

And you know, so I thought, how can we reverse that? Like, let's fill in those big gaps. Because even when I got into like the entrepreneurship world, it was still kind of lonely. Yeah. Like, besides like the networking events, you meet somebody and then it's like, bye. Yeah. And you still go back to your office and yes, you are working way more than the nine to five. Yeah. But you're by yourself or your team is spread out all over.

And I thought women need to come together. We need to be confident about our success. We should be open enough to talk about how successful we are now. Like, I love money and I love saying that because six years ago I would Never have said that out loud because I would have feared what other people would think. I would be judged and I would come off as like, I have this huge ego.

I know.

Isn't that true?

What, what is the problem with talking about finances and money? So women, I often find I'll go to other networking events besides the women network. One thing I love about Sandra, she talks about the cash register ring right away. Like, she's just like, if it doesn't make sense for your bottom line, she goes, you do have to pay attention to that, you know, no matter what industry you're in. I go to these events and like, some women are just like, oh, I just do it because I like the fun of it. And I'm like, do you pay bills? I'm like, do you, do you, do you worry about groceries every week? You know, what about the gas prices that are currently going, you know, or you want to fly somewhere and your vacation is not going to be twice as much. I go to you. Do you understand that? Like, if your business can be passionate and you can love it and still make money at it, that's, that's the goal, do you know what I mean? Like, and, and talking about money should not be taboo. And I do agree with the corporate image you talked about some, because I worked in corporate in Toronto for quite a few years and it was, I mean, there was the amount of backstabbing and cutthroat, I mean, front stabbing.

I mean, like, you know, just, you know, you just, you at a time, you just, you go, I'd go, I worked in a publishing house, this corporate publishing house. We go to this publicity events and everybody just hate each other, you know, And I was just like, what are we doing here? Like, you, like, you know, we're here for the author. We do the whole thing, but the sniping and the cutthroat, you know, you know, you know, memos and the emails, you know, you get, you just reading and going, are we really arguing about this right now? It just, it was petty, superficial and stuff that I did not want to align with, you know, which is why a career changed and came back into different school and different training. But not everybody can do that, you know what I mean? So what you're creating with your six figure books. Six figure checkbooks. Excuse me, sorry. Is, you know, a way for others to understand that there is a different path and that it's not an issue anymore that we should be talking about money, we should be talking about empowering each other and we should Be celebrating when other women make money and do well, because, like, let's do it. There's enough market for everybody.

Yeah, most definitely. And it does go well beyond the title of the book, Six Figure Chicks. It's catchy, it's fun, but it's all about that, like, level of success, you know, because I came up with the title thinking about, like my first business coach, Carrie Conley. She asked me point blank, she was like, how much money do you want to make this year? My first year in business. And I'm like, I don't know, I just want to pay my bills and have a good life. And that's totally different. Right. When you get into the entrepreneur world, it's like, well, okay, you got to figure out what your goals are in order to become successful and scale your business.

So I just told her, I was like, Hey, $100,000. Let's just, you know, write it down. She did. She wrote it down. She helped me to it and she made me or she gave me the tools to work towards that goal. I reached it, I surpassed it my first year. And I was like, okay, $100,000. What is, you know, six figures? And then I'm like, what's fun? Chicks.

Six figure chicks. Like, let's have fun with this. Let's celebrate each other. And, you know, I brought in the first group of wonderful women from around the US and 2022. And it, you know, it was all kind of all virtual. And I've been a part of seven other book collaborations. I know exactly how they operate on the basic level. Six Figure Chicks then turned into a book series the following year, or, sorry, two years later, 24.

And I thought, okay, the first one was great. We reached international bestseller. We checked all the boxes. Wonderful. But with regular or normal book anthologies, you go through a series of time writing, editing, having a couple of author meetings, then you go into pre launch. You built the hype. You make sure you get bestselling status or whatever it is you're going for. And then after the launch, everyone goes on their way.

It's like, okay, well what happens now? Yeah, like now what? And I didn't want that anymore for my authors. I was like, we are missing the ball. Because these authors are referral partners, business besties, true friends or new relationships that they can build. So I change it to be community focused. And so that's why we have like Six Figure Chicks. Phoenix, Scottsdale, Houston, Volumes one through three plus growing. And I really saw the magic develop and change with that because we had in person events, photo shoots, launch parties, events after the books were published and then being able to really nurture the new relationships that we created with each other. Fast forward to today.

We have eight books, all international best selling books, 130 plus authors. We're launching our ninth one this Saturday. It's the global book. It's the first of its kind. We have women from all, all over the US and our first international author from Calgary. Great. Yeah, we're branching out. And my goal was to launch at least one book in every state.

And I kind of got stuck in Arizona because that's where I'm from. Not a bad thing. And then Houston was my first like full on community outside of Arizona. And the ladies there are just so amazing. I ended up doing three volumes there and then we're going to do a fourth one next year. But I'm like, okay, we got to go out to other states. And that's what the global is kind of setting us up for, to have ambassadors in those areas. Because I don't live in all 49 other states and other countries.

So it's challenging to find the women. But so we had all that going. It was great. Like no other anthology I've heard of or been a part of. And I love that. Then I'm like, what more can we do? How can we impact our communities more? And that's when her right to rise was created. Because I was like thinking back again. We reflect after we kind of open up Pandora's box of 20 plus years ago in our own lives.

Going at 15, I was living on my own. I had no idea what a mentor was or that I could ask adults for help. I signed myself out of high school. Like nobody asked me anything. They just said, okay, good luck. And I'm like, the women, young women today are definitely different than, you know, me. Not everyone's the same, of course, but I thought there probably still is a missing link there with young women knowing that we're here for them if they need help, if they have questions like why not share our knowledge with those women who are going to be faced with major life decisions that they don't know how to react to. And so that's, that's where it came from.

And I'm like, who doesn't love a give back? Like I love giving back and being able to offer all the expertise and knowledge that we have. And it's, you know, growing by the day with the number of authors. So I want to impact as many young women's lives as possible.

Okay, great. And just for everybody listening, you can find out more 6Figurechicks.com but what I hear, because this is a global movement like you have mentioned, I mean, one booking state plus like, you know, one in Calgary and more coming. How do people, if they're listening, how do women apply for the process to, you know, to be considered as an author or what do they start next? Do they reach out to. Do you have like a team that they reach out to or you know, where, where do they start with you?

Yeah, just go to six figurechicks.com There is, you know, a button, buttons all over. Apply to become an author. Contact me now. Like get on my calendar. You know, I have myself and my executive assistant Kylie. Like we're all ready to talk to them because everyone has like the story, the messy middle before they came to who they are today. Like some of us think like all the challenging stuff that we went through is something that we should be ashamed of or that we don't talk about because people will think differently of us. But actually that's our superpower.

Yeah.

And so I'm just letting that land for a sec for everybody listening because here we have someone who's created a global movement, a community, and you're interviewing other women, you're encouraging them to attend, but you're creating the her right to rise as well, to give back to women who may not have the direction or even just a platform. Because really this is a global platform for women's voices to be heard in paper and probably in audiobooks too. And, and also, you know, in interviews with you and creating community after the book is released. So there's support and ongoing issues with the authors that can be addressed. If somebody encounters a problem, there's probably another author who could be like, oh, I figured that out too. This is what I did. Thanks to Mel C's help, do you know what I mean? And they come together instead of, you know, backbiting like the corporate world used to be. Or maybe it still is.

I haven't been in it so long, I wouldn't know. But I can't speak to that. But I can say that like, what I love to hear is that there is an active, ongoing role of support from everybody involved, you know.

Yeah, I mean, I, I love, you know, continuing to offer more because it's like I said at the beginning, it doesn't just stop after the book is launched. Like we are here along the entire author process. It's a third, you know, a three month process where the women Come on. They write their one chapter, which is like a mini memoir, you know, one chapter kind of talking about who they were before they are now. Like, what led to their success so that readers know they can do it, too. Like, if somebody else is living on their own at 15 or somebody else got pregnant at 17, somebody lost their job and had to figure out what to do at 30. Like, those stories will resonate with enough people that they know they're not alone. They're not the only ones going through this.

And that's what it's there for. We offer practical, tactical knowledge in the book, too. So we have authors talk about roadblocks like imposter syndrome, perfectionism, judgment. We've all experienced something like that. And then also we offer best business practices, what we use to move the needle forward, like networking, public speaking, all of these things that I love. Anyone can pick up the book, women or men, and grab golden nuggets and just walk away and start putting them into action. And then with the authors, yeah, we have three launches. So we do the ebook, we do the Audible, and the Audible is amazing.

Now, the last four books, we started this in every author's voice. You'll hear them read their chapters.

That's so cool.

Yeah. And then we have the paperback book launch party for all communities. And it's just an amazing way for these authors to. To now leverage their new lifelong marketing tool. Like, people are going to throw away a business card, but they'll never throw away a book. You're forever in print. And the best part about this is the transformation I see in the author's face once they see the print with their name on it. Stories that they may not have told anyone before, but these are stories where people are going to connect with them on a much deeper level, and we're going to be able to stand above the crowded marketplace.

So in Nova Scotia, we have a university that was started by Roman Catholic nuns, and it evolved over time. Its main focus is women. Women in business, women, you know, in philanthropy, women in different industries. It's where I went from my undergraduate for my business degree for marketing and management. Really great university. Still relatively small as as far as the other universities in town go. But what I want to highlight is, like, they have a women's wall of honor as part of a fundraising project that they did, and they built, like, a platform they built for women to do it virtually as well. You could, you know, remember someone or, you know, even people who are living.

You could do it to honor them, you know, buy A brick in the wall. And then that would get the thing. What I hear from this is with your books, and correct me if I'm wrong, you're creating like a historical record for women of all ages and different, you know, industries to come together and like share information. Not just stories, but information on how to survive, how to be resilient and how to have successes and celebrate them all at the same time. And I mean, does that feel like it resonates with you as to like that summary of what I just said, the historical record? Because the books really are, like you said, they throw you a business card. Books are historical record in, in, in, in time. I mean, that's great. Yeah.

I mean, I love that. And it's. Yes, spot on because I, I tell people, like, these books are going to be in the hands of our grandchildren, well, after we're gone. They're forever in print, they're forever online, you know, like in multiple areas. You know, we're going into different publishing houses, so we'll be in retail and libraries. Like, the more knowledge, the better. And to be able to use our author's voices and actual real life experiences to empower and inspire others is priceless.

Yeah. And I would love to. I don't, I don't attend them anymore because I'm no longer a trade sales coordinator at a publishing house. But we used to set up at trade sales and booths at different, you know, for librarians, for teachers and booksellers across. You know, this is before Amazon really came into play. But, you know, one of the things about the book shows that are so good is you still get to meet people in person and they get to see that and they hold the book and look through it and see the value immediately. You know, like, and they're, and they're there because they love books. They have an interest in getting that book in their classroom or their library or college library, you know, or bookstore.

And what I love is that this is what's going to happen virtually for people around the world who can check out your website, which is again, everybody listening six figurechicks.com and see for themselves how strong these women are to come through different things, but also how sharing and caring it is to create a community like this so women can do this for each other, so they can uplift each other. I mean, I really, I didn't realize it was such a global movement myself before this, every listening. But now, I mean, I can't wait to spread the word for the EO Network Halifax chapter. And I'M going to email the Ontario Canada chapter Joy as well and just basically spread the word because I think more Canadians need to get involved in what you're doing.

Yeah, for sure. I was thinking as soon as we were talking, I'm like, well, you need to be in the book. I am going up to Calgary in July, one of my poach retreats to stay a couple extra days in Calgary. So I, I've reached out to a couple of e women there and hope to, you know, meet some local Calgary six figure chicks before I head out. Because that's, that's the most important thing about this is just elevating each other and using our stories and just really understanding how powerful your story is. Like I said earlier, it's unimaginable how many new conversations are started. I see women all the time on their social media. Like when it's getting close to their book launch, you know, promoting the upcoming launch and going, oh my gosh, I'm going to be a published author.

You know, check it out, save the date kind of thing. I see hundreds of replies, hundreds of likes of like, oh my gosh, I didn't know you were going to be an author. What are you like, I can't wait to read it. Because they all want to be a supportive of people in your circle. Right? You want to be like super excited. But then also like, this is far left field. Oh my God, you're a doctor, a coach, you know, a flight attendant, whatever, business owner. And now you're going to be an international bestselling author.

Oh my gosh, I want to have a conversation with you. Yeah, that's simple.

Yeah. We have to wrap up in a few minutes, but I want everyone to understand that you can connect with Mel C. And find her at 6Figurechicks.com and I strongly encourage you to look at the website and apply because like being part of historical record, which has a global movement and a platform of collaboration, I can't think of a better thing in my lifetime of experience for women business owners and women professionals to get involved. And yes, definitely let me know of any events coming up that you've got coming up right now because we're up the first few minutes. So go ahead and talk about it as long as you want. You have the floor. Yeah.

Thanks so much. I almost forgot and I'm so excited. Okay. So for her right to rise, we have mentorship events and where we work with nonprofits and other colleges and universities to speak to their students. This month, on May 27, we are having our first ever virtual fishbowl. What's a fishbowl? A fishbowl is where we're going to have our authors online and welcome young women 18 to 28 to ask us anything they want. They want to know about careers, professional personal lives, how to start a business, what to do after graduation. Like, they have the floor.

So we're going to be there for 90 minutes answering any and all questions. Will young women have perfect.

And do people sign up on six figurechicks.com is that where they find out more information about the event?

Yeah, it's on herright to rise.org but there was, you know, another kind of like a banner on six figure chicks that will be able to register. And it's free. Like, free for all. Come with your question.

Yes, yes. I'm gonna send this out in my newsletter and like, and. And, like, talk to people about it. That's perfect. Especially for the age group 18 to 28. Oh, my gosh. I mean, the amount of stuff that everybody has to deal with these days, it just, you know, the. The challenges.

I mean, a fishbowl, perfect opportunity to just like, land some questions and ask. Ask what's going on. Yeah. Great. Okay. Well, Mel C, thank you so much for coming on my podcast today. And I appreciate all the chats. I mean, even when we got a little into virtual assistant and the whole thing, a little Covid, we came back to six figure chicks.

And I hope everybody realizes that you are approachable, you are interested in learning more, and it's time to reach out to Mel C. And find out what's going on. So thank you again.

Thanks, Tara. Thank you.

All right, that's it for plus with Terra, the podcast episode. Thanks for listening. Talk to you soon.