Speaker 1: Hey, ba fam, so we need to favor me and Mandra.
Speaker 1: We need more reviews because it really helps like folks
Speaker 1: to find us. It helps in the charts and the
Speaker 1: ratings and all the algorithms and all them things.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 1: So if you leave us a review, we might pick
Speaker 1: it in a read it online. Okay, Manny, do we
Speaker 1: have a new review that's like, you know, really cute
Speaker 1: indicative of like how we want to be represented to
Speaker 1: the world.
Speaker 3: No pressure, I got a couple of juicy ones actually
Speaker 3: that just came in this past a week, So thank you,
Speaker 3: BA fan. Specifically to listener h h Shaw's I've been
Speaker 3: listening to this podcast for a while and I still
Speaker 3: make some bad decisions. It's okay, we still love you, h.
Speaker 3: I always have the voices of Bandy Tiffany in my head,
Speaker 3: like girl, get it together, you know what to do.
Speaker 3: Thanks for the amazing advice, encouragement, guests, and so much more.
Speaker 3: As I'm reading this review, I'm also like, wow, do
Speaker 3: we not do that great of a job on the show?
Speaker 3: Don't just take notes use them? Okay, And then listener
Speaker 3: to says this is a must here podcast, very good advice.
Speaker 3: I listen every week. All these are actually really nice.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and so if you want us to read your
Speaker 1: review and you want us to smile big and cheesy,
Speaker 1: please leave us a review and share the podcast with
Speaker 1: the people that you love, even your haters too, because
Speaker 1: they need some financial education as well. Thanks. Hey, hey,
Speaker 1: hey we're back.
Speaker 2: We're black, but.
Speaker 1: B B B brown.
Speaker 3: Ambition and ambition and ambition, ambition, and.
Speaker 1: We got a little we have some vanilla bean brown
Speaker 1: in the studio today. I was wondering, you know, we know,
Speaker 1: we think you know, Mandy, we think Wait a minute,
Speaker 1: will we give you like a like a latte.
Speaker 3: Let's not start the cast system again, Hey to finis,
Speaker 3: can we not be seeing in origin like.
Speaker 1: Mandy's in her winter winter winter color?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I am. I listen to my Midwestern family. I
Speaker 3: represent you these minds.
Speaker 1: You know what. It's so crazy because I was looking
Speaker 1: at myself in the mirror. I was like, mean, well
Speaker 1: for me, I'm like, you look so pale. I'm like, God,
Speaker 1: that's why it's winter.
Speaker 3: But this is me, this shade, this is the shade
Speaker 3: that we are right now, and this I will be
Speaker 3: in about July. Okay, if you're watching on YouTube, I'm
Speaker 3: holding up my winter in my summer. If you know
Speaker 3: you know hi, Vivian two.
Speaker 1: Yes, we have a special guest in the stew today.
Speaker 1: Her name is Vivian too. And you know you know
Speaker 1: her because come on, she's your rich bff. You have
Speaker 1: seen her videos unless you just don't have a cell
Speaker 1: phone or internet or a computer.
Speaker 3: Or someone or knows someone who has a phone or
Speaker 3: an internet or a computer and have no friends.
Speaker 1: Yes, you know Vivie. So I'm gonna be her official
Speaker 1: bio and they're gonna introduce her to the stew. So
Speaker 1: when it came to when, when the burnout came for
Speaker 1: former JP Morgan trader Vivi to she decided to leave
Speaker 1: Wall Street for a gig in the media space. But
Speaker 1: when she did, she took with her her financial savvy
Speaker 1: that would lead her down an unexpected path, building a
Speaker 1: career out of offering fun, digestible financial advice on social media.
Speaker 1: We love her for that. She was always the one
Speaker 1: that her friends would go to for this sort of help.
Speaker 1: And so she started. And once you start, Vivian, what
Speaker 1: year when you started going viral?
Speaker 4: It was January first of twenty twenty one, very first
Speaker 4: day of the year.
Speaker 2: First video went viralva.
Speaker 1: Went viral love it because she's like, what a winner. Okay,
Speaker 1: we really realized. She realized how great the need was
Speaker 1: for financial literacy beyond the big banks. And honestly, we
Speaker 1: all say this because we got the I think we
Speaker 1: all got this from Bernard that financial services has been
Speaker 1: historically mail Pale and stam and these lessons are things
Speaker 1: that rich dads have been teaching their rich sons on
Speaker 1: the golf course. This is what Vivian has shared. So
Speaker 1: Vivian told this is Vivian told Forbes. Right, So she's
Speaker 1: got three point five million followers that she lovely calls
Speaker 1: the leftovers.
Speaker 2: That is not even accurate.
Speaker 1: I'm going to say, is it up to day now?
Speaker 1: I was gonna say, I feel like it's more than
Speaker 1: this now.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's closer to six or seven.
Speaker 1: That's incredible. Okay, I'm a leftover. So it includes women,
Speaker 1: people of color, and marginalized communities that have not gotten
Speaker 1: the same level of financial education. You're rich, bff. This
Speaker 1: is where she comes in. Her goal is to turn
Speaker 1: finance into a fun nance space. I love that to
Speaker 1: speak and to speak to those who are seeking financial advice.
Speaker 1: She has landed partnerships with places like MetLife, r At
Speaker 1: the Runway, Credit Karma, and Vesco wellth Front, and is
Speaker 1: now being represented by W M. E. Her first book,
Speaker 1: which by the way, is a New York Times bestseller.
Speaker 1: Because of course the.
Speaker 3: F it is, so what you're saying is you're rich.
Speaker 5: BFF is rich?
Speaker 1: Yes, right, rich richf we get it right? So yeah,
Speaker 1: she and also too left a. She was ranked number
Speaker 1: fifty on the inaugural Forbes Top Creators List in twenty
Speaker 1: twenty two. Like, yes, we welcome Vivian two to the
Speaker 1: stew Bay.
Speaker 3: You.
Speaker 2: Thank you guys so much for having me, and I'm
Speaker 2: so happy to be here.
Speaker 4: You guys are like old friends. It's been a minute.
Speaker 4: I haven't seen y'all in a second.
Speaker 1: I know, well I've met you, Vivian, like for the
Speaker 1: first time in person on.
Speaker 2: The White House. I know, humble brag.
Speaker 1: I mean it was crazy because we were like, a,
Speaker 1: were we gonna bet the president? We're not, We're not.
Speaker 1: And then we met the first lady, which I was like,
Speaker 1: that's more than enough, and then the President we were
Speaker 1: all like, this is your life? Like it was just insane.
Speaker 1: So it was a great place to just be Like,
Speaker 1: I was overwhelmed with the emotion of the grandness of
Speaker 1: it all. And then I got to meet you, which
Speaker 1: was so awesome.
Speaker 4: Yeah, Tiffany was overwhelmed with the emotion of the grandness.
Speaker 4: I was overwhelmed by the free snacks.
Speaker 2: No im over here in the back, just trying to eat.
Speaker 3: Wait, so y'all met at the White House. I met you,
Speaker 3: Vivian for the first time at the Marshalls. We have
Speaker 3: a partner and partner in common Marshalls. Ye, I mean
Speaker 3: that we were on the panel a couple of years.
Speaker 1: Ago Marshall's I'm Available Marshals say.
Speaker 4: Mandy was chatting all things career and I was chatting
Speaker 4: all things money. And it was a summit to actually
Speaker 4: empower women to make choices that align with their values
Speaker 4: and you know, essentially put their money where their mouth
Speaker 4: is and be really, really mindful with their spending.
Speaker 2: It's cool.
Speaker 3: And if you want to know how savvy Vivian is,
Speaker 3: if you didn't already follow her, like we said at
Speaker 3: that event, I remember being at the table. We had
Speaker 3: just gotten done, and I was starving and I was
Speaker 3: eating and like you were gone, and I was like, oh,
Speaker 3: Vivian left that didn't get to say goodbye, and I'm
Speaker 3: just eating and then and then and then they me
Speaker 3: like forty five minutes later, Vivian and whoever your plus
Speaker 3: one was, you come back your friend, right, you come
Speaker 3: back in with like loaded down with swag because she
Speaker 3: was like, oh, I went shopping.
Speaker 2: Because I didn't Mandy exposing me.
Speaker 3: Everybody went shopping and I did not get the memo
Speaker 3: that we could go and like shop from the rack,
Speaker 3: like just take stuff. And I but I'm like, I
Speaker 3: should have see when you're with Vivian, just follow her, y'all,
Speaker 3: but literally, not like on social media, like just follow
Speaker 3: her around and I feel like you'll just a little tips,
Speaker 3: like she'll land just like the it's the yellow brick
Speaker 3: Road personified. It's sort of how I would describe you.
Speaker 3: So I'm very very happy. And on top of that,
Speaker 3: you're just a nice, you know, human being. And I
Speaker 3: think I DMG the other day to let you know
Speaker 3: that I've been listening to and I was trying to
Speaker 3: find my stupid notes because I always like to take notes,
Speaker 3: but I was listening to your podcast, Networth and Chill
Speaker 3: if we may talk about that, and you were, and
Speaker 3: I learned about like your background, and I think for
Speaker 3: for the for the people who only know you from
Speaker 3: TikTok and haven't really dived deeper, maybe haven't listened to
Speaker 3: your personal stories on your podcast, tell us introduce yourself
Speaker 3: and like the Vivian before your rich bff, because you
Speaker 3: are a favorite Wall Street girly, but you weren't just
Speaker 3: a Wall Street girly, Like you left Wall Street and
Speaker 3: then you had this career afterward.
Speaker 5: I want to hear more about that.
Speaker 3: So tell the folks what you want them to know
Speaker 3: about how you got here.
Speaker 4: Yeah, So, I, like so many people in this country,
Speaker 4: come from an immigrant background. My parents immigrated to the
Speaker 4: US from Shanghai in their early twenties. And I love
Speaker 4: my mom and dad. I hope that they don't hear
Speaker 4: me say this. They are the best parents.
Speaker 2: But they are very very frugal, and I.
Speaker 4: Wouldn't necessarily say that they've been smart with their money.
Speaker 4: I think the money that they do have a lot
Speaker 4: of it comes from extreme saving very much the family
Speaker 4: where like you open like the cookie tin and it's
Speaker 4: like a sewing kit inside, and like you go to
Speaker 4: the under the kitchen cabinet like there's just like one
Speaker 4: random bag that houses all of the other bags, and.
Speaker 2: Like, you know, you reuse those bags every day as a.
Speaker 4: Lunch box, and like very you know, almost like down
Speaker 4: to the tea Chinese, American, Asian tropes.
Speaker 2: And I think that made me a very.
Speaker 4: Worried and a very scarce minded kid. It always felt
Speaker 4: like the other shoe was going to drop. Neither of
Speaker 4: my parents at the time, especially when I was younger,
Speaker 4: I would say before high school, neither of them were
Speaker 4: high earners. So we oftentimes lived in the smallest home
Speaker 4: or smallest apartment in the school district. And my parents
Speaker 4: were very, very focused on education because to them it
Speaker 4: felt like a form of class mobility socioeconomic mobility, So
Speaker 4: instead of moving into a nicer home, they would move
Speaker 4: into the smallest home in the nicest school district, right
Speaker 4: on the edge, right before you got into the other district.
Speaker 4: And that is how I was able to go to
Speaker 4: some of the best public schools in the country, and
Speaker 4: my parents didn't have to pay for that education, but
Speaker 4: I was able to get you know, a bit of
Speaker 4: a head start there because I had some really good
Speaker 4: public schools that I went to, and from there I
Speaker 4: was told, you know, do the right thing. This is
Speaker 4: the American dream blueprint, right, you get a grades. I
Speaker 4: was the valedictorian of my high school. I love to
Speaker 4: bring this up whenever anybody asks, because it's like my
Speaker 4: crowning achievement of life.
Speaker 3: Your parents must have been so proud or were they.
Speaker 4: Like, Mandy, please, my parents were like, this is your obligation.
Speaker 1: I was gonna say, Manny, do you know do you
Speaker 1: know immigrant parents? My parents are Nigerian, which is very
Speaker 1: similar to that, like like you said, Vivian, super like frugal,
Speaker 1: but also education is everything. It is the only way
Speaker 1: out and also too like an A is like I
Speaker 1: used to my dad would tell me that a B
Speaker 1: was was no, a C was failing, A B was
Speaker 1: a C, and A was you better have.
Speaker 4: I'm sorry, Nigerian parents, you come home with a ninety eight.
Speaker 4: They're asking you were the other two person?
Speaker 1: I mean, so I'm feeling right here, Vivid. I'm like, yes,
Speaker 1: go ahead, continue. So this is what you grew up.
Speaker 2: So this is how I grew up. But I was
Speaker 2: a very good student.
Speaker 4: I ended up getting into the University of Chicago, and
Speaker 4: the deal that I had made with my parents essentially
Speaker 4: was like they had been saving and investing their entire
Speaker 4: lifetimes for one thing, and that was for me to
Speaker 4: be able to go to school. And when I got
Speaker 4: into U Chicago, it is one of the most expensive
Speaker 4: schools in the country, and I was very nervous about this.
Speaker 4: And fortunately for me, through high school, my family's financial
Speaker 4: situation improved quite a bit because my mom ended up
Speaker 4: leaving the pharmaceutical industry. She was like a chemist, a
Speaker 4: supervisor of a lab, and went into consulting. So then
Speaker 4: she started consulting for pharmaceutical companies, started making quite a
Speaker 4: bit more money, and I was able to go to
Speaker 4: Chicago and they gave me the greatest gift, and we
Speaker 4: as Americans know this is truly the greatest gift. I
Speaker 4: graduated without student loans, without student debt.
Speaker 3: That's what your parents so they were able to. Did
Speaker 3: you get financial aid at all? So, I mean like
Speaker 3: real aid, not loans, which they do call aid.
Speaker 4: So I got fifteen thousand dollars in merit like grants
Speaker 4: from the school themselves. I believe that was per year,
Speaker 4: and then I got additional private scholarships, but the remainder,
Speaker 4: which was still six figures. My parents were able to
Speaker 4: help pick up, which was wonderful. And I know, you know,
Speaker 4: I look back on high school and I look back
Speaker 4: on some of the students that would drive Mercedeses or
Speaker 4: Audi's or you know, these fancy cars into the parking lot.
Speaker 4: And I had a beat up and I mean beat up.
Speaker 4: Sheldon was the best car ever, But Sheldon was on
Speaker 4: his last legs.
Speaker 3: Not Sheldon.
Speaker 4: He was a beat up Honda, a cord with the
Speaker 4: paint coming off and the headlights like barely worked, so
Speaker 4: like on rainy days, I was like, I don't know
Speaker 4: if I should drive the school. But you know, I
Speaker 4: always thought that, like we just didn't have it like that.
Speaker 4: But then to hear from some of those peers who
Speaker 4: drove those types of cars and wore nicer clothes than
Speaker 4: me and like had more bigger houses whatever. To hear
Speaker 4: that they were choosing other alternatives to college, you know,
Speaker 4: doing two years at a community college to then be
Speaker 4: able to afford to go to the school that they
Speaker 4: wanted to go to, or choosing their second choice even
Speaker 4: if they got into their top choice because of pricing.
Speaker 2: It made me really reevaluate my parents' relationship to money.
Speaker 4: And instead of like making fun of them, calling them
Speaker 4: like cheap or whatever, like, I just realized that they
Speaker 4: had bigger goals, and their goals were very different than
Speaker 4: some of our neighbors.
Speaker 2: But I'm at U Chicago.
Speaker 4: I'm a decent student, but I'm going to be honest you,
Speaker 4: Chicago is not a Maryland public school. Like everybody at
Speaker 4: Chicago was their high school valedictorian. I'm certainly not the
Speaker 4: artest kid in the room. Ever Again, after that moment,
Speaker 4: I get to junior year and essentially I have no
Speaker 4: idea what I want to do with my life. But
Speaker 4: I don't have a trust fund to fall back on.
Speaker 4: I cannot go spend a year backpacking and figure it out.
Speaker 2: I got to have a job.
Speaker 4: So a lot of my friends at the time were
Speaker 4: interviewing for jobs on Wall Street, and I was like,
Speaker 4: you know, what, seems as good of an idea as any.
Speaker 4: There was no real passion. I just wanted to make money.
Speaker 4: I wanted to live in a cool, fun, sexy city
Speaker 4: like New York, and I wanted to do the young
Speaker 4: twenty something thing. So I interviewed ended up getting an
Speaker 4: internship at JP Morgan on the trading desk, and that
Speaker 4: summer they hired three interns, myself and two young men,
Speaker 4: and I was the only one who got a return offer.
Speaker 4: It was a super cutthroat summer. It was very competitive
Speaker 4: as always who's in first, who's out last, who's putting
Speaker 4: out more work product, who's mingling networking more, who's It
Speaker 4: was always a game of like who could do more
Speaker 4: with less? And I think that was the first time
Speaker 4: I ever realized. I was like, I'm just as good
Speaker 4: as these people sitting around me. I'm just as smart,
Speaker 4: I can run just as fast, and I can accomplish
Speaker 4: just as much, even if I don't necessarily look like
Speaker 4: everybody around me.
Speaker 1: So what made you decide that? Like, okay, so you
Speaker 1: go to JP Morgan, You're like, womp, not for me.
Speaker 4: That's not quite how it works.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 4: So I got there and I was like, wop, this
Speaker 4: is definitely for me.
Speaker 2: I want to be rich.
Speaker 4: I you know, I find my mentor and she is
Speaker 4: still my mentor to this day. She's the coolest person
Speaker 4: I've ever met. She and I wanted to be like
Speaker 4: her for very shallow reasons. At the beginning, she would
Speaker 4: click clack in on those marble floors with her like
Speaker 4: Gucci stilettos, like have a new like Chanel bag on
Speaker 4: the counter every day. And I was like, I want
Speaker 4: Gucci stilettos, and I want a new Chanel bag every day,
Speaker 4: And so I wanted to be like her. But because
Speaker 4: of her, and because of her explanation to me of like,
Speaker 4: you can only have these things if you're good with money,
Speaker 4: I started investing in my four ow and k I
Speaker 4: started being mindful of, like how long do I have
Speaker 4: to tough it out here to get a pension? Like,
Speaker 4: you know, what should I be doing with my exercesse money?
Speaker 4: Should I budget better?
Speaker 1: Should I save?
Speaker 4: Should I be investing outside of this? And I started
Speaker 4: getting decent with my money. And while that happened a
Speaker 4: year and a half in the head of my desk,
Speaker 4: I'll let go. Half the team got fired, new people
Speaker 4: brought in, and I was assigned to work for somebody else.
Speaker 2: And that was the beginning of the end.
Speaker 4: Literally, dun dot like the beginning of the end. And
Speaker 4: this guy just hated me. He didn't like that I
Speaker 4: was girly. He didn't like how my nails click clacked
Speaker 4: on the keyboard, he didn't like how I looked and
Speaker 4: who I was. And the final straw was I came
Speaker 4: into work one day with a long cardigan on and
Speaker 4: he looked at me, touched his hands together, bowed and said,
Speaker 4: is that a kimono?
Speaker 5: M And wow?
Speaker 4: You know how, I don't know if this happens to you, guys,
Speaker 4: but when something like that happens to you, you think
Speaker 4: of all the insults you want to say back, like
Speaker 4: six hours later.
Speaker 3: Yeah, especially when they're your boss.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and you're not a power.
Speaker 3: When I heard that anecdote that you just said on
Speaker 3: your podcast, Networth and Chill, y'all, I will plug it
Speaker 3: for you, don't worry. And the first thing I thought
Speaker 3: of was I wish I could say I was surprised,
Speaker 3: But I think around that, I think we're around the
Speaker 3: same age and around the same time you were working
Speaker 3: on Wall Street. I was reporting on Wall Street as
Speaker 3: a reporter at Business Insider, And I'll never forget like
Speaker 3: b I in the early days was a wild wild West,
Speaker 3: like we were just a bunch of kids on the Internet,
Speaker 3: like you know, writing every wanted to. There were no
Speaker 3: rules of journalism anymore. It was like post media apocalyptic
Speaker 3: moment from the recession, and it was about clicks. We
Speaker 3: were like headlines and photo, headlines and photo that was
Speaker 3: everything on BI it was the main page. And I
Speaker 3: was specifically told by an editor feature an Asian American woman,
Speaker 3: Feature young Asian American women in your photos, and the
Speaker 3: men of Wall Street will click. There was like this
Speaker 3: weird Yes I'm not kidding, No, I know it's fucking gross,
Speaker 3: but this fetishization at the same time, but then use
Speaker 3: it on the you know, the other end of it
Speaker 3: that you experience is this, you know, this racism, this
Speaker 3: other ring and I'm just really sorry that that happened
Speaker 3: to you. I'm so glad you got to give them
Speaker 3: the double middle finger. And I did not take that
Speaker 3: editor's advice, but I will say, like, who writes the
Speaker 3: news and who's you know, in charge on Wall Street?
Speaker 3: It so matters. Yeah, so then you.
Speaker 1: Just like, how long did you last after that?
Speaker 2: A couple of months?
Speaker 4: Oh, but can I tell this, I've never told this
Speaker 4: story before, but this is quite spicy.
Speaker 2: So I wanted to like leave that day.
Speaker 5: I liked.
Speaker 4: I was like, I basically texted my mentor on the
Speaker 4: side because she was still on the team, and I
Speaker 4: was like I'm about to quit, like right now, like
Speaker 4: I am leaving today, And she was like, don't be
Speaker 4: an idiot, you don't have another job lined up.
Speaker 2: What are you doing. We'll talk about it after work.
Speaker 4: And she basically coached me through it, and I think
Speaker 4: she was obviously very very sad to hear that that
Speaker 4: had happened to me. But she introduced me to my
Speaker 4: second manager, my very first manager at BuzzFeed, and I
Speaker 4: was so strategic with this guys. I started interviewing and
Speaker 4: right before I knew I was going to quit, like
Speaker 4: I basically I was at the finish line.
Speaker 2: I knew things were going good. I was like, I'm
Speaker 2: ready to quit.
Speaker 4: I took my two week mandatory block leave, so well, yeah,
Speaker 4: I two weeks of paid vacation. I went to Spain
Speaker 4: with my now fiance, and.
Speaker 2: The day I got back from vacation, I quit.
Speaker 3: I love that for you, Vivian, I love that too.
Speaker 5: You're not the only one, Like that's not an uncommon.
Speaker 3: Way to quit, and it's so smart. Ipially not going
Speaker 3: to pay it back these days. It's all like unlimited PTOs,
Speaker 3: we don't have to pay you out. That's superking smart,
Speaker 3: okayba fan, We're going to take a quick break and
Speaker 3: be right back with more from our conversation with Vivian two.
Speaker 3: You're rich bff, and we're back ba fam more from
Speaker 3: our conversation with Vivian two.
Speaker 1: And so you switched out the BuzzFeed and you're like, Okay,
Speaker 1: I'm in.
Speaker 3: Wait, how I don't want to hear about that, Like
Speaker 3: he switched to BuzzFeed, Like why what were you doing
Speaker 3: at BuzzFeed? And how is it different than than Wall Street? Yeah?
Speaker 4: It was totally different. I mean, thanks for asking that, Mandy.
Speaker 4: I know you focus a lot about, you know, career
Speaker 4: movement and mobility and making some of those important changes.
Speaker 2: I was terrified because I was like.
Speaker 4: Well, I haven't even been in this seat for you know,
Speaker 4: the four years that is expected of me before I
Speaker 4: can like reasonably switch to another bank, and people don't
Speaker 4: think I'm a job jumper. So I had ended up
Speaker 4: having this conversation with my mentor's best friend and she
Speaker 4: put me in contact with HR. I went through the
Speaker 4: series of interviews for a job that I had no
Speaker 4: idea how to do. It was a digital media strategy
Speaker 4: sales job at BuzzFeed. Basically, I was working with corporations
Speaker 4: at a very baseline level to put ads on the Internet,
Speaker 4: but at a very high level building out joint ventures
Speaker 4: or creating new websites, or doing hosting irl pop ups
Speaker 4: and flat iron or you know, full custom content campaigns.
Speaker 4: I didn't know how to do any of that. I
Speaker 4: didn't know what a CPM was. I didn't know what
Speaker 4: an impression was.
Speaker 2: I didn't know how to make content. I didn't know
Speaker 2: what reporting was. I didn't know anything.
Speaker 4: But when I spoke with my mentor's best friend, I said,
Speaker 4: I am the fastest learner you have ever met. I
Speaker 4: can learn anything in three months. And I promise you
Speaker 4: I'm going to put everything in that I have and
Speaker 4: I'm going to be better than your current best. And
Speaker 4: I think that was like a big promise. But like
Speaker 4: I told her that, and she was and I did
Speaker 4: have this in my sleeve knowing this, that person that
Speaker 4: became my very first boss had also left Wall Street
Speaker 4: to go into media and tech. So I think again
Speaker 4: she had like a little soft spot for me, knowing
Speaker 4: that she had escaped a similar fate, you know, for
Speaker 4: similar reasons.
Speaker 2: To see me now.
Speaker 4: Feeling like I had to escape. She was like I'm
Speaker 4: willing to take a flyer. And so when I did
Speaker 4: well in the other interviews and had a good sales
Speaker 4: pitch and was able to showcase that regardless of if
Speaker 4: I was calling a hedge fund analyst to talk about
Speaker 4: a stock that I thought was a decent buy for
Speaker 4: their portfolio, or whether I was calling a corporate client
Speaker 4: to recommend a certain type of video asset that I
Speaker 4: thought would be good for their advertising campaign.
Speaker 2: Sales as sales, baby, you either got the sauce or
Speaker 2: you don't.
Speaker 1: Separately.
Speaker 2: Sauce sold separately.
Speaker 4: And so you know, I think she saw that I
Speaker 4: had that natural sales instinct and they hired me on
Speaker 4: that entire instinct and nothing else.
Speaker 2: And within three years I became.
Speaker 4: One of the top sellers, and within almost four I
Speaker 4: was the top seller.
Speaker 3: Wow, you know what I can I ask you one
Speaker 3: quick question, just to prove a point. How when you
Speaker 3: decided to leave JP Morgan, Like, how much time and
Speaker 3: you reached out to your mentor at what point did
Speaker 3: you touch your resume to like focus on that in
Speaker 3: terms of your pivot into a new career field.
Speaker 4: The same night that guy asked me if I was
Speaker 4: wearing a kimono.
Speaker 2: I was like, get me.
Speaker 3: Out of here, right, and like when you were approaching
Speaker 3: it though, like what I'm heard from your story is
Speaker 3: that the personal connections and you can roll your eyes
Speaker 3: of this a lot and like neppo baby, bullshit whatever.
Speaker 3: But like I feel like leaning into your mentor leaning
Speaker 3: in and just not even like having an end goal
Speaker 3: in mind, just like, hey, I had a shit day,
Speaker 3: I want to leave this place. Yeah, letting them know
Speaker 3: that you were interested in a new beginning and like
Speaker 3: them starting to get that ball rolling to the point
Speaker 3: where you know, you get the interview, but you still
Speaker 3: got to sell it and having that person like understanding
Speaker 3: what their objections are going to be. Oh, on paper,
Speaker 3: this doesn't look like it's the right fit, but you're
Speaker 3: going to tell the story that convinces them that you're
Speaker 3: the person for the job. And I think that's so
Speaker 3: important because I work with so many women who are
Speaker 3: stuck because they are psyching themselves out about that pivot
Speaker 3: into a new path. And I just really appreciate the
Speaker 3: way you backed yourself and went for it.
Speaker 4: I mean, what's that phrase, like your network is your
Speaker 4: net worth? Like you need to be networking because I
Speaker 4: didn't have the skills, I didn't have the experience. I
Speaker 4: certainly didn't have the resume to get that job. Frankly,
Speaker 4: from a resume perspective, I didn't deserve it. But because
Speaker 4: I had an internal champion, I had someone who was
Speaker 4: advocating for me, and that person was going to become
Speaker 4: my manager. I essentially had the key stakeholder's attention, and
Speaker 4: I not only had her attention, but her essentially buy in.
Speaker 4: And that is the only reason I got that job.
Speaker 4: And can I tell you something. On that team, there
Speaker 4: were three managers. My manager end up being one of them.
Speaker 4: They had offered me to different manager because he had
Speaker 4: fewer headcount than she did, and he said word for word.
Speaker 4: I found this out years later. She seems smart, but
Speaker 4: not a project I.
Speaker 2: Want to take on.
Speaker 4: Well, And just so everybody knows, your sales managers get
Speaker 4: a percentage.
Speaker 2: Cut, oh what you sell.
Speaker 4: So my manager's out here sitting on this throne of
Speaker 4: my success and this guy looks like a chump.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I just love that though. I'm just like, I think,
Speaker 1: as a woman, especially a woman not from the minority culture, like,
Speaker 1: there's nothing sweeter than for folks to be like oh
Speaker 1: to kind of write you off and you're like, I'm sorry, what.
Speaker 2: It's petty?
Speaker 3: Are you going to send him a copy of the book?
Speaker 1: I mean because he might need some financial assistance bits,
Speaker 1: But I.
Speaker 3: Also feel kind of like bad for him, not one
Speaker 3: not bad, but also like from a manager's perspective, or like, oh,
Speaker 3: we have Vivian, she's new here, she hasn't anything but marketing,
Speaker 3: Like what kind of pitch did he get?
Speaker 6: You know?
Speaker 3: About you? And I'm like, there are a lot of
Speaker 3: managers who are like, yeah, that seems like a lot
Speaker 3: of work. However, like without sitting on him, I'm just
Speaker 3: like so happy you found a manager who was willing
Speaker 3: to put in that work, because god damn it, we
Speaker 3: need better leaders and better management.
Speaker 1: Yes, people to greatness, But I want to jump down,
Speaker 1: like into your book. So came you drop that TikTok
Speaker 1: completely blew up? And then obviously with your knowledge from
Speaker 1: from BuzzFeed about marketing and consistency and social media, you know,
Speaker 1: it makes so much sense.
Speaker 3: Now.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I'm getting this.
Speaker 3: I love the story. I'm just like the media background.
Speaker 5: Duh.
Speaker 3: I'm gonna post this on January one, maybe it'll go duh.
Speaker 5: Sorry, go ahead.
Speaker 1: When did you decide like, okay, I think or someone
Speaker 1: kind of reach out to you to decide I want
Speaker 1: to adde a book, Like I'm sharing so much amazing information.
Speaker 1: There's so many questions I want to direct them. Was
Speaker 1: that did that come from you internally or did externally?
Speaker 1: Were you just like bombarded with like requests for a book.
Speaker 4: I was bombarded with requests for a book, but not
Speaker 4: from who you'd think, Okay, I was being bombarded by
Speaker 4: people in my DMS. Okay, people were saying, like, vivir content,
Speaker 4: it's sixty seconds long.
Speaker 2: It is so helpful.
Speaker 4: It is the only way I'm able to digest this information.
Speaker 4: But like, do you have like a guide where I
Speaker 4: watch video one all the way to one hundred, because
Speaker 4: right now we're kind of jumping all over the place.
Speaker 2: And I want a step by step and I'm like, oh, okay,
Speaker 2: that might be helpful. And I was actually not.
Speaker 4: Resistant to writing a book, but I was like, there
Speaker 4: are other ways to do this, and so I was like, Okay,
Speaker 4: I'm going to launch a long form YouTube channel. Turns out,
Speaker 4: long term long form YouTube channels are very hot, hard,
Speaker 4: they take a lot of production, they're very fancy. It's
Speaker 4: not easy, you know, try like did the podcast thing
Speaker 4: for longer form content. But people still kept saying like,
Speaker 4: we want the book, we want the book, and I'm like, okay,
Speaker 4: like I'll think about it, I'll do the book. So
Speaker 4: I ended up writing the pitch for the book concept,
Speaker 4: and it all really ties back to all of the
Speaker 4: thanks I have to give to my first mentor. I mean,
Speaker 4: but you guys saw the dedication I dedicated to three
Speaker 4: three groups of people or three people will call them,
Speaker 4: first being the BFFs, then to my mentor, and then
Speaker 4: to the guy who made the kimono comment. Because again
Speaker 4: I'm petty, and it really is so much of the
Speaker 4: information she taught me about looking at the world differently
Speaker 4: and how it pertains to our personal finances, and what
Speaker 4: that mentorship did for me. Without her, I wouldn't be
Speaker 4: in the current financial position that I am, and I
Speaker 4: frankly probably would have spent all of my money on
Speaker 4: designer jewelry or designer bags and been quite frivolous.
Speaker 2: With it, to be honest with you.
Speaker 4: So I ended up pitching that concept of rich af
Speaker 4: and ended up signing a book deal with Penguin Random.
Speaker 1: House welcome to the family for I just got here too.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, okay, I was telling you guys.
Speaker 4: I was telling tiff about this before we got on
Speaker 4: the actual recording, when I was pitching this book, and
Speaker 4: it seemed that there was a lot of interest. People
Speaker 4: then started to try selling me, and many publishers number
Speaker 4: one selling point was that they had worked with the
Speaker 4: Tiffany A Leech and so I was like, wait, okay,
Speaker 4: I want to be where she's at, so it felt
Speaker 4: like a good place to call home.
Speaker 1: Meanwhile, I can't be up multiple places lying just so
Speaker 1: this was a little petty aside. There was I'm trying
Speaker 1: to think, I'm gonna say it. So there was one.
Speaker 1: So I like, we pitched obviously, and so nine publishers
Speaker 1: came back, but one of them had to step down
Speaker 1: because they had another financial educator, big name. If we
Speaker 1: said you a'll be like duh on their roster, and
Speaker 1: that person had first right of refusal for anybody else
Speaker 1: being signed. And they were like, but Denis said, no,
Speaker 1: you guys can't sign her. I'll set you offline. You're
Speaker 1: gonna be like, no, I'm not gonna lie. I was
Speaker 1: so impressed. I'm like, they know who I am, even
Speaker 1: though I.
Speaker 3: Was so wow, so they're suppressing ye, Like can you
Speaker 3: I didn't know that was a thing you could do. Yeah,
Speaker 3: it's so big that you can say I am your
Speaker 3: financial person, and if they're signing anyone else, I can
Speaker 3: could put it oooh typically I would feel so good
Speaker 3: if I'm telling you.
Speaker 1: I wasn't even mad. I was like I can't believe
Speaker 1: they I'm like, are you sure you know who I am?
Speaker 2: Oh?
Speaker 1: My god? So much so that they were like, no,
Speaker 1: can you text right now?
Speaker 2: Put it in the ruck.
Speaker 1: I can't see the chat because your petty, you will
Speaker 1: say it out loud.
Speaker 2: There's no trust your petty.
Speaker 3: I was like, I can't.
Speaker 5: I don't know about Vivian, but I wouldn't.
Speaker 1: So I'm gonna put it in the chat. But it
Speaker 1: was just like I was so shocked, and I just
Speaker 1: was like, yes.
Speaker 3: Did you yeah, yea, yeah, yeah, yeah, okay put the name.
Speaker 1: Yeah. But honestly, well one would have told me was like, wow,
Speaker 1: you never know who's watching you because I'm like little
Speaker 1: on me. But guess what, that person was absolutely right.
Speaker 1: They were like they were right, because honestly, I didn't
Speaker 1: know what I was capable of. I mean, I knew
Speaker 1: I worked hard. I didn't know, like you know, what
Speaker 1: the book could possibly do. But yeah, so I was like,
Speaker 1: you know, a good call. But here we are, Yeah, no.
Speaker 3: New class right yeah.
Speaker 1: So so for your book, what are you hoping so
Speaker 1: so like I said, like honestly, so many times, like
Speaker 1: even for myself, I'm like, I need like, what's the
Speaker 1: knowledge on that? What's a quick way to understand that?
Speaker 1: So I'll watch your videos because to your audience's point
Speaker 1: in sixty seconds, I'm like, Okay, that's what that means,
Speaker 1: or that's what's happening, or this is what the market
Speaker 1: is doing or you know. But and so your book
Speaker 1: offers what like for those folks who know you from
Speaker 1: social media if they read their book, what what's the difference? Like,
Speaker 1: what are they getting? What are they going to take
Speaker 1: out of it?
Speaker 4: This is a full step by step guide to not
Speaker 4: only changing your mindset around money. Essentially, what was the
Speaker 4: shift between what my mindset was when I had these
Speaker 4: very loving but very frugal Chinese parents to meeting.
Speaker 2: Who I love to call like my rich mom.
Speaker 4: Situation like her teaching me how to think about money
Speaker 4: and an abundant mindset, growing it, making it work hard,
Speaker 4: and it's that shift while going through I would say,
Speaker 4: a pretty traditional and pretty common set of knowledge, but
Speaker 4: conveying it in a way that really makes sense for
Speaker 4: the next generation. I think most folks when they talk
Speaker 4: about career in a finance book, it's at the end,
Speaker 4: or it's at least after budgeting or after saving. I
Speaker 4: put career first because the line that my mentor told
Speaker 4: me that I find to be truly the golden rule
Speaker 4: of my life is that you can only save as
Speaker 4: much as you earn, but you can always earn more money.
Speaker 4: And that when I heard that phrase for the first time,
Speaker 4: it really did change.
Speaker 5: My life because I was always with this woman.
Speaker 4: Her name is Jeane Ma. She is still a trader
Speaker 4: on the street. She is truly the best she you know,
Speaker 4: she's my mentor to this day. I see her relatively often,
Speaker 4: but she taught me this, and so we talk through
Speaker 4: career and like I don't talk through a lot of
Speaker 4: the other career stuff of like resumes or interviewing or
Speaker 4: anything like that. But when you've gotten the job, how
Speaker 4: do you ask for more money before you start on
Speaker 4: day one? Or if you've been in a job for
Speaker 4: so long, how do you demand a fifteen percent raise
Speaker 4: at the end of the year without sounding like a
Speaker 4: d bag. And these are things that we need to
Speaker 4: talk about because the money piece of your job, like
Speaker 4: we're not doing this for free, like I'm not here
Speaker 4: for my health, Like I'm here to make money. And
Speaker 4: then we move into budgeting and it addresses like, hey,
Speaker 4: budgets look very different than they used to because Instagram
Speaker 4: has very much changed what we perceive to be things
Speaker 4: we need in our life. And I'm very anti no
Speaker 4: little treats. I love little treats, and so I just
Speaker 4: give a way to reframe that of like, hey, the
Speaker 4: avocado toast or the latte every morning is not why
Speaker 4: you can't buy a home, but like you want a
Speaker 4: you know, a Gucci bag at the end of the year,
Speaker 4: because that's the equivalent a Gucci bag. Would you rather
Speaker 4: have that? Would you rather get you know, those do
Speaker 4: or shoes? Would you rather get that fresh pair of
Speaker 4: four fresh pairs of the really coveted Jordan's because that
Speaker 4: is what you're giving up by having a latte every
Speaker 4: single day. And suddenly saving money becomes fun because saving
Speaker 4: money equates to things that actually bring you joy, like
Speaker 4: Marie Condos style.
Speaker 2: Does this spark joy?
Speaker 4: Yea? And from there we go into investing, which I
Speaker 4: feel like is way over complicated. I think so many
Speaker 4: folks in the space now are doing a great job
Speaker 4: of trying to demystify it. But I break it down
Speaker 4: in very layman's terms how I was taught to think
Speaker 4: about it. For my portfolio, we have to essentially have
Speaker 4: a baseline understanding of what retail investors and what institutional
Speaker 4: investors need when we pass our exams to be able
Speaker 4: to work on Wall Street. And a big part is
Speaker 4: like they ask you a bunch of questions, like they
Speaker 4: give you a profile essentially, and they're like, if this
Speaker 4: person is a forty seven year old woman, lives here,
Speaker 4: no children, married, like, which of these portfolios would make
Speaker 4: sense for her? And then you get another scenario like
Speaker 4: twenty three man, unmarried, no job, what investment portfolio would
Speaker 4: you invest for him? And so that essentially kind of
Speaker 4: changes the investment conversation because it's not one size fits all.
Speaker 2: And then the final chapter is my favorite.
Speaker 4: It's a little like somebody told me this and I
Speaker 4: was like, ah, shoot, I didn't even think about that.
Speaker 4: They're like, it's a little bit of a sexual innuendo.
Speaker 3: Oh, I know what you're gonna say.
Speaker 4: Yeah, but like financial domination, and I was like, oh geez,
Speaker 4: I didn't even think about that. But it covers all
Speaker 4: the stuff that doesn't neatly fit into any of those boxes,
Speaker 4: So like paying down debt, taxes, talking to your friends
Speaker 4: and family about money, which can be an incredibly sore subject,
Speaker 4: especially if you come from a immigrant background or a
Speaker 4: low income background. You know, as a story like I
Speaker 4: know friends who are in my analyst class who the
Speaker 4: expectation was like when they got their bonuses, like they
Speaker 4: would send them home or part of their paycheck had
Speaker 4: to go home to like help mom and dad, or
Speaker 4: mom you know.
Speaker 2: Pay her food.
Speaker 4: And we don't all get to start life on third base.
Speaker 4: Some people start, you know, at first base. Some people
Speaker 4: start outside of the parking lot of the stadium. And
Speaker 4: I think having some of those money conversations can be
Speaker 4: tricky no matter who you are, So I wanted to
Speaker 4: address that and then we wrap it up in a nice.
Speaker 2: Bo of why we all deserve to be rich af.
Speaker 3: I want to hear, so everyone go get the book,
Speaker 3: and what's the website where you can get the book,
Speaker 3: is it You're rich bff dot com.
Speaker 4: You can find it there, but just go to rich
Speaker 4: af dot me because the U r L is obviously
Speaker 4: a manifestation.
Speaker 1: I love that.
Speaker 3: I want to know because I do follow you on IG.
Speaker 3: I know you're you're engaged, right. Are you planning a wedding?
Speaker 3: Is it an extremely bougie international Italian wedding? Vivian Mandy.
Speaker 2: I've been called out twice now on this podcast.
Speaker 4: I came here for a good time, not to be victimized.
Speaker 3: Asking for facts. Are you planning a wedding? Fact?
Speaker 5: Tell me about you?
Speaker 3: I want to hear about your partner though, and you've
Speaker 3: been together a long time.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: What has y'all's relation? How has your relationship changed, improved whatever,
Speaker 3: over the course of you building this business.
Speaker 5: I don't know what he does.
Speaker 3: What's he do? Is he on Wall Street?
Speaker 4: Is he?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 4: Okay, I'll give you the tld R of my sweet
Speaker 4: sweet man. We'll have been together for seven years in April,
Speaker 4: so quite some time.
Speaker 2: When we first met.
Speaker 4: We met because we were both working on Wall Street
Speaker 4: and he worked on the same team. Is my girl
Speaker 4: roommate at the time, and they sat like caddy corner
Speaker 4: to each other on the at the office, and so
Speaker 4: I ended up meeting him one random night when I
Speaker 4: went out with her. We were running around the bars
Speaker 4: in downtown New York City as a young twenty something does.
Speaker 2: And we hit it off like he was just like
Speaker 2: the coolest, nicest guy.
Speaker 4: And when we people ask us about our financial situation
Speaker 4: quite a bit. When we first started dating, he made
Speaker 4: much more money than I did, like two times, and
Speaker 4: he was always so generous and never made me feel
Speaker 4: any type of way about it, Like he paid for
Speaker 4: all of our dinners out when we would go on vacation,
Speaker 4: he would pay for more. Ultimately, when we ended up
Speaker 4: moving in together, he paid a bigger percentage of rent.
Speaker 2: He never made me feel.
Speaker 4: Like my job was less important or that I was
Speaker 4: less important, or that my career aspirations were not as
Speaker 4: big as his or important because he made more money
Speaker 4: and for the first like five years of our relationship,
Speaker 4: he was the breadwinner and he almost at all times
Speaker 4: made twice as much money as I did. In my
Speaker 4: last year at BuzzFeed, I had a blowout year and
Speaker 4: I publicly shared this.
Speaker 2: I made over six hundred thousand dollars in a W
Speaker 2: two job.
Speaker 1: It's amazing.
Speaker 4: And that was the first year we made roughly the same.
Speaker 4: I made a little bit more. I eked him out by,
Speaker 4: you know, twenty five grands, and he was really proud
Speaker 4: of me. And I asked him really candidly at that time.
Speaker 4: I was like, do you think anything's going to change
Speaker 4: or would you feel weird if I.
Speaker 2: Like made more money than you.
Speaker 4: He goes, why would I feel weird about you making
Speaker 4: more money? I will then have more money.
Speaker 1: To spend, Like what do you mean?
Speaker 2: And so he's always had this very very.
Speaker 4: Just amazingly supportive attitude about what I do and what
Speaker 4: I want to do. And when I finally decided to
Speaker 4: quit my job, it was in part because I had
Speaker 4: a golden parachute to rely on him. And he said,
Speaker 4: he's like Vivian, no one has ever starved on a
Speaker 4: Wall Street salary for two people, So like, go chase
Speaker 4: your dreams. Like maybe we won't be able to end
Speaker 4: up buying a home, or maybe we won't be able
Speaker 4: to go on as many vacations or take as many ubers,
Speaker 4: we'll have to take the subway, whatever, but like we
Speaker 4: will still be able to live our life like go
Speaker 4: chase that dream. And because of that, I was able
Speaker 4: to and I make quite a bit more now than
Speaker 4: he does, by like a factor of like four or
Speaker 4: five times, and he again, the attitude has never changed.
Speaker 4: I feel so grateful for that, because my mom even
Speaker 4: told me that I should start lying to him about
Speaker 4: how much I was making.
Speaker 5: Good.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, yeah, because hide some hide some cash, make
Speaker 3: sure you always know where it is.
Speaker 1: The unenlightened man would feel like that, and I love
Speaker 1: that he provided so in therapy. So Mandy has this
Speaker 1: all reading this book called attached, and so that's called
Speaker 1: like a secure attachment or a secure base. That when
Speaker 1: you have this base, it's like you know, when you're
Speaker 1: a little kid and you're like, you're good at the playground.
Speaker 1: As long as you can see your mom. You don't
Speaker 1: need her touch you, you don't need your hand, but you're
Speaker 1: playing like where's she?
Speaker 4: Oh?
Speaker 1: There she is?
Speaker 2: Oh?
Speaker 1: Where she The moment that your mom goes to the
Speaker 1: car to get something, you freak out. You don't want
Speaker 1: to play, you don't want to And as soon as
Speaker 1: she's with an eyeshot, you're good. And so you know,
Speaker 1: my late husband he didn't make a ton of money,
Speaker 1: but he provided secure base like that, like I got
Speaker 1: the bills, go ahead and chase and so you know.
Speaker 1: Oh so I had my first seven figure year and
Speaker 1: then an eight figure year, and I realized, like it's
Speaker 1: because I had a golden parachute, although not because we
Speaker 1: had a ton of money, but there's just the secure
Speaker 1: base if somebody's got me. And so I think that,
Speaker 1: you know, in this world where it's like so then
Speaker 1: against women, I don't know, these gender worlds are just
Speaker 1: crazy right now. It's so nice to hear that it
Speaker 1: is possible to find someone that can provide you with
Speaker 1: a secure base, whether they make a lot or a little,
Speaker 1: that the security is not as much about the money
Speaker 1: as it is about the support. So I love that
Speaker 1: you have that. Vivian, Yeah, thank you.
Speaker 3: Thanks for going into the reason I was asking I
Speaker 3: should have started with. This is just because partnership is
Speaker 3: is a part of your entrepreneurial journey, anyone's and just
Speaker 3: your just life journey, and they really can help you
Speaker 3: become the richest in more ways than one version of
Speaker 3: yourself or not. So shout out to the partners you know,
Speaker 3: whatever gender they are. Whatever identity. The partners who are
Speaker 3: who are that you know, security are also the partners
Speaker 3: who just carry the insurance like shout out to husband.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm also on insurance. Thank you so much.
Speaker 1: I'm in gold, honey. I was like, what come I
Speaker 1: husband work for the state over the city, but it
Speaker 1: was stayed in Sheriff. I mean I could get acupuncture,
Speaker 1: like office is short. I'm like whatever, I'm like, babe,
Speaker 1: that is the coin right there.
Speaker 4: Okay, But the good benefits, Yes.
Speaker 1: It's funny as you can tell you get older when
Speaker 1: you're like, oh, what are the benefits? Look like physical therapy,
Speaker 1: physical therapy, Yeah, just a therapy in general. Now, I
Speaker 1: love that, and I just love that because back in
Speaker 1: Mardin when when when financial education started, there was nobody.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you're an og, you know that.
Speaker 1: I mean I just I didn't you know, at the time,
Speaker 1: you don't realize you're an og. You know that's what's happening.
Speaker 1: I do remember being able to count on one hand
Speaker 1: and I knew everyone are. You Literally were going to
Speaker 1: the room, You're like, oh there's Mandy, Oh there's Sandy,
Speaker 1: Oh there's and you can there's for trees and so
Speaker 1: you could count everyone, and honestly, it just it was
Speaker 1: really hard because you just felt like you weren't taken seriously.
Speaker 1: And now I could even pretend to count how many
Speaker 1: non white male financial educators there, And I'm so delighted
Speaker 1: by that. Like, there's so many choices. If you want
Speaker 1: to see yourself, if you are, you know, whatever gender
Speaker 1: you are, whatever your sexual orientation is, whatever race you are,
Speaker 1: whatever that is, you can find representation of yourself and
Speaker 1: be like, oh, there I am, like she he they
Speaker 1: sound like me. I too. Come from an immigrant background,
Speaker 1: or my mom was a single mom, or I came
Speaker 1: from a lot of money, whatever that is. You can
Speaker 1: find someone that can help guide you through your financial journey.
Speaker 1: So I love that you get to show up as
Speaker 1: yourself and that people are just responding as they ought to.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I love that.
Speaker 4: I also love that, like there is such like a
Speaker 4: good community of folks and especially women supporting each other.
Speaker 4: I mean, I mean Mandy and I are dming back
Speaker 4: and forth about what we're charging brands, what we're what
Speaker 4: we're doing with partnerships, like what we're planning on doing
Speaker 4: with books, and like all of that. And you know,
Speaker 4: when you feel comfortable enough to ask your friends and
Speaker 4: peers those questions.
Speaker 2: Like that's a positive thing.
Speaker 3: No, it is, it's necessary, Like, yeah, thank you for
Speaker 3: thank you for answering and for being open to that
Speaker 3: because I think when you it's hard making new friends
Speaker 3: in your adulthood and you don't always know what the
Speaker 3: vibe is going to be like if you, you know,
Speaker 3: get to a space where you can peek behind the
Speaker 3: curtain a little bit. So yeah, thanks for just being
Speaker 3: a great example of you can have those types of
Speaker 3: conversations even if you don't know someone like on a
Speaker 3: deeper level. But I'm always going to get to know
Speaker 3: people on a deeper level. So tell me about your
Speaker 3: parents today. What is the relationship like with your folks today?
Speaker 3: Do they are they like? I don't know, Tiffany, when
Speaker 3: did you Did your dad think you're successful?
Speaker 2: Now?
Speaker 1: After the house and cash?
Speaker 3: Okay, so vibe and have you had the moment yet?
Speaker 3: Do your parents think you're a success?
Speaker 5: What are they thinking?
Speaker 4: Okay, So first off, Tiffany stole my thun but I didn't. No, no, no, no,
Speaker 4: hell no, okay, I can't afford that shit. But I
Speaker 4: did send my parents on an all expenses paid trip
Speaker 4: for their thirtieth wedding anniversary and they're like texting me
Speaker 4: photos of.
Speaker 2: Like I think they were like in like Newfoundland or something.
Speaker 4: Anyway, there was like this massive boulder thing and my
Speaker 4: dad put his hands up against it and like there's
Speaker 4: like a photo of.
Speaker 2: Him pretending like he's.
Speaker 4: Pushing it, like you know what I mean, and like
Speaker 4: these silly parent photos. But it was so nice to
Speaker 4: see them having fun and doing things that frankly, we
Speaker 4: couldn't afford to do when I was a kid. And
Speaker 4: you know, Mandy, you mentioned you listened to the podcast
Speaker 4: where I talk about my parents. My mom brings up
Speaker 4: my swim team from childhood all the time.
Speaker 5: That was in my notes that I can't find.
Speaker 3: I forgot. Thanks for bringing it up.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 4: So when I was on the swim team as a kid,
Speaker 4: the colors of the team were black and green, and the.
Speaker 2: Suit was a tear speed suit that's like.
Speaker 4: A brand and they're not cheap because they're you know,
Speaker 4: professional sources.
Speaker 2: My parents paid like.
Speaker 4: The registration fee for me to be already on the
Speaker 4: swim team, so they were like, why do we need
Speaker 4: to buy a suit.
Speaker 2: So I wore a.
Speaker 4: Bright pink suit from Costco, And there's a team photo
Speaker 4: that my mom has kept to this day. And you
Speaker 4: see in this photo everybody in this green and black
Speaker 4: suit and I stick out like a pink sum And
Speaker 4: you know, my mom mentions that that situation like probably
Speaker 4: I want to say that once a year, and she
Speaker 4: looks so sad when she mentions it.
Speaker 2: She's like, she's like, we should have just.
Speaker 4: Bought that suit, huh like, And I'm like, Mom, it's okay, Like,
Speaker 4: don't want your.
Speaker 1: College education, right, that's her Roman empire, the thing that's.
Speaker 2: That is her Roman empire.
Speaker 4: And so now for me to be to do the
Speaker 4: things that they couldn't even do for me for them,
Speaker 4: it's very full circle. And it feels really.
Speaker 1: Good, doesn't it, though, especially when you have parents that
Speaker 1: really I mean, I think we've all of us have
Speaker 1: parents that really just.
Speaker 3: Parents don't listen to this, like, so, where's our vacation,
Speaker 3: here's my mortgage statement. I got two kids in daycare,
Speaker 3: so keep going.
Speaker 1: No, it was like, just honestly, to be able to
Speaker 1: look after your parents. It's really just like the best feeling,
Speaker 1: especially when you have parents that you know, scrape and
Speaker 1: you know it's one thing like they had to trust fund.
Speaker 1: But it's like, no, these are parents that got it
Speaker 1: out of the mud, and you know how hard they
Speaker 1: worked and to be able to mind my job. Now,
Speaker 1: especially for my mom, was I want her to I
Speaker 1: want she's in her soft girl girl era.
Speaker 4: I love, Yeah, talk about talked about soft girl era
Speaker 4: and I loved it.
Speaker 1: Yes, I just love that. She's like my mom will
Speaker 1: so I send them money every month. So my dad, like,
Speaker 1: you know, he was an accountant CFO. So as far
Speaker 1: as their day to day monthly expenses, that's taken care
Speaker 1: because he managed their money well. Once I paid off
Speaker 1: their house, they're fine. But I really wanted her to
Speaker 1: have money beyond we're fine. I want her to have
Speaker 1: hair done, nails done, everything did money, Yes, you know,
Speaker 1: So I send her, you know, money every month. And
Speaker 1: of course because I send her, I got to send
Speaker 1: him even though he doesn't do anything with it. My
Speaker 1: dad's in his eighties. He just like gives it to
Speaker 1: people in Nigeria, which I'm like, that's your business. But
Speaker 1: my mom, I love when I see her in a
Speaker 1: new outfit, She's like, I guess how much this costs?
Speaker 1: I'm like, I don't know, mommy, how much this tip?
Speaker 4: Right?
Speaker 1: It was six hundred dollars. I'm like, okay, it's a
Speaker 1: life way. I'm like, mommy, you got it said, She's
Speaker 1: like I do, I don't, I know. And I love
Speaker 1: that for her because she never it doesn't happen often,
Speaker 1: but Nigerian clothes in particular, you know, you get them tailored,
Speaker 1: and so she's never been able to just splurge in
Speaker 1: this way without the worry. And so I want that
Speaker 1: for her. I want her to not have to worry,
Speaker 1: to know that even if something big does happen, I
Speaker 1: can take care of it. I always tell them that,
Speaker 1: like something happens to the house, you know, the boiler
Speaker 1: goes out, don't freak out. I will take care of it.
Speaker 1: You are here to live the rest of your life
Speaker 1: in ease and comfort, and so like that is the
Speaker 1: thing that like to me, that is what rich Af
Speaker 1: looks like for me. Yeah, but it's like no, no, no,
Speaker 1: to know that, Like okay, especially like I said, because
Speaker 1: my dad's been chilling his whole damn life. I feel
Speaker 1: like because he's been spoiled with four daughters, five daughters,
Speaker 1: and my mom. But my mom in particular I'm just like.
Speaker 2: A man blessed beyond measure.
Speaker 1: I mean, because when you have daughters, let me tell
Speaker 1: you something.
Speaker 3: Meanwhile, I got two boys, and I'm no, but I'm
Speaker 3: going I'm like, you know why, I'll go. I won't
Speaker 3: go on a tangent too long. Sorry, just a little.
Speaker 3: I open new tabs all the time. I can't stop myself.
Speaker 5: But let me mothers. We got to make the boys better.
Speaker 3: It's a huge responsibility to raise good boys, good men
Speaker 3: who don't get Oh, well, you know, I should have
Speaker 3: had daughters.
Speaker 5: The boys never come around.
Speaker 3: Teach him how to come around, do it?
Speaker 1: Know what I'm saying, Yeah, because you can just really yeah,
Speaker 1: I agree.
Speaker 3: Do you have siblings for me? And I don't think
Speaker 3: I asked you that before.
Speaker 2: I'm an only.
Speaker 6: Child, not even It's like at the time, like, I
Speaker 6: don't think that they were in a financial place to
Speaker 6: have a second kid say that, And so they were like,
Speaker 6: you know what, we got one.
Speaker 2: We'll see how it goes.
Speaker 4: And then by the time when they were in a
Speaker 4: place to maybe have a second kid, they were like,
Speaker 4: do you want a sibling?
Speaker 2: And I was like absolutely not.
Speaker 1: The only childhoods of like, well, these toys are mine.
Speaker 4: So literally, I was like, no, the attention is on me.
Speaker 4: I was like the weirdo who was like, Mom, watch
Speaker 4: me do this cartwheel like for the four hundredth time.
Speaker 4: Like she was like, Okay, I've seen it, so.
Speaker 1: Well, what if you had one one big wish for
Speaker 1: our audience as relates to reading your book and following
Speaker 1: on social like, what do you hope that they achieve
Speaker 1: as a result of like you being here in this space.
Speaker 6: Hmmm?
Speaker 4: I hope that they can achieve the understanding that it's
Speaker 4: okay just to be good enough in many cases. So
Speaker 4: this was truly something that like when I learned it
Speaker 4: changed my life. Reshma saw Johnny. She's the founder of
Speaker 4: Girls Who Code. Girls at Code is a nonprofit. It
Speaker 4: teaches young young students at the beginning and now young
Speaker 4: women how to you know, essentially computer science.
Speaker 2: And when they were first.
Speaker 4: Teaching a bunch of young students how to code, they
Speaker 4: would say, like, write a line of code, and then
Speaker 4: the instructor would walk around the room and all the
Speaker 4: boys would have like written a line of code, and
Speaker 4: all the girls like the screens would be empty and
Speaker 4: they'd be like, what the like are these girls like
Speaker 4: not listening or like what's going on?
Speaker 2: Ran the key strokes back.
Speaker 4: Turns out those girls had written lines of code deleted them,
Speaker 4: lines of code deleted them because they didn't want to
Speaker 4: be wrong. And so I think one thing that we
Speaker 4: can all take away, both within our money and in
Speaker 4: our career, it's like, sometimes perfect is the enemy of done,
Speaker 4: and we want to be taking little steps forward constantly.
Speaker 4: This isn't about running a mile or running a marathon. Frankly,
Speaker 4: it's about can you get to the end of the
Speaker 4: block where the fire hydrant is? This is what I
Speaker 4: think about when I'm running by the way, I'm like, okay,
Speaker 4: just to the tree, Just to the tree, Just to
Speaker 4: the stop sign, just to the stop sign. Like that's
Speaker 4: essentially your life, right, you are just running to that
Speaker 4: next item. And I think it's really powerful to remember
Speaker 4: that we should reward and encourage boldness and good, brave
Speaker 4: decision making over being perfect all the time. There's no
Speaker 4: such thing as the perfect hi old savings account. There
Speaker 4: are great high old savings accounts out there, and there
Speaker 4: are so many of them. There's no such thing as
Speaker 4: the perfect job. Some great jobs out there, many of
Speaker 4: them that pay very well where you can learn and
Speaker 4: you can earn. But sometimes we overthink and we are
Speaker 4: our own worst enemies.
Speaker 2: And so for once, just like.
Speaker 4: Give yourself like a little bit of grace and a
Speaker 4: little bit of encouragement.
Speaker 2: You are doing the best you can.
Speaker 4: And then on top of that, like when there is
Speaker 4: an opportunity that comes up, don't be shy about swinging
Speaker 4: for the fences.
Speaker 1: Thank you. So, where can the girlies find you? Where
Speaker 1: can they find your book? I know I have it too.
Speaker 1: I'm like, oh wait, wait, hold on, we have to
Speaker 1: get like a screenshot screenshop.
Speaker 4: Wait, kids, you can find my book at richaf dot me.
Speaker 4: The u url is basically a manifestation and you can
Speaker 4: find me all over social media.
Speaker 2: As your rich bff.
Speaker 1: It's love good.
Speaker 3: The book smells great.
Speaker 2: Oh really, I thought it was kind of stinky smell like.
Speaker 5: That, but that new book smell.
Speaker 3: It is a little stinky. I know that, But that
Speaker 3: is this. I can't wait to go to my local
Speaker 3: Burns and Noble and make sure it's on the front
Speaker 3: where I'm sure it will be with the New York
Speaker 3: Times bestsellers. But I'll make sure of it. Request it
Speaker 3: from your library, Yes, wait, are you still on tour?
Speaker 5: What's happening?
Speaker 3: Are you Taylor Swifting? Are you taking a break and
Speaker 3: come back in Tokyo?
Speaker 5: Like what?
Speaker 2: I have more respect for Beyonce and Taylor Swift. Touring sucks.
Speaker 2: Touring is like really hard.
Speaker 4: I'm gonna be so honest because you're barely in a
Speaker 4: city for more than twenty four hours onto the next one.
Speaker 4: You don't get to enjoy anything, and then you're just
Speaker 4: like hair makeup, onto the on the show, like whatever.
Speaker 2: I have Miami stopped this Friday, then I have SF stop.
Speaker 4: The following week. I do take a little pit stop
Speaker 4: at the University of Minnesota. I got a shoot coming
Speaker 4: up in La I mean, I'm oh, I have to go.
Speaker 4: Oh bandy, you asked about my wedding. I gotta go
Speaker 4: to Italy to finish planning it.
Speaker 2: I am so tired.
Speaker 5: Is it this summer?
Speaker 2: It's this It's not.
Speaker 3: A June wedding in Italy? Oh god, yeah, every girl fantasy.
Speaker 2: We've already thought about it three times.
Speaker 3: So oh, what are you enjoying? Like, what what are
Speaker 3: you enjoying about the process? Like you got to enjoy something.
Speaker 3: It's not all hell right.
Speaker 1: I'm tired, Like, I hope that you play.
Speaker 5: Wait, what's that face? I don't know you well enough.
Speaker 3: What face are you making?
Speaker 1: It's like I'm not enjoying its joying it.
Speaker 2: It's horrible.
Speaker 5: So I hope that you change that you have time.
Speaker 1: You have bacon. That's some real rest downtime, you know, post.
Speaker 3: Yeah, enjoy yah because you keep.
Speaker 1: Running so you don't want to do that.
Speaker 5: I know what you need and.
Speaker 2: Is planning on taking March very very off.
Speaker 3: I know what you need, though, I think someone needs
Speaker 3: to be collecting the stories of the people that you
Speaker 3: are in those rooms that you're touring, collecting like what
Speaker 3: did it mean for you to Vivian?
Speaker 5: To be what you need?
Speaker 3: Is like you're working. It's work, but it's also like
Speaker 3: the ripples and like the vibe rainbow, kind of like
Speaker 3: trailing behind you as you jut off to the next city.
Speaker 3: I feel like that is the the magic that people
Speaker 3: kind of sit with afterward. And thanks, thanks for thanks
Speaker 3: for doing that work and exhausting yourself, but yes, and
Speaker 3: also hopefully you get to pour back in yes a
Speaker 3: little in the meantime, Thank you.
Speaker 2: So much for having me.
Speaker 1: No, thanks for being here, all right, bro? We're gonna
Speaker 1: see you for Friday for b a keep a until then,
Speaker 1: Stay black, stay brown, say cute, Stay witch is f
Speaker 1: which yeah, looking as f I'm fifty. You know I'm
Speaker 1: gonna saying I'm gona start telling people when ask me
Speaker 1: how old, I'm gonna say fifty five, so we're gonna
Speaker 1: be like, oh my god, and I'm like, I'm so young.
Speaker 3: I was thinking about your fiftieth the other day. I'm like,
Speaker 3: I didn't get an invite to the fortieth, but I
Speaker 3: bet I'm gonna get one too.
Speaker 5: The it's gonna be something fabulous. It's gonna be it.
Speaker 4: Yeah, fiftieth Tiffany's and the Maldives guarantee you it's stay fabulous.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna pay for everybody.