In the Suite

14. Sharing and Owning Our Money Stories with Eugenié George MBA, CFEI, Author, Our Money Stories

August 06, 2020 Tina Powell | Eugenié George Season 1 Episode 14
In the Suite
14. Sharing and Owning Our Money Stories with Eugenié George MBA, CFEI, Author, Our Money Stories
Show Notes Transcript

This week In The Suite welcomes Eugenié George into the guest chair. As a financial wellness specialist and educator, Eugenié helps corporate and private clients lead their best financial lives. Eugenié is a determined and refreshingly transparent woman who shares how she was able to move past feelings of unworthiness to knowing she was more than enough through her journey with money.

In her new book, “Our Money Stories,” Eugenié intertwines data and storytelling to help people understand how their personal history, ancestry, and environment play a role in their money habits. Eugenié has used her own history with money – which includes a life-defining moment where she found herself evicted and jobless – to inform her work.

In our discussion, Eugenié points out some of the nuances Women of Color deal with when it comes to accessing wealth, along with how all women can start reflecting on their stories to help write a better financial future. 

Join the conversation to hear about:

  • The life-defining moments that led to Eugenié’s career in financial services (10:00)
  • What Eugenié did to move out of debt and better understand money (14:07)
  • Why therapy is a necessary component for marginalized groups to better understand money (16:55)
  • Why Black women are doubly emotionally taxed as they deal with money (22:07)
  • How mainstream wealth conversations ignore the Black Tax (26:00)
  • What is Adverse Childhood Experience and how it affects women (34:32)
  • The money story that had the greatest impact on Eugenié (38:20)
  • What goes into Eugenié’s 6-week financial wellness plan (46:55)
  • Eugenié’s perspective on how to support Women of Color on Black Women Equal Pay Day (54:45)
  • Eugenié’s superhero personality trait (61:25)

Referenced Materials:


🤩 Thanks for listening, we appreciate your support and 5-star reviews of our show!!!

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📧 Want to get in touch? Email me at tina@growintentionally.com


Tina Powell  0:08  

Hi, this is Tina Powell host of In The Suite where I sit down with top women leaders and some of the biggest names in the financial services and the wealth management industry. Together we'll discover some of their best secrets and top strategies to grow great business build a strong brand and lead teams in the 21st century. I hope you'll enjoy hearing their amazing personal stories of triumph, trepidation and transformation in hopes of becoming better leaders ourselves. The time for you to lead is now and you're in the sweet.


Eugenié George is an author, a podcast coach, a certified financial educator, and she's also a personal financial writer and operations specialist with an MBA a BS


from UC Berkeley in peace studies and conflict resolution, working on completing her CFP Certified Financial Planner designation from the American College of financial services. As a financial wellness strategist, writer and speaker Eugenié is dedicated to helping her corporate and private clients to live their best financial lives. And as the author of our money stories Eugenié was able to move past the feeling that she wasn't adequate enough to being more than enough by proving she could make a living learning about ancestry, money and culture. In this week, we talked about some of the results of Eugenié's research and data is the basis for her book. For over two years, she gathered uncomfortable data, and she created an unorthodox way of viewing money patterns, interviewing women of color in various groups, Asian American, African American, Native American and Latinx financial advisors for her book, our money stories not only expresses and exposes


economic inequities for women of color, but it also provides a six week no BS holistic financial wellness plan, and I personally found her book, a financial wellness toolkit that serves all women at different stages of life. And one of the many gifts you'll discover about Eugenié is her desire to heal the world and gift women with financial wellness. She's always been a journalist at heart, which is clearly evident from her work and her gift of writing articles and financial education content that empowers women. Eugenié also teaches us in the suite about important facts and history central to black women like eviction, and black women's Equal Pay Day. You can receive a free chapter of Eugenié's book our money stories at eugeniegeorge.com and here in the suite. I am personally gifting the first five people who tag Eugenié George. That's _eugeniegeorge all one word, tinacpowell


#inthesuite with a free paperback edition, I love it so much. Let this episode with Eugenié George be the start of your money story in the sweet.


Eugenié George, it's great to have you in the suite. Thank you so much for being here. I'm really really grateful for your time right now. I'm excited for this episode. I have been looking forward to it now for four weeks since you and I first connected so thanks very much for being here. How How are you doing today? 


Eugenié George  3:36  

I'm good. It's raining. It's hot. It's raining.


Tina Powell  3:39  

Oh, it's hot and it's raining. Yeah, here, here here too. Right. Well, thanks again for being here. Good. Um, in a way, I'm kind of happy that it's raining because if it were sunny right now you might be like, hey, got kind of better things to do now. 


Eugenié George  3:54  

We're weird because we're at that stage where we are not really doing much


Just go out, I try to work outside as much as possible even though the mosquitoes are out. I tried to at least get some vitamin D and somehow so 


Tina Powell  4:11  

Yeah, me too, although I'm not getting enough I'm clearly vitamin D deficient and deficient in radical right now I know that for sure. I'm really, really excited to speak to you. And I know that so are our listeners in the suite. And you are an author, your podcast coach, you're a financial wellness coach and operation specialists, a personal financial writer And oh, by the way, she's got an MBA. She's got a BS from UC Berkeley and peace studies and conflict resolutions. And the initial CFP, certified financial planner from the American College of financial services. 


Eugenié George  4:54  

We're not almost there with the CFT part. So we're almost there. 


Tina Powell  4:58  

Almost there. Wow. I mean,


That is just that is extraordinary. And your name also came up. So I know that you wrote a long form piece on kitces.com navigating the financial planning world as a person of color. And that was done back on March 11 2019. Oh, boy, was that incredible. First of all, everyone that that knows, Michael, we know that if you're on kitces' , his podcast and his site, and it was an incredible piece, we're going to make sure that we link it to the show notes because I learned a lot from learning a lot from you. You have quite a lot of content out there right now. And it's really important. I can't think of a better time. I'm trying to do a better job to learn how to advocate better for women of color and financial services. And I'm also to doing my own exploring about history and things that are


thought that I knew, but perhaps there was a different version of the story. So I want to thank you for producing those long form pieces. And of course, we'll link to them. But but wow, like, a lot has happened since you wrote that column. And I think that it was, again a harbinger in some ways that that piece of information and that column has been out now for over a year. So you know, why don't we start there? How did you get in touch with Michael to write that piece? And what was the catalyst? What was the inspiration back then?


Eugenié George  6:38  

So I actually started I had written my first draft, or that's why I've written my like, six draft, what now is our money stories. And I said, Well, you know what, what, let me test the waters in the financial planning world because that's, that's the hardest group to tap into.


Fight get recognition from there, then, of course, it'll be easier for me to talk to women of color because that was something I had already done or, you know, both disenfranchised folks. But I've just said, Let me try to hit the top first. So I just spent one Saturday, and I just wrote up my thoughts and ideas with it because I had already done the research behind how well the history of wealth management because I listened to fallen Long's and she's a CFP. I listened to her Kitces podcast episode, and she told us, she was like, read these three books, and I read them and I did my research. And then I wrote kind of my experience and I have written that 2018


so 2009 so I had done my first year of being in the financial planning industry. I've written something on that. Fortunately, it's like now I understand.


Where I have like editing gaps or writing gaps after writing a book. But they were really helpful in terms of like his team, in terms of holding my hand because they said that the story was important. So they were really helpful with that. So yeah, I wrote it. And I did not know the feedback. The type of feedback that I was going to get is overwhelming at that time. But yeah, it was, it's a great experience. And I, I try to write another one, but I don't think it was. I feel like I was too vulnerable. I'm gonna go back to the drawing board and eventually write the set by like reflection for my second year.


Tina Powell  8:41  

It's a great piece. And like you said, you had done a lot of the, what you pulled into that article was the research from your book, which we're going to talk about our money stories, and what Eugenié is also she's gifted with the ability to write I will say that and that


Your resources when you write, she's amassed an incredible array of resources that she's posted her own website too. So we'll make sure that we have those as well, too. And it's just an it's a refreshing voice, you bring up a refreshing voice to the industry. And you bring a context that we really needed to have. We needed to have it back then in March, but even now, I think the world is really poised to hear what it is that you have to say and to hear your story. So I'm really excited to talk about your money story. And for those of you who don't know, Eugenié his book, our money stories, you can find it on Amazon. You can find it on Kindle. And by the way, I'll have a little bit of a surprise at the end of this podcast, but it is it starts out it's so real. It starts out with a very emotional journey. It starts out talking about the suicide of your childhood friend Michelle, and you really hitting rock bottom


And I swear, as I was reading through the pages, I could feel the weight, I could feel the darkness. And it was it was so real and naturally that led to you getting sick. I mean, of course, you were devastated the loss of a of your friend from, you know, seventh grade, I still have people in my life from that time. So those were those relationships. And those friendships are really meaningful. And obviously, you got sick, which was a natural occurrence, but so sick that you eventually lost your job and the ability to pay your bills. And I want us to take it, take it back to that defining moment, and what you discover because and I want to read for all of you all a small passage, because that I feel is the defining moment. And you know, when we all kind of search as we have those really dark, desperate moments, you know, what Eugenié's done as she's turned it into an incredible opportunity. So it starts out like this, I replied.


In all the events that led me to this pink eviction slip, as I walked to my blue Mini Cooper tears streaming down my face and short pain move like a dagger in my heart down into my gut, the feeling of paralysis, the the disbelief, that all pain would happen was mind boggling to me. Just oriented. I began plotting, devising some plan to figure out what move I should make next. How did you get the strength to move forward? And what was that next move? It reads like a movie.


Eugenié George  11:37  

I mean, I feel like one when I wrote that, it was after I interviewed 40 women. So the fact that everybody was willing to be open and vulnerable. I actually didn't write the my first four chapters of the book. I wrote them like literally a month before publishing


Yeah, I


was like I have listened to all these women's stories. And I still wasn't telling mine correctly, or the way that it should be told. So I do have I'm very grateful for that. The second thing is,


it was it was just tough if there is no, the feeling like you failed, is rough when you like when you hit that rock bottom, it's really difficult in your ability you trying to hide is is difficult. I mean, I was fortunate that I had four friends that really helped me out, because at that time, I moved to a new city.


Like I was only like six months into living in Philadelphia. And I just was like, I don't even know what to do. And so I called my friend and I said, like, this is what's happening. And she just remembered that a friend, a mutual friend of


Ours had just bought a house and had like open rooms. And so like I was like, yeah, you can pay whenever you can. So I was able to, like, live in a place that was safe for arms around people that were really great and I had great conversations with and I paid a really low amount of rent and then the first after those two years, it took like two years, I went back I went to therapy. I applied for the American College, African American scholarship because I was like, girl, you're going to learn so much you better learn money. So you will ever be in this situation.


So serious I was like, I you know, and it's so funny because in Kansas thing in the article, I was like, I stumbled upon this, like know, how far researching and I was looking at. I'm thinking in my Google history like that you learn something somewhere like what was this thing? You were


About this like years ago, so I was just hungry for that. And


and yeah, I did that I applied to grad school. I was like, Listen, student loans. This is where I was like student loans can get me out of this. Yeah, get a job. Let me get let me work actually worked in the main line in the main line is like in


like the the suburbs of Philadelphia. You know, you have a lot of the folks that live there. Lots of wealth management firms live there are there and our center restaurant, I was like, Look, these people have money. Let me figure out what they're talking about. And I think that was what really helps me understand. I was like, oh, first of all, you have to separate the idea of being white with understanding money. Yeah, because that's not a real thing. And a lot of the conversations that I was listening


To an eavesdropping on or a lot of people just talking about Miss tax money mishaps that people had when someone got when someone was young got a divorce, and they lost everything with their shields just trying to keep up with the Joneses there, so I just would listen in on conversations and I, I really paid attention to it. And there was also a freedom around talking about money. And I just said that well, that's what I want. So I did that. And then so that was like a combination of two years. But while I was doing that, looking for trying to figure out how to get scholarships, trying to figure out how to understand finances. I met Amanda Steinberg. Oh, sure. Yeah. Haley worth. Yeah. And she's mentioned in your book as well. Yeah, Simon Steinberg. And that was like, oh, here's a woman who is older than me who have literally almost the same exact experience.


I couldn't get out of it. And then I googled black women, eviction, whatever. And this woman from name Ashley Fox, from Philadelphia, had the same thing about how it's like a six figure business. And she was only like, maybe two years out when they record that she was like, two years out from that eviction. So I was like, Oh my gosh, look at it, like thank goodness for like Google algorithms and everything. But here are two people that are within my area that have the same exact type of experience in some weird way. How to like figure out oh, you know, I'm the person that makes money but how come I can't write? So that was like a big thing. So I just really tried to humble myself in terms of like, you don't know anything. When it comes to money even though you think and then the therapy helps because I realized like it a lot of things what I thought about


success was whiteness, a hard thing to grapple with. And it's a hard thing to be like, Oh, I actually feel inferior, I have the feeling of feeling inferior because of the color of my skin and my my hue. So I had to go through I did all of that work within two years and still doing that work. But I'm very fortunate to to understand the difference between the two. And understand that, you know, that was those that was the language that people told me and instilled in me. That doesn't mean that any of these people are bad people. It just means that I have to develop my own self worth.


Tina Powell  17:52  

Well, first of all, I want to give you credit for sharing the story. And when you were when I was reading those pages, it brought me back to my own money story.


Which is not a happy go lucky fairytale either. And so you sharing that vulnerability was the thing that really moved me inside. But then you took the other step that you asked for help and I think that that's why I wanted to start out with that because I don't care who you are right now listening to this podcast and the the color of your skin. We've all been at that place that you talked about. And then you think for I can't imagine what it was like for you. First you have the money and then you have the financial and then you're thinking inside that how you're feeling about yourself and that self worth piece is really really hard. And we all struggle with it. But I'm, I'm hearing from you that you as being a black woman in financial services well, even before that, that is, that's a hard thing to get over and you need to be intentional about it.


How to do it. There's a method for doing it. But it's it's lifelong, I can tell you that we feel the same thing that there was a time when I had no knowledge about things that I that I should have. So you you taking that first step is just a reminder Eugenié that we need to ask for help. We're not going to solve our problems, we're not going to rewire our thinking and reset our thinking, unless that we're getting the professional help to do that. And so I want to, I want to talk a little bit about that, because you you took it to another level of you getting help so not only the friends and thank God that Google was there, I sure wish that Google was around when I had things when I had these problems. And Google was not there. 


Eugenié George  19:43  

Well, there is a thing also, which I heard from people that are older than myself. It's like when you want something badly, the universe figures out a way you could be at a grocery store, and then see like a Suzy Orman book and go


Will I really agree with all her stuff? Or like read and be like, that makes kind of sense. But then you get that inkling Oh, I gotta learn about my money. So I feel like


if your hearts there and you're really trying to take it out of it, there's always a way there's always some way. And I'm not trying to be as blue as possible, but


Tina Powell  20:26  

I know Believe me, I like that. That's all I'll be happy to share my story another time with you and you'll be like, oh, wow, I didn't know that. And yes, there was relentless. What I can tell you is that I was relentless, like you, right? You just do. You set it out there as an intention, and you don't stop and there's no one right direction, right? I kind of feel that in order to get to the other side. It's not one solution, but it's the cumulative value of you seeking out those solutions and everything.


thing and everyone deposits a little thing. Oh, meet that person. Oh, speak to this person. Oh, join this association, right? What one of the things that you mentioned in your book was debtors anonymous, and that that program was a help. And who knew that even that that was a resource. So I think that you found a resource, you put people and groups, and you made lots of friends in the process. And you took a defining moment that was really dark, and you turned it around. You turned it upside down. That's the exciting part. So I want to get back to some of the research that you found about some of the key findings because I think that it's important, I want to mention it. It was an eye opener for me. So it wasn't just take a pause for a minute and talk about it. So there are key findings from the MacArthur Foundation, about eviction for black women.


And I didn't realize again before meeting you and reading and reading the book and going through it. But talk to us a little bit about the reasons why it's exacerbated more for black women over white women. 


Eugenié George  22:14  

The way I like to describe it is you know, women have to pay the pink tax right? So everyone knows that if you're if you're if you identify as a woman, you're going to get certain products and they're going to be more expensive, right? Or a tax of like right now what's going on you have what people having to sacrifice or overworking. Right, doing homeschooling and or being a teacher and taking care of the kids and doing your work. Right. And none of that is monetize. Which is like something I do like I clean up I'm percent cleans and yeah, that's not monetary value, right? So you have the pink text and then you have the black text.


You know, and so there's the there's so much history that goes through, boom. For starters, most a lot of black women are not married, they're not for into income household. And there is a there's a positive part of it and a negative part about it. The positive part is a lot of women feel like they can take care of themselves and take care of their kids in a better way. The negative thing is, is that, you know, for every one in three black males, they've been in contact with the prison system, right? That affects your money. Exactly. That's what typically ends up happening. And then the other thing is because black women were slaves and had to hold white women's hands and hold,


be the foundation, be the matriarchy, because I say that. You know, they don't really do studies on it. But black women, typically now are the matriarchy. We have


to balance all of these factors, and of course, when you get when you're behind in a payment, where do you go typically, like most folks will go to a check cashing place, or most folks won't say anything. That's what I did. I didn't say, like, I need help with money, or and when I did do it, my my parents were like, We cannot help you. Like, right. And so it happened so fast. It was like, one day I was in a courthouse room, and they thought I was the lawyer because I looked I didn't match what most black women that are evicted. Ah. So the judge thought that I was a lawyer. And even the lawyer that was against myself, my girl, you went to Berkeley, you can


so so it was like, yeah, so it was even that dynamic.


Right, like, people thought I was the lawyer. 


Tina Powell  25:03  

Yeah, the juxtaposition of being in that exact situation.


Eugenié George  25:07  

 And like a weird privilege, right? Yeah. for not having. Yeah. So that was kind of hard. And then once I did my research, there's a great book, which I'm kind of going over all the key takeaways, again, is called evicted. And it traced folks in the 2008 recession


and how their eviction system works, and honestly,


if most black women are the breadwinners, or single and our, you know, our net worth isn't where we want it to be. It kind of just happens so quickly. It happens so fast. It was like, month one, you know, like doing and then month three, you're out. So I have been so fast I was like, like I couldn't


And the hardest part about it, which I don't blame them and I don't get frustrated, but I was in the kind of like, Tony Robbins wealth, whatever those types of groups, and they kind of just ignore race


anyway, go out there you can do it, you know, and I of course like yeah, I can do it, but I have to be really strategic. And I can't go out and even to this day, you know, people are like having an abundant mindset. I'm like, yeah, I'm sending son and I like irrational mindset because that's not a thing either. But like, no, I got there and I'm like, sorry.


It's not matching up.


Right? And unfortunately, my friend Michelle and I were in a money class like that together.


I never say her, her her real name. But like, I know her real name. Yeah, my friend Michelle and I were in a class and we would joke around about money. And even in middle school, it never occurred to me. Oh, she was the one who didn't have. She was she did she, like lived almost on an RV. And it never clicked to me. Oh, you know, there's there's money, there's mental health issues, and there's money issues, or not caring about it. So I mean, that also was a red flag when I started thinking about being in the financial industry. So yeah, the eviction part is really complex, but it happens so fast. And unfortunately, there's not that much help. There's not that many organizations that can truly help.


Tina Powell  27:54  

And one of the things that I worry about right now in Coronavirus, and you hit upon it, that that the


Book evicted, dealt with the amount of evictions after the recession. And now as you're describing that story, I'm, I'm panicked, because that that that was the recession. This is Coronavirus, and this is a health crisis. This is an economic crisis. This is a political crisis. This is a race crisis. There are so many things at work, what do we like? What are we in for now? There's going to be such a wave and I don't know that we have the answers right now. I'm curious if there's anything that you know, you feel that we should be if there's any resource like, Where's the first place to go? We've talked about it initially. The first place is to ask for help around the people that you know, and, and hopefully that you have some really good friends people that you can really count on that who understand who you are, and who also think


You can appreciate the fact that maybe by virtue even by the color of your skin that you probably, that there could be other factors that you've enlightened me to that. Yeah, it's not just having an abundant mentality. Let's Get Real. There's some real issues at work here. But how can we help other people in need if we meet and and find those people, you know, women who are being evicted, where's the first place that they should go? 


Eugenié George  29:29  

Well, you sit there, most of the stuff that are used to navigate people towards was the CFPB board. That used to be the thing, but then now right now, there's been a lot of stuff happening with that, too. So currently, that's I mean, when this comes out, you'll definitely have the resource package. But yeah, we're working on right now. Within the next two weeks, especially for black woman's Equal Pay Day. Yes, do we want to talk about equal pay


Tina Powell  30:00  

Yeah, but you're absolutely want to talk about equal pay. We want to make sure that number one that the date is on the calendar for everyone. So why don't you tell everybody what that date is? 


Eugenié George  30:09  

Oh, it's August 13. So okay, we're what I'm doing right now is, this is where the privilege happens, right? My best friend from high school. Dale is a lawyer, and she helps folks with evictions. Hmm, like, even that I didn't even ask her. This was crazy. Like, I didn't even ask her. Oh, hey, could you help me out with it? cuz she's a lawyer like it was things like that, but it just didn't even occur to me like I should ask people that I know that are doing this. So I'm actually creating a resource page where the resource page is really helping people navigate


that statistic of what happens when you recognize a Trump being paid equally. Right?


So,


okay, what's the first What's something that can really affect you is your house stability, stability, like, the next three months people are about to get evicted. So what I'm going to do is start finding, or what I'm doing right now is looking for actual resources that can help folks and walk them through the whole process. The other thing that's gonna hit really hard is black women have a lot of student loans. Lots, they have more than most folks. So we're gonna do that, like I have. We have a student loan planner, which currently they're charged their services for 395, but I'm going to try to negotiate


something like little black women's equal pay for it would be kind of 


Tina Powell  31:51  

I love it. I love it. So those are great. So you'll put together some of those resources then I think that it brings me back to the time where you also choose


started to Google. What are your thoughts on just I think that there's more publications, we can certainly do our role in making sure that we're writing about equal pay day for black women that were putting information out on the internet. Again, we'd never know when somebody is going to be in that defining moment. And they're going to be needing to Google some something. But I would say that for everyone listening to the broadcast right now, using a is is hard at work and putting these resources together. There's nothing to stop you from also to putting them on your website, sharing it on social media, putting it on LinkedIn. And we just want to make sure that resources are final and searchable. There's no one easy answer. This is a problem that is has been going on for years and years. What we do know is that we're trying to at least to help the people that we can help by doing our part everybody take a little part of the problem. Maybe problem can get solved that way. Yeah.


So one of the things that you started to talk about also too in your book, and which is a common theme in in our discussions, is the fact that, you know, money and health and mental health are all really part of one of the same story. It's interesting. I spent eight years listening to the conversations of people in a wealth management environment. And I could tell you that that's absolutely absolutely true. You need all three of them, actually, if you're going to have a positive money story, and if you're going to, like, improve that money story, you have to deal with all three. your pocketbook is as I think an outcome of how you're feeling mentally, spiritually, how you're going out into the world.


But you found it, you found out you took it to another level in your book and you talked about adverse childhood experiences because some of the things that we might be feeling might be related to an early trauma. And women in general, black women, white women, Latina women, Asian women, African American, Indian women, Indian women, all cultures have gone through some sort of trauma in childhood and that experience has left an imprint on their money. And can you talk a little bit about it? I had never heard the term use before aces adverse childhood experience. So I think I want to make you all aware on the on this podcast on in the suite. I know we're getting really deep here, ladies and gentlemen in the suite today. I think that we need to we need to know the facts we need to know the truth. 


Eugenié George  34:52  

adverse childhood experience is a study that was conducted by Kaiser Permanente


And the CDC. And basically, what they wanted to find out is based off of your childhood, Are there going to be long term health effects that can hinder you from from like, you know, living overall? Yeah. So


it's so crazy so literally when I started looking at two at this doctor and a dean Harrisburg, who's now the California Surgeon General, which this there's only one state that has this Surgeon General just crazy. And that's like where I grew up. 


Tina Powell  35:39  

It's crazy that only you would find that


Eugenié George  35:43  

right? Yeah.


When I.


When I want to be I think they call it a multi potential light, or something like that, where it's like when you're interested in a topic, you will go really deep


Deep into that topic where it's moronic and like Excel hates and I'm like, Okay, what is this? But so I'm very aware of that type of person that I am. So this is the first time right now where I'm having a low information diet.


Tina Powell  36:17  

I mean, I just Well first of all, I have to say the big surprises from this podcast is that we are we're giving away five copies. And if you want a copy of eugenides book, our money stories, it's something that you need to have. I want you to email me personally, tina@csuitesocialmedia.com, and I will gift it to you can have the Kindle version. I can have it sent to your house, you need to read what's in this book. Eugenié a is a very talented writer, and she's a talented researcher. I have to admit the one when I first read even the Michael Kitces his article that you that you put, yeah, it's it's long, long form, right, and it's really it really goes in deep. What you peel back


back the onion for me is the fact that, Oh, I didn't realize those things that happen would really show up and be part of my money story later in life that, that that's what the revealing moment is. And that's, I think the big takeaway for people, right when you say


Eugenié George  37:16  

yeah, so, I mean, I completely agree. And I mean, it doesn't really matter who you are, where you come from, everybody has trauma. There's a great book called the trauma of everyday life.


I read that maybe seven years ago, and I was like, Oh my gosh, would you


like,


every day, you know, videos, like, chop, chop, chop everywhere, you know? 


Tina Powell  37:43  

Wow. Well, we're gonna have Dr. Virletta Bryant, actually on this podcast, and he is, yeah, so we're gonna we're gonna be talking about trauma with her. Like I said, we're getting in deep and one of the things that you did really well in the book is that you highlighted the stories of women there.


Again, you interviewed 40 people, and you wanted to make sure that you had experiences for women of color, Native American, Latin, African and Asian American. And although I'd love to explore each of those stories, and we could be here for another few hours, I know your time is valuable. Can you tell us what story impacted you the most?


Eugenié George  38:24  

Yes, Carmen. I think I called her karma. Sometimes I forget. Because I had to create everybody's, you know, I know exactly. Everybody's alter ego, right. Carmen story was the most intense for me. Because


here this woman is, I think she has like a credit. She basically is that she's a person that if all the problems in your credit happen, you come to her so it's like, right. You know, you


I don't know what they call it. It's not a credit comes. It's like knee deep. You deal with lawyers, all that stuff, tax liens, all that stuff she deals with that. Her business right now is making six. She has a six figure business. She's Mexican American, and she is on it, like, paid her undergraduate, couldn't get scholarships, couldn't get the dream app nothing like literally paid everything figured it out. And her story had the most traumatic impact. So in this sense, she was sexually assaulted by our father for years. And that affected her money story. A lot of people don't understand that when people are at the top or at the most successful. A lot of people have the most trauma. Yes, I


like that in during


That time too I was watching in the clear with I don't know if they're going clear is the HBO documentary about this school of Scientology? And what if for whatever reason the information that they have on like john travolta and all these like famous people you don't realize like, Oh my goodness, like Tom Cruise has so much had so much trauma. Yeah, child that you're like Oh, of course, of course you want to make people happy Your goal is sit in the limelight. And so the adverse childhood thing is so was so spot on because it was like,


if you don't have the finances, you're going to have unfortunately bad or fortunately not the best habits with your money because it's going to be so connected to your health. But if you look at how doesn't matter how wealthy or how lack of access they


You have, you're going to have this trauma is going to affect you. And then in the book in particular, I talked about my dad, who has an a score of three or four, something like that. And his coping mechanism. Thank God was just drinking sodas. Yeah, that's the only coping mechanism that he has. But again, that affects his money as well. Right? So you can tie it doesn't matter if you're male or female or whatever you identify with. You can your trauma can affect your every habit that you have. And so being able to tie it to money, that I felt like that was a unique opportunity. And fortunately, because I was talking to someone that works at Kitces right now, she's a researcher, and I said, Hey, I got this idea. You know, she thought it was Megan. Megan was like, Yeah, that's it. I'm about to write about it.


So that's when I was like, okay, all this is going to tie in together? And how can I make all of these stories particularly with Carmen, I into her a score, how it affects how she viewed money, and how sex or intimacy has was in a very interesting link with her money. So that was the one that affected me the most.


Tina Powell  42:27  

Well, they're all great stories. And again, you start to see ties back, you start to relate it to your own life. And that's really helpful. And I think that the way that you you know, the way that you overcome it is that you do you work with a professional, but the first thing that you have to do is you have to realize that some sort of problem or something exists before you can actually address it. So the stories are, I think a direction and interesting direction to where the industry is going.


connecting more than it's more than just money by itself and how's my portfolio doing? And again, I want to remind everyone listening that Eugenié a is gone through the you've gone through all the CFP material so far right?


Okay, I have to tell you that there is a ringer here, right? There is an amazing rigor here of what eugenics is having to do. And then it's, it's I can't wait for I can't wait for that, actually, because of all these different things. And, you know, who knows, I think that you're really going to have a huge impact on the financial planning profession, because you are introducing all of these themes and why they might be hard to talk about it. Let's face it, you guys. Okay, let's be real. It's hard to it's hard to swallow. Would we rather talk about other things that have a little bit more levity and humor at times? Absolutely, absolutely. But again, what we're trying to do is


We're trying to solve for larger issues and we have to realize that they might be tied back to things in our own experiences that we didn't know. So let's get on let's get on the lighter side. Let's let's get on the other side.


One of the things that you say on your website and you have it on your, on your LinkedIn as well, too, is that you are going to help us to create a six week no BS, holistic financial wellness plan, and you know what I'm like, yeah, sign me up for that. six week, no BS, you know, where do you Where do you start with? Where do you start with some of your clients?


Eugenié George  44:48  

I mean, fortunately, while I was writing this, I was working for asset map. So I guess it's a plug for asset map. So while I was working


working for them. 


Tina Powell  45:01  

Oh, sure, Adam Holt. Yeah, yeah. 


Eugenié George  45:04  

So while I was working from them, the software was so interesting to me. It was like I did more of the looking at the software.


Tina Powell  45:15  

No, that's so that's so cool. I mean, they have a very interesting software that the way that they're showing, right, like the household, they're literally showing like the people and making a map and making a diagram so that people can visualize financial planning, estate planning, all the things that they need, and how people in a household or family actually relate. Right? All of those different associations. There's very few people doing it, right. Eugenié


Eugenié George  45:42  

I would say that's the only from what I've seen.


Tina Powell  45:45  

Yeah, yeah, there's only I think there's one or one other tool that the name escapes me. Everyone can look at the Kitces technology map to find out you know, how the FinTech world is is delineated with all of the tools.


Eugenié George  46:00  

You know, the crazy thing is like, I was only there for a half a year because it was almost like that internship. The thing about it is like that at to me is what we should be doing when we're talking to clients there. Because if you're a novice, and you don't understand money, you have to visibly be able to see what's happening. So when I when I wrote that had that idea, I was worried for asset map. Then I also was teaching classes and corporations for this company called Alma gogo. So of course, you could tell I'm always hustling, can't wait to this


person, I would kind of be like, Hey guys, don't you like let's talk about your map or like, let's talk about your who you're connected to. So the first step is to write out your own money, story and things


kind of find out like, how does your, your story play a role into your money? So we'll talk about it. There's there's a couple folks that talk about your money story. But it was more about like, write it out, see where it takes you. And then the next week, they just built on each other, like the next week was, okay, well, like let's look at your wellness pillars. I'm kind of explaining to you what our wellness is kind of ask yourself in each aspect of my life, how does money play a role into my mind? What's the positive parts, the negative parts, and then from the interviews that I had with all these women, they didn't know their net worth. And they know even if they have like financial advisors, whatever, most of them did not know their net worth. And they worked organized, when it came to their money like tons of people are like yeah


You got to put it's fine. It was like digital files like no, when you're starting out, you have to print these things out so you can visibly see it. So let's buy or buy a file cabinet. I know you're gonna laugh at me, but you there are some things that you have to have. And I think I would say that most readers, I mean, there's a lot of financial advisors that are reading it, but even then you don't know. I've met tons of financial advisors. I have no money. So Oh, yeah, I and like I said, on those discussions, it's all relative. You could be making a million dollars a year and you could be blowing through it. Yeah. Right. You You You could be if it matters, not the amount of money that you make. It's it's how you manage your life around it or make decisions around it. Right. Yeah. So it literally the whole thing was basically being able to see where you're at, and then fiscally be able to


To check in with your money, once a quarter. So that's why I was six weeks, because you can literally redo this every six weeks, and roughly every quarter. And it doesn't mean it's not that difficult. But yeah, you have to look at your net worth every quarter. You got to do certain things that don't feel comfortable. And I mean, I do them myself too. 


Tina Powell  49:24  

So, oh, yeah, I check. One of the things that I learned is just even just looking at your online bank accounts every single day. And sure enough, and then, especially right now with like, fraud and whatnot. I have found things that had no reason to be there. Again, they were fraudulent charges. My credit cards are all frozen. I subscribe to I think it's on Equifax. I have like I can get my credit history and my credit report on demand at any time. Forget about it like oh, getting your credit your credit report once a year. None of


No, no, I want it like at least once a month. And I think we have access to a lot of online tools, but you bring up a really important point. And certainly I'm not gonna, I'm gonna say yes, because I'm old school, that having it printed is another mechanism for you to, you know, interact with your own financial affairs differently. So, you know, it's good to have it in both places, even if you lean in more towards the, the print over the digital. 


Eugenié George  50:26  

Yeah, cuz I, what I do right now is I have I think we're talking about financial BFF. So I'll be real quick, but I have my Excel spreadsheet. I have one app, and then I have everything that I write on paper. So I it's like I do all three of them, just so I can see it and double check, because I'm not at the money goal. Like I have a certain money goal, which is having $100,000 to half Yeah, right.


So and that to me was important because I heard another financial BFF I heard someone else say that once they got to that amount, then they were able to be more playful with with certain things and they were able to jump out and have their own business which I own a business but it's like, I looking at my skin color everything. I was like, I want to have the freedom to just say no. 


Tina Powell  51:26  

Yeah, your name is really what Eugenié is talking about is important concept that she developed and that she created the book and that is financial BFFs. And these are people who you surround yourself with that, who hold you accountable. The fact that you even have a goal is a lot probably like the 80% of the population don't have an example. And unlike you, there's a certain amount of money that I want to make. There's a certain amount of money that I wanted my business to make. I have my business, bookkeeping and quick


Books, I'm able to run a report at any time. And you better believe that I went old school and I wrote down in a journal actually what I wanted to grow for the year 2020. And it all starts with, you know, knowing those goals and having the people around you. And I would say that my mother's an accountability partner and my aunt who was the first attorney in our family, you know, my mother's was the oldest of nine, it was not a childhood of privilege at all. So the fact that anybody even went to college was a major thing. And my father who never even you know, put a foot in to a college or university. So it is about you know, having surrounding yourself with people. I think there's that the rule, right, like, you are an accumulation or the average of the five people closest to you. So who you want is a financial BFF would be a pretty important thing, right? Eugenié 


Eugenié George  52:51  

Yeah, I mean, you have to


find them. It takes a while to so be patient.


Tina Powell  53:00  

Yeah, so I think the book is definitely a great resource. And you know, it's following you on Twitter and LinkedIn. What's the best way for people to get in touch with you?


Eugenié George  53:11  

I just ran on Twitter all the time.


Pretty much where I'm at. It was like,


the eye, the recovering type, a, the purse, the organizer. Everything was always against Twitter. And then finally, when I understood it, it just was like, everything, you know,


Tina Powell  53:32  

right now, I love it. I've been I've been I created a program years ago called Twitter nomics. And everybody was like, you know, I was like, Yes, let's have a Twitter account. And everybody thought I was crazy. And now it's a blessing because I would eat even in Coronavirus. It's a mechanism that connects us to one another, and that I get to see what what you're talking about what you're reading about. So I definitely you need to follow us on Twitter. We'll have that


link to her Twitter account. But two more questions for you. But once once a really important question, and that is in the suite here we believe in ally ship and what it means for white women to support black women in the workplace. And in doing a lot of work on that and reading Minda hearts the memo, and she's very specific in that I think that's a good first step for white women listening to support black women is to understand what Eugenié was talking about in the beginning of this broadcast, to understand that the experiences are different. It is a fundamental, different experience. We have to come to terms with that, and it's a harder experience. But what do you think I'm curious, what does that look like to you? How can we support equal pay day for black women? How do we show up for black women on equal pay day for black women in August on the 13th? What can we do? 


Eugenié George  54:54  

I mean,


I think it's a big ask I think


I think it really is like, Of course I'm gonna write articles about it. Now, I am very fortunate. I am very fortunate in the sense that all my friends that are white women, perhaps either at some point in my life I have spoken and said this is wrong and you're doing this because of her color, or has been the person that pointed it out to me. Right so I'm in a really different space in terms of and I want to acknowledge that that my friends that text me are I went to UC Berkeley, and you know, there are some women that are like this is wrong. So wherever you are with your stage, just kind of be aware of that. Especially if you're white, but I'm not a white woman. So I can't fully say but I would say wherever you are in your state, just be aware of like, like you just said, the five people that you know, most people around you are not going to have that kind


Conversation with black women's equal payday. There is some kind of backlash right now, or there's some very unsettling feelings because what's happening is a lot of white women are like texting and saying like, how are you? Like, I'm checking in on you. And a lot of people are all like, I've been saying this for years, right? Y'all just weren't listening. Or you know, you would say you're kidding. Or you know what I remember being in high school, and someone called me colored. And I was like, This is not right. And I kid you not these girls were like, You're overreacting. You're doing this. So like, there's so much trauma, even with having conversations with white women. I think I mean, by the memo seat, see where you're at. But I mean,


honestly, I feel like why


is that book is a great book. I would not I never recommend white fragility to black folks, because a lot of folks get upset but I


I would recommend it to white women because typically when it comes to especially if you're more on the liberal side, you're like we're the same and you'll unconsciously create your own bias but not recognizing that you know even if you there's princesses or problems a great movie to see the differences and dualities between the two races and how people respond to them. So even the princess who is Tiana is like overwork works, and is trying to get make it to the top and the other woman who she takes who's her friend does not see the same lens. So just kind of be aware of that. So I would just say, read white fragility, read the memo. The memo just like gives you antidotal stories, which are great. 


Tina Powell  57:49  

Oh, yeah, they're really, really impactful. I mean, some of the stories I'm like, wait is this happened like, during my lifetime, like we're even. It's It's It's some of


The stories that I'm hearing are, I'm in one word heinous is the word that that truthfully comes to mind. So we'll put these resources. And again, I think that the fact that white women, if I could speak in general terms, right now, a lot of us are affected by what's going on. And we want to, we want to do better. And I think just the acknowledgement of that, there's all types of resources. And again, we're going to have multiple people are in the suite right now to talk about these issues, because we feel that they're important and they need to be front and center. And let's acknowledge that and let's just appreciate each other and look at each other as individuals and that they've gone through certain experiences that we don't know the depth of those experiences. So let's just treat each other a little bit more kindly. 


Eugenié George  58:45  

Yeah. And there, there are a couple of organizations that would say, you know, look at and read their stories like Sora mag magazine is a great, well written news publication from


All women for women of color, and you can read and understand just how people's experiences are, you know, just learning about people. The plug is really good if you're talking about the tech industry. Mm hmm. They actively charelle It's a great resource where she looks at data and sees where there's problems, of course vinda But yeah, there's there's a couple of resources that you know, if you're whatever industry you're in, whatever industry and just type in,


you know, like navigating like I how I wrote it. But 


Tina Powell  59:39  

yeah, and here's the thing. here's, here's another, here's another stuff because resources are great, right? We put them out there and that, you know, share them with the people doesn't matter how big of a company or small of a company that you are, share them with the people in your organization. So we work with here at C suite social media, we have


interns, we have part timers, we have people that we outsource to. And I have not only made Mendez book available, I've actually purchased it on their behalf and I have a paid day. I have a paid day that I have allocated to them, they get to pick it out. And that's all that I want them doing that day. I want them just to read the stories I want them to give the resources. So if you're a business owner, and again, I'm a small business owner, you know, do write and make the resources available, share them on your intranet, share them on social media, share them through your email newsletter, and you know, give your people some time off to actually to absorb these resources, make it easy for people, you know, they're stressed, we talked about it in the beginning people are now women especially are having to deal with their kids at home all summer long when they would normally be at camp. So just you know, help people to find the time to you know,


Examine and to read and to listen. And that's what that's what I want to say you don't need to be a CEO of a Fortune 500 company to show empathy and concern for for everyone that works with you.


So we're going to end with a little levity note here and that is we have the same asked the same question to every guest here in the suite. And it's how we end the podcast each time about, you know, there are times that you need to bring that superpower Let's face it, whether or not that you're talking on stage or whether or not you're going for that interview. And a lot of women in the suite have something special that they either tell themselves carry that gives them that like power boost where you know, anything, what is it for you What do you have something special that you know, you're trying to draw that energy in?


Eugenié George  1:01:56  

I mean, I guess it's humor like my I have a


Very funny family.


Their their mannerisms make me laugh. I think that's the thing that kind of gets me mean. So, I mean, I was almost a runner up for class clown and Oh no, I was really like the go getter you know like I still was really tight A i was i was rolling with the jokes and I was making teachers laugh no so


great.


That was the whole thing too because my book before was actually funnier. Like it was just like joke joke joke. And then everybody that reviewed it there last week. We kept it here fun, but you need to turn it back on.


Tina Powell  1:02:46  

Again, those financial BFFs Gotta love them. Gotta love it.


Eugenié George  1:02:51  

Like, I gotta love it. My writing my writer's peer group. They're like, yeah, that you're funny, but you can't make this breezy.


breezy. So I cut out a lot of stuff but no, I typically joke around.


Tina Powell  1:03:06  

 Okay, so cue your your fiance must love that right. Congratulations to you on that when you getting married, 


Eugenié George  1:03:12  

who knows we kind of just look at each other because he's a principal at a high school. 


No, he's not a high school anymore. He's K through eight. So you're either eight now, so we kind of I mean right now it's like the kids, everything goes first. So sure, sure. No, his humors a lot darker than mine is. 


But he's, he's the clown and his family too. So it's pretty fun. 


Tina Powell  1:03:38  

I love that. Well, listen, you've been extraordinary to share all these resources. And I am a big fan. And like I said on the book, ladies and gentlemen, five copies I'm giving away, I'll send it to your door. I'll have a gift wrap for you. So just get in touch with me at Tina C suite social media.com and we will have all the resources that you may have.


Going through the sent to make sure that we make them available. And again, you know, please please share them you know, I'd love for you to share Eugenié his books and messages and follow her on Twitter and you have been such an extraordinary guest Thank you for taking time out of your rainy day here and we look forward to equal pay day for black women and and showing up for that. 


Eugenié George  1:04:22  

Yeah, thanks so much for having me. 


Tina Powell  1:04:25  

Thank you Eugenié


you're listening to in the suite a podcast that shares amazing stories of women in business in the financial services in the wealth management industry. This podcast is sponsored by C suite social media and digital marketing and social media agency for C suite leaders in finance and technology. You can visit C suite social media comm to learn more and for show notes from today's broadcast. And thank you so much for listening and subscribing and helping to support this podcast with your reviews. I would love it and it would be


mean so much to me. If you left us a five star review for this very special and timely episode with Eugenié George and downloaded the free chapter of her book, our many stories at Eugenié George calm. And always if you would like to share the name of a successful woman and financial services we should interview please send it to me at tina@csuitesocialmedia.com we have received a lot of great names so far, and we're working really hard behind the scenes to make it all possible. Again, thank you so much for listening and subscribing to in the suite.