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Episode #66 Equality Pays with Michelle Gyimah

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Today I have the very lovely Michelle Gyimah with me on Financial Fluency. Michelle is a tech gender equality consultant, a tech startup improver, trainer, and speaker. She worked for over six years at the Equality and Human Rights Commission in the UK, helping employers work within the bounds of equality law, especially in regards to maternity leave. In the midst of her own maternity leave, she decided that she wanted to strike out on her own and provide consulting for businesses and employees as an entrepreneur.

In our discussion, we cover in depth the feelings of vulnerability and fear that women encounter when revealing their pregnancy to their employer. We talk about how women might choose to become self-employed because of how their employers treat them around pregnancy and child care. We talk about how startups can provide a safe and comfortable culture for women.

Quotes

  • “Even though my employer was quite amazing, when I was pregnant I had this sense of vulnerability, thinking ‘I hope I’m able to keep my job because I really need to keep it.’” – Michelle
  • “Even though the legislation in the UK and the US is on polar opposite ends of scale in terms of leave, many of the social issues are the same.” – Michelle
  • “Even if you can take 12 weeks of unpaid leave, what if you can’t take 12 weeks of unpaid leave? What if you need the money?” – Jen
  • “The message is you can have a career if you don’t have a baby, which is wrong.” – Michelle
  • “It’s like we’re telling women from a young age that they can be anything, but as soon as they decide they want to have a family we’re like ‘Oooh, we forgot to tell you, you can’t mix the two.” – Michelle
  • “It’s only a short amount of time that you are going to have a young family that’s going to depend on you in terms of time. That’s a very limited way of looking at people.” – Michelle
  • “[In startup culture], we want to view women as more than consumers, we want to view them as creators too. Women need to feel safe, valued and wanted. It’s not just a boys club for start-ups.” – Michelle
 To connect with Michelle and learn more about her advice for employers and employees alike, check her out on LinkedIn and at www.equalitypays.co.uk.

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michelle2Michelle is a tech gender equality consultant, startup improver, inclusive business builder, speaker, and trainer.

She’s passionate about working with tech companies (whatever their size) to help them improve their gender diversity, specifically how to attract and keep female staff and working mothers and how to save their organization money by not ending up in employment tribunal.

Through customized company assessments she can identify problem areas and produce a customized plan of action that will dramatically improve your gender diversity and your return on investment.

She’s dedicated to partnering with UK and US Women in Tech thought-leaders to mainstream the improvement of gender diversity in tech.

Episode #65 Raise Top Kids with Neelam Sethi

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Today I am honored to have Neelam Sethi! Neelam is a parenting expert, HuffPo blogger, and has been featured on the New York Times and Farnoosh Torabi’s So Money podcast on how to raise successful children.

All of her children are success, but perhaps you have heard of  Ramit Sethi or Nagina Sethi Abdullah? Ramit is an entrepreneur and the New York Times bestselling author of “I Will Teach You To Be Rich” and his sister Nagina is a full-time consultant and the founder of the health and fitness program Masala Body. Did you see the Pavlok pitch on SharkTank? That was their younger brother Maneesh. Their other sister is a full time medical doctor and mother of three.

We talk about how her attentive approach as a parent lead to her children’s success.

Neelam’s Tips

  • Follow your instincts.
  • Find what motivates your child and help them follow those motivations
  • Ask specific questions about their day.
    • What did you do at your 10 o’clock recess?
    • What game did you play? Who did you play with? Who did you sit with at lunch?
    • What subject did you not like today?
  • Give them different titles for chores and make those tasks feel special i.e. Table setter, Door engineer, Pick up Crew, etc
  • Add gratitude/meditation practice for your kids
    • Just ask them in the morning and the evening what they are grateful for.

Quotes

  • “When they were children every sentence started with “when you go to college, when you go to high school, when you go to junior high” so it became a part of their life.” – Neelam
  • “Anything, anything can be negotiated, and what’s the worst that can happen? They say no.” – Neelam
  • “I told [my kids] nothing is permanent, everything can change, and you have to be prepared.” – Neelam

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Resources

Ramit Sethi

Nagina Sethi

Pavlok

New York Times Article

So Money Podcast

Cooking for Busy Moms on Business Insider

neelam_origNeelam is a retired elementary school teacher. She also raised four motivated children.  They went on to attend top universities, and became best-selling authors, entrepreneurs and a doctor.

She has been featured in the New York Times, Huffington Post and So Money podcast for her advice to raise motivated children.

To learn more about Neelam visit her website raisetopkids.com. Here, she shares her best advice to raise motivated children and you can get her “3 Strategies To Raise a Motivated Child.” If you would like to contact her directly email her at neelam@raisetopkids.com.

Episode #64 Own Your Stage with Elsewine Rietveld

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Today I am happy to have Elsewine Rietveld with me. Elsewine is a Presence teacher and trainer and kinesiologist from the Netherlands. She teaches entrepreneurs and professionals how to feel confident and make big impacts with their messages in all their conversations, presentations and on video. She teaches a unique set of practical tools that helps them own their inner power and speak in a way which is authentic and charismatic.

Our conversation today covers her childhood experience on debate teams, how she discovered the Presence method, and the difference it has made for her as an entrepreneur and in her relationship. She also shares her tips for making impactful videos, being a better networker and how to get to the bottom of your blocks through the basics of kinesiology.

Tips from Elsewine

1. Eye contact on camera

  • Try to look into the camera, instead of looking down or above and beyond.
  • Imagine there is someone in the camera eye, with the qualities of your ideal client avatar.
  • Trust you are the expert on the topic!

2. Networking

  • Be present and listen more, feel your feet on the floor. Other people love talking about themselves.
  • Try not to have an agenda.
  • If you feel a judgement, ideal or a solution coming up, let it go.

3. Limiting beliefs

  • Voices from the past, can influence you negatively throughout your life.
  • Write down the limiting beliefs that you have and you will start to see what lies underneath
  • If you think about each statement, it will likely trigger a memory and you can see where it comes from.
  • Start to tweak them gently to the positive.

Quotes

  • “A debate is not your personal opinion, it’s still safe, it’s not you standing there, speaking there.” – Elsewine
  • “It’s very important to know the technical part [of video], but the most important part is to know how can you be you on camera and look back and think ‘Ooh, I like her!’” – Elsewine
  • “It’s about coming across through the camera and having your presence truly meet them.” – Elsewine
  • “If you feel really anxious about video, I wouldn’t recommend starting with live platforms like Periscope or Facebook Live.” – Elsewine
  • “It’s about really regaining your feminine power, and if you are in your own zone of genius in that way, people will listen.” – Elsewine

Connect with Elsewine at www.elsewine.com.

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elsewine-06Elsewine is a Presence teacher and trainer and kinesiologist from the Netherlands. She teaches entrepreneurs and professionals how to feel confident and make big impacts with their messages in all their conversations, presentations and on video. She teaches a unique set of practical tools that helps them own their inner power and speak in a way which is authentic and charismatic.

Years ago, when she was a student, she was afraid to speak in front of more than two or three people at a time. So she decided to join a debate club, where she learned how to make a good speech, be convincing in her arguments and stand in front of an audience. She participated in various tournaments, nationally and internationally, and won a few prizes.

Once she even won a big tournament final, speaking in front of an audience of 150 people together with her debate partner (who coincidentally ended up being her life partner!). All of that has taught her a lot, but what she noticed was that there is a huge difference between defending a side in a debate (regardless of what you think about the topic) and telling your personal story or talking about your message to an audience of people you’d like to impress.

That’s where kinesiology and the Presence method made all the difference for her! With muscle testing (kinesiology), she learned the source of her blocks and how to overcome them. Through the Presence practices she now teaches in her trainings she learned how she could be authentic, confident and magnetic while speaking. This has really changed her life and she loves teaching this process and helping others become charismatic speakers.