Supporting Women Entrepreneurs and Navigating DEI in Financial Services

LeeAnn Rasachak [00:00:00]:

I want women to have choice around how they, what path they want to have in terms of career. Many of our clients that come to us at Women Venture prioritize, I want to run a successful business. Our mission is building profitable, sustainable businesses. And so it's in line with our mission, but also what we hear from clients is I want to own my own home. I want to create wealth generation for my family and that those dreams, those aspirations, I totally get that because that's exactly what my parents wanted for me. And how lucky am I to be able to lead this organization to help every single day, make an impact in a woman's life. And we know that women give back to their community.

Leah Alter [00:00:53]:

Hi there. Thanks for joining us. I'm Leah Alter. And I'm Joanna Ehresman. And this is WomenShare, a celebration of women in financial services.

Joanna Ehresman [00:01:03]:

Before we dive into today's discussion, we want to thank Axtella, our presenting sponsor of WomenShare. Axtella is

Leah Alter [00:01:20]:

Axtella today go.axtella.com/womenshare. That's go.axtella.com/womenshare.

Joanna Ehresman [00:01:33]:

Well, today, we are hearing from a guest whose career journey has spanned the financial services industry and the nonprofit sector. LeeAnn Rasachek of is CEO of Women Venture, a nonprofit organization that offers business training and loan services for women entrepreneurs. Prior to that, LeeAnn's career began in consumer retail marketing, followed by a decade in the financial services industry, including roles in public relations, brand, and digital transformation at Securian Financial and RBC Wealth Management. Between LeeAnn's time in the financial services industry and now her work with women business owners, which many of our guests and listeners are passionate about supporting, we know you'll love to hear her story and her perspective as a business leader. So, Leanne, welcome to Women's Share.

LeeAnn Rasachak [00:02:21]:

Well, oh, thank you so much for the warm welcome. I'm happy to be here.

Leah Alter [00:02:26]:

So, Leanne, thank you so much for joining us. You have had a very successful career in financial services for a number of years. We'd love to hear your story on making the transition to CEO at Women Venture. What compelled you to make the change, and how has that experience been being a, you know, first time CEO in a new industry?

LeeAnn Rasachak [00:02:49]:

Yes. Well, I as I've been reflecting on this question and it's a common one that I receive and, you know, I think about the opportunities that I've had in being able to be part of transformations. And I am a transformation junkie, as it turns out. Like, I'm addicted to it. I I love the ability to come in and help organizations kind of figure out what's next for them and why I was attracted to women venture and moving into the nonprofit space and working at a community development financial institution, came at a time where it was a pivotal point in the rest of the world. It was in the middle of our racial reckoning, in 2020, post George Floyd's murder. It was during, still in the pandemic, and then also becoming a new mom and a new mom in a multitude of, a multitude of ways. I have a blended family of 4 children.

LeeAnn Rasachak [00:03:49]:

3 are my bonus kids, and we also have an ours baby, so our my our bio baby. And, you know, during that time, there was a lot that was happening in the world, but but I was pure like, it wasn't a part of it. I was I felt like I was observing it, and I was observing it from my basement as we were all working from home. And I wanted to do more for community and more in terms of impact. I was at RBC Wealth Management. I was sitting on the board of women venture. And as an organization at RBC, we were working through what can we do that is more impactful, rolling up our sleeves. We provide generous financial contributions to community, but really, but how do we get, you know, on the ground with our work? And I wasn't able to do that from my home.

LeeAnn Rasachak [00:04:37]:

I wasn't able to do that from my basement for several months of even after having my child, and and women ventures work. Right in the community development. Financial institution space means having the ability to impact women in entrepreneurship and and small business ownership through providing affordable capital access and business training and development, and I came from a family of entrepreneurs. I came from having tried and failed launching a business with my former partner, and I never wanted someone to go through that experience again. So it's like all these things that I had experienced dovetailed into this one opportunity, which is becoming the CEO of Women Venture. And that was a big, leap for me because I'd never been a CEO, and I've never worked in the nonprofit space.

Joanna Ehresman [00:05:30]:

Wow. And just like what a bold move. Like, I so admire the fact that you went for it because there would probably be a lot of not convenient excuses, real valid reasons why it wasn't a great time. You know? I've got a new baby. There's a pandemic. I've got other children to, you know, be concerned about amid this pandemic as well and but, yeah, you you went for it. That's so impressive.

Leah Alter [00:05:58]:

Did you find that,

LeeAnn Rasachak [00:06:02]:

you

Leah Alter [00:06:02]:

know, all of the other things that you had done that led you to the point to that point along with just your kind of personal passions about what was going on in the world at that time poised you to be ready for the moment? Or what was that transition like for you?

LeeAnn Rasachak [00:06:19]:

I think that every role has prepared me for the role that I'm in today. And I believe that because I started off in PR and communications. Right. And, was in the retail and consumer space. And during that time, you know, a couple decades ago, there were things that were new to this space, like digital and social media and, you know, even building and navigating websites. And it was one of those things that was like, it was just handed, it handed to me in the sense of like, okay, you're the closest one to being a digital native. You can help us figure this out. And so I was always the one to help figure the things out.

LeeAnn Rasachak [00:06:54]:

Right. And then I'd solve that problem and then kind of move on to the next one. And, and at large Fortune 500, Fortune 1000 brands that were going through all kinds of, whether a brand transformation or the financial crisis, and keeping doors open, right, learning issues management, and navigating through the financial crisis was probably the biggest and most pivotal career experience that I've had in that, in preparing me for this role as well. And that it it positioned me well to to lead as an individual contributor and to gain trust of senior leaders and where I was able to work right alongside some senior executives and who, who gave me several chances, right, to learn how to do things and feel safely and lead transformations within those organizations. And so whether it is strong communications, media relations, issues management, replatforming, and building an entire e commerce experience for selling Sleep Number beds. Right. At a time where who knew that people would want to buy beds online, right? Like that trust in the advancement and technology that came along with it. So all of those pieces leading cross functional teams, $10,000,000 initiatives, very well prepared me for this role.

LeeAnn Rasachak [00:08:14]:

And then I also knew that anything I didn't know, you've gotta lean on the team and the community, and then assess what's the toolkit that I have and what tools do I need to add to it to be successful in the role.

Joanna Ehresman [00:08:26]:

I love that. I love the, both the confidence and belief in your ability and reflecting on here's the experience that I'm bringing to this. But then, also, I think there's studies that show. Right? Most women will want to make sure they check all of a 100% of the boxes or qualifications for a job before they go for it. But the fact that you saw, hey. This is there's a strong team at Women Venture already that I are part of this network that can make me successful. So I just really appreciate that perspective, and, like I said, it's, I have so much admiration for the fact that you did this, and, clearly, it's going well. So now turning to women ventures specifically, there are some macro themes that have emerged across the broad array of guests that we've had on the show.

Joanna Ehresman [00:09:12]:

There's the shared passion for serving women, business owners, and entrepreneurs, whether it's as a financial adviser or providing mentorship to them in, you know, fostering their business growth. So tell us more about Women Venture and ways our listeners could support your mission.

LeeAnn Rasachak [00:09:28]:

Yes. Thank you. And, again, I really appreciate the platform to be able to share about Women Venture and then how the this community can help to support. So Women Venture has been around for 45 years, 46 years, and we provide business training, development, business consulting, as well as access to affordable capital. So we are a, lender of anywhere between a 1,000 a $100,000 for, businesses, and we will help anyone that comes to us. Our primary target audience are women. Roughly 95% of who we serve are, identify as women. And so when we think about, like, how can people help to support, I think then there's several ways.

LeeAnn Rasachak [00:10:12]:

Easy ways are being able to shop women owned businesses and to support them that we have a directory on womenventure.org with 400 some businesses on it. There's a live map that you can use it as you're out and about to see. And if you're out shopping, you wanna stop in a restaurant, or you're looking for a consulting business or whatever it may be that you can pull that up on your phone or your desktop. You can help to promote, like, and share and engage with us on social media to be able to help. You can give money to us. Right? So as individual contributions and or, with your corporations and your foundations, how we are how we are able to operate is highly dependent on the ability to secure funding from diverse funding pools. And so it's a mix of government. It is private corporate foundation, individual contributions, and then a small percentage that's our own earned, revenue as we look at our long fees and interests, as well as the classes that we, operate.

LeeAnn Rasachak [00:11:11]:

From a volunteer capacity, we need more people in terms of mentorship, and that can be mentorship 1 on 1 within our cohort programs. It could be, also coming in and volunteering to say, you know, I wanna work with a set of clients to analyze their books. Right. And I can be that person as a sounding board to look at your financials and to give you some feedback on it as an established business. I am always on the lookout for great committee members. We have 2 loan committees, finance, governance, advancement, our women's business advisory committee, because we are an SBA designated women's business center. The only one in the twin cities, and we are the only women's focused community development financial institution in Minnesota. So look, always looking for committees, which is also a great pipeline into board service.

LeeAnn Rasachak [00:12:04]:

The other thing that I would, ask is many firms, organizations have teams of employees who have subject matter expertise who might be looking for a project. So we partner with organizations now on project based initiatives if there's a strategy where we could lend or where we could use an extra, ear sounding board on diving in In kind contributions from from agency support, firm support could be creative. It could be strategy. Those are things that we do leverage, currently within our community, of volunteers.

Joanna Ehresman [00:12:42]:

Excellent. And there I think when Leah and I first met, we were talking about our passion for women in business and supporting that, and I was like, oh, have you heard of Women Venture? At the time, embarrassingly, I didn't realize she was in Texas. For some reason, I had in my head she was in the Minneapolis, Saint Paul area, but but chat she checked it out. Yeah. But but there there are remote volunteer opportunities as well. So there's, like, in person as well as virtual. So okay.

LeeAnn Rasachak [00:13:09]:

That's great. Yes. We have so we offer, just as an example, right, for our training programs, there's 25 active training programs throughout the year, and those are cohort programs. Some are a few weeks, some are multi, multi weeks longer than that. And so. We try to mirror kind of our, our weather maps here in Minnesota. And so more of those classes are often offered remote and online during our colder months. And then we do offer some in person classes because that's a learning style that a lot of our clients have the desire right.

LeeAnn Rasachak [00:13:40]:

To be in person, but there's a ton of flexibility in how volunteers can show up and support us.

Leah Alter [00:13:46]:

That's amazing. And people are always asking what they can do, and you just listed so many ways to get involved whether it's monetarily or with your time. So lots of ways. You've got a really strong experience in leading task force and employee resource groups that open up opportunities for diverse populations in the workplace. And you have a diversity and inclusion certificate from Cornell. A mission of this show is something Joanne and I are very passionate about is helping to support diversity in financial services beyond women, but also, women of color and backgrounds. That diversity is really important I think to the evolution of financial services. What advice do you have for someone listening, to take action in their own organization, whether that's a small advisory firm or a larger, you know, financial institution corporate office?

LeeAnn Rasachak [00:14:44]:

Yeah. So I led many employee resource groups, and started some too. So while I was at Securian Financial as well as well as RBC Wealth Management. And something that's important to know is that you don't have to do it alone. And likely there are others who, if you don't have employee resource groups, that's a great place to start. And I would say establishing them there's part, employee resource groups that had led that were women focused or multicultural focused. Right. And establishing that first and having an executive sponsor is important because they really can be the advocate, at the decision making kind of time when it comes to budget and when they're at the table of what are the things that we want to prioritize, can can support these efforts in a way that's really meaningful for employees.

LeeAnn Rasachak [00:15:35]:

And, I would also say whether you've already started and whether you have an established mature ERG or you're just getting started is that don't wait for perfection. Pro like any movement, incremental effort is progress, and it's meaningful. And I recently shared, you know, as part of a panel conversation focused on DEI, And I implore leaders and decision makers and HR teams to invest in resources to help to support leaders and employees to have difficult conversations, to learn, to be immersed in community, and to be immersed in culture because that's where the work happens. And so if you want to make it meaningful, it is really connecting in with community and seeing people where they are at and really seeking to understand, and that they do not need to have an isolated kind of experience as they go through it. That sponsorship is really important. And if you don't know how to do it, there is a whole Pearson community who have done it and can be a great model of where do we get started on how to do this? Right. And I had again, like a recent conversation with someone who very senior cares about this work and also acknowledged. She's like, I don't know how to do this.

LeeAnn Rasachak [00:16:52]:

And I, you know, I'm a middle aged white man. I want to navigate this, this space. I have an incredible team that's super diverse and a bit of a, not impostor syndrome, but just just this sense of, like, getting it wrong. Right?

Joanna Ehresman [00:17:06]:

Right.

LeeAnn Rasachak [00:17:07]:

And so many people fear that they're going to get it wrong, and I'll say that there is I'm not a fan of cancel culture. I'm a fan of allowing room for people to learn and to make some mistakes. And those are learning opportunities and to, to give some grace there. And then as people coming into it to, to know that you might not know it all and that's okay. And it's a journey. We're all, we are all on a journey.

Joanna Ehresman [00:17:33]:

When you talk about the importance of having executive sponsorship, I'd love to just drill in on that a little bit more. Meaning, if you're forming an ERG, is it getting alignment with an executive to say, we are going to be bringing to you, You know, we're gonna be shining light on some areas where we have some gaps, and

LeeAnn Rasachak [00:17:53]:

Mhmm.

Joanna Ehresman [00:17:53]:

I'm looking for commitment from the executive team to consider and act on them. Like, like, what's the nature of that conversation of getting some like, there's a difference between, yeah, you can be a group and we'll give you a budget, right, versus

LeeAnn Rasachak [00:18:07]:

Yeah.

Joanna Ehresman [00:18:07]:

We are ready and willing to act. Like, how do you navigate that part of the

LeeAnn Rasachak [00:18:13]:

Conversation. Conversation.

Joanna Ehresman [00:18:15]:

Yeah. Which is a really tough question. So, like, Leanne, just solve it for us, please. But I'm just curious in your experience, any successes or or learnings of something that didn't go well?

LeeAnn Rasachak [00:18:25]:

How I've done it and how I've done it well, again, is you're not showing up by yourself. And I would do it if if if I was the only one I would still advocate. Right? Like, because it's you could tie it to whether I'm a nonprofit or for profit organizations. I always develop a business case because that resonates with everyone. Right? You can position it with what are your goals and objectives and what is the intended outcome? And here's what this investment is going to do for us. Rattle off a few things in terms of metrics that matter to, I think matter to business leaders and business owners or firm leaders is the employee engagement, attraction, retention, the ability to demonstrate that there are markets. This is an example that I had at Women Venture when I first came in is that it is important for us to reflect the client base that we have. Right.

LeeAnn Rasachak [00:19:16]:

And a lot of that is diverse perspectives. And, that means transforming the organization so that the staff and our board of directors reflect the communities in which we live in work. Right. And I know, and it wasn't that long ago that I was in the financial services and wealth management space, the shift of who is going to hold the power that the power in terms of monetary decision making and that wealth transfer that's happening now to women and the causes that they care about and the philanthropy that is tied into that and the generational wealth, care about supporting our main street businesses, that care about the development of our children across generations. And so finding that common ground language of what's gonna translate to the decision maker is core, finding that key message. And that's a little bit of that marketing and public relations, critical thinking piece of how is what I'm trying to pitch, going to translate to this audience and why does it, why should it matter to them?

Joanna Ehresman [00:20:29]:

It's good. And, and I think to your point of also tying into community and, it like, cultural experiences, like, of of the people in your organization. I I can't remember who the quote was from, but it's, like, the importance of the inclusion part of a DEI initiative. Right? Like, I've heard it stated as, you know, don't invite me to the prom, but not ask me to dance. Right? Like, you have to actually

LeeAnn Rasachak [00:20:56]:

Yeah.

Joanna Ehresman [00:20:58]:

So I I I I just think within this industry, it's so important and something we're trying to navigate. So I really appreciate you sharing just some of those specific ways to bridge this and just start to gain traction. Like we said, in an organization whether it's large or small.

Leah Alter [00:21:19]:

Yeah. Well, and your point about progress over perfection, I think that is a good reminder that something is definitely better than the status quo. So whatever small incremental things that you can do over time can make a bigger impact.

LeeAnn Rasachak [00:21:36]:

It can. And before you know it, after a decade or all of a sudden, you've just lived through a transformation, you didn't even know it. Right. And and, you know, there's lots of examples of where those changes can be made, when we talk about diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging, and you talk about recruitment, hiring, and even how you write your job. So I'm tying this back to a recent experience of an 8 a senior level HR professional who is sharing their experience. And there was a sense of like, there's still decision makers above me, right? Where it's like, I'm, I am in a leadership position, but I'm ultimate. I'm not the ultimate decision maker. And the thing is that, and, and there's truth to that.

LeeAnn Rasachak [00:22:16]:

And at the same time, there are ways in which we help to formulate policies, procedures. They're leaning on our recommendations. And so rewriting how you're recruiting your talent, the interview questions, how resumes are presented, where you're showing up in terms of recruiting, and ensuring that you have before, you know, there are career fairs that are out there as an example, but there's also like community knows if you're there and you're present or if you're there on an ad hoc basis. Right. And so it's very relationship based and financial services, wealth management. That's the business's relationships and building trust.

Leah Alter [00:22:57]:

Right. 100%. Yeah.

LeeAnn Rasachak [00:22:59]:

So it's it's like leaning into what you know how to do already.

Leah Alter [00:23:03]:

Yeah. Yeah.

LeeAnn Rasachak [00:23:04]:

And then adding the tools that you need. And there are external experts, training resources to help to augment and supplement what you don't have. And so when you ask the question about, well, what about like smaller firms? Yeah. I'm a huge fan of like buy builder lease. Sometimes you might need to lease some resources because you're not in a position where you can build it yourself.

Leah Alter [00:23:27]:

Absolutely. Okay. Before we get into our next question, our longtime listeners know, how passionate we are about the next generation of women advisors and investors.

Joanna Ehresman [00:23:39]:

And we're thrilled to be partnering with

LeeAnn Rasachak [00:23:46]:

Extella that shares that same passion.

Joanna Ehresman [00:23:46]:

Extella provides resources for professionals through efforts like their Nova Women's Collective, which enables members to network, connect, and gain insights from their peers.

Leah Alter [00:23:54]:

So if that type of support sounds like a good fit for you, check out all they have to offer at go.exteller.com/womenshare. That's go.axtella.com/womenshare.

Joanna Ehresman [00:24:10]:

K. So, Leanne, you've always had an entrepreneurial drive, and I know this from listening to some other interviews that you've done and just hearing your career story in other forums. So just would love for you to share a little bit more about how that came to be, how you cultivated that entrepreneurial drive throughout your career.

LeeAnn Rasachak [00:24:28]:

The entrepreneurial drive has been with me since birth. My family immigrated here from Laos in the late 1970s after the Vietnam war. And my parents were refugees, that met here in the United States. And both of their families came from farming, agriculture and, small and small business in Laos. And they grew up in 2 very different, settings. And I can tell you that, you know, coming to the US it was a total kind of shock, cultural shock to them. And it's trying to figure out like, how do we, how do we live here? How do we navigate? And so both of them went into manufacturing jobs, and it, I had it modeled for me. I had it modeled for me of my mom, especially both very hardworking parents, but my mom always knew like, there's always more out there.

LeeAnn Rasachak [00:25:22]:

There's always more money to be made. You need to go find it and, and like manifest it for yourself. And so she worked in a manufacturing facility and she's a fabulous cook and the people knew it. And she would on the side, she would make egg rolls and fried rice, and she would sell that from, like, to her coworkers. And her workplace was cool with it because all the line managers, of course, were like, we love your food. Right? And then she showed she showed me these examples of like, you can start your own thing and you can sell it. Right. And so that was 1, 1 piece.

LeeAnn Rasachak [00:25:55]:

And this other for me personally was very, very early age, probably 11 years old. And I wanted to make my own money because I kept hearing, like, no. I'm not gonna buy that, you know, champion sweatshirt for you or, you know, get your own find your own money to get gas station candy or whatever it was at the time.

Joanna Ehresman [00:26:13]:

Right.

LeeAnn Rasachak [00:26:14]:

And so I was like, fine. I love kids. I'm gonna go babysit, and I'm gonna help out, you know, the our neighbors. And even at that young age, you know, we many people in the same season of life, but with younger children, and they knew that my parents were home. Right. So if anything happened, like we could always run up to the house or call them. So I started my own babysitting business, you know, in elementary school, 5th grade, 6th grade, and use that all to help put me through part of college. I was a college nanny.

LeeAnn Rasachak [00:26:46]:

And so I said, what are the ways in which I can help fund the things that I wanted to do? And so this entrepreneurial spirit started very early. Now there was an expectation from my parents of we came here to the US we want you to be in their mind. Success was find a corporate job. It's 9 to 5. It pays you well. You don't have to be on your feet all day, right? Like that was success to them. There was stability around that. And so I was put on a path of did really well in grade school, went to St.

LeeAnn Rasachak [00:27:17]:

Thomas, went into PR and business management and got on the corporate track. I mentioned trying to start a business with former partner before and beautiful craftsmanship and woodwork that was done. And so then I helped, in the marketing piece and the pop up shops and, and quickly learned because we did not know about women venture. We didn't know about other CFI organizations that being a corporate leader is very different than being an entrepreneur or a small business owner. And from, from that experience, because we tapped into retirement funds, you know, there's a lot of stress and pressure to be able to do that well. And that's an experience that I will always remember. And I don't want that for other women. I want women to have choice around how they, what path they want to have in terms of career.

LeeAnn Rasachak [00:28:04]:

Many of our clients that come to us at women venture prioritize, I want to run a successful business. Our mission is building profitable, sustainable businesses. And so it's in line with our mission, but also what we hear from clients is I want to own my own home. I want to create wealth generation for my family and that those dreams, those aspirations, I totally get that because that's exactly what my parents wanted for me. And how lucky am I to be able to lead this communities. You know, they take care of their families and then they give back to community. And so often we have clients that start out with us. And it's this kind of infinite loop of starting out, learning, coming back, expanding, growing, coming back, taking a loan or receiving a grant.

LeeAnn Rasachak [00:28:59]:

And when they're successful, they come back and they mentor the next generation of business owners.

Leah Alter [00:29:05]:

It's truly like a full full circle moment both for you and for all of the women that you're helping. It's, that's gotta be so incredibly satisfying and fulfilling. And on that same note, we ask every guest, Leanne, what is the best career advice that you've ever received? Although it sounds like your mom gave you some great advice.

LeeAnn Rasachak [00:29:31]:

You know, some of the best career advice that I've received, came from allies. I have many like female mentors and friends. Who've served on like my personal board of directors who I worked with and worked for who've been amazing. But I do want to recognize that there have been some incredible allies of mine who gave me a chance to try things that like it never, never let a $10,000,000 project and a replatform on a website, or, you know, there was, some really pivotal career moments of someone saying to me, take the chance. Right. You're already doing the job on paper. I didn't have the title. I didn't have the responsibility technically, but I was already doing the job.

LeeAnn Rasachak [00:30:15]:

And so going back to the comment of so often, we wait until we are a 100 as women, 90 to a 100% qualified for the job or already doing it before we apply for it. The best advice to me was take the leap, Just take the leap. And and, of course, there's this assessment around, like, well, what's the risk? Right? What is the risk that I'm taking for myself or for my family, and what could that look like? But then also this con like, have the confidence in yourself. You know how to do it. You've demonstrated it. And if you don't know how to do it, you'll figure it out. And there's a team to support you again, like that comes with hard work. It comes with, confidence and it comes with commitment.

LeeAnn Rasachak [00:30:55]:

Right. Because it's going to be challenging. These are not easy things to try and do. And so if you can manage your own expectations around that, you can be successful and that's it's take the leap. And I learned that too. I feel like I learned that lesson too late or late. Like I was probably in my mid thirties. Right? And so my message to the audience, no matter what age you are listening to this is to really consider that.

LeeAnn Rasachak [00:31:20]:

Think about, you know, there are plenty of men that raise their hands before they even hear what the question is, right, to answer it. Or maybe they're 20 to 30% qualified for their job, and they've already applied for it, and they've got it. And so it's like, that is that's the balance. And so don't be so hard on yourself, take the leap and see what happens.

Leah Alter [00:31:43]:

Yeah. I mean, you say mid thirties. I was in my early forties right before I was willing to take the leap. So I think even if you take little leaps along the way Yeah. And are able to build the confidence in those little leaps when it's time to make the big leap, it won't seem quite as, drastic or dramatic.

LeeAnn Rasachak [00:32:06]:

That's right. That's right.

Joanna Ehresman [00:32:08]:

Well, and one other thing we wanted to ask, I know we're we're close to our time here, but was curious since this is about celebrating women in this space, aside from celebrating so much about your career and what you've accomplished and what you're doing at Women Venture, is there anything outside of work we can help you celebrate today?

LeeAnn Rasachak [00:32:24]:

Being able to do this and being a mom and a bonus mom, and, you know, that I can pour in in a way that I can show up in both places and for the most part, do pretty well. I'm celebrating that. It feels really big some days. And right now there is a message that says you can't do both and you can do both. And there is community, sisterhood, allyship. Those things are real. I'm celebrating that and it's end of school year. So, you know, we've got a lot of big things that are happening right now and it seems to all happen at the same time.

LeeAnn Rasachak [00:33:05]:

But I just I feel really lucky that I can be present in doing both things, even though some days it feels like my hair's on fire, but we're I'm doing well.

Joanna Ehresman [00:33:14]:

Yes. Thank you for the laugh because I was starting to cry, so

Leah Alter [00:33:17]:

thank you.

Joanna Ehresman [00:33:17]:

I love it.

Leah Alter [00:33:19]:

Love that. That yes. And, celebrating with you, for you, to you, all of that, being a mom and also being in charge of a lot of big things that are important to a lot of people can feel, weighty, for sure. So, what is the best way to connect with you, connect with Women Venture? How can people find you?

LeeAnn Rasachak [00:33:46]:

You can find me on LinkedIn. So LeeAnn Rasachak, quick search, you'll find me very easily. We can connect there. Womenventure.org is where you can find us as an organization, and there's a whole calendar of events, which I'm deeply engaged in. Right? And and so ever a connection, learning more about how to start an ERG, or how to make the pivot, I'm happy to have those conversations. And, it may not be right away, but know that, like, I very much wanna share my experience, and I hope that it helps someone.

Joanna Ehresman [00:34:22]:

Fantastic. And all of your information is linked to this episode on the WomenShare website as well. So and I wanna say thank you again to our sponsor, Axtella, a network of firms that goes the extra mile for the next generation of women advisors and investors. For more information, visit them at go.axtella.com/womenshare. That's go.Axtella.com/womenshare.

Leah Alter [00:34:48]:

LeeAnn, thank you so much for joining us today. That is our show. If ours is a mission that you want to share in, please subscribe to the show on your favorite podcast platform. With that, I'm Leah Alter.

Joanna Ehresman [00:35:02]:

And I'm Joanna Ehresman, and we'll catch you on the next episode of WomenShare.