Breaking Racial Barriers and Changing the Face of Wealth

Atricia Roberts [00:00:00]:

I love this business because I see the power in what we do and the change we affect in people's lives. And because of that, I think I feel like I need to be critical of it, right? In the same way that you would discipline, you know, a child or someone because you wanna correct behavior, it is important to me that we call out the things that hold the industry back because there's so much more opportunity and so much bigger of a difference we could be making if we just, as an industry, opened our arms and embraced the diversity, not just from a racial and ethnic background, but even just allowing more women into the industry.

Joanna Ehresman [00:00:44]:

Hi there. Thanks for joining us. I'm Joanna Ehresman. And I'm Leah Alter.

Joanna Ehresman [00:00:49]:

And this is WomenShare, a celebration of women in

Joanna Ehresman [00:00:52]:

financial services. Today, we are so lucky to be joined by Atricia Roberts, chief operating officer and partner at Curo Private Wealth. While Atricia's career has spanned more than 2 decades, as she started as a registered investment adviser in 2005 at Merrill Lynch, she is most passionate about educating others about the benefits of financial planning, especially those who have been historically underserved and underrepresented in the industry. She believes that people are more than assets they own, and after several years of working in the non profit industry, she rejoined the financial services sector in 2016. We are just thrilled to have you on the podcast, Atricia. Welcome to WomenShare.

Atricia Roberts [00:01:39]:

Thank you so much. Thank you for having me. It's such a privilege to even be considered to participate here, and I look forward to our conversation.

Joanna Ehresman [00:01:48]:

Likewise. We're we're happy to dig in. And, you know, from what we have heard about your role at Curo, it sounds like you wear many hats. So give us an overview of what is your primary focus within the firm. Okay.

Atricia Roberts [00:02:01]:

Well, as Leah has already mentioned, my official title is chief operating officer and partner. So I do work very closely with my partner, Anne McCabe, in our practice management. But my number one responsibility, of course, is to our clients. So I am lead adviser, and I would say 80 to 85% of what I do every day is being in front of the client, meeting with client, giving financial advice, doing financial planning, guidance, answering your questions, educating. So, that's always my primary responsibility. In my role, though, I also over oversee operations from both the client service and practice management side. So all of our operations team will essentially report to me, and I tried to, from a high level perspective, make sure that we're operating as efficiently and effectively as possible, and then also giving the best client service experience that we can provide because that's what keeps us employed. Right? That's what keeps us going is the clients and we wanna make sure that any client that agrees to work with us experiences world class service anytime they interact with our firm or with anyone on our team.

Leah Alter [00:03:14]:

That's awesome. And what a fun balance too of kind of right brain, left brain, being creative and then also being very operational. It's it's cool that you get to wear kind of both of those hats and and play both of those roles.

Atricia Roberts [00:03:30]:

Yeah. Absolutely. And and to be honest, I'm a very left brained person. I love numbers. I love spreadsheets. Excel makes me happy. So So the other part of it being able to especially in what I do with Anne as a partner, being able to strategize and plan for our business, being able to set some vision for who we wanna be, where we wanna go, that helps me exercise a muscle that hasn't always felt natural for me. So it's been a great, not just a great experience in what I do, but even learning and expanding my capability and being able to to do both essentially, because I've always been more operations.

Atricia Roberts [00:04:13]:

So being able to flex that more creative vision muscle has been so much fun over the last few years.

Joanna Ehresman [00:04:19]:

Yep. And I can imagine too. I think I guess, as I've moved into consulting, I've realized this. There's a lot of things where it's like, theoretically or philosophically, you you recommend these things, like, just strategic planning and sit down quarterly and buy but then actually implementing it and doing it and seeing the power of it, I can imagine that's been a really fun journey. Because in our conversation with Anne, she was talking about that, a really that discipline that you all bring to your practice of, you know, stepping back and looking at the business. So that's really as a fellow Excel spreadsheet lover who also realizes that the push power in stepping back and looking at the longer term, I Yeah. That's really neat to hear.

Atricia Roberts [00:04:58]:

Yeah. Getting out of the nuts and bolts is sometimes really good. And Anne is just the opposite. I think she's always so big picture, visionary, high level. So partnering with her has also helped me to expand in that way. It's been fun.

Joanna Ehresman [00:05:13]:

Yeah. It sounds like you guys are great partners.

Atricia Roberts [00:05:16]:

We do. And I don't just say that because it's the right thing to say, but I have been so blessed in that partnership with her, we just genuinely like each other which always helps in any partnership. Yes. And we wanna see each other win, we wanna see our practice grow. We both have that sort of same passion about doing what's best for our clients and it just it's she's a pleasure to work with every day. Love her.

Joanna Ehresman [00:05:42]:

Hi, Anne. Hi, Anne. We loved having her on the show too. She was, she's yeah. She's fantastic. Yeah. So we share your passion around expanding diversity in financial services, an area that, we all know is lagging big time. Mhmm.

Joanna Ehresman [00:06:01]:

And you've been in the industry for a long time now. So Yeah. I know this is like a big question to ask, but tell us, about your experience as both a woman, right, with WomenShare, that's what we're primarily focused on, but further, being a black woman, what has that been like, and how have you seen the industry change since you entered? And maybe some of the areas where you think we need to still be focusing and paying attention.

Atricia Roberts [00:06:33]:

Yeah. When I when I think back in this year, well, no. Next year will be 20 years since I started with Merrell and was originally licensed in this business and that blows my mind every time I think about it. But I think the word especially early on that probably describes it in a politically correct way is challenging. I

Joanna Ehresman [00:06:54]:

I think that's very polite.

Atricia Roberts [00:06:57]:

I tell people often in this in this particular industry, I think it's really exaggerated but in any experience where you show up and you're the only person who looks like you in a space, it creates a dynamic psychologically that becomes very difficult to overcome. You you become very hyper aware of yourself, and there's always this idea of being able to fit in or to assimilate. And when I started in this business, with Merrill Lynch, I was in my early 20s. I wasn't far out of college and when I joined my office, which was at the time in Georgia, I was, let's see, I was the youngest advisor in my office. I was one of 3 women advisors and I think there was a total of, like, 18 of us at that time. And then I was the only black advisor in my office and then what I come to learn is I was, I believe one of the first black advisors to work in their office. I think there was another black guy maybe a few years ahead of me who didn't last very long. So, it was an interesting dynamic and I think being a very young woman and just wanting to impress, wanting to fit in, wanting to be one of the boys.

Atricia Roberts [00:08:18]:

Right? Wanting to not stand out. I bent myself over backwards, tied myself up in knots trying to be less of who I was. And, I think in my early twenties it was about wanting to dress the same, so I wore a lot of gray, a lot of black, a lot of navy, just, you know, I was scared of color and I didn't want them to think I was too girly, right? Because I was wearing pink or wearing flowers. So it was a lot of that that played in the back of my head. And then I also realized that even from a management perspective, my manager struggled with even coaching me because he just immediately from the time I showed up, he just could not see me as just an advisor. Every conversation either started in or ended in in some way I could just focus what I was doing on black people or focus what I was doing on black women. So I realized even who I was, me being a woman, me being a black woman, even became a barrier in my development with other people in my office which I don't think I knew then or knew how to articulate then, but definitely looking back now I know that's exactly exactly what it was. So, I had a pretty difficult time at Merrill.

Atricia Roberts [00:09:34]:

I did fairly okay with the hurdles because if anybody remembers what that new advisor program was like at Merrill 20 years ago, there were these huge new asset hurdles you had to hit to meet. Right. Pretty early on I started out pretty well, and as the hurdles got larger what I learned was that the advisors who were successful in reaching them were typically because they had some alliance with a more senior team. So a lot of the senior advisors will either hand off clients or hand off assets to help them reach those hurdles. And I saw some advisors, particularly young white male advisors who started after me, who started to get lots of those opportunities before me and ahead of me. And I realized that it was just because they didn't connect with me, they didn't identify with me and always kinda saw me as other. So, needless to say, it made it a very challenging experience and then you mix that just with where we were in the financial crisis or the beginning of it in that time in 2,000. And I realized, I was like, you know what? This business is not for me.

Atricia Roberts [00:10:42]:

It's not for people who look like me. I never ever ever wanna do this again. I remember having a conversation with a friend when I finally decided to leave, like I would never, I would tell any any black person investment industry, they don't care about you, they'll just chew you up and spit you out.

Joanna Ehresman [00:10:56]:

So I completely changed paths, I mean

Atricia Roberts [00:10:57]:

I think that shifted my whole dynamic, I had always been a numbers person. I worked at banks prior to Merrill Lynch. I went back to school. I got a master's in communications. I worked in nonprofit. I was like, no. I really wanna care about people. I don't wanna just think about people just as how much new money they can bring me.

Atricia Roberts [00:11:17]:

And I and I did nonprofit focused work for a really long time. And it was actually only after relocating, to this area that I was drawn back into the business. And then when you ask about what I've seen change, honestly, I think it's been slow and it's been slower than necessary. I mean, because I think about 20 years ago, I was showing up at conferences as the only black female advisor in the room. There are times when I show up at conferences now as the only black female advisor in the room but what I have noticed is that there have been at least steps taken by many organizations specifically like the certified financial planning board is making a really big push into diversity and trying to introduce advisors from underrepresented backgrounds to the planning industry. So I do think that people are starting to wake up and realize that we've gotta do something different, to make the change move a little bit faster because I would love to see the next 20 years be very different from what the last 20 years has been.

Joanna Ehresman [00:12:17]:

Yeah. Well and I'm curious to hear what how did you get reconnected when so you said you moved. So you're in the DC area, Baltimore area. So how what was that connection like to bring you back to the industry?

Atricia Roberts [00:12:31]:

Yeah. So funny story. And I think it probably goes into while I'm passionate about mentorship. But when I came to the area, it was originally with a job offer with a nonprofit, and I decided not to take it. Nonprofit is hard work. Right? It takes an emotional toll.

Joanna Ehresman [00:12:47]:

Yeah.

Atricia Roberts [00:12:47]:

And I was like, I miss I miss numbers. So I went back into banking. I worked at Bank of America, for a a few years and it was at Bank of America where I met the founder of of my legacy practice, and he was my client on the bank side. So he had no clue that I had had a background in investment management. He was in my office one day and he asked me, he said, Atrice, are you looking for a job? I told him, I said, well, you're at my job currently. We're we're here at my current job.

Joanna Ehresman [00:13:23]:

I don't do this just fine. I love numbers, but this is not a hobby.

Atricia Roberts [00:13:27]:

Right. But he did say he's like I really, you know, and again I knew what he did and he was like I think I think you would be wonderful in this industry. You're you're so good with clients and it was at that point when I told him, I said, well I actually have done that before, right? I worked at Merrell. He had no idea before we had that conversation. He handed me his card and he said If you have any interest in getting back give me a call. I said again, I was like No, I can't do it, I won't do it, and it was actually my sister who was like, just call, what's the worst that could happen? And, I called and he's got a charismatic, persuasive type way and I think it was probably less than 3 weeks that I accepted the position, put in my 2 weeks notice and changed over from Bank of America to back to this industry and that was in 2017.

Joanna Ehresman [00:14:13]:

Wow. And that was that was Bernie, right? Bernie Brown?

Atricia Roberts [00:14:16]:

That's right. Bernie, yeah so Bernie Wolf. So the current iteration of our practice Anne and I is the merger of 2 firms. Of course, the one that Anne started in 2014 and then I am the successor of a legacy practice that Bernie Wolf founded over 40 years ago. So it was because of him that I was pulled back into the industry. It was a lot of his mentorship then that helped to build the confidence I needed to show up in the space because it had never been an issue about not knowing. Right? I knew theoretically how to be an adviser. I think what is important is knowing that you can do it, that you can be that that clients will trust you, when you show up in front of them.

Atricia Roberts [00:14:58]:

And I credit Bernie with coaching me and mentoring in that way to help develop the confidence I needed to be able to do this business and approach it in a way where I could show up and be comfortable authentically as who I am and not trying to tie myself up in knots to try to be something different. And he was very open and honest in saying I think that you being different is an asset and the sooner you see it that way, the better off you'll be. And I just began to embrace who I was and and what I brought to the table that was different from everyone else, you know, that clients had the opportunity to work with. So it was definitely career changing, but in a lot of ways, life changing. Don't tell him I said that though. Because again, it just it helped me not just from a a professional perspective but even from a prefer a personal level to just learn to be comfortable in the skin that that I'm in. And I think women often sometimes we, you know, we wanna dim our light and we sometimes make ourselves smaller and I think learning to lean into being a woman and even lean into that femininity, right? If I want to wear a suit with flowers on it because that's the way I'm feeling today and it's spring, then that's what I'm gonna do. And I do credit Bernie with a lot of being able to provide me with helping me gain that confidence.

Joanna Ehresman [00:16:20]:

Well, and they say too, right, the best way to love someone is to just encourage them to be a 100% authentically themselves.

Atricia Roberts [00:16:29]:

Yeah, I love that.

Joanna Ehresman [00:16:30]:

And when that happens, whether it's in a personal or a professional relationship, you see that over and over again, where somebody blooms into their full expressive self and, and bring so much more to the table, again, both professionally and personally. That is I, I literally got goosebumps when you told this story, so, I love, I love that. Because the first story you told, I'm not gonna lie, I started to get a little choked up, it's like heartbreaking to to to hear stories like that. And I know, unfortunately, that your experience is shared by a lot of people in the industry and, you know, thank you for coming on here and talking about it. No.

Atricia Roberts [00:17:17]:

Of course. Thank thanks for having having me and allowing me the platform to talk about it. And, again, I don't feel I I I I love this business because I see the power in what we do and the change we affect in people's lives. And because of that, I think I feel like I need to be critical of it. Right? In the same way that you would discipline, you know, a child or someone because you wanna correct behavior. It is important to me that we call out the things that hold the industry back cause there's so much more opportunity and so much bigger of a difference we could be making if we just as an industry opened our arms and embraced the diversity, not just from a racial and ethnic background, but even just allowing more women into the industry. I mean, Anna and I, as a woman led firm, we're still in the minority in this in this business. Sure.

Atricia Roberts [00:18:05]:

So there's a lot of there's a lot of change that still needs to happen.

Joanna Ehresman [00:18:09]:

Well and along those lines, I'd be curious to get your perspective, Beatrice. Mhmm. You know, I think both as individuals, and you were starting to touch on what we can do at the organizational level, like, to drive more of that change. What what insight do you have, or what thoughts do you wanna share on that front?

Atricia Roberts [00:18:26]:

Yeah. I think the the biggest challenge that I've seen when I have conversations, specifically with other, firm leaders, or industry leaders is a reluctance to be proactive. Well, let me take one step back. Is to be reluctant in acknowledging the problem, right? That that there is an issue. I think a lot of people are reluctant to even talk about it, but I always tell people not acknowledging the problem doesn't make it go away. Right? Yeah. They they tell you the first step in recovery is admitting that you have an issue and I think we're just now starting to to get into a phase where people are willing to acknowledge, hey guys, we have we have an issue here around diversity, right? We don't have enough women, we don't have enough people from, you know, ethnic backgrounds or different racial backgrounds. So starting to have the conversation I think is always the first step.

Atricia Roberts [00:19:21]:

The other part that I notice is that it's very easy to say, oh, well, I'm a man, how am I supposed to make a difference? Or, oh, I'm a white person, how am I supposed to make a difference? And I had a actually a really great conversation with a person, an industry colleague, and I was letting them know if not you, then who? Right? There's gotta be someone on the inside who can unlock the door for everyone else. You can't ask the people being held outside to make the change, right? So, if we want to allow access to spaces where people haven't been allowed, then it's got to be someone from inside. It's got to be someone who's there, who can open the door and say, here is the opportunity. And I think that's where we have to make a proactive step to be focused on that. Right? And and again, it it doesn't mean that you want to be biased against other people. But as a woman leader in the industry, it is always it running. I won't even say in the back of my mind, it is always top of mind, especially when we're hiring. Have we considered enough female candidates? Have we seen enough resumes for women? Which can be hard, especially when you're hiring in the advisor space.

Atricia Roberts [00:20:34]:

We don't even get a lot of candidates, Right? The female candidates or diverse candidates. So it's always this top of mind idea. Do we need to give ourselves a minute to consider other applicants? Right? Should we reach out to the recruiter and say, hey, we would really love to be able to at least interview a woman or interview someone from an underrepresented ground? Is there anyone else? Because I think by making that proactive step to say, hey, we're not gonna, we're not gonna hire a person because they're black or because they're a woman, but we wanna make sure that we're allowing enough opportunity to even consider them. And I think when you start to take those proactive steps, when you make it top of mind, that you wanna go out of your way to be inclusive. And I think that's what it takes. Right? It it wasn't just one person or one thing that created the disparity. Right? It was a system that formed itself in some way that made the disparity happen so it's gotta be a systematic approach to undoing it. And I think the first step in that is just being proactive in that inclusivity.

Atricia Roberts [00:21:37]:

Have we interviewed or did we consider a woman for this role, right? Would a woman be a good fit? Maybe we go out and proactively look to hire a woman or look to hire for someone from a diverse background. And I think that's how you start to make some change. And once you open the door, then you've gotta be willing to mentor and coach and give them the tools because we're talking about groups of people who haven't had exposure in many cases to our industry. So it's not just like, okay, we hired you, good luck, right? Because I tell people that's when you're making a diversity hire, right? Which is what I felt like I was a lot of in the marrow box. I checked the box. Right? I was black, I was female, it was like okay, check check. We've made our diversity higher. But there was no one pouring into me, coaching me, wanting to see me develop and grow.

Atricia Roberts [00:22:25]:

And I think that's what makes the the difference. We're not just hiring to check the box to say that we did it, but we really want to help coach and mentor and groom this person to make them successful in this industry, so that they have an experience where they feel like they're actually able to achieve and not just show up and flame out after a few years and like me decide, I'm never doing this again.

Joanna Ehresman [00:22:49]:

Right. Even though it was something that you love.

Atricia Roberts [00:22:51]:

Right. Right.

Joanna Ehresman [00:22:52]:

Right? So how many people,

Joanna Ehresman [00:22:54]:

you know, are not being able to do the thing that they love because they don't feel like there's a space for them. Right. Or they don't feel like they would have access to a mentor or a sponsor that would really go to bat for them. I mean, I I am sure that there are people listening to this right now that are really resonating with that. We know, obviously, you we share the passion around mentorship and sponsorship as well. So whatin terms of practice for you, being now in a leadership role, what does that look like within the Curo organization?

Atricia Roberts [00:23:37]:

Yeah, so we are, well one, I am in a wonderful situation where my partner feels as passionately about this as I do, about expanding the opportunity, and open up the opportunity to women, people of color to introduce them to the industry. We are also bet by a partner who also shares that same mission. I will say maybe not as passionate as I am, but that same mission, who we we will do things now. Like, so we have our corporate partner, they sponsor a summer internship. Originally, it was focused specifically on diversity and inclusion, but Anne and I have chosen to use that as an opportunity to try to open the door and present access to our industry to someone from an underrepresented group whether that's a woman or a person of color or both. So we just started the program actually Monday. We had 2 summer interns start with us. They're both women or young women, in college in the area who have interest in the in this industry.

Atricia Roberts [00:24:42]:

So we use the internship, obviously, as an opportunity. But then what I also do personally is I try to reach out to especially to like historically black colleges and universities. I'm always trying to reach out to places where I know minority groups exist because a lot of it is just not knowing what opportunities exist and the thing that I love about what we do as planners and financial advisors is that we get to work in an industry where we can be successful financially. Right? I always laugh with my team. This isn't a non profit organization. I love we all show up here to make our clients money but also that we can be financially successful as well. But you can do that in a way where you're doing good and people's process. And I think not a lot of people, especially if they haven't had a relationship with an advisor or they don't come from a family who's worked with an advisor, even see this as a viable career path.

Atricia Roberts [00:25:38]:

So I think even being able to reach out and to work with even college students and sits on the board at George Mason, and they're certified financial planning board. We always try to keep a connection with, like, Virginia Tech, which has a CFP, program at their school. So if we can capture and make an introduction even on the college level, on the collegiate level, just to introduce people to the opportunities that exist, specifically, I think for women and people of color, because the other beautiful thing about what's happening just now is that the face of wealth is changing. Right? It's no longer wealth being dominated by old white guys. Right? All women are now starting to take such a bigger share of wealth, especially as we see a wealth transfer. Right? I always, as an eldest daughter myself, we always talk about that precarious place of the eldest daughter. She usually finds herself in that sandwich where she's caring for children, but then also caring for aging parents. But that eldest daughter type demographic are set to inherit in a in a massive amount of wealth over the next few years.

Atricia Roberts [00:26:43]:

So, the face of wealth is changing in our country and I think that if you come from one of those demographics, like Bernie told me so many years ago, you being different than what has been standard becomes an asset because now, like for Anne and I, we can speak directly to women from a place that just feels natural and genuine to us. And it's not that we treat our female clients differently, right? They're still clients, but we just connect in a way where we can really empathize and understand their experiences, their challenges when they're going through transitions. And I think having a unique background that ties with that client just gives you a leg up in building that relationship of trust going forward. So as wealth changes in the country, so do the people manage it. It needs to change as well because they're just gonna be, a shift and I think in a lot of cases women like working with other women. Right? We enjoy, being partners with one another so I think that's a big part of what's gonna drive or at least hopefully what will drive some shifting in our industry over the next several

Joanna Ehresman [00:27:46]:

years. One thing that has stood out for me in hearing your story, Atresha, Teresa, yours and Anne's together is, like, the extra not burden because you're doing it out of passion. Like, the but the extra roles you're taking on of volunteering and being active in these spaces, right, in addition to serving your clients well. And so it's just, I think, a really, fantastic testament to your passion for truly making a difference. And in a way, it's certain I mean, not to say advisors of a variety of backgrounds aren't going above and beyond and volunteering and giving back, but it's just it's this interesting dichotomy of I'm like, so grateful that you're doing this, but it's also a little bit like, oh, it feels like not an extra burden, but, like, this is what it takes. And Yeah. How do we support each other in doing that extra work, going the extra mile to make this difference? Yeah.

Joanna Ehresman [00:28:43]:

And for the women who are coming up behind you, right, like, the you are lessening their load so that they can be focused and passionate about their clients and about the work, and not having to, fight quite as hard as, the rest of us

Atricia Roberts [00:29:04]:

are. Yeah, I I don't think of it I mean it definitely is more responsibility and Good luck. I acknowledge the weight of that responsibility but it is important for me to be what I didn't have when I started in the industry. Like if I think that what could have made that experience 20 years ago turn out differently for me. Well, one of them probably just would have been maturity, right? Had I just been more mature and able to stand up for myself, I think that would have changed it. But if I had an ally in the rooms that I walked into, right, you can you can get a custom. I think even as a woman in certain spaces, definitely as a black woman, you kind of learn to navigate in a world where people don't look like you, right? Where you're gonna show up and be different. And then I think you can start to figure out I think what happens that helps you succeed in those environments is what you know that there are allies that exist in that room with you.

Atricia Roberts [00:30:03]:

Right? They may not look like you, but you know that they are completely supportive of you. They wanna see you win. They wanna see you be successful. They wanna offer what they can and that's what I didn't have 20 years ago. So, I've always promised myself that in this second iteration of my career in financial services that as I ascended into the career ladder or became more successful that I wouldn't forget to be the person that I wish I had 20 years ago to try to make it different for the next black woman who decides she wants to be a financial advisor or any woman for that matter, but so that's what always plays, right? Are you are you being the woman that you wish you had or the person you wish you had when you started when you walked into that office 20 years ago?

Joanna Ehresman [00:30:53]:

I mean, that's a mic drop right there. What, what do you even say after that? I mean, that's yes. Yeah. Yeah.

Joanna Ehresman [00:31:02]:

We could, we could talk for okay. Yeah. We're gonna have to have it part 2. Okay. So tell me, now we're curious to hear Okay. What is the best financial or not financial advice. What is the best career advice you ever received?

Atricia Roberts [00:31:15]:

Okay. So this is a 2 parter. Okay. So one came from Bernie and it was very very simple when we were having one of these conversations around, but, Bernie, I'm different. I don't look like our clients. I'm so young. That was another big thing too. Right? Like, I'm so young.

Atricia Roberts [00:31:31]:

People aren't gonna trust me. One of the things he said to me, and act and it plays with me all the time. People do business with people they like. And and again, this could work to the negative. Right? But no matter how smart or not smart you might be, people will be willing to work with you if they just genuinely like you. And if you focus on just showing up as a good person, as a likable person, showing people that you care about them, that you care about their families, then the differences that you have start to fade away because people just see you as the person they like. So that always start that's resonated with me and always does and I share that with other people. People will do business with people they like, no matter where, how your different different backgrounds, experiences, different ages, if they like you, they will work with you and learn to trust you.

Atricia Roberts [00:32:20]:

So that's the one. The second one actually came from a female leader at Bank of America, when I was there during that time because we were talking about the challenges that women particularly have as they're trying to climb corporate ladders. And the thing that she told me is she said, what I've learned as a woman is that we can have it all. It's just hard to have it all at once. And it's hard to be good at all of it at once. So, give yourself grace as you grow and expand and understand that I can be a great wife. I can be a great mother. I can be a great boss.

Atricia Roberts [00:33:00]:

I can be a great adviser. I can be a great professional. It's just gonna be really challenging to do it all well all the time. So give yourself grace in either of the arenas. And Anne and I have this thing that we talk about a lot about learning to juggle all of the things. And I don't have children, but Anne does. And I know she's a battles this a lot, right, with wanting to show 100% at work, but then also 100% at home. And we use the analogy a lot about juggling the balls and recognizing that some balls are rubber and some balls are glass.

Atricia Roberts [00:33:37]:

And that there are going to be times when you may drop 1, but if you drop a rubber one, things will be okay. So, as you're starting to juggle all the things, sometimes you have to focus on the things that are glass. And then, and for women, many times that might be your children, right? Having to choose your kid's school event over a client event or over, you know, a trip to some other financial conference to hear wholesalers, right? But, so if you keep your eyes and recognize which balls are rubber, which balls are glass and be gracious to yourself if and when you do drop one of the rubber ones, right? Just be patient with yourself and just know that I'm trying to juggle a lot and it's gonna be hard for me to do it all really well all of the time. So those were the 2 that still that I keep in my heart and mind all the time.

Joanna Ehresman [00:34:26]:

They're so good. Yeah. Yeah. So good. I I love the the rubber and the glass. That is, I've not heard that and I I think that's really powerful. So, Theresa, when can we celebrate with you today? Whether it's in the office, outside the office, we wanna celebrate with you. What are Okay.

Joanna Ehresman [00:34:46]:

What are we celebrating today? Okay.

Atricia Roberts [00:34:47]:

Well, shameless plug for in the office. Anna and I are doing a lot of moving and shaking and, again, because we think our voices are different in the sea of voices that you hear in the industry. So we're making a really concerted effort to get our voices out there and one of those ways is by way of our podcast, which we just launched. I think actually Friday I think we will post episode 5, maybe 5 or 6 so we're moving along. But it's living rich lead with Curo, and you can find us on all the major platforms, Apple Podcasts, Spotify. But what we try to do in our podcast and the reason why we chose to call it Living Richly is because one of the things we talk about even with our clients from a planning perspective is that your financial life is not just numbers. We want to be focused on the things that are important to you. Even in our planning relationships with clients, we typically start with a bowls and vision planner.

Atricia Roberts [00:35:42]:

We wanna know what matters to our clients when we start working with them. So our podcast is a little bit mix of both. We're always gonna, of course, talk about industry topics or financial topics or give advice or tips, but we also try to incorporate some things that she and I are just learning together as I guess I can't call myself a young woman in the industry no more. As a young ish as a young ish woman and leader and the challenges that we're just facing, right? And how we're trying to navigate our own personal lives in the context to what we're doing with running a practice and showing up every day 100% for our clients. So it's a little bit of mix of both. So you'll learn a lot about just Anne and I as people. We talk a lot about our personal lives. I'm probably an overshare on the podcast a little bit.

Atricia Roberts [00:36:32]:

But, yeah. So check us out, Living Richly with Curo so we can celebrate that. That'll all be in

Joanna Ehresman [00:36:37]:

the show notes too. Okay. Perfect. So people will be able to click on a link and and get to it. Fantastic.

Atricia Roberts [00:36:43]:

And then just personally, and again I'd I'd laugh that it's become my new personality, but I took up golf last year because, again, as a woman in this industry, I got sick of being left out on the golf course. Right? You go to these conferences and there's always that activity where you can show up the day before to play golf. And I'm like, I'm sick of not being able to go play, so I'm gonna learn. So I joined a group last summer, and specifically for well, this group is specifically for black women. It's called Queens on the Greens who are learning how to play golf. But now I become completely obsessed. It's it's my new personality outside of being the adviser is now I'm a golfer. Like, so I'm playing once a week now, I'm doing lessons, so it's been a really exciting time for me just to challenge myself with something new that's not just about work so that's what I'm celebrating personally.

Atricia Roberts [00:37:35]:

Now, I'm not any good. Okay? It's not any good.

Joanna Ehresman [00:37:38]:

But you're enjoying it.

Joanna Ehresman [00:37:40]:

That's all that matters.

Atricia Roberts [00:37:41]:

And I look great on the golf course. Okay. If you saw me, you would think I was LPGA. Okay. I probably can't hit a driver 50 yards at this point, but I look like a professional.

Joanna Ehresman [00:37:53]:

Oh, I love it. Well and we have to give you a golf clap for that.

Atricia Roberts [00:37:55]:

Oh, yes.

Joanna Ehresman [00:37:56]:

That was really cheesy. Thank you. Love that. I love it. Great.

Joanna Ehresman [00:38:00]:

Yes. This has been so amazing, and Teresa, thank you so much for coming on the show and No worries. For sharing your story. And, you know, it's it's vulnerable to talk about this stuff, and we acknowledge that. Right before the show today, actually, Joanna and I were talking about how lucky we are that we get to go so deep, so quickly with the guests that come on the show. And, it is not unnoticed, and we appreciate it so, so much.

Atricia Roberts [00:38:30]:

Oh, well thank you so much for having me. It's been a pleasure having this conversation. Thank you for the work you're doing to highlight the stories, to try to shift the dynamic of what we're doing, for women in the financial services industry. So kudos to you 2 ladies. I love even being a part of the WomenShare family now.

Joanna Ehresman [00:38:49]:

Very excited. Well, thank you. Yeah. And we I what we we often find ourselves is just, like, long time fans of the guests on our show. So Yeah. Apologies in advance for all of the likes and comments you're gonna be getting. Oh, no. They're rumble.

Joanna Ehresman [00:39:02]:

I must know.

Atricia Roberts [00:39:03]:

Love those. They're welcome. We we become, yeah, true fans. And likewise, likewise, I'm following what you ladies are doing too. I love it.

Joanna Ehresman [00:39:10]:

And that's just that's the whole point though is, like, just this community, is Absolutely. Powerful wherever it takes all of us. So, well, that is our show for today. If ours is a mission that you want to share in, subscribe to WomenShare

Joanna Ehresman [00:39:23]:

on your favorite podcast platform. With that, I'm Joanna Ehresman. And I'm Leah Alter, and we will catch you on the next episode of WomenShare.