Investing in Yourself: A Financial Advisor's Path to Personal and Professional Growth

Joanna Ehresman [00:00:10]:

Hi there, and thanks for joining us. I'm Joanna Ehresman. And I'm Leah Alter. And this is womenshare. A marketing guide for women in Financial Services.

Leah Alter [00:00:20]:

We are so excited for this episode, and you should be too We are honored to have as our guest today, Kristen LeClair, CFP, and founder of the 994 group in Austin, Texas. She has been in front services for almost 25 years. And Hills originally from North Carolina, where she worked in banking. Before managing the advisory business at SunTrust Bank, at just twenty six years old. She wants the advisory platform while at a firm focused on serving institutional bank clients, which was later acquired by LPL. Before moving to Texas to join another independent broker dealer in RIA to help grow their advisory business. And did she ever. In her time there, she grew that business from 5,000,000,000 to 13,000,000,000 in just a few short years. And then, you know, she also led a full marketing and rebranding of the company. In 2018, she created 994 group to serve and impact her clients directly. She is a mom of 3 boys, married to a naval officer Literally, the biggest metallica super fan of all time and a friend to all animals. I was lucky enough to meet Kristen in 2010 when she had recently located to Austin. And as I reflect on the last 13 years, I have known Kristen She has been my colleague, my mentor, and my advocate, my dear friend. Now we've gotten to add another one to the list. She is one of my financial advisors along with her amazing partner, Pete Markovich. Kristen is truly a forced to be reckoned with. One of my favorite women on this, on this planet, and we are just so thrilled to have you here. Welcome to womenshare.

Kristen LeClair [00:02:15]:

Well, I am thrilled to be here, and that was a really gracious and generous, overview. And I'm not sure it's deserved, but thank you.

Leah Alter [00:02:22]:

Oh, it's deserved, lady. Or we're so happy to have you here.

Joanna Ehresman [00:02:28]:

Yes. Kristen from everything Leah has set leading up to this. It seems like you have so much value to add to this show and given your background, especially spanning both the corporate side and now being an advisor, just can't wait to hear your story. So can you start out? Tell us a little bit about your practice, who it is that you serve, and why that focus is important to you?

Kristen LeClair [00:02:48]:

Well, Our company was, started, you know, from scratch. So we had no clients. And so in the beginning, it was like, if you had a pulse I was really excited to meet with you. But it actually framed the way that we still operate today. And when people ask me what my clients look like or what their profile is, it's really just people that share our values. We don't focus on any specific job market or career or geography. It's really just about people, who who view money as a tool. We always say that, the goal isn't to die with the most money. It's still of the best life. And money is just a tool. And so it really is just working with anyone that that fits in that profile. We only have 2, I guess, you know, client minimums, if you will. The first is a strong no asshole policy. We tell every single client, perspective client in the first meeting that we do not work with assholes, and we have had to, affect that policy. And walk someone to the the elevator.

Leah Alter [00:03:58]:

And Was that Leah? No. We passed the test. Thank you very much.

Kristen LeClair [00:04:06]:

That was someone that was not nice. And so and then the other, just kind of minimum or rule or client profile is that if you are married or in a serious relationship or partnership, we require both partners to come to the table. We won't work with just one person everyone needs to be, you know, involved at least to some degree. And that those that's it. Otherwise, we have clients all across the board. We have clients with over $20,000,000 in assets with clients who are trying to get out of debt. So that's that's really the profile.

Leah Alter [00:04:38]:

That is a great policy. And, honestly, when you guys told me that was it, I was like, that makes me wanna work with you even more. I mean, I try to think that I'm not an asshole.

Joanna Ehresman [00:04:51]:

You are not. To be clear.

Kristen LeClair [00:04:53]:

To be clear, you passed You passed the test.

Leah Alter [00:04:56]:

We passed the even my parents passed the test. So there

Joanna Ehresman [00:04:58]:

you go.

Kristen LeClair [00:04:58]:

100%.

Leah Alter [00:05:00]:

So as you know, this podcast is focused on Women Advisors and corporate leaders in the financial services industry. And you have been in both roles. Can you talk a little bit about that transition from a corporate leader to an adviser? What do you love about the move? What have been some of those challenges? Would love to hear, you know, I, I'm sure our audience is interested in hearing what that was like for you.

Kristen LeClair [00:05:29]:

It was a dramatic, transition for me. And in some ways, it was dramatic as well. I You know, I started the the business, after over 20 years in the business. I mean, I was an executive for a firm. I had an assistant and a really big budget and a big team, and I had, you know, just been doing it for a long time. And I loved it. I loved the work that I did. So it was a really strange transition to, you know, going to a role where, like, I almost, I mean, when I started, I had no clients. So, like, I didn't have anything to do, and I didn't get a paycheck for 2 years. And that was not fun. But, you know, the the transition was it was really good because I knew in the long term, that it was an investment in myself and in my family because, you know, now 5 years later, you know, income wise, and just in terms of the fulfillment that I get, you know, it's just a very different. It's like I'm not back in an executive role, but I'm in an incredibly fulfilling role. And I am making a difference every single day. And then I don't have a big team. But I have a huge network of clients. And so I still have that experience of of teamwork and collaboration and I continue to do board work and, work in other capacities with nonprofits to kinda exercise some of those strategic muscles, which I did really love, but it's just it's really funny because anyone that works in this industry for a long time they all think about being an adviser one day. It's like, oh, I could do that. It's like, you know, I just I look back and I think that a lot of my colleagues were a little, tough on advisors and about, oh, that guy's an idiot or this is easy. These guys, they just, you know, meet with clients in golf, but it's really hard. Getting new clients is hard. And maintaining your value with them on an ongoing basis requires a lot of work. So I've, I've had a really healthy just dose of respect for what's required to operate this kind of business and to do it successfully.

Joanna Ehresman [00:07:52]:

You know, that makes me think Kristen, well, first of all, yes, speaking to my personal experience, we'd have many conversations of, gosh, maybe someday. So and so would be a great advisor moving. So that's very true. I think a lot of people have thought about it. And I'm paralleling this when I moved from the advertising agency side to being on a corporate marketing side when I got to the corporate team and I was like, now the client of an agency, I had so many uh-huh. Like, oh my gosh. I can't believe I did this when I was on the agency side. I like, now that I understand the other perspective, I would would have done things differently. Have you had any of those moments Like, if I'm if someone is on a corporate team and now that you've made that transition, are there any, like, moments where you're like, oh, this We seem so tone deaf on a corporate side if you'd speak to advisors about this or don't acknowledge that. Any advice there?

Kristen LeClair [00:08:46]:

Yeah. Definitely. Because The, the experience I had was incredible for setting up the structure of the business. Like, I knew exactly how I wanted structure it from a compliance and a regulatory perspective. I knew the technology. I knew how to price it. I completely underestimated the gravity, with which I would be engaging with clients. And it's it was an amazing, I love it. It has been the most amazing thing, and it is, like, some days, it is the toughest thing because I get the call when someone gets a diagnosis. That's not good. And I need to go back and look at an insurance policy. Or, I need to make sure that their state plan is up to date and think through, okay, if we lose a spouse, you know, in their fifties, you know, we we've do a financial plan for long term, right? So the, the amount of trust, that I have with the clients and the ability to have a positive impact on their families has been incredible. So, like, that's on the side. That's tough. But I also, I get to be the person who retires with people, and I get, you know, some of the first photos of new kids or grandchildren. So I just I really underestimated the level of connection that I have with clients and how important I am to their family and I mean, I, I mean, I get thank you notes from clients. I get packages like chocolates in the mail and, I just it's amazing to see the kind of relationships, that I've been able to, to form with these clients. I mean, it really is, It's special. And I think the first time I realized it was really the first client that I I've kinda won, if you will, And she was, or is an Indian woman. And she, you know, was from India before she moved here. And in that culture, women typically, especially if her age, she's in her sixties, they were not involved in the finances. And so when she got divorced in her sixties, it's like she was starting from scratch. Okay. This is what a bank account is. This is how you pay bills. This is what a budget is. I mean, forget, like, you know, what's the standard deviation of your portfolio. It was like, we gotta start from the ground up. She was very anxious. Well, today, I can barely get her to come in and meet with me. She's traveling all over the world. She's seeing her family, you know, in all different countries. She knows what her budget is. She is not worried at all. And to just be a part of that transition, Like, that was the first time, and my business partner said after that meeting is, like, I could see, like, how your demeanor changed. In that conversation. He's like, I knew that the first meeting that you had that experience would be changing. And it really was.

Joanna Ehresman [00:11:47]:

Oh, that's fantastic. And in what you said here, it's occurring to me. So, again, I was only on the corporate side. And being reminded that, hey. If you're, you know, pushing your corporate agenda, say there's a product launch or a new campaign, you know, Remember that advisors and their staff are bringing their whole selves to work too, and they may have just gotten a really tough call from a client. And then they're coming into your training session and that sort of thing. Right? So Yeah. Just, you know, that's always gonna be an adviser's top priority is their clients. And so respecting that honoring that as you're partnering with them from the corporate side is really important too.

Kristen LeClair [00:12:26]:

Oh, absolutely. And just your point about, disrespecting the emotion of it because I, I definitely carry the weight of the the good and the bad when my clients are having experiences. For sure. And that's, I think, I just, I never really appreciated that until I really experienced it.

Joanna Ehresman [00:12:45]:

Standing in those shoes. Yes. So thus far, where are you seeing the most success in growing your practice? How are you finding new clients or expanding your relationship the clients that you have?

Kristen LeClair [00:12:56]:

It is 100% referrals, which is great now that we have clients in the beginning when I didn't have any That was a real problem. You know, I think that the clients that we work with are are a little surprised at, the way that we engage. I mean, Leah, you know, how how it is to work with us. I mean, it is not a stuffy kind of office. It is, I mean, we laugh. We have fun. I mean,

Leah Alter [00:13:24]:

a thing to you on your birthday. They will call me. Yeah. A voicemail. Happy birthday. Probably the makeup style. Yeah.

Kristen LeClair [00:13:34]:

It's not pretty, but, but people, they really, like, enjoy where, and they're surprised because we spend so much time you know, educating them and making topics, relatable to them. Like, I was working with a young woman one time and I was trying to really talk to her about debt and, and, like, you know, debt is not a bad thing in and of itself. I was like, but you want it to be, like, Lizzo kinda debt. You you wanted to be, like, PHAT debt. Like, and and she was like, you guys are the craziest people I've ever And so, but, like, she got it. She totally got it. And so we just we take very complex terminology and and ideas, and we we just deliver them in a way that's accessible to anyone. And now we have clients who are engineers, and they get super detailed into the just some calculations and, you know, how do we how do we get to the statistics or whatever? And, and so we can do that too, but most people, you know, they just don't have the knowledge that we have. So it's a lot of fun, and it's very empowering for them, to walk away and feel like, okay, I got it. Okay. This makes sense. Now I can, you know, cause when you have confidence and understanding, it takes down the temperature on what's happening externally in the markets and in the world. You watch the news. It's like, okay, the whole world is blowing up, but it can help just create you know, some just it lets people kind of see it from an arm's length and not be stressed about it and take it on when it's not not necessarily applicable.

Leah Alter [00:15:14]:

Yeah. I just from my own personal experience with working with you all and even before I became a client, I worked on getting my parents, as clients. And prior to engaging with you all, my mom was the primary person dealing with investments. My father had never even met their previous financial advisor. Never even met. Like, he had never even picked up the phone and introduced himself to my dad. My dad had no idea who he was or anything. If there was an issue, he my dad would tell my mom, my mom would call the advisor. And when I said to my dad, That is not how these relationships should be. Let me show you a different experience and we went out to I think we went out to breakfast or something with Pete. And all of a sudden, It became so accessible for my dad. And now my dad will pick up the call, you know, pick up the phone and call Pete if he has a question. And it's you know, going into it, he felt like he wasn't smart enough to get it. So he would just let other people deal with it. Now he gets to be more engaged. And even though he doesn't understand the complexities, right, that you would, he gets to be way more involved. And The level of stress about money has decreased exponentially.

Kristen LeClair [00:16:50]:

Absolutely. I mean, when you have an understanding of what the financial plan looks like. And I I think that was one thing that we were really adamant about, when we set up the practices that it's financial planning based The investments, like, we don't even talk about investments until the 3rd meeting. It's it's just one piece of it. And frankly, it's the piece that you have the least amount of control over. Markets go up and they go down. Right? So I just am always baffled by advisors that, you know, put their whole value proposition on just the performance of an account. And like, okay, congratulations on your relative performance, but, like, you still lost money. So, like, how does that leave a client feeling? And so, but that just helps us, like, go back to creating confidence where people can control the things that they can control. And when you show them how much control they can have. It's just it's very empowering.

Leah Alter [00:17:42]:

So you said, and I'm gonna quote you. I feel like my career has gone off the deep end but my livelihood is thriving, unquote. And I know this is a a vulnerable question for you. But can you talk more about what finding a new direction for your career was like? And kind of what that evolution has been since 2018.

Kristen LeClair [00:18:09]:

So just on a personal level. I grew up in a family with very limited means. I it was not a good situation. And my mom in particular, I think, was in relationships because she didn't feel like she had choices. You know, she was very much financially dependent on, you know, bad relationships. So when I was growing up, I didn't know what I wanted to do, but all I wanted to do was make sure that I could take care of myself and I didn't have to worry about the lights being cut off or you know, I could take care of my kids or, you know, whatever. I just I didn't wanna be stressed out. So when I got into my career, I, you know, I just, I kind of fell into this a little bit by accident, but, it, it became very much a part of my identity, my career was, like, I was always on a very fast upward, career trajectory. I got promoted quickly. Every time there was, you know, a merger and acquisition, I was in a position that usually came out better on the other side of that. So I was really fortunate. And, I became an executive, in my early thirties. And I was really proud of that. And it was it was my whole livelihood. I mean, it was my career and the whole industry, all my friends were in the industry. And when I left, my last corporate job to start the business. I had a 1 year noncompete non solicit situation. So I was really disconnected, like, completely, from the industry. And I realized that a lot of the people that I thought were my friends weren't. They disappeared. And, And I would only hear from them if they needed something, frankly. You know, they wanted my advice or to be mentored or, you know, could I make a connection or whatever? And it just really started to eat at me. And that's when I mentioned earlier, like, the the traumatic part. It just it was really hard for me to go from having my identity wrapped around my career to being what I used to refer to, as, you know, one of the shitty advisors I to make fun of. It's like, I have no assets and no clients. And I was like, every other, you know, industry person that was like, I could be an advisor. I'm gonna do this. And it was just really hard. Like, I felt like I was just really lost, and it was hard. It was really hard. So it took a while, to really start refocusing those efforts, but when I did, I created a new network of really good friends. I was able to engage in nonprofit organizations that I have a lot of passion around. I was able to, you know, get engaged with my church and just create all of these relationships that I wouldn't have that I'd never had before. I mean, I had been in Austin for 7 or 8 years. But, like, I didn't really have a network hardly outside of, you know, the people that I worked with. And there were a lot of good friends that I still have from that time, but I just, I felt like I almost started from scratch. And, that was a hard place to be. And I also had gone from you know, working as a busy executive, I was I did my MBA, kind of towards the end of that part. So that was 2 years of full time school, was so much work. And I just felt like I had all this time on my hands, and it was, you know, It was just really a strange place to be. And I really had to go back and figure out, like, okay, who am I? What do I wanna do? What's important to me? And how do I live that life? And I think I finally have found it, and I'm really, I'm really excited and I'm proud about that, but it was hard. I mean, it was, like, a lot of therapy y'all. Yeah.

Leah Alter [00:22:29]:

Well and I think that a lot of times people just kind of float through. Right? They just keep going through the doors that open without ever slowing down and figuring out who I am and what's important to me and what do I want my legacy to be. And sometimes it takes the thing that you think might be the worst thing ever to make you slow down and do that only for it to end up being the best thing. Right?

Kristen LeClair [00:23:00]:

Yeah. And it, it was. I mean, being forced to take that year off was 100% the reason that I stuck with starting the the wealth management business, because I didn't have anything else to do. And otherwise, mean, I was getting calls, you know, from headhunters and different firms. I interviewed a few places and I had I had several opportunities that were presented that I thought, you know, maybe, you know, I I could have waited or would have worked out, but ultimately, I had enough time to get the wealth management firm up and running so that by that point, like, I didn't wanna walk away from the groundwork that I had built. And so I I just by by force of, having that that time out, I really do think it is what set me up, to be patient and to be able to, to just wait out because we, you know, We had the choice of either buying a practice. Everybody talks about buying a practice or starting one from scratch. And my original thought was that, well, okay. Well, we'll buy something. I had one particular advisor that I chatted with about it, and he was like, you know, Kristen, he's like, it'll take a lot longer. It'll be harder, but if you can wait it out, you will be so happy if you start from 0 because if you buy a business, you're gonna back into the way that you structure it. Whatever's already there, you're just gonna adopt it, and you'll tweak it over time, but you're gonna inherit their bad choices, their history of compliance issues, the crappy clients that you need to fire, like, all of it. And he's like, if you can afford to wait, He's like, that's what you should do. And he said, you could need to put your head down and don't look up for 5 years. And, like, that was the magic number. I mean, it took us 5 years to have a business with critical mass. And once, I mean, the 1st years were so slow again, because being a referral based business But then in the, you know, year 3 year 4, like, it really started to take off. And and it really did. I mean, it took that long to, to hit over a 100,000,000 in assets so that we could finally, like, be in a place where we had enough mass that we could be self sufficient and sustain. And you know, not trying to, you know, worry about, you know, paying our bills and all that stuff.

Leah Alter [00:25:24]:

Well, you already gave us some great advice that you got.

Kristen LeClair [00:25:27]:

Yeah. It was. It was really helpful.

Joanna Ehresman [00:25:31]:

Yeah. Well, in along those lines, one one, value we wanna provide to listeners on every episode is to have guests like yourself share What is some of the best advice you've received? So aside from the stick it out, you know, and it'll be the best thing that you've done, What other career advice would you would you share that has really helped you?

Kristen LeClair [00:25:53]:

I would say, don't compromise your values. And that's way easier said than done, but it is a slippery slope. Because you do a little bit and then a little bit more. And then it's like it is the old boil, the frog kind of analogy. What happens is that you just, like, you degrade yourself a little bit each day and then you get to the point where you're you're stuck in a place, you know, you've gotta make x amount of money. You can't stand, you know, x, y, and z about the company that you're at, but, like, you feel stuck. And you have to be willing to make some changes along the way. You have to walk away from some good opportunities. It just it's it's twenty times harder, you know, to to make a a huge move at a time in your life when you're much further in your career. So if you really manage that from the beginning, I think that you're gonna set yourself up for a much better long term path without having to go through the pain of, like, a massive career change.

Leah Alter [00:27:04]:

Yeah. Joanna, and I can relate to that. We are both very much in our own career transitions and reflecting a lot, I think. And also, figuring out what work is what works for us. Yeah. And I think that is so important to do at every stage of your career. Is this working for me, or am I compromising?

Kristen LeClair [00:27:29]:

Yeah. Because when you find yourself delivering messages that you don't believe in, It's a really hard place to be. You know, I didn't realize, like, how how much I was, like, losing myself until, like, a couple years later when it was like, wow. Like, the lightness that was back you know, the joy that was in my life, just the laughter. And, and I'm a pretty jovial person and can have fun, but I just like losing the weight of, having to deliver messages and uphold things that I just didn't believe in was really hard. And it's just it's not sustainable.

Leah Alter [00:28:13]:

That is such important advice Such important advice. So you mentioned the advice you got about starting your own practice, but thinking about around your whole career. What is some of the best advice that you've received maybe from another woman? Or that you think would be a great thing to pass along to a a woman coming up in the industry thinking about making a change in the industry in general?

Kristen LeClair [00:28:43]:

I have a couple of different thoughts, and I'll share the first one, which is gonna be controversial, but I'll I'll share it because it worked for

Leah Alter [00:28:50]:

me. We love it.

Kristen LeClair [00:28:52]:

I'm sure there's gonna be a lot of people that are like, good lord, you know, tell her to be quiet. But, you know, I I have 3 I have 3 kids, and I always knew that I want to have kids. And I but I also knew very young that I was very career oriented. I wanted to have a career trajectory that put me on an executive path. Like, that was really important to me. So when I was in my early twenties, I asked all of the women that I worked with that were in more senior positions about when's the best time to have kids. And you know what? They all told me, do it young. They all said to me, It only gets harder to step away when you're furthering your career, and you wanna be able to, like, take, you know, maternity leave and, like, take the time because the state of maternity leave in our country is abysmal. So we all know that. So you gotta work within what's available. Well, I had my first 2 sons when I was just shy of 2830. And it and it was hard, you know, having kids is hard. But when I had my 3rd kid when I was thirty 6, it was way harder and being gone and being stressed out about what's happening. Like, I literally Remember the day, I was in labor. I went into labor 2 weeks early, and I was on my blackberry because this is back in the Blackberry days. And I'm I'm texting, like, real time. And I finally said, y'all, I have to go. It's time to push. Like, it it was just like, it was really hard, you know, and then and I nursed my babies. And that worked for me, but, I mean, it meant that I had to pump, you know, I'm in meetings and you know, and everyone would laugh because they would know my door was closed. And if you're on a conference call with me, like, you can hear the machine in the background. It's hilarious, but it was hard. And I don't think that there's a a right time for everyone, but for me, that it it worked. And so that advice I think it works well on the other side of that equation too, but, I think that the the key, though, was that for me, I knew that I wanted to have kids sooner than later. And so it was easier, you know, being newer in my career. Now that derails other people, but so that's why I said this is gonna be controversial, but I think if if kids are are something that you're thinking about having in your earlier and career, just being really thoughtful about what that looks like and what's the impact and what's your support system and network. But that one's tricky. And that one is not gonna be consistent for everyone, but I was really, really surprised that everyone I asked told me to do it younger. I really didn't expect that, which very surprising.

Leah Alter [00:31:43]:

Well, I wasn't there for the first 2, but I definitely got to see you in all your glory with your 3rd. And, yeah, it was like, I remember you were in the office, like, the day before. Oh, or the morning of?

Kristen LeClair [00:31:59]:

I was there that morning. And then I went to a doctor, and he's like, yeah. You're not going home. You're gonna check into hospital. I'm like, what? I got a meeting this afternoon.

Leah Alter [00:32:10]:

We were we have things to do.

Joanna Ehresman [00:32:13]:

Can we get this baby out by 3:30? I've got important meeting.

Leah Alter [00:32:16]:

Thank you.

Kristen LeClair [00:32:17]:

Oh, seriously. But separate from kids, like, I just think in general, you know, good, like, career advice. I read the book, early in my career, And it's called nice girls don't get the corner office, and it's by, I think, Lois Frankel. And there's, like, a big quiz in it. It's got, like, 80 questions or something like that. And it kinda helps you, like, recognize where you've got opportunities, you know, to work on And so every time I would start a new job, I would reread the book, and I would go back through because, you know, you mature and you change in where you your area of focus needs to be is gonna change. And so, I always did that. And it was really helpful for me to just have some things to be mindful of. And the way that she structured the book, I mean, it's probably pretty dated now, but it was all like vignettes. It was like, 80 stories of different women who had challenges in their career. And, like, they were so relatable, because there are things that you all have seen in the day to day and different experiences. So that was a really good tool for me. And I loved it so much, and I gave tons of copies away to other friends who were, you know, going through periods that were challenging. So that that was definitely a a good tool. But I think the last thing is you know, just really being prepared to stand your ground, especially as a woman and as a young woman, I was frequently tried to be mowed over by people who were technically my peers or in other areas, and they were shocked at how hard I would push back. People were often surprised that I was the bad cop in the, you know, the situation. And so I and I didn't do it just to be a jerk, but If I knew that I was empowered to make a decision and it was something that was gonna impact my team, I didn't back down. And I was really, really tough. And you gotta do it right up front. And I can think of, like, a couple of instances were being new in a role and I did it. And I knew if I didn't set the stage in that first engagement, then it would haunt me the rest of my time. Because they would feel like they could just come back and run over me. So being willing to, to be tough, I mean, you've gotta do it in the right way, and you've got to make sure that you have the right grounds to do it, but you have to be willing to, to be tough and to put someone well in their place.

Leah Alter [00:34:59]:

And what I thought as a result of that was a team that was so dedicated to you. Because they knew you were dedicated to them. And Kirsten's team was, like, the destination right, for the whole organization to be on Kristen's team was you had elevated yourself to a certain level. And because of that, you had Kristen as a leader who would advocate for you. And I saw it many times. I was in the room many times.

Kristen LeClair [00:35:38]:

Well, that is ultimately the thing, is that you have to have someone that's gonna advocate for you when you're not in the room. And I've seen that play out on both sides of the equation where someone thought they had a boss that was advocating for them and they weren't. I can promise you that you will never get promoted based on solely your good work. You will never get the raise that you deserve unless you have someone that's willing to go and, just go to bat for you because There's so many just layers of HR, and every company just has their politics and things like that. So having someone that is gonna do that for you, I just think that's incredibly important. You gotta know who that is, and you need to make sure that that they're willing to do it for you. And if you don't see them doing that for other people, they're probably not doing it for you either.

Joanna Ehresman [00:36:27]:

And I think for people who are listening who are leaders, are you doing that? Are you advocating for your team? Like, what piece of that can you bring into your career. It is so important and such a fantastic point.

Leah Alter [00:36:40]:

Kristen, thank you so much for being here. This was such an amazing conversation, and thank you for being so open and willing to share with us your experiences and your advice. We just really, really appreciate it. We know it's gonna bring a ton of value for those that are listening. And, I I could I honestly could just keep having this conversation for hours. So I just really, we really appreciate that that is really our show for today. If ours is a mission that you want to share in, please subscribe to the podcast wherever you your podcasts. And with that, I am Leah Alter.

Joanna Ehresman [00:37:20]:

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