Navigating Perfectionism and Joy: Dana Rhodes's Advice for Women in Finance

Dana Rhodes [00:00:00]:

 

It's it's just finding joy. The older I get, the more I do this, the more I have stressful days or stressful weeks. I just I feel like if you look for the joy, you're going to find it, and it's truly been such a transformative thought for me because, you know, I'll tell you, this week hasn't been a great week. 1 of my one of my best friends was like, hey, hey, girl. How are you doing? And I said, you know what? I'm doing pretty well because I focus on the things that do bring me joy, that are lifting me up instead of the things that are bringing me down.

 

 

 

Leah Alter [00:00:45]:

 

I'm Joanna Ehresman. And I'm Leah Alter.

 

 

 

Joanna Ehresman [00:00:48]:

 

And this is WomenShare, a celebration of women in financial services.

 

 

 

Joanna Ehresman [00:00:53]:

 

Before we get into our episode today, we want to thank Axtella, our presenting sponsor of WomenShare. Axtella is dedicated to helping financial professionals take their practices to new heights.

 

 

 

Leah Alter [00:01:07]:

 

So if you're ready for a firm that goes the extra mile for its advisers, check out Axtella today@go.axtella.com/womenshare. That's go.ax tella.com/womenshare.

 

 

 

Joanna Ehresman [00:01:23]:

 

And today, we are so excited to welcome Dana Rhodes, chief operating officer at Axtella. With over 20 years of financial services experience, Dana contributes valuable expertise in crafting impactful wealth management programs for financial professionals that they serve. As a driving force and spirit behind establishing the Nova Women's Collective, she passionately advocates for the support and guidance of women in our industry and leads a united front in pursuit of solidarity and success. Gosh, we love to hear it. Dana and I were colleagues for many years and always someone who I've looked up to. It really is such a joy to see you absolutely thriving at Exstella, and we are so happy to have you on the podcast. Welcome to WomenShare.

 

 

 

Dana Rhodes [00:02:17]:

 

Thank you both for having me, Leah. That's very kind of you to say. I loved working with you also, and I think that's what I'm most excited about is getting to have some time to catch up with an old friend and and meet you, Joanna. So thank you both for having me.

 

 

 

Leah Alter [00:02:33]:

 

Yes. Well, we're we're excited to have you here. And first, we wanna dive in. I mean, there's so many great things as we've gotten to know more of the team at Xtellus. So many great things that you're up to as an organization, but, specifically, the Novo Women's Collective Collective has captured our attention. So we'd love to hear from you. Like, how did this come to be, and what are what's the mission of this part of Axtella, this collective?

 

 

 

Dana Rhodes [00:02:57]:

 

Sure. So as far as how it came it came to be, when I first joined the firm, we had a loosely formed group of a few ladies that would regularly meet and they would share ideas and discuss various challenges they were facing. And we loved it, we thought it was a great forum, but it wasn't inclusive of all the ladies of Accela, so we brainstormed and put together this Nova women's collective. And what it is is it's a monthly connection with each of the ladies within our organization where we're discussing relevant topics. So sometimes it's a round table with everyone interacting, and sometimes we have expert speakers share their experiences. I think at the end of the day, our primary goal was to just create a community for all of us together, share feedback, and learn from each other, and most importantly, support one another. Throughout my career, I've been blessed to have so many strong women mentor and guide me, so for me, this is very personal, and it's my way of paying it forward to the women within my organization. You know, too many times, I see the opposite.

 

 

 

Dana Rhodes [00:04:03]:

 

So I love this culture that we created with Nova to really lift each other up and turn each one of our perspectives into initiatives for positive change.

 

 

 

Leah Alter [00:04:13]:

 

Ah, that's fantastic. And I think, when we spoke with Maria Bethel a few episodes back, she was talking about, really, the focus on recruiting, you know, next generation advisers and what what a rich resource for a young female adviser to come in, right, and learn from other women who have been in the industry with significant experience like yourself, like Maria, right, and and others. And then vice versa, how gratifying for you to be able to pay it forward. Like, you were saying and we were even chatting before we started recording here, right, of the great kind of influences we've had in our careers, and now you get to be that for other women within Nextel. Love that.

 

 

 

Dana Rhodes [00:04:51]:

 

100%. 100%. It's important to me, and it's it's our female financial professionals, but it's also our female staff internally. And Yeah. I know there have been a couple of calls that we did where I I actually brought on one of my one of my professional mentors that's been so incredibly helpful to me in my career. She and I just did kind of a fireside chat. But it was really interesting because after I had so many people internally say, gosh, I loved hearing your story. I would love to just chat with you when I need help or when I'm struggling with some decisions.

 

 

 

Dana Rhodes [00:05:22]:

 

And so that personally was really gratifying to be able to then pay it forward, as I mentioned, like someone did for me, for other folks internally within our our home office.

 

 

 

Joanna Ehresman [00:05:32]:

 

That's how we see the progress happen, right, is when we, like it becomes the snowball effect. Right?

 

 

 

Dana Rhodes [00:05:39]:

 

Absolutely.

 

 

 

Joanna Ehresman [00:05:40]:

 

Get mentored. You mentor someone. They mentor someone, and all of a sudden, that is the norm. Right? That the expectation when you get into this industry is finding mentors, finding

 

 

 

Dana Rhodes [00:06:01]:

 

Mhmm.

 

 

 

Joanna Ehresman [00:06:01]:

 

That's where we start to see, yeah, the the big incremental progress happen, especially among us women. So you've had such a a wonderful career, and you've worked mostly in the advisory space. So how has it been moving over into the COO role and taking on sort of a a broader view from an organizational standpoint?

 

 

 

Dana Rhodes [00:06:26]:

 

It's a great question, and you're absolutely right. I mean, I found my passion in advisory several years ago dating back to when you and I worked together initially, Leah, and that has not changed. I'm still incredibly passionate about advisory, love that part of the business, and I'm still in charge of it, honestly, here for Axtella. Several months ago, my boss approached me about expanding my role because I always seem to be the person that finds herself doing more that isn't necessarily part of my job. And I think for me when I was thinking about it, it was important for me to feel like I was doing something that would have a positive impact on the company. As far as operations goes, when I joined the firm over 3 years ago, I came on board focused on building out our advisory platform, running the RIA, growing the RIA, but I was also put in charge of advisory operations at that time as well, which I wasn't necessarily anticipating. I'd like to call it gift with purchase. But for me, it was it was great because my old firm, you know, we had them separate, and and that was great.

 

 

 

Dana Rhodes [00:07:29]:

 

That was a fine business model for us. But what I found is by having both advisory operations and the advisory sales and consulting arm together, we've been able to really collaborate. It makes sense that the 2 of them would work so well together. And with this new role, I'm going to be taking over all of operations. We previously had brokerage ops and advisory ops separate, so we're combining the 2 so we can take really the best of both worlds as we create a world class operations division. And the other thing that I also took on with this new role is leading our wealth planning team. I don't know if you knew that, Leah, but back in my day when we worked together, I also led a wealth consulting desk. So I was excited about that and personally this has been so rewarding because I feel like all the things that I've done through various roles and companies, I'm sort of smashing together into this one job to be able to, you know, impact the future of our platform, make sure that we're providing a great operational experience, and that it's aligned with what we're doing from a sales and a consulting perspective, and then also grow our, you know, internal consulting team that helps our financial professionals with complex cases.

 

 

 

Dana Rhodes [00:08:43]:

 

So it's really exciting for me. Well, I

 

 

 

Joanna Ehresman [00:08:46]:

 

feel like your advisers must love that too because it's not they're able they know if they they're on the phone with 1 group having a conversation about something complex. They don't have to have the same conversation with multiple people. Right? It's all sort of operating in the same group. So I'm sure your advisers are just loving that.

 

 

 

Dana Rhodes [00:09:07]:

 

And the beauty of it is when you have all of these different silos internally and they're not sharing with each other, you do get that sense of the right hand not loading what the left hand is doing. Right? And I feel like I would get a lot of that of okay. I call this group. They know these 10 areas, and then I've gotta call this other group, but there's much, much more collaboration now. So to your point, they may not be an expert in everything that the the financial professional is asking them about, but they certainly know a lot more. They have more context. I think it helps you have more fruitful conversations because as one of my my mentors used to say, it's not the first question, it's can you ask the second question and the subsequent questions. And it's knowing what to ask based on what you're being told because a lot of times you have to pull information out of people to get to the heart of what it is they're looking for.

 

 

 

Dana Rhodes [00:09:56]:

 

So the the hope is that the outcome will be our teams are gonna be better skilled at having those conversations, pulling the information out, and providing a much better experience.

 

 

 

Leah Alter [00:10:07]:

 

That just seems like a really smart structure, and congratulations. You were saying as as we were chatting earlier, you're like, I'm having so much fun at. So I I can sense that, and now I see how your career experience is has led into this kind of this role sounds like, like you said, a great culmination of of the depth of experience you've had prior to, prior to this position. How very exciting. Before we get into our next question, however, our longtime listeners of the show know how passionate Leah and I are about the next generation of women advisers and investors.

 

 

 

Joanna Ehresman [00:10:46]:

 

Yes. So speaking of, we are so proud to be partnering with Axtella, who's providing resources for professionals through their efforts like the Novo Women's Collective that Dana just spoke about, which enables members to network, connect, and gain insights from their peers.

 

 

 

Leah Alter [00:11:04]:

 

So if you want in on an organization that provides that sort of support, check out all they have to offer at go.extella.com/womenshare. That's go.ax tella.com/womenshare. Okay. So, Dana, I'd love your perspective, you know, for people who've been in the industry a while, like all of us in this conversation. We we love to hear, you know, how have you seen the industry evolve and change, and what do you think we need to do to attract that next generation of women advisers?

 

 

 

Dana Rhodes [00:11:38]:

 

What a great question. I thought about this because Maria and I all always talk about how we can attract more women to our business. Maria is our head of marketing at Axtella. And, you know, when I think about this industry, we have seen a tremendous amount of change in the 24 years I've been here. I think the most obvious is in the realm of technology. I chuckle to myself, I've got a few friends that I send memes and forth with, and I've seen one showing the interoffice envelopes where you're scribbling out who it's to and from to get the next one. And I'm a little bit mortified that I remember the days of interoffice envelopes even though we still had mail, we were interoffice ing things. So when you when you look at that and you think about that level of perspective, it's insane where we are today.

 

 

 

Dana Rhodes [00:12:21]:

 

And, you know, another thing is Michael Kitsis has a chart he regularly releases with all the Fintech companies in there. If you think about that 20 years ago, there were probably you could count them on one hand, and now it's this massive chart with more than you can even quantify or understand. You know, for me, as I look at the technology, the thing that's had the biggest impact in my opinion is the use of technology for communication. So I live in Austin, Texas and I work for a firm out of Ann Arbor, Michigan, and that would not have been possible when I started in this business. And I think in a post pandemic world, obviously we have a lot of folks bringing people back into the office and this is not a knock on that at all. But I think in a post pandemic world, we can much more easily hire folks remote. I'm not alone in that I work not by the home office. And there are a lot of professionals that are doing the same thing using Teams, Zoom, or other technology.

 

 

 

Dana Rhodes [00:13:19]:

 

And I think for me as a woman in this business and as a working mom, that was huge. It meant that I didn't have to uproot my family to make a move across the country. And I do believe that if we're going to continue to attract the next generation of female advisers, we have to consider their unique needs along with how and where they might fit in the industry. One of my dear friends, and I I know you've had her on the show as well, she's a female adviser. And when I talk to her, she tells me she loves it. So she's got 3 kids. And as a financial adviser, she's been able to be there for her kids when they need her, but she's also able to help her clients achieve their financial goals and the outcomes that they're looking for. And those are things that I don't think we're communicating today, we need to be communicating those with schools and universities to that next generation of strong women.

 

 

 

Dana Rhodes [00:14:08]:

 

I mean, I just think about 25 years ago, what a powerful message that would have sent to me if I knew that. I stumbled upon this industry. But if I had learned that, I would have been running toward this industry. And I find that when I talk to my peers, my female peers, we all kinda wanna do it all. Right? We are career women, yet many of us are moms and have other responsibilities side of work, that keep us busy all the time. So knowing that we work in an industry that supports all of the roles and the hats that we may wear, it means a really it's it's really important to me, and I think we need to be communicating that.

 

 

 

Joanna Ehresman [00:14:49]:

 

Yeah. I mean, I agree. I think flexibility is such a a huge factor when it comes to the next generation, you know, having made it through the pandemic, whether they were in school, you know, making it through school or right out of school and into, like, entry level types of positions and being sent home and having to figure that out. I personally had a huge revelation during that time of how much productive and better my life was working at home. And I know I'm not alone in that and that a lot of people said, oh, wow. Things can't go back to the way that they were. And that flexibility, to your point, is very attractive because I think, I mean, even 5 years ago, if you wanted to get into this industry, you were expected, like, you know, butts in seats, so to speak. From 8 to 5, you know, Monday through Friday, and there really wasn't a whole lot of exceptions for that.

 

 

 

Leah Alter [00:15:55]:

 

Yeah. Although funny, yes, the industry has come a long way in better technology, tying to interoffice envelopes and working remotely. So when I was in my corporate role, we were I was remote for like, fully remote for about 2 years. Went into the office not too far from here. Just happened to check the mail room. I had, like, 25 interrupt this envelope, and I'm like, who are these people sending me interoffice mail during the pandemic? It was a lot of our advisers who were, you know, still meeting with clients in person. And, luckily, it's nothing critical. They're sending me samples of, you know, marketing collateral and that sort of thing from other places, but I'm like, there's still interoffice mail, and it was 2023.

 

 

 

Leah Alter [00:16:35]:

 

So I just had to laugh.

 

 

 

Dana Rhodes [00:16:37]:

 

I think all interoffice mailing envelopes should be burned at this point, and highlights They're full. All their lines are full.

 

 

 

Leah Alter [00:16:45]:

 

But you know what? On the flip side,

 

 

 

Dana Rhodes [00:16:48]:

 

On the flip side, when I left and and I went into the Fintech space for a spell, they sent everything to my home. It was when I first started working from home. And so I get the box the weekend before I'm gonna start, and I ask my husband, hey. Can you help me settle this up? Because he has this certain particular way that he's gotta wire everything. We get it out, and it's it's a MacBook. And I've always worked on Windows products, so I had that moment of, okay. Okay. I got this.

 

 

 

Dana Rhodes [00:17:13]:

 

I could totally do this. I get on my first call. Something is not working. Right? And I'm on the call and the person says to me, I need you to just take a screenshot and Slack it to me. I've never used Slack before. If you haven't used it, it's amazing. But I said, okay. Now how how am I gonna make that screenshot on a Mac? So we were chuckling about it because I was that person on the calls where they would say, okay, data, you're gonna need to go to this menu or here are the hot keys to press.

 

 

 

Dana Rhodes [00:17:41]:

 

And so, I definitely can understand how some of the older generations are struggling with how quickly we're adopting technology because I consider myself pretty young and hip, and I struggled.

 

 

 

Leah Alter [00:17:53]:

 

I can imagine. Same. I like my I just started to get nervous on your behalf. I am also a PC person through and

 

 

 

Dana Rhodes [00:17:59]:

 

through, and

 

 

 

Leah Alter [00:17:59]:

 

I'm like, if I got a Mac sent to me, I'd be like, oh, man. I'm in trouble. I aspire to be cool enough to use one.

 

 

 

Dana Rhodes [00:18:07]:

 

I had a Word document because, yes, I had them put Word on there because I don't like pages. And I would go through, and I had all of my hot keys. Like, I had notes for myself of how to do all the things. And I finally forgotten them because then I got a Windows computer again, and now I just feel like it's

 

 

 

Leah Alter [00:18:23]:

 

like Now you can exhale.

 

 

 

Joanna Ehresman [00:18:25]:

 

Yeah. All is right in the world. Exactly.

 

 

 

Dana Rhodes [00:18:29]:

 

Oh, I love it.

 

 

 

Joanna Ehresman [00:18:31]:

 

As somebody who is raising the next generation of professionals, with your teenage daughter, Caroline, what are you learning, from your daughter and her peers, that you're able to connect to the work that you all are doing at Axtella for attracting that next generation?

 

 

 

Dana Rhodes [00:18:50]:

 

Well, you know, Leah, my daughter is everything. So, you are they probably know more about her than anybody because we're social media friends, and she's the only thing I post about. I think the big thing I'm learning is this next generation is so smart. I think they're smarter and more tech savvy than I am or ever was. I mean, I look at some of the assignments that she has to complete in school, and I don't think I ever had to do anything like that. They've also grown up in this environment of really constant change. They've had to grow up very fast. They've lived through the pandemic.

 

 

 

Dana Rhodes [00:19:27]:

 

To your point, they had the interruptions with school and working you know, doing school from home and all that that entailed. And, you know, I think that they have a lot of benefits, but I think the distractions that this generation has had at a young age of cell phones and social media, that's really challenging. So I think there's a lot of things that they're navigating, very difficult concepts, they're navigating at a very young age that I think we need to be helping them with. You know, for me, Caroline has certainly enhanced my multitasking abilities, but I think we also we teach each other to take one thing at a time. Because as much as I can be frenetic and do 75 things at one time, I also know that when I'm doing that, I'm losing focus on really putting my energy into what's most important. So, you know, for me, I think she and I keep each other each other grounded in that way. And, you know, it's about balance and savoring those moments, so getting a lot of things done, learning, embracing new things as they're thrown our way, but also savoring the moments. And for her, it's been great because I see what she's doing and I can learn from her, but I can also bestow my wisdom on, hey.

 

 

 

Dana Rhodes [00:20:43]:

 

I once too tried to take on the whole world. And let me just tell you, you know, here are some pitfalls. I mean, as Leah knows, my daughter is a competitive gymnast, so her training schedule is 4 hours a day, 6 days a week, she's student, she's always got something going on, so I definitely am seeing her incredible time management, grit, determination, just her ability to be laser focused on a goal. And it just reminds me when I get stuck in a rut, okay, I've gotta focus back on what's important, but I also can remind her that this too shall pass. And she's doing all the right things. It will pay off in the end, but, you know, there's gonna be hard days. So I think for for us, it's a very symbiotic relationship. Yes.

 

 

 

Dana Rhodes [00:21:32]:

 

I'm learning from her, but she and I have such a close relationship that we really, I think, complement each other really well.

 

 

 

Leah Alter [00:21:39]:

 

I am just impressed by all that she has going on, and then you've got this career, this big responsibility at Axtella that I can imagine you're also a great role model, right, for for her to see the how this is all playing out in your career. I just I think as a as a parent or any kind of busy professional, it's really important to remember, like, the examples we're setting and, like you said, helping her to anchor to what what really matters. Because you hear a lot about the generation, you know, Gen z having anxiety and all this pressure and and everything imposed on on themselves when you can remind her, you know, it's about balance. It's about focusing on what matters most. Yes. Grit, determination, striving, it's all good, but how do you also prioritize your well-being as well?

 

 

 

Dana Rhodes [00:22:30]:

 

It's interesting because when I was growing up I have I have wonderful parents, by the way, really, really terrific parents. My mom is such a case study and someone that just made so much of herself and and had an amazing career in the insurance business. But my mom is also more soft spoken, she's not as, direct or as sort of independent as I am. And when my daughter was born, I still had a lot of insecurities and people didn't know that I had them, but I had them. And I remember thinking, I don't want her to grow up with the same insecurities that I have. So I was really overly focused on if I'm uncomfortable in a situation, I'm gonna do the proverbial fake it till I make it so that she doesn't feed off of my discomfort and create that same sort of insecurity. And what's been really cool is I always like to say she's kind of a carbon copy of me because we are a lot, but she's a better version of me because she doesn't have those same insecurities I had. And it's funny, I was emailing with her, her gym last night for gymnastics because they had some questions about her summer training program.

 

 

 

Dana Rhodes [00:23:46]:

 

And I said, oh, by the way, I think you already know this, but just to make sure you know, Caroline's gonna be doing this, this, and this. And then they emailed me back and said, oh, we know, she told us. Don't you worry. And I chuckled because they always tell me they said, we love your daughter because she's the one that will just tell it like it is, she's so just independent, she truly marches to the beat of her own drum. She to her credit, I don't know where she got this, she's not sucked into needing everyone to love her or to be the popular kid. She just wants to do a great job and be awesome, and I love that about her. I wish I cared less about what people thought when I was her age. So I don't know where she got that, but every time I see her in those moments where she does do something incredible and she does advocate for herself and displays true leadership.

 

 

 

Dana Rhodes [00:24:40]:

 

I'm very, very proud. I'm very blessed.

 

 

 

Leah Alter [00:24:43]:

 

And that's a superpower to be, like, unapologetically yourself.

 

 

 

Dana Rhodes [00:24:46]:

 

So 16 too. So

 

 

 

Joanna Ehresman [00:24:49]:

 

She does share your same side eye, which I love.

 

 

 

Dana Rhodes [00:24:54]:

 

We've talked about that. I told her I've received coaching on that many times. So I'm trying to get through the coaching outside change. A formal 360. I know. I Oh, nice. I still get memes from multiple mutual friends, Leah, about, oh, I know what Dana was thinking in the meeting because her face said it.

 

 

 

Joanna Ehresman [00:25:16]:

 

That's what I love about you. Never changed. Never changed.

 

 

 

Leah Alter [00:25:21]:

 

So we're curious. We love to ask this question of every guest. What's the best career advice you've ever received?

 

 

 

Dana Rhodes [00:25:28]:

 

Alright. So I know you guys asked this. I've thought a lot about it. You have to bear with me because there's kind of a story here. But Love it. Go

 

 

 

Leah Alter [00:25:36]:

 

for it.

 

 

 

Dana Rhodes [00:25:36]:

 

For me, it was it was really impactful. So I always like to tell people I'm a recovering perfectionist. I still have the tendencies, but I try to suppress them. And so it does sound silly, but it's absolutely the truth. It used to consume me all the time and everything that I did. And one of my former bosses, Leah, you know who I'm talking about, you had her on this show, she really helped me in that in that space. And what I remember about this is I walked into her office one day, had a million things on my plate. I was I'm sure my face showed the level of stress and anxiety that I had.

 

 

 

Dana Rhodes [00:26:18]:

 

And I walked in and I just immediately shut the door, and you know you just start, like, spewing words. I was just vomiting all the words of all the things and the things I was worried about, and that weren't gonna work and everything. And I look at her and I said, right? Like, so what are we gonna do? And she said to me, I will never forget, I'm gonna filter it a little bit for the podcast, but she said, roads, Stuff always has a way of working itself out. And I looked at her like, what? Like, you didn't help me with what I needed help with. How are we gonna figure out all these things? And, you know, I'm not gonna lie. I thought it was crap at the moment. I don't think I ever told her that, but I thought it was just I was like, what? And then she said, Brooke, I know you're gonna figure out how to solve all the problems, and we'll talk through those, but you've gotta just take a deep breath and just know that it always works out. It may not work out the way you think it's going to, but it will always work out.

 

 

 

Dana Rhodes [00:27:18]:

 

And, honestly, she was right. And it's one of those things where I constantly will find myself when I'm having a stressful week or a stressful day or right now, it's finals time. So I got a text from my daughter 3 hours ago. I am so stressed out. I don't know how I'm going to get all of this done. And I always will tell her, take a deep breath. Stuff always has a way of working itself out. I don't think she appreciates the quote either, but it's so, so true.

 

 

 

Dana Rhodes [00:27:47]:

 

And I told her earlier this week, I said, you know, the getting yourself all worked up and frenetic and this stress and anxiety, it actually doesn't help you at all. It doesn't help you get anything done. It doesn't help you be more effective. And so I truly do tell myself on a pretty regular basis when I know and I feel it in my gut, it's almost like you can feel your blood pressure escalating, and I just tell myself it's gonna work out. And honestly, I've done it so much now, I start to believe it. And my stress levels, I have much more responsibility, but I think my stress levels have become far more manageable because I'm constantly reminding myself. Sometimes when you're in the moment, it feels like the weight of the world is on your shoulders and whatever this key decision is is going to impact the rest of your life. And there are some decisions that truly impact the rest of your life, but most of them from a day to day, it all works out.

 

 

 

Dana Rhodes [00:28:42]:

 

And so that was the best advice I've ever received even if at the moment I didn't think it was amazing.

 

 

 

Joanna Ehresman [00:28:49]:

 

That's great advice. And, she's referring to Kristen LeClaire. If you guys wanna go back and listen to Kristen's episode, I think it was episode 3, maybe. We'll we'll we'll put it in the show notes of the, this episode. It's a fantastic episode. Kristen has mentored a lot of people, and Kristen and Dana were thick as thieves, when we were we all worked together, and, they got so much done. It was incredibly impressive. And I just always have appreciated your friendship and your, camaraderie for one another.

 

 

 

Joanna Ehresman [00:29:29]:

 

Okay. So Dana, outside of work, what can we celebrate with you today?

 

 

 

Dana Rhodes [00:29:35]:

 

So there's a few things. I think, 1, let's celebrate Kristen Leclair and all of the women in our lives that have made us better. I love that. She is

 

 

 

Leah Alter [00:29:44]:

 

I'm gonna cry. She

 

 

 

Dana Rhodes [00:29:46]:

 

is someone that took me from someone with, I think, great potential and helped me become someone that I could I could show that potential, people could then see it in me because of the confidence that she inspired. And I mentioned before when we were just chatting, even now we don't work together, but she'll see my successes, and she's the first person to congratulate me. She's the first person to tell me how proud she is of me. Joanna, you're gonna make me cry, so I'm not gonna look at you.

 

 

 

Leah Alter [00:30:17]:

 

Okay.

 

 

 

Dana Rhodes [00:30:18]:

 

She's the first person that will always come and say, I'm so proud of you, Rhodes. And and I just I love those people in our lives that that do that for each other, and I aspire to do that for others. And I think what you're doing with this podcast is going to encourage more to be the Kristen Leclair of someone's lives. And I think just outside of that, it's it's just finding joy, you know? I the older I get, the more I do this, the more I have stressful days or stressful weeks. I just I feel like if you look for the joy, you're going to find it, and it's truly been such a transformative thought for me because, you know, I'll tell you, this week hasn't been a great week. And one of my one of my best friends was like, hey, hey, girl. How are you doing? And I said, you know what? I'm doing pretty well because I focus on the things that do bring me joy, that are lifting me up instead of the things that are bringing me down. And the 2 of you have been a part of that, Joyce.

 

 

 

Dana Rhodes [00:31:18]:

 

Thank you for having me and for this conversation because I think more people need to be doing this right here, and I love that you're doing this for our industry.

 

 

 

Leah Alter [00:31:28]:

 

Wow. Thank you. I mean and well and I think there's a tie between the career advice of, you know, things are gonna work out and the ability to see the joy. Right? Like, that

 

 

 

Joanna Ehresman [00:31:40]:

 

Yeah.

 

 

 

Leah Alter [00:31:41]:

 

I can see how those those two perspectives interplay so well. Love that. Love that. This has been just fantastic. Such a pleasure to get to know you since you and I are new newly acquainted through the show. So thank you for taking the time to, to be on. If people wanna connect with you, what is the best way for them to do so?

 

 

 

Dana Rhodes [00:32:02]:

 

Absolutely. So I'm on LinkedIn for anybody that wants to connect with me there, but also you can connect with my firm through exsella.com. You guys have thrown out our website, but, axtella.com is a great place to see what we're doing.

 

 

 

Joanna Ehresman [00:32:15]:

 

And, yes, 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/

 

 

 

Leah Alter [00:32:36]:

 

womenshare. And that is our show for today. If ours is a mission that you want to share in, subscribe to the show on your favorite podcast platform. With that, I'm Joanna Erisman.

 

 

 

Joanna Ehresman [00:32:47]:

 

And I'm Leah Alter, and we will catch you on the next episode of Women's Share.