amanda steinberg Archives - Emerging Women

Oh boy – we are talking money again, sisters! I can’t help it. Time and time again I am finding this topic to be the source of so much anxiety for women. Retirement, earning potential, glass ceilings, re-entering the workforce or leaving the J_O_B to become an entrepreneur. It all leads to the recurring bag-lady nightmare for me (am I the only one that has that?).

Regardless of our place in the journey, we seem to be in perpetual fear that there will never be enough, or that we will lose what we have, or worse, that we are fundamentally undeserving of anything above the bare minimum to survive.

In my case, my angst started when I left the snug comfort of my steady executive publishing job to start Emerging Women. I was traveling regularly to New York, LA, London, and Germany on an expense account. I had superfine outfits to support my super-groovy life. I bought a house in North Boulder (now known as NoBo – that should give you an idea) with my husband. I always had money for yoga, dance, and organic smoothies. I was set!

Then the goddess said “do your thing” and it all changed. I decided to leave the womb of a company I loved, an incredible mentor, and a decade of transformational personal and career growth to become an entrepreneur. What was I thinking?!?

Since then, I have wrung my hands, chewed my cheek, and even had to get a mouth guard to keep me from gnashing my teeth in the middle of the night. All from money anxiety. How was I going to support my family and this lifestyle to which I had become passionately accustomed?

I consider myself a successful woman. I make things happen, I am creative, a visionary, and I love helping women rise. And I rode on this energy for the first year of Emerging Women, taking personal and professional risks that were worth taking. As I followed the natural growth of EW, there seemed to be more and more pressure, more risk, and less cash. I found myself pushing and driving to manage the cash constraints to the point of exhaustion.

Luckily, I’ve found women I trust to help me take more ownership over my finances. They guide me and encourage me to really dig into old patterns while developing healthy, concrete habits to both grow my business and stay rooted in my personal finances.

Amanda Steinberg, founder of DailyWorth and WorthFM, is one of those women. If you haven’t yet, tune in to her Emerging Women podcast Worth It to hear how to get ready for the “perfect storm of opportunity” coming up around women and money.

Another woman I trust, Barbara Stanny, is my rock when it comes to moving my money mindset from survival to stability to affluence. If you’re looking for a similar shift, her Emerging Women podcast Sacred Success: A Woman’s Guide to Authentic Power and Affluence is a must-hear.

Nancy Levin has also been so important by reminding me that the real key to creating financial freedom isn’t changing what we do, it’s changing our limiting beliefs about how we feel—and that requires more than just learning how to invest. Here’s an Emerging Women Power Practice Boost Your Self Worth to Grow Your Net Worth to start uncovering and removing limiting shadow beliefs about worth.

But then one day I was talking to Tosha Silver, my go-to for all things surrender and divine, and she floated this concept that it’s NOT really my money. What the what? Whose is it?!

Tosha’s core message of working with the unknowable forces in the universe, co-creating your life in connection or in relationship to something greater than yourself, of letting go and trusting that the mystery will flow in a positive way for you if you truly offer yourself up to it, applies 100% to the realm of money as well. And that’s perhaps the most powerful, if not the most challenging, realm in which we can let the practice play out. Whoa.

Check out Tosha Silver’s long-awaited 8 part money course It’s Not “Your” Money: Fully Living From Divine Abundance. It starts on March 22nd, so nab your tickets now and let’s do the work together on releasing the blocks to receiving.

The first 3 women’s views help me check the boxes and dot the i’s, both externally and internally. And knowing that money ultimately does not belong to me allows me to surrender and not worry if I’m just a financial hot mess. All 4 of these women have shared wisdom that is freeing me from white-knuckle saving and a manic number crunching, allowing for a softer interplay of competence, worth, and trust.

What’s your money story right now? The more we talk about this “taboo” subject, the more opportunity we’ll give ourselves to, as Amanda Steinberg so beautifully puts it, grow stronger roots and freeing wings around our finances.

>As we increase our leadership reach in all areas of our society, it is essential for women to understand how we can harness financial resources to help us actualize our vision for change.

At Emerging Women Live, we will be uncovering ways for women to jump into the existing investment structures, as well as ways to use our collective emerging power to create new possibilities around global money distribution and management.

Meet the members of EWlive14’s panel discussion “Demystifying the Money,” concerning the rapidly changing trends of women investors and business leaders – women who are earning, raising and investing money to reflect deliberate action and greater influence in our world.

1. Adaora Udoji – Interim President of News Deeply

Adaora Udoji is currently Interim President of the award-winning startup News Deeply; specializing in single topic publishing while providing enabling technology to engage users on complex global issues. It’s her latest adventure in entrepreneurship after founding The Boshia Group, an international network of strategists, advisors, operational specialists, content developers and producers. The Group provides content and project management, as well as editorial and production frameworks serving clients such as startups, new media and tech companies; law and investment firms.

Adaora is also a lawyer and an award-winning storyteller who has worked across broadcast and digital media platforms: television, cable, radio, and the internet. Her roles have included corporate strategist, producer, on-air correspondent and anchor at Bloomberg, ABC News, CNN and public radio. The National Academy of Arts & Sciences recognized her reporting of the Afghanistan war. Essence Magazine named her one of the 25 most influential African-Americans.

In an interview with AlleyWatch, Adaora was asked, “If you could fix one thing in the startup ecosystem right now, what would it be?” She answered, “To see it flooded with women, women and more women – both as entrepreneurs and investors.”

“To see it flooded with women, women and more women – both as entrepreneurs and investors.”

2. Amanda Steinberg – Founder of Daily Worth

Amanda Steinberg is the founder of DailyWorth, the leading financial media company for women. Steinberg is a thoughtleader on the topic of women and money, working to advance women’s financial confidence and wealth.

Amanda is an engineer by training, a media executive by profession, and a serial optimist at heart. DailyWorth serves millions of women monthly via its daily newsletters and Website focused on money and career advice.

Amanda says, “The stories women tell themselves about money have perpetuated the idea of money being a source of stress for women … [We need to] see it as access to freedom and choices in our lives, not as a source of anxiety.”

“We need to see it as access to freedom and choices in our lives, not as a source of anxiety.”

3. Kesha Cash – Partner and Director of Investments at Impact America

Kesha Cash is a Partner and Director of Investments at Impact America, an early-stage equity fund that invests in high growth companies that aim to generate real financial returns while improving the well-being of underserved communities and creating quality jobs in America.

Impact America Fund is the evolution of Jalia Ventures, a three-year minority-focused impact investing initiative Kesha launched and executed with the support and collaboration of leading investors, accelerators, community organizations, university programs, and industry experts across the country.

Kesha’s passion for social responsibility is apparent in her vision for the future: “We identify as one human race and deeply consider the impact of our actions on other human beings, the environment and future generations.”

“We identify as one human race and deeply consider the impact of our actions on other human beings, the environment and future generations.”

4. Fran Hauser – Angel Investor and Partner at Rothenberg Ventures

Fran Hauser is an angel investor, digital media veteran and an advocate for women and kids. She is passionate about connecting people and inspiring change.

An active investor, Fran is a partner at Rothenberg Ventures. Before diving into the world of venture capital, Fran spent 15 years in the digital media space, holding President and General Manager positions at Time Inc., AOL and Moviefone. She played an integral role in the $400mm sale of Moviefone to AOL and in building PEOPLE.com into one of the most successful women’s websites.

Fran is a funder of the PBS documentary Half the Sky, Board Chair of GlobalGiving and an advisory board member of Helpusadopt.

Her advice as a mentor shows she knows the power of leveraging our feminine strengths. She says, “One of the best ways to get into a dream company is to develop relationships with the people who work there.”

“One of the best ways to get into a dream company is to develop relationships with the people who work there.”

5. Vicki Saunders – Founder of SheEO

Vicki is a serial entrepreneur, passionate mentor and advisor to the next generation of change makers and leading advocate for entrepreneurship as a way of creating positive transformation in the world.

Vicki is founder of SheEO, a program for women entrepreneurs that supports the next generation of women-led social ventures to lead from their strengths on their own terms.

Vicki is also co-founder of WhatsNext, a global network of leading entrepreneurial talent focused on solving major challenges for business, education, NGOs and governmental institutions.

We very much agree with Vicki when she says, “We’re moving towards a post-hero world where the greatest challenges will require multiple people collaborating to solve.”