I made the decision to join Noah at The Clements Firm in conjunction with the decision we made as a family to move closer to Melissa, Antonella and Peter after the death of Noah’s brother Michael in February 2018. Noah had gone out on his own as a lawyer 7 years prior and I never dreamed I would work at a law firm. Nor had I ever considered working with Noah, we have very different work styles and it was just not something that I had ever considered as something I would be interested in doing. I was looking into working remotely.
However during March, April and May of 2018 after the death of his brother, Noah and I spoke daily about what was important to us and where our life was going. It became very evident that our family is very important to us, yet we were spending very little time together. We were able to have very frank conversations with multiple married couples who work together and the more we talked about it the more I opened up to the clarity of how Noah’s legal skills and my finance and management skills really complimented one another. We were being given an opportunity to strengthen our marriage by spending more time together as well as help others which is our primary goal. It became clear that as a team we were very approachable and willing to talk about death, our current situation and the process of estates and probate. Everywhere we went, we found ourselves engaged in conversations with families talking about hurt feelings, difficult relationships, endless paperwork and high costs ripping families apart due to the loss of a loved one. We kept hearing stories of families hurting each other at a time where coming together to offer support is what everyone wants. Working together to help families became a clear next step.
For the last three years I had been the Director of Finance and Administration for Girls on the Run of NOVA. This position was perfect for me, I was passionate about this program which focuses on esteem building for young girls, having already been a coach for 8 seasons as our girls participated in the program. Going back to work in the office setting was a big change for me and for our family but it gave all of us an opportunity to grow.
I started my career in finance on Wall Street, in New York City working on the listed equities trading desk at Goldman Sachs and then moving on to a budget analyst position there. I left Goldman after our daughter Wiley was born in 1999 to be a stay at home mom. We moved to North Carolina and I continued as a stay at home mom for the births of Eric and Elise while Noah worked as a programmer and then later went to law school and clerked for Judge Brister in Austin, TX.
When we moved to the DC area in 2006, all 3 of our children were in elementary school and I thought a government job would be the next step in my career. However, reentering the workforce was very difficult. I went on many first and second interviews but I could not break the barrier to re-enter an office setting 5-10 years older than the managers I would be reporting to. In talking with other mothers about this inequality I was led to a women owned business, BuzzWord, Inc. and was quickly hired as the Office Manager. I worked freelance for 8 years doing the bookkeeping and setting up systems and procedures for this growing virtual business. I also took on other clients building my financial consulting business.
As a Financial Coach I am able to bring my finance skills and ease of talking about money and budgets together with my management and coaching skills. The first step is identifying the financial strengths in my clients, as well as the areas of importance to them. Then we look at the weaknesses and where the holes are between what is important to them and their current situation. Once these are identified, we begin building skills around those weaknesses and filling the holes. By offering accountability and clear simple steps with easy wins, clients are able to feel confident about their financial goals.