|
"A Girl Needs Cash" a Virtual® Interview with Joan Perry
I wrote a "A Girl Needs Cash", which starts with 6 women, naked, in a hottub talking about money in their lives, to engage women in the stories and understanding of the financial part of our lives. It goes from women’s issues to what to do. I also own a securities brokerage firm that seeks out the best strategies for us to grow our money (and not be "bag ladies" in the future). I personally worked on Wall Street for twenty years, and started the first female investment banking firm in the country that owned and distributed large blocks of municipal bonds. This is where I am different than other advisors -- I have personally taken large positions in the market. Take Charge Financial!, my company, has a mission to open the discussion of money for women (sex got better when we started taking about it) and educate. Without cash, and "financial legs", women have no power.
What kinds of traits / skills / characteristics will a person need to be successful in your industry / company?
What drives our company is that all of us here are committed to the mission of women standing up, speaking out and embracing the financial part of their lives. We all have intense stories of not knowing about important pieces of this and how our well-being suffered. As in my book, we benefit by each others experiences. We chose good, honest, caring, open people, always with a sense of humor.
|
|
|
Are there any emerging trends in your industry/company that will impact your hiring criteria?
My book is changing the shape of our company, as I continue with national radio, TV and other media appearances.
|
|
|
Tell us the path you took to where you are today! Has Higher Education been important in your career path? What educational advice would you give to viewers?
I have a BA, from Denison University and an MBA from Vanderbilt University at the Owens School. These degrees opened the door for me to work on Wall Street and helped with my confidence to go for my own destiny. They were the framework that other work and life experiences were added to. You see, I think that we are all born into this world with a big sack -- and from school to work to what life teaches you, we add tools, skills, talents, distinctions etc. into. Then one day, when I was 30, I dumped all that I had collected on the table, and said, what shall I make of this. With this raw material, that’s what lead me into the creative parts of my working life.
|
|
|
What inspires you? Why do you get up and go to work everyday?
I’m passionate. I have a mission that is much bigger than I am --and I can work a whole lifetime on. True happiness comes from dedicating yourself to something like this. Money doesn’t move me -- knowing that I can open new "files" in peoples brains does. And yet, because I am comitted to adding massive value (which is the important focus) then I end up being paid well. My work, my life, the way I work, the people I chose to be with all roll into one and I enjoy every minute of it. I’m very grateful for the opportunity that I have.
|
|
|
|
|
What influenced you to choose your career field, and how did you get started in your business? ?
When I was graduating from business school, the question alway ran through my mind: where does money come from, who has it, what do they do with it? This has been a life study. Particuarly when I realized that I could make a lot of money, but that unless I got a new take on life -- I could be a "bag lady".I learned that making money was very different than knowing what it do with it -- and I had been working on Wall Street for ten years by then!
|
|
|
What women have inspired you on your career path?
Good question. My peers, as women. There were very few women ahead of me in the business world. I graduated from Business School in the early classes that women entered, in the mid-70s. Women who come to mind are Anita Hill, Hilary Clinton, Kathleen Brown.
|
|
|
What challenges have you faced in business because you are a woman? Share your strategies for overcoming them?
The challenges definitely made me stronger, and often times made me mad enough to take action. I sued for sexual harrassment in the mid-80s (he later ran for Governor and called me up to ask if I would be careful of my comments to the media). I was paid less, and determined that I could make more money and have greater control over my life if I worked for myself. I paid my dues, and sought out the skills and life experiences that I wanted to do what I was planning to do, even though it was painful sometimes being in the clutches of Wall Street. I stomached the challenge of taking risk of being the one who was responsible, and learned that it could take me to new heights in my capabilities. I held on to the belief that I could be a full person and a full woman, in what ever I did, and learned that that gave my perspective a richness and depth. All along the way I had to learn, adjust, evaluate and trust that I had a destiny.
|
|
|
How do you maintain balance in your life? or, Do you?
Absolutely. I wouldn’t have anything less. The way we work suits me physically and what I believe in. My clients and the experiences of my book are a rich source of enjoyment for my life. My husband’s office is in the "Castle" above me, and although we’re often going in different directions, I like knowing he’s around. We live down the street from our office. And I always enjoy some fun whether it’s within a trip to see my publisher, or on the ski slopes or to the beach. I live a busy and full life, and because I’m consistant with myself, I have a lot of energy.
|
|
|
Tell us about your Corporate Diversity program. What is your company doing to educate employees on valuing diversity in the workplace?
We are committed to teaching women about money in their lives at all economic, social, and ethnic levels -- and we need people who can help us reach into lots of different walks of life.
|
|
|
How has your MBA degree affected your Career and Personal Development?
My MBA set me apart. I’ve needed it for the things that I’ve done. If you are aiming high, it could be another of those skills and tools that I was talking about putting in your "sack". However, I often speak at the MBA School at Vanderbilt, to young women, about the realities of the things that they’re taught or not taught in B-School.
|
|
|
Your Favorite Quote or Words of Wisdom:
My book opens with the following Sophie Tucker quote:"From birth to age eighteen, a girl needs good parents. From eighteen to thirty-five, she needs good looks;From thirty-five to fifty-five, she needs a good personality. And from fifty-five on, a girl needs cash.
|
|
|
Thank you Joan Perry for sharing your insights and experience!
|
|
|
|
