Welcome to another Intangible Balance Sheet episode. This week Diana Lopez Andrade is our guest! Check out below for just some of the topics our conversation covers.
Please check out and subscribe to my Youtube Channel and Newsletter!
JOSH KLOOZ, CFP®, MBA
WEALTH ADVISOR
Phone 281.719.0036
Text 281.699.8691
Fax 281.719.0156
jklooz@carsonwealth.com
1780 Hughes Landing | Suite 570
The Woodlands, TX 77380
Music by bensound.com
Welcome to another Intangible Balance Sheet episode. This week Diana Lopez Andrade is our guest! Check out below for just some of the topics our conversation covers.
Please check out and subscribe to my Youtube Channel and Newsletter!
JOSH KLOOZ, CFP®, MBA
WEALTH ADVISOR
Phone 281.719.0036
Text 281.699.8691
Fax 281.719.0156
jklooz@carsonwealth.com
1780 Hughes Landing | Suite 570
The Woodlands, TX 77380
Music by bensound.com
Welcome in against another episode of Wisdom of Wealth. I'm Josh Clues and this is another of our Intangible Balance Sheet series. For our weekend edition of the podcast, diana Lopez has agreed to come on the podcast today and share a little bit more about her Intangible Balance Sheet. Diana, thank you so much for joining us and welcome to the podcast.
Diana:Thank you, Josh. Thank you very much for the invite.
Josh Klooz :Diana, for those listeners that may be new to the podcast, we like to say around here that true wealth is the thing money can't buy and death can't take away. In line with our theme of our Intangible Balance Sheet, I believe that everybody has an Intangible Balance Sheet that is comprised of their life story, their family's life story and the first principles by which they live their life, the things that make for a really meaningful and rich eulogy. But many of those things are trapped in stories that sometimes go untold, and so that's the genesis of this podcast. But before we dive in, Diana, could you introduce yourself just at a high level to our audience?
Diana:Yes, thank you, josh. Thank you very much. I'm Diana Lopez. I am originally from Colombia. I was born and raised in Bogota and moved to the United States in 1998. For the first time, I am currently living in Houston. This is my fourth round living in Houston.
Diana:I had the amazing opportunity to live in Africa, argentina and Aberdeen in Brazil, and work internationally for more than 30 years of my career. I'm a petroleum engineer. Two children I'm the oldest girl. My younger sister is 12 years younger. She lives in California. Two children I have three children. That are the most amazing gifts that I could ever have in my life. I live with my mother. I've been in the oil and gas for again for more than 30 years. I'm currently the vice president for HSE and service delivery for Baker Hughes. That's Diana Lumson-McRae. I'm also working as a corporate fellow teacher at the University of Houston. That's side passion. I also do triathlon. I fell in love with triathlon and fine, through sports, a way to balance and have another way of living and enjoying the world, traveling. I don't do it for competition. Normally when I ride my bike I do enjoy the landscape, the people that I meet. So I found a really good passion in triathlon.
Josh Klooz :Dan, I thank you so much for that introduction. I think you are the first triathlete that I've introduced. I've got questions, but we'll dive into that in another time. One of the things that we dive into is not just our guest background but the background of maybe their grandparents or their great-grandparents. Are there any stories in your family's history book that live with you and your memory that you wouldn't mind sharing with us today?
Diana:Yes, my grandparents and I was reflecting on this. I didn't get to meet all my grandparents. My mother's dad and mom died early, when she was about five years old. At the time she lived in a small town in Colombia. The fever and the flu, the influenza, were not well treated. They didn't have probably good access to professional medical services. She was an orphan from a very, very young age.
Diana:I don't have any memories. I only have the memories through her that are very dear to her, the memories she has somehow she has passed that to me of a very, very happy life in the farm, how she enjoyed living with the animals and how much food and happiness and parties they had. Her grandmother, my grandmother, was very, very close. She would never lose sight of her. She was always protecting her. She was always looking after her, giving her money on the side for her to save. They would take food to the market on weekends and she would give her food for her to reward for her health. Even though I didn't meet them, I have those little memories from my mom that are very dear to me. From my dad's side, I think the story that I can think about now is my great grandmother. She lived until she was almost 100 years old. She was the center of the family.
Diana:In the old days, people used to make a liquor beverage that was made of corn and they would put it in a big pot and bury it in the middle of the patio and I do really have the collection of ones in my grandmother gathering all the family, because she was the only one allowed to do this and it was a big tradition and it was a big event and for her food and family was number one. She could be eating all day, she could be enjoying, drinking and having all the family, but she was the only allowed to touch that pot in the middle of the patio. But the interesting story is that she was a very strong woman, always taking on everybody's life, and a week, probably three days, before she passed away, she said I'm tired. She was about to be a hundred years old and she said I'm just tired. And she stopped eating as well as she used to and she was in her room. She called all the children and she said I'm great children. And she said I think I'm ready and she was able to say, in her own terms, goodbye.
Diana:And I think for me it was amazing and I think I really also my grandmother that I did have the chance to share a lot of beautiful moments.
Diana:It was the strong women and I think I've been always surrounded by the strong woman my great grandmother, my grandmother, my own mother a strong woman that have their own struggles to life, to the circumstances, to financial situations, that they succeeded, that they've been working hard, they've been the pillar of their, of the family, always looking after everybody, and I think that for me is probably the most impactful side of my grandmother's and my father's. My mother, my father, is an amazing person. It's when you are young sometimes you don't understand. Most of the time as a teenager, you don't understand your parents. They're always wrong, they always do everything for the wrong reasons and everything is so unfair. So I went obviously through that time and my dad is a very strict parent, very protective from the children, and with the time I realized that I'm having a lot of conversations with him. I realized, and also as a mother, that when we are parents we don't have the manual, we don't have a manual that tells us you know, this is what is right and this is what is wrong.
Diana:We do the best we can do with the tools that we have, and he did the best he could do with the tool he had at the time. The way he was raised, my grandfather was also a very strict person. The circumstances around my father's life make him work from a very early age and look after himself. He was one of the oldest from 14 children, so he had to look for other people. He had to make sure that everybody was okay.
Diana:So today I have to be very grateful to my dad because he told me how to love art, how to love music, how to love painting, how to love sports, how to be persistent and I'm coming from a culture where there is still a lot of inequity in opportunities that women have and he always told me you can do whatever you want. You want to be an engineer, you're going to be an engineer, you're going to be the best engineer and I want you to be to study, I want you to go abroad and you're going to be proud of yourself. And when you are 15, you're like well, okay, dad, but that was true, and he still tells me to this day. I told you, I told you what you were going to be and you're happy and you went towards your dreams. So I'm very grateful for my dad from that side and my mother, very dedicated, hardworking, always thinking on saving and helping people, always, always.
Diana:You can meet somebody in the street and listen can you borrow five dollars? Because what do you want this for? Oh, I don't have enough to buy bread. That was two weeks ago, so don't worry, just take it. No, no, no, but seriously. No, no, no, you can do it, because she feels that we have a mission, we have a purpose, and it's just not only to come and leave, make money and save you know that. But to leave something in people, to leave a sign and a message that we can care for each other, and I think for me it's been the biggest legacy from my mother's side. It's that way of living something for other people in some way, not only the monetary way, but making sure that when you can help, you do it truly from your heart, because one day that person can do the same and replicate that.
Josh Klooz :Diana is such an interesting and impactful story on both sides of your family. The theme that I keep hearing is just those people that speak into your life and give kind of wind and air to your dreams, in a way, and another facet that we try to focus on is those mentors, whether it be in your school community or in your work community or throughout your career, that have influenced you. Do you have any stories that come to mind as far as mentors that either influenced you in the past and were instrumental in your development, or still are influential?
Diana:Yes, george, I think one of the biggest events in my life was moving, taking the leap of faith and moving to Africa in 2000. I was the only woman in the organization taking a big role as operations manager for a region, moving to a new country alone. I came with four pieces of luggage and thinking what's going to happen now? And it was very difficult at the beginning different languages, different countries, different cultures, plus, at that age I still have in my career the thought of I'm the only woman. I have to prove myself even harder that I can do it. I'm not going to fail, I'm not going to be sick, I'm going to meet my targets. And in the middle of that rush of going there, new life, trying to do everything better, I started getting a lot of frustration because I said a contract wouldn't go the way that I wanted, or we couldn't deliver something to the customer, or there were issues around logistics, around dealing with customers, dealing with suppliers.
Diana:And my manager at the time he's still a very close, dear friend of mine Is this American Indian, a background guy from Oklahoma, super deep voice, very gentle from the outside, since he's very rough, and he took me under his wing and I think he became one of my main mentors in my life because he helped me dive through my own struggles and learned that you can navigate as a young woman and succeed. And learn not to take things personal, learn to be more analytical, to think more five steps ahead of what is coming. I remember him telling me one day don't forget, start saving. I want to see how you're saving, you're retirement. You're start saving. You want to make sure you're going to be okay in the future and when I have my children. First advice is like open your college account right now. So, saving and navigating through politics I think those were some of the key things that I can remember from him.
Diana:And again, he's still a very close friend of mine and I have probably two other people in my life also people that I've worked with that I've been very close and I think I always navigate through my life trying to take the best out of the people that I meet and the people that I admire. Probably not through an official okay, you're going to be my mentor and I'm always going to go to you for advice, but I think I know this stage of my life. Who do I go to when I have a financial question? Who do I need to go to when I need some clarity about personal issues or work issues? Because of their experience or wisdom and the way they talk to me Not patronizing, but really as a true friend, seeing me as a woman that I'm trying to do better.
Josh Klooz :So you've hit on probably the next phase of the conversation as well with the move to Africa. Are there other pivotal events in your life that you look back on and you're thankful for because of how they shaped you or created who you are today?
Diana:Absolutely being a mother, no doubt about it. That changed my life forever and forever. I would be very grateful. I think it made me more humble, because when you start seeing some traits of your personality in your kids, you start Only the best traits come out right. I'm thinking I have a responsibility. I have a big responsibility to foster all the positive to help them develop their own personality and to manage those things that probably need some improvement Patience and risk and how you see risk. I think.
Diana:I used to be more risk taker that I am right now my age and everything. But I used to ride bikes and jump out of airplanes and now I think twice. But my children are probably my best way of educating myself. Every day I made decisions that probably delay my career advancement and I absolutely do not regret they teach you every day when you see them.
Diana:My oldest daughter is now 17. She wants to be a doctor and specialize in women health and she's been very, very clear about that for the last eight years. She's passionate about women and baby and sometimes she will pull me aside and say, mom, let's have a talk. And I think that's fascinating Because I can see her now more as a woman. Now that's my little girl. When my boy was born and I remember telling my friends that about the boy when I saw my little girl, my first girl, it was so emotional, we were so happy, dad and I were so happy to see her. It was amazing. But when I had my boy and I think mothers would relate to this it's like you feel butterflies in your stomach, those butterflies when you fall in love and you have that little boy in your hands. It's like falling in love again, but forever. So my children are the pivotal part of my life.
Josh Klooz :So I can't prove this, but I'm convinced that the Lord gives you the ability when you become a parent, like there's that second switch and then you see how everything in life could go wrong or end dangerously or end in someone being hurt and going to the hospital. You see it as if it's like in the future. You can look five seconds into the future of every decision and see how it could end poorly. But no matter what it is, I can see the risk in anything now, now that you're a parent. So it's hilarious that you mentioned that shift in being a risk taker to now looking at life from a different vantage point, because I think it's just innate in us to some degree.
Diana:Absolutely. You learned some abilities that you didn't know you had in your life. That five response, that adrenaline-.
Diana:Yeah, exactly Reflexes, right, I remember my daughter was probably a year and a half ago and we lived in South Africa and there was a rotavirus going around and she started having fever and throwing up and everything. And I remember seeing on the news what you have to do and it was like immediately I took samples of her stools and everything. I got packages sterilized, pocketed my card and went to the hospital immediately and the nurse said yeah, yeah, okay, well, we're going to have to do some tests. And I felt like no, no, no, here are the samples. I got everything. We've listened. Now I need to know she's okay, so that does mean running behind them all my life.
Josh Klooz :Now. So, diana, the next piece that I want you to think about is I want you to think three or four generations from now, your great great grandchildren's generation, in their community. What are the principles that have served you well, that you hope they will make their own after you're along gone? Are there any first principles that occur to you, or are you just like, hey, these are it Like? These three or four things are, I hope, what you take with you.
Diana:I think four generations from now is a long time. I mean, they will probably be laughing about my great, great great grandmother. She didn't have a phone.
Diana:You have a way to communicate, I think, the struggle of women. I think how I made my journey In a world where there was still a lot of disparity, in some extent discrimination in many careers. We women are still struggling. We dive in through different environments of disparity in opportunities, stigma and mental health. We women are still making our way on the world and I think one of the things that I would like my four generation to come to remember is she did it by herself. She made it through hard work, integrity, effort and a really commitment to study and to improve herself.
Diana:And the second part that I really and I talk to my children a lot about this is think about community, think about the people around you. Don't just go through it. You need to leave a mark and that mark has to be of compassion and help and recognition. Recognize people and say the good word at the right word in the right time, because what you say to somebody can leave a mark forever.
Diana:And being there for people with no second agenda, leaving a mark of support and help and recognizing success on others, the same way that other people have recognized your success, can make a big difference on other people's life. Give the opportunity to other people. When you can, give the hand to somebody when you can, because I think that's part of, for me, my mission. I came here only to have children and live and save money and die. But I think I am so grateful today that I have many people in my life that still call me and say I remember you for this. I remember what you did for me 20 years ago and I want to thank you and I don't feel proud just because I did it, because I think it was my duty and I'm super happy to fulfill that duty.
Josh Klooz :Diana, the last piece that we always dive into is your eulogy, and so, since you're going to live to 102, since you have a lineage of people that lived to 100 in your family, we've got a long ways to go. But have you given thought to your eulogy and what are some of the elements that you hope are part of your eulogy someday?
Diana:A woman and mother that love to dance, love dancing, that love music, that love their children, that care always for others. A woman that built her own career despite of all the obstacles that came in her life. A woman that always wanted to give love and compassion.
Josh Klooz :Diana, thank you so much for your time today. It's such an encouraging story and inspiring story. Is there anything that we didn't get a chance to cover that you'd still like to cover?
Diana:No, just thank you so much for the invite. I mean this has been a wonderful opportunity, but more than an opportunity to talk, it's been an opportunity for self-reflection. I get caught in the day-to-day of being a mother and running the family and working and traveling, but you don't have every day the opportunity to self-reflect on these topics. So thank you for this.
Josh Klooz :Thank you as well. Please know that we wish you and your family nothing but truth, beauty and goodness on the road ahead, and hopefully our paths will cross again soon. Thank you again for joining us today.
Diana:Thank you so much.