The BOLD and Brilliant Podcast with Tracie Root, w/Guest Sharda Ryan

🎧 Episode Summary:
What happens when a single mom in “hustle + survival mode” gets asked one simple question—“What would happen to your daughter if something happened to you?” In this episode, Tracie sits down with Sharda Ryan of Wealth Design Group to talk about how an “accidental” entry into finance became a purpose-driven career helping women create clarity, confidence, and real security with their money. Sharda shares the bold moves that reshaped her business (hello, niche + boundaries!), the lessons she learned starting her career right before the financial crisis, and why giving back through leadership and philanthropy is part of her personal mission.

✨ What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

• How Sharda’s financial career began unexpectedly—from Starbucks manager to financial advisor
• Why “sales is service” (and how to sell without the salesy energy)
• The bold decision to niche down and who she’s dedicated to serving today
• How Sharda stopped “working for free” and set clear expectations + minimums
• What a complimentary consultation looks like (and how she decides if someone is a fit)
• The difference between investing a lump sum and building a full financial plan
• How Sharda’s philanthropy + board leadership supports women and girls across the Central Coast
• Why financial literacy can be life-changing—especially for survivors of financial abuse

🛠️ Actionable Tips from Sharda Ryan

• Ask the “what if” question now: If something happened to you, would your family know the plan?
• Start with a conversation: A complimentary consult can help you get clear—without pressure.
• Know your goals before you pick strategies: Retirement? College? Home? A career pivot? Your plan should match your life.
• Choose advisors (and helpers) who serve your whole picture: Not just your investments—your life plan.
• Set boundaries around your time and expertise: Clarity about how you work builds trust and respect on both sides.

🎤 Memorable Quote:
“Sales is service—getting paid for providing the service.”

🔥 Bold Moment of the Episode:
Sharda’s double-bold decision in early 2022: commit fully to serving single professional women and mothers and stop doing unpaid work—by setting minimums, defining clear ways to work together, and letting “not a fit” be a complete sentence.

📱 Connect with Sharda Ryan

sharda@wealthdesigngroup.com

https://www.wealthdesigngroup.com/team/sharda-ryan

🚀 Join the Bold and Brilliant Podcast Community:
If this episode sparked something in you—especially that “okay… I need to handle my money differently” feeling—come hang with us inside The Gather Community. Connection, confidence, and BOLD action live here.

🌟 Rate & Review:
If you loved this conversation, please follow/subscribe, leave a 5-

Transcript

Speaker: 0:00

Today on the podcast we're gonna be with Sharda Ryan from Wealth Design Group. Sharda and I met several years ago in a women's networking group, and I've always been so impressed by her commitment to supporting women in business through her work and also through her philanthropy and her volunteering. Let's meet Sharda.

Tracie: 0:22

Hi, Sharda. I am so excited. Welcome to the Bold and Brilliant podcast. Thanks for being here.

Sharda: 0:28

Thanks for having me. I'm excited.

Tracie: 0:30

Yay. Okay, so for those of you who haven't met Sharda and don't know how we're connected, we actually are both on the board for Professional Women's Network of Monterey. So we've had a lot of time these last couple of years to get to know each other, to understand kind of work styles and. Strengths, right? Mm-hmm. Sharda and I actually have a lot of strengths in common as far as being organized and like understanding, looking at big pictures and things like that. So that's been really fun to have that connection. But clearly we're working in different, uh, what's the word in different kinds of work. Sharda is, and as you can see on her background, if you're watching on YouTube Wealth Design Group, so Sharda iss in the finance world, talking to people about their money and their money goals and how they can get there. So Sharda. I would love for us to kick this off by learning a little bit about why you got into what you do now. Like give us your kind of business origin story and let's let people understand why you do what you do.

Sharda: 1:39

Yeah. Great. Um, thanks for having me, Tracie. So, um, you know, I didn't co go to like Yale thinking or, or even go to Yale or Harvard or any of those colleges and say, oh, I'm gonna be in finance until I graduate, or anything like that. It was kind of an accidental. Um, origin story. So I was a, I was, I've been a single mother, um, for many years since my early twenties. And so I was always in, um, restaurant and retail management and I was, uh, manager at a Starbucks in Sacramento.

Tracie: 2:15

Mm-hmm.

Sharda: 2:16

And there was this gentleman that always came in and would talk to me, and I had the feeling that he was, um. Maybe trying to sell me something, right? Yeah. Trying to like, Hey, maybe I can help this person, uh, kind of vibe that I got from him. So I finally sat down with him and it turns out he was a financial advisor. And one of the, you know, first questions that he asked me was, do you have life insurance? And what would happen to your daughter if something happened to you? And I had just kind of been in, you know, survival mode, hustle mode, and I never really stopped to think, wow, what if something happened to me? You know, she just gonna have like my, you know, piddly little one times my salary, um, from Starbucks to take care of her. And where in writing did it say who I wanted to, um, take care of her if something were to happen to me? So he was my first mentor. He really got me thinking about, um, finances and how I could not only help myself, but how I can help people and other people and, um, you know, women in particular. And it just became, uh, a passion of mine to learn as much as I could about, uh, not just life insurance, but financial planning. And that was back in, um, about 2005. So I've been, um, licensed since 2007 for

Tracie: 3:43

about 20 years, then almost, almost

Sharda: 3:45

20 almost.

Tracie: 3:46

Did you find when, when you were first. Finding out about kind of this thought process and kind of woke up to the fact that, yeah, it's up to me to, to make a plan. Um, did you find other people that you were connected to, other coworkers and things like that, that you were like, not only for me and my daughter, but what about then? Like did you start to see all of the people that potentially needed that kind of help as well?

Sharda: 4:12

Yeah, absolutely. It's so funny, um, that you say that because I notice myself doing that, right? Like, I'll start talking to a business owner, or I'll start talking to someone and they'll say, oh, well I wanna be, I wanna own the business. Or, um, I. I need to save money for retirement, or they just start talking about different things and my mind just starts reeling like, oh, maybe, um, maybe it's almost like a problem solving, right? Like,

Tracie: 4:38

yeah,

Sharda: 4:39

you might need, um, this, or you, you know, you might need that. So actually some of my first coworkers, um, back at Starbucks have become my clients because, um, you know, we developed that trust, we had that relationship and they, uh, saw that I was growing and they wanted to. Provide the same for their families. Yeah.

Tracie: 4:59

Yeah. That's amazing. Well, and so in my mind, I'm, I'm imagining this story, right? You, you finally felt safe enough to ask the guy what his, what he was all about, and he shared it with you, and then, you know. It's, it's a, it's a fine line when you're starting a new business to figure out how to approach people. But you had already built these relationships with people who knew you and knew that you had your daughter. And like, you know, when we, when people get to see your journey, they get inspired and they feel safe enough to ask you about it, which is something that, you know, if you hadn't built those relationships before and it probably never would've happened. Yeah.

Sharda: 5:41

Yeah. It's a, it's a fine line, um, because basically what I do, it is sales. Yeah, but it's, but what is sales? Sales is service is getting paid for providing the service. Absolutely. So in the beginning I did kind of feel like, Ooh, am I, do I wanna be that salesy person? Do I wanna have that kind of like energy and vibe and no, I don't. I was able to like, grow into myself, um, and attract people who had. Common values, common energy. Um, so it, it, it was, you know, it's a little difficult with, as, with any job in the beginning, but, um, the more you do it, the better you become. Right,

Tracie: 6:24

right, right. Well, and since you have that sales service mentality, you know, you know that you're not doing it just to get a sale. And when you know that and you realize that, that's really what it takes. Right. The salesy stuff comes from people who are. Desperate to sell or don't care about the other person. They're just after the dollars, right? Mm-hmm. But when you're in that space of really wanting to serve that other person and give them the security that you now feel as a client yourself, then it's so much easier to, to lean into the sales as service part. So I love that you, that you use that phrase, because that's the phrase we always use and that I always use as well. Mm-hmm. Okay. So. Almost 20 years ago, 18 years ago, you became licensed and, but I know that you've had an evolution in your business as well. So talk to us about like what 2007 looked like and what maybe big decision, big, bold decision you made over the course of your business that defined what you do today.

Sharda: 7:27

So, uh, we all can go back to 2007, right? It was right before the global financial crisis. Oh, the

Tracie: 7:34

housing crisis? Yes.

Sharda: 7:35

Yeah. And things are times things were, that were getting, yeah, things were getting a little strange, but they didn't really, you know, explode until a year after I started. I started part-time just doing life insurance, like for my friends and family. And I was actually, at that point, I was a, um. I was management at Target and there was, I'll never forget, there's a guy I, I ran into him by accident and he got literally within an inches of my face and cussed me out at Target. Like in

Tracie: 8:07

your

Sharda: 8:07

job

Tracie: 8:08

at Target

Sharda: 8:08

while I working was like yelling

Tracie: 8:09

at you as in your job.

Sharda: 8:12

Yeah. And that's when I said, you know what? I'm not working here anymore. I'm not putting up with this type of client. I'm not putting up with this kind of person. Yeah. Anymore. So that night I went and started applying for different jobs because I had had my life license Right. Uh, at MetLife. So my first, you know, full-time job was, um, at MetLife. And then, um. I, I joined them and then just like a few months later was the global financial crisis. I remember just coming into work and people were just kept talking about the stock market, you know, just fell another 500 points or something like that. So it was a really strange time, but I was able to, you know, work through that and, um, what

Tracie: 8:57

an educational time to be new in that job, new-ish in the field, and have everything. Change. Mm-hmm. Right. From like drop out from under you basically. And, and figuring out what to do with that and who can you, like, who has good thoughts about it and can move forward and who is really gonna like, struggle with the new challenges and how to align yourself, like you said, with the people who have the same values as you as far as being in a growth mindset and all of those kinds of things. What an incredibly interesting opportunity.

Sharda: 9:32

Yeah. And it's, and it was a good learning, um, experience because I was able to, uh, learn how to have conversations with clients, right? Yeah. Because they're freaking out, they're cashing out their 4 0 1 ks, they're having a really difficult time. So it was such a good learning experience. So whenever there are. Like earlier this year when there was the tariff tantrum in the markets, I was able to really draw on those, on that experience and conversations and languages, uh, and language that I would have with, um, clients throughout the years so that when. Things do happen because they, they, it happens in the stock, it always happens. It goes up and down. Mm-hmm. Always. Yeah. It just depends on the severity. Right? Yeah. And, um, we have a saying that, uh, you know, history, it doesn't repeat, but it rhymes, so.

Tracie: 10:21

Mm. Oh, I love that.

Sharda: 10:23

Yeah. In the markets. So, um, yeah, it was, I, every, every day is a, is a learning experience to be able to help your clients. And those big events like the pandemic, um,

Tracie: 10:37

yeah.

Sharda: 10:37

You know, those just really enforce those even more, those things.

Tracie: 10:40

Yeah. Well, I love that. And you know, that's something that I always talk about as well, the idea that while our specific instances are not exactly the same, the, it's like we're, oh, you know, the, the phrase, like, we're all in the same boat, right? Mm-hmm. That we're all in our own boats actually, but the storm is the same storm. But depending on how big your boat is, it's gonna be different. Your experience is gonna be different, but we can have a common language around it. Um, the pandemic is a great example. You know, when I talk about losing my first husband, uh, who passed away, a lot of people can't, can't relate to their partner passing away when they were 40 or whatever, you know, youngish. But what they can relate to is not understanding, uh, or experiencing. It a future that wasn't what they imagined. Right, right. Which really is what that whittled itself down to is like I had this imagination of our life together and life didn't turn out that way. The pandemic is the same way. We had this vision of what that next year or two years, or five years was gonna look like, and it didn't turn out that way. And that's, it just keeps going the same way. There's always something that's gonna pop up in the middle of. Us moving forward that just makes things not turn out the way we thought it was going to, and how do we navigate that? Mm-hmm. And not only with expectations and emotions, but literally with our money and our situations and our lives. How do we navigate the details of getting through that next obstacle instead of letting it knock us down?

Sharda: 12:21

Right. Just keep testing our resiliency.

Tracie: 12:25

Yep. Absolutely. So you, so at some point in all of this, you said to yourself, well this is great, and I think that, so actually I'm not gonna put words in your mouth, I'm not gonna do that. I'm gonna ask you, I know that a big turning point for you was when you narrowed your niche of who you were primarily working with. So take us back to when that happened and what was the catalyst for that decision?

Sharda: 12:55

Yeah. Yeah, it, early in my career, you know, I, I worked at a couple big companies like MetLife and Waddell and Reed and Franklin Templeton, and they always just had their own culture. They always wanted you to focus on what they wanted you to focus on. Mm-hmm. Um, maybe their product or their mutual fund. And so of

Tracie: 13:16

course they did, because that's their company. Right,

Sharda: 13:18

exactly.

Tracie: 13:18

They're like, you're gonna sell our thing. First and then you can do more.

Sharda: 13:23

Do it. Yeah. Play if you wanna play in our sandbox and um, there was a lot of good old boy club. You know, energy there as well.

Tracie: 13:32

Yeah.

Sharda: 13:32

But, um, speaking of the pandemic, at the end of 2020, uh, I was at Franklin Templeton and they um, they laid off a bunch of people. They had bought a company, they merged with another mutual fund company. I can't even remember'cause there's so many mergers that happened. And, um, so I was one of the, um, people that they laid off. And so I, um, just reached out to my network. And someone that I knew long ago from MetLife, he said, Hey, you, you should go talk to Gary at Wealth Design Group. And so, um, Gary, he really, um, embraced me and embraced my, um, all of my skills and value and everything. And then we joined another gentleman. So there's three of us, uh, in our firm. And, um, and then also about, uh, during that time or about a few months after that time, there had been a lot of wildfires in the, in California. Mm-hmm. And so all of the smoke would sit in Sacramento for months. Mm-hmm. And it really was affecting my husband's health. And he had grown up in, uh, marina, which is right down the street from here. And so he's like, we have to move. And so I said, okay, I guess we're gonna move. So I went to Gary and I said, Hey, um, you know, we have to, we have to move to the central coast. And so I said, I'm giving you plenty of time. I can work remote, you know, we can still work together, work remote, or, uh, I might have to just find something else. And he said, um, he was like, no, let's, I want, I want this to work. Um, I want you to continue to, you know, learn, uh. About his business and, um, you know, to eventually become his succession. So I decided. That when I moved that, I'm like, okay, this is a fresh start. And I started, um, a coaching program with um, this lady who coaches financial advisor. She's amazing, Stephanie Bogan. And she said, you know, the best thing that you can do, the most efficient, uh, thing you can do as an advisor is to have a niche market. That way that you, you're the most effective in what you do and your clients are served the best, right? Yeah. So I said, you know what? I'm sorry guys, but I'm tired of dealing with jerks. I was like, I'm gonna start working with single professional women and mothers. And I'm also going to stop working for free. That was another thing that sometimes we do as advisors. We'll do a lot of service work, give a lot of advice. Mm-hmm. Do a lot of work and not really get paid for it in any way. So those were the two decisions that I made in, um, when we moved in early 2022. And, and

Tracie: 16:19

how did that, how did that go over with Gary?

Sharda: 16:23

Oh, Gary's fine. He, Gary loves it. Yeah. Gary's like all, all of the, um,'cause he has clients, you know, two from years back and, uh, any single women, he, he always gives, uh, you know, lets me take the lead on Great. Glen Glen, same way. He's had some divorcees, he's had some, um. You know when widows and things are like, are widows Yeah. And, uh, things like that. And they both just like, oh yeah, you need to talk to Sharda. So,

Tracie: 16:52

so kind of out of the three of you, you each kind of had your category of people that you would specialize in and like kind of cross handoff people as they came in.

Sharda: 17:07

Yeah.

Tracie: 17:07

Yeah, that's

Sharda: 17:08

great. And sometimes, and we share them too, so sometimes it's ours and sometimes it's yours, and it all works out really well. Mm-hmm. Because we all, uh, you know, respect each other's skills and passions. So

Tracie: 17:21

amazing.

Sharda: 17:22

That was the bold move that I made, and I'm so happy that I did it. And it's, um, so rewarding now because, uh, I can, there's only about, I think 25% of. Advisors are female. So I like to be able to be that resource for women.

Tracie: 17:39

Yeah, I love that. And because it's true. So as a woman, right, we know that most of the, most of the time, and especially as a women business owner, most of the time you go out networking and if you find people who are in finance now, it's a different, I think for me, just'cause I've cultivated a more female community mm-hmm. Across the board. Um, but in general, before that happened, before I found PWN, before I found Polka dot, you know, all of these different communities of women, I would go to networking and all the, almost all of the finance people were male. Were male. And if there was a woman in there in the business, I would say she was a lot more like you in that she was. On the feminine side, like she really had made that departure from the kind of bro culture that, you know, while you still work with men, and I'm sure they're fabulous, you're, the way that you serve a woman is, is by relating to her, not by, by still acting like one of the guys, right?

Sharda: 18:42

Mm-hmm. Exactly.

Tracie: 18:44

Yeah. Yeah. You. What was the other thing that you said? So not only niching down, oh, not working for free. So let's talk about that. Mm-hmm. Because yeah, a lot of advisors and a lot of people in business, honestly, myself included, I'll give free advice. I'll network, I'll tell people like give people ideas. I do free workshops. Like that still is definitely a thing. But I think you're talking about even more than that. Um, and so tell us like what really changed for you from the whole, I'm not working for free anymore. What were you doing and how do you build influence with people now when maybe some of that isn't happening?

Sharda: 19:23

So there would be times where I'd be introduced to someone, just a random, you know, prospect, we call them and they wanted help with, um, allocating their funds. They wanted advice on how to, how to, uh, yeah, how to allocate their funds, what to do, what to do with them. But at the same time, they would never. Actually move the funds to myself so that I could get paid. And so I would be constantly chasing these, like everyone, anyone, everyone, and anyone who fogged a mirror and had a dollar to, um, try to get them as clients and they would have, um, it, it, it wouldn't matter how much they had. So now I have, um, minimums as well. So you have to have this much money. This is how much it's gonna cost, and if we can't work together, then. Sorry, you know, maybe I can refer you. I'm not the person for

Tracie: 20:20

you.

Sharda: 20:20

Right. Maybe I can refer you to someone else. So it's just, it was a mind shift change where it, instead of being like hungry for every dollar, when I said, okay, I was only gonna do this and I was only gonna do it. And until I, and you know, as far as like. Until I got paid, because a lot of advisors do a lot of work and they never get, they don't get paid or it takes a long time for them to get paid. Then um, things just started to really click. Yeah. And people, uh, appreciate that too because they know exactly what you're all about. And if they, like you said, if they don't wanna work with you, then you know.

Tracie: 20:59

Then that's okay. Then they can move on. Next one to someone else that's a better fit. Yeah. And so can you, right. So tell us like what does that look like for someone? Who's coming in, like, uh, like a new client. So if someone new comes to you and they, they get referred to you and you need to find out about them, obviously and find out what their goals are and what they want to do and what they have and whether or not they're a fit, like what does that look like when an, when you're onboarding a new potential client, a new lead, and how do you find out whether or not there's someone that's for you?

Sharda: 21:31

Sure. So we usually would do, we'll do like, um, an a, an an initial, uh, complimentary consultation. Right? Okay. So it'll be about a half an hour. So I'll just ask them a bunch of different questions about themselves. Right. I let them talk a lot more than I talk. Mm-hmm. So, you know your age, your goals, your, um, family situation, job situation, income, children. Mm-hmm. Right. How much money that, how much money do you have? And then after they, after I gather all of that information, then I say, you know, I let them know, okay, these are the different ways that we can work together. I can, you said you had.$500,000, you don't know what to do with it. We can just manage your$500,000 or if you feel you need more of a comprehensive financial plan, then we can, um, you know, arrange a fee for that as well.

Tracie: 22:25

And so what does, like, what does that include when you say more comprehensive? So the idea of like, here's my 500, do thousand dollars that needs to be invested in some way that is in line with my risk level or whatever. Right. But if they need something more comprehensive, what does that mean?

Sharda: 22:41

So that would mean more of a in-depth financial plan. So we look at all of your expenses, okay? We look at, um, everything that you have that you're able to invest with, any money that potentially could come. And then what are your goals? Do you want to pay, you know, do you have children? Do you wanna, um, pay for their college or do you want them to have. Um, you know, maybe you'll pay for half of it, right? They can pay for the other half. Uh, do you wanna buy a house? When do you wanna retire? Or do you just maybe wanna retire from what you have now and maybe go into something else later at a different age? Um,

Tracie: 23:20

right.

Sharda: 23:21

So it would be more in depth as far as all your cashflow and all of your, um, balance sheet.

Tracie: 23:28

Got it. More of a life plan as opposed to a plan for this kind of chunk of money.

Sharda: 23:32

Right, right.

Tracie: 23:33

Yeah. Mm-hmm. I love that.

Sharda: 23:34

Taxes and estate planning and all of that good stuff. Yeah.

Tracie: 23:38

Okay. Do you find that, like for your client. Base these days. Do you have more people kind of in that life planning section? Like how, what are people looking at these days? What do you find most people are interested in?

Sharda: 23:53

Yeah, I do. I find, especially because the, of the clientele that I serve, which are women, women are much more of, uh, big picture.

Tracie: 24:02

Mm-hmm.

Sharda: 24:03

When it comes to their finances and investing. They also, um, tend to have not as much confidence. So they like the, um, when it, when it comes to money, just period. Mm-hmm. So they like the, um, you know, the in-depth planning.

Tracie: 24:20

Yeah. Do you, um, do you find that you spend a lot of time kind of, I would, IM, or I would imagine that you might spend time debunking myths or old thought. Old thinking like,'cause we are gonna hold onto all of that knowledge that we've gained in the last 50 years and a lot of that isn't really valid anymore. Mm-hmm. Or, um, or might not really apply to us as. Women, women at this kind of stage of our lives. Mm-hmm. Um, do you find that you spend a lot of time kind of Reed reeducating incorrect information?

Sharda: 25:00

I wouldn't, I would not say, I wouldn't say there's a, there, it doesn't, I don't spend that much time debunking myths. Okay. There are some, there's stuff that kind of floats around that I, um, run into every once in a while. Mostly it's just education. And then a lot of times as opposed

Tracie: 25:19

to correcting.

Sharda: 25:20

Yeah. Yeah. And a lot of time too, it's kind of like, okay, you're going a little too deep. Sharda. Like, I trust you. Let's just,

Tracie: 25:29

yeah. I

Sharda: 25:30

mean, sometimes

Tracie: 25:31

we just want the expert to go do her thing and, and

Sharda: 25:34

yeah,

Tracie: 25:34

we're gonna go now.

Sharda: 25:35

Yeah, I hear that a lot. Okay. I, I trust you, you know?

Tracie: 25:40

Well, and maybe that's part of like, that's when you build that influence and they trust you. You can be like, well, let me tell you about this. And they're just like, you know what? I don't wanna know all of that. Like, it's too much. Too much noise. I hired you, I'm gonna let you take it from here.

Sharda: 25:55

Yeah. And I've gotten, again, like I, I've gotten better throughout the years, um, that they don't want to know how the sausage is made. Right. Right. That they don't need to know what sharp ratio means. They just wanna know that you're paying attention to their money and it's gonna be there for what it's, they need it to be. Yeah.

Tracie: 26:13

Right. And, you know, you keep'em updated plus, minus flat. Let us know how everything is working and why, if it's working and why it's working, so you can capitalize on it and if it's not working, why it's not working, and how you can learn that for the future. Right.

Sharda: 26:27

Yeah, exactly.

Tracie: 26:28

I wanna talk about other things that you do because while you work with clients in this way, you also are really big into volunteering and supporting your community. Mm-hmm. So like I mentioned in the beginning, you and I met through PW n and a part of P W's mission is. Philanthropy to support women and girls in the, in California with the, the charitable fund that we build every year. And you also are a rotary gal and you also work for another group. And I don't remember what that is off the top of my head. So talk about like, that's three boards that you're on that you are, are. Spending your free time for free, valuable time to support. So talk about why you do that, what you get out of it, and why you think it's important.

Sharda: 27:18

Mm-hmm. I've always been, um, pretty philanthropic and liked to volunteer. Even when I was at Starbucks, you know, I dragged my daughter to go do the river cleanups and things like that. Oh

Tracie: 27:29

yeah. Great.

Sharda: 27:30

Um, and then just throughout the years I've become about the past, I'd say 10, 15 years becoming, um, more in the leadership positions, right? So like serving on boards. And, um, in addition to being the secretary of PPWN, I'm also the community service chair for, uh, the downtown Salinas Rotary Club.

Tracie: 27:55

Oh, yeah.

Sharda: 27:56

Yeah. And then I'm also on the, um, fund development committee and on the board of, um, girls Inc. Of the Central Coast,

Tracie: 28:05

which I love Girls Inc. That's great too. Awesome. And so did you, um, did you kind of have this kind of philanthropic work? Like as, like, do you see it as like a mission that you have personally or has, have you just kind of. Fallen into like, oh, I met these people and that was fun and no, now I really wanna, like was it a goal to be, to spend your time that way, or was it just, did it just happen?

Sharda: 28:32

No, it was very intentional because I think that as business owners, it's our. It's our duty to give back to the community that provides us with our livelihood. Right? And um, rotary very much has that service mentality and I really enjoy Rotary also because I've met. You know, some great friends and also, um, a lot of business leaders are in that community as well. Mm-hmm. So I learned so much about Salinas, especially when I was brand new, um, to the community so that I really, that's why I enjoy Rotary and it's, you know, very deep. Um. Very special to my heart. And then as far as Girls, Inc. They um, provide classes for girls from ages eight to 18 that teach them how to be, you know, smart, bold, and, um, they will teach classes in schools. So they'll be one about social media or one about health, one about leadership. They have a, um. Class where they teach, um, the, uh, girl and their parents about communication. Like if I had that communication class with my little girl, when, well, that was

Tracie: 29:49

gonna be my question, was like, how old was your daughter when you got involved with Girls Inc. Was she the beneficiary of any of their programs or was it after she was already.

Sharda: 29:58

No, I wish.'cause she is, she's older now. She's, you know, she's in her thirties. But I, I just thought, oh, if I had that or she had that when, uh, she was a girl, that would've been so amazing because I really do believe that girls need that extra help when it comes to, and that extra knowledge and that extra education. They have a financial. Um, they have a budgeting class that they do as well. What about, um, you know, girls' health? It's just all that extra stuff that girls need to become, you know, great women.

Tracie: 30:33

Yeah, I love that. I love that. That's a really big one for me, that, that I really see is that it's that confidence building because you're learning about these things that wow other people like you end up with this knowledge. As a young person that without that program you never would have learned. It's not something that's in your standard school. And other things can offer that too. Like scouting can do some of that. Like there's similarities I think in those ways. Obviously Girls Inc. Has their own methodology and the way that they go into the schools I think is really cool. Learned about them. Mm-hmm. Just in the last year myself, so very thanks to you. So very cool. Um. Yeah. Well, I love that. And you know, being involved with three different organizations in that way is a lot of time. Mm-hmm. And so I wanna acknowledge you for, you know, the, the. The volume of effort that you make in serving your community and helping these programs reach the people that they're trying to reach.'cause that really is a huge impact outside of you and your life and your household, right? You're making an impact out there in the world that is really important. And so I really admire you for that. That's really very cool.

Sharda: 31:49

Oh, well thank you.

Tracie: 31:50

Yeah.

Sharda: 31:50

And um. I'm also going to, this is a new, a newer thing that we're gonna be doing, but the Family Justice center, um, yeah. That's in its infancy here in Monterey County. Mm-hmm. Uh, I'm also going to start teaching once they get up and running literacy classes. Fantastic. For the women. So yeah, that will be like the victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, human trafficking, you know, we'll teach them everything about credit budgeting.

Tracie: 32:16

Yeah. For, so they don't end up, up in a bad situation or how to build out of their current situation, right?

Sharda: 32:22

Yeah. Uh, I think, I believe it's, uh, 90% of victims of domestic violence are victims of financial abuse because it's a way to control

Tracie: 32:31

Sure. If it's control thing, if, if they're working, if they're allowed to work. Right, right. Then they don't get to control the money that they make often. Right. Yeah. So yeah, I think that's fantastic. I mean, that's something that most of the finance women that I do get to meet, that's their big thing is to teach young women, girls, young women and, and older women too. But to, to break that historical situation of. You know, the, the whole thing that, you know, just a few years ago we couldn't even get credit cards on our own or sign a loan. Like all of those

Sharda: 33:10

right.

Tracie: 33:10

Rights things that are still young that mm-hmm. You know, there's a lot of change that still needs to be made. So thank you for doing that. I think that's really awesome as well. Anything I can do to help support that, please let me know.

Sharda: 33:25

Of course.

Tracie: 33:25

Yeah. Amazing. Well, my friend, okay, so. You know the opportunities for people to get you, you're in the community a lot, obviously. Mostly you're working with people. Um. That you've met personally, how far can you work with anyone in California? Do you, is it even only California? Like, what is your opportunity for working with people that might hear this episode and be like, that gal has the vibe that I'm looking for. I wanna meet her.

Sharda: 33:59

Yeah. I can work with anyone in the United States,

Tracie: 34:01

in the States. Okay, great. Mm-hmm. Awesome. And do you have, is that something like,'cause this, there's lots of differences across the country and you know, we're here in California, obviously our situation might be different than someone who's living in Missouri or something like that. So, I mean, obviously

Sharda: 34:19

different. Different rules. Different states have different rules as far as like community property and taxes and things like that. But, um, as an experienced advisor, you, you, you kind of get the feel for what you need to ask and what you need to look out for.

Tracie: 34:34

Great. Great.

Sharda: 34:35

Yeah.

Tracie: 34:35

Love that. Um, awesome. And I know that we'll put in the show notes, you know, how people can reach you and everything. Mm-hmm. So if you're listening to this and you are a woman business owner, mother. Single women, business owner, mother, right? Those are, that's kind of the, the definition, right?

Sharda: 34:53

Mm-hmm.

Tracie: 34:54

Um, then, you know, you're gonna wanna talk to Sharda and just figure out whether or not it's the right fit.'cause you know, I think there's also a lot of, um, concern or fear if you've never worked with a financial advisor before, right? What does that even feel like? And so with the, you know, with the complimentary consultation, it's just a conversation, so you might as well have it and then you know more. And when we know more, we can make changes and, and do things differently.

Sharda: 35:26

Mm-hmm.

Tracie: 35:27

Yeah. Do you have anything like wrap up wise that you'd like to, to share as we close out the episode?

Sharda: 35:34

Uh, no, I just wanna say thank you so much for having me and, um, I really, uh, I mean, I hope that my passion for helping women really comes through because I think, uh, money personally, money's. One of the most important things and, um, the more you have control and education around it, I think the better that you are, the better you can serve your family and, um, you know, your community and, and those around you. So

Tracie: 36:05

yeah. Great. I love it. Well, I know that you're super passionate about it and I hope that everyone else gets that from this as well. And I wanna thank you for being here on the Bold and Brilliant podcast. And we'll talk to you again super soon.

Sharda: 36:20

All right, thank you.

Tracie: 36:21

Thanks, Sharda. Thank you for listening to the Bold and Brilliant podcast. I'm your host, Tracie Root, and I wanna invite you to check out the show notes, find out where you can connect with our guests, find out more about what I and the Gather community have to offer you, and be sure to subscribe to this podcast on your favorite platform. Thanks so much.