The Fiftyfaces Podcast Aoifinn Devitt

Laura Sage is CEO at Chill Anywhere, and Co-Founder of the Lynn Sage Breast Cancer Foundation.  She has previously held a series of advisory and business development roles at different financial institutions including hedge funds. Our conversation starts with her financial career, and the grueling travel schedule that accompanied it.  She describes her pivot to wellness and what led her to think about a solution for employing a holistic approach to health and wellness in the workplace.That business was Chill Anywhere, which was initially conceived as an accessible meditation studio which would target busy professionals.  That was of course, derailed by Covid, and we speak about the pivot that Chill undertook then evolving into an online-based service, including an App, corporate programs and hybrid delivery solutions.  We hear about the evolution going on and the awakening of the importance of wellness to mental health in the workplace and beyond.Laura's other passion project is the Lynn Sage Breast Cancer Foundation and we speak about the work of that foundation and the awareness and education that that furthers.There is more information about Chill Anywhere here: https://www.chillanywhere.com/about and a taster video from that on our Fiftyfaces Hub here: https://www.fiftyfaceshub.com/chill-pause-for-your-mental-wellbeing/.This podcast is being released as a bonus to coincide with the month of February 2023 and our love and wellness series. It will also form part of Series 2 of the 2023 Fiftyfaces Podcast.

Sara Bonesteel is Chief Investment Officer- International Insurance at Prudential Financial, located in the NYC area.  She was previously a managing director in Bear Stearns and JP Morgan. She is an Independent Director of Standard & Poor’s Financial Services LLC and holds a number of other Board and Investment Committee Roles. Our conversation starts with Sara's upbringing in Michigan and then her high school and later college debate activities - this was a discipline in which she excelled, and she and her debate partner were the first female debate team at Georgetown.  We speak about the skills required in debate - which include meticulous preparation and performance training and how that prepared her for a professional career later.  We move then to her career in finance and how it started via a brief spell as a paralegal in a law firm which appeared "Dickensian" in its stuffiness, a spell which led to a shift to finance. Sara then layered business training onto her liberal arts background and we cycle through her career that has culminated, to date, in her CIO role at a major US insurer.  We discuss the issues on her mind today, the challenges and opportunities in investing across a checkered fixed income landscape and how ESG factors are slowly trickling in to the US marketplace albeit at a slower pace than elsewhere around the world.Among Sara's extensive other interests are her board roles and we ask the typical question as to what makes an effective Board Director or Chair, particularly on an Investment Committee.  We then explore her love of chamber music and playing the viola in particular and spend a little time considering the "middle voice" of this instrument.  The "middle voice" and its important in creating harmony, bridging differences and providing ballast is a good metaphor for the business world too.Finally we end with a discussion of Sara's personal reflections and people who inspire her, and one of them is her husband who founded and is deeply committed to charity that recycles and repurposes old computer equipment for sending into under-privileged homes. Laptop Upcycle can be found here - you may wish to check it out: Http://laptopupcycle.orgSeries 1 of 2023 is brought to you with the kind support of HarbourView Equity Partners, a global investment firm focused on opportunities in the entertainment and media space. Founded by Sherrese Clarke Soares, HarbourView is a long-term investor in content with an industrial platform built to protect, optimize, and enhance the legacy of premium IP. With a vision of becoming a true stakeholder in the global value of content, HarbourView believes creators deserve a seat at the table creatively and economically, owning their narrative and maximizing value for all. https://www.harbourviewequity.com/In celebration of our partnership with HarbourView Equity Partners we have selected a separate piece of music for each of the podcasts in this series.  We hope you enjoy them.

Jonathan Hollow is a writer and commentator on consumer education and protection.  His recent book, How to Fund the Life you Want, distills learning on financial education and evidence-based investing into a manual for pensions and investing.  He is a charity trustee and also doing a part time MA in Ancient History.  His former roles include leadership positions in the Money Advice Service and Money and Pensions Service. Our conversation starts with Jonathan's education, which included a spell in Russia during the 1990s, and his extensive experience with writing and the importance of a plain English approach.  We move then to what inspired him to pursue an MA in ancient history and some of the parallels that is is drawing between ancient Rome and its collapse and the scenarios playing out in geo-politics. We move then to the motivation for writing his latest book "How to Fund the Life you Want", and the gap in financial literacy that exists when it comes to savings, investments and pensions.  Some of this he attributes to a low level of engagement by individuals, in part because the area of pensions and investing is just not considered that interesting. He talks about the different sections of the book including the need to be mindful of Sharks and Charlatans as well as the importance of choosing a financial adviser that is evidence based. We also discuss the different experience of women as pensioners and investor and note the wealth gap that persists well into retirement. Jonathan's new book is a collaboration with Robin Powell, who writes the Evidence Based Investor Blog and is featured on the Fiftyfaces Podcast here: https://www.fiftyfaceshub.com/robin-powell-evidence-based-and-value-driven-myth-busting-across-the-investment-landscape/ There is more information about How to Fund the Life you Want here: https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/how-to-fund-the-life-you-want-9781399404600/

Dede Eyesan is Founder and CEO of Jenga Investment Partners, a firm that invests globally across growth, turnaround and cyclical equity opportunities. Our conversation starts with his home life and a particularly early introduction to investing.  This sowed the seeds for a passion for stocks, investing and research and what ultimately led him to launch his own investment firm - Jenga Investment Partners - at an unusually young age. Our conversation focuses then on his passion for stocks, and is quite sweeping in its scope.  We cover his concentrated style, the type of stocks that appeal to him, and his passion for writing up detailed pieces of research and sharing them - open source style - with his followers and investors. We move then to the thornier concept of ESG integration and what it means in practice. Dede has had a range of diverse mentors from many different parts of the life, some known to him and some that he admired from afar.  He shares their inspiring stories here in the spirit of sharing wisdom. This podcast also appears in our Nigerian Voices series and is rich in its discussion of the energy of Nigerian life and the impact of Dede's upbringing on his current perspective in life. Series 1 of 2023 is brought to you with the kind support of HarbourView Equity Partners, a global investment firm focused on opportunities in the entertainment and media space. Founded by Sherrese Clarke Soares, HarbourView is a long-term investor in content with an industrial platform built to protect, optimize, and enhance the legacy of premium IP. With a vision of becoming a true stakeholder in the global value of content, HarbourView believes creators deserve a seat at the table creatively and economically, owning their narrative and maximizing value for all. https://www.harbourviewequity.com/In celebration of our partnership with HarbourView Equity Partners we have selected a separate piece of music for each of the podcasts in this series.  We hope you enjoy them.

Stuart Heatley is Managing Director at Capita Pensions where he is a Business Transformation and Growth Leader.  He previously held a series of similar roles at AON and Scottish Life.  Based in Edinburgh, Stuart is passionate about creating access to the financial services industry for people of all backgrounds, and is a Mentor with MCR Pathways. Our conversation starts with Stuart's own unconventional path, where he turned his back on a typical university path and followed his passions for music (playing bass in a band) and sport before finding a role in an insurance company in Edinburgh.  He joined at "the bottom of the ladder" and spent his early days splitting paper and delivering it around the firm and then moved into a junior administrator role in pensions.  His career progressed from then to leadership roles, and the rest might be said to be history.  Stuart talks about the role that listening, talking to colleagues, stepping up for new opportunities to take responsibilities and other inter-personal skills played in his career progression. Stuart talks about the importance of being good at problem-solving vs. problem-finding and when discussing what is at the forefront of his mind now as he helps clients navigate the environment for pensions, he mentions the role of digitization as well as the problem of getting beneficiaries to engage. We turn then to talk about a topic that has been a driver for Stuart throughout his career, which is about offering opportunities in the workplace to "cv-less" talent, that has not come through the normal qualification channels. He notes that there is a talent pool that has been missed for a long time, and details initiatives he has put in place in his workplaces to address this over the years. He cites the importance of support and encouragement throughout one's career, especially in the early years and the role played by mentoring and coaching.Some of the highs of Stuart's career derived working with great teams, and we discuss the importance of this and how sometimes leaving a great team can be a low point, but is the normal progression of our work-lives. Series 1 of 2023 is brought to you with the kind support of HarbourView Equity Partners, a global investment firm focused on opportunities in the entertainment and media space. Founded by Sherrese Clarke Soares, HarbourView is a long-term investor in content with an industrial platform built to protect, optimize, and enhance the legacy of premium IP. With a vision of becoming a true stakeholder in the global value of content, HarbourView believes creators deserve a seat at the table creatively and economically, owning their narrative and maximizing value for all. https://www.harbourviewequity.com/In celebration of our partnership with HarbourView Equity Partners we have selected a separate piece of music for each of the podcasts in this series.  We hope you enjoy them.

Jessica Goedtel is a Financial Planner and Owner at Pavilion Financial Planning in Allentown Pennsylvania.  She works in particular for tech workers and sex workers and I came across her profile when she presented a robust challenge to a popular personal finance book highlighting its lack of female representation in its case studies. Our conversation starts with Jessica's roots in studying ancient history and archaeology and why she ultimately shied away from that career but still took lessons she took from there to her next act, which was in financial planning.  Attention to detail, patience, and a focus on the long haul were among the transferable lessons. We speak about her focus at Pavilion Financial Planning which is in serving a client base of tech workers and sex workers, and tends to include many women.  We talk about how being a woman in financial planning is important to serve a wide base of clients, and some of the issues that are at the forefront of her mind today. We move then to another aspect of financial planning which is the representation in media of women as protagonists in wealth management stories.  Jessica analyzes a popular personal finance book for case studies of women and how they are portrayed and finds it sadly skewed and lacking.We end with stories of lessons learned through being an entrepreneur and in working in an industry that is constantly evolving.  Series 1 of 2023 is brought to you with the kind support of HarbourView Equity Partners, a global investment firm focused on opportunities in the entertainment and media space. Founded by Sherrese Clarke Soares, HarbourView is a long-term investor in content with an industrial platform built to protect, optimize, and enhance the legacy of premium IP. With a vision of becoming a true stakeholder in the global value of content, HarbourView believes creators deserve a seat at the table creatively and economically, owning their narrative and maximizing value for all. https://www.harbourviewequity.com/In celebration of our partnership with HarbourView Equity Partners we have selected a separate piece of music for each of the podcasts in this series.  We hope you enjoy them