Money Tales Aspiriant

In this episode of Money Tales, our guest is Mirela Sula. At the age of 16, Mirela found herself in her home country of Albania, engaged to be married. Not because of a teenage romance or a whirlwind courtship, but because of something much darker – the risk of being sold into prostitution. Upon accepting the proposal, Mirela made her fiancé promise that he would allow her to continue her studies. If he didn’t, she vowed to disappear from his life. That promise was Mirela’s lifeline. She was married by the age of 18, trading her freedom for safety. Mirela lived with a large family in a small village, where there was no money to even discuss. Her role was clear – to wash, to clean, and to serve the family. At the same time, she continued to pursue her education, gaining knowledge, and with that, came confidence and exposure to the world outside. As Mirela progressed in her studies, she began to understand the importance of financial independence and worked aggressively toward it.

Mirela is a British journalist, author, and CEO and Founder of Global Woman Magazine and Global Woman Club. She is an internationally recognized leader in the fields of media, education, and women's empowerment. With a dynamic career spanning over two decades, Mirela has left a mark on the world by transformative initiatives and fostering a global community of over 30,000 female founders in her Global Woman platform.

Mirela is the owner of five magazines, author of 15 books, leader of 27 club chapters around the world and the organizer of more than 500 events. She has been speaking in more than 300 stages around the world and has reached over 1 million people with her message.

Mirela has been honored with awards such as the 'Inspirational Award for Women 2015' for Human Rights, the 'Best Inspirational Influencer' Award from The Best You in 2017, and the Universum Donna Award 2017 from the Universum Academy of Switzerland. “The Businesswoman of the Year Award” from Wealth Dragons in 2019. "The Icon 2023" Award among top celebrities in the UK, and recently she received the “Peace Award” from Universal Peace of Federation on the United Nations International Day of Peace.

Mirela is also the organizer of the Global Woman Summit and Global Woman Awards. She has appeared on London Live TV, BBC Radio 4 Woman’s Hour, Sky TV and has also been featured in the ‘Evening Standard’, Forbes Magazine and ‘The Guardian’. Her last self-help book ‘Don’t Let Your Mind Go’ was a best seller and also published in America and Turkey.

In this episode of Money Tales, our guest is Nina Israel. Earlier in her career, Nina found herself juggling two roles at a company, accounting and human resources. As she tells us, her salary seemed fair, until the company brought on a new hire to take on the HR function. Nina was astonished to discover that he was being paid twice Nina’s salary for doing half the job she had been doing. Nina became aware of the new hire’s salary because she was the person managing payroll. Nina confronted the CEO head-on. As a result, the company did a thorough analysis of everyone's salaries, uncovering disparities that had gone unchecked between longer tenured employees and newer hires. As a result of Nina’s bravery, fairness prevailed. The company rectified the pay inequities, and employees received the compensation they deserved. From that moment on, Nina vowed never to remain silent in the face of injustice.

Nina Israel is an advocate for financial wellness. She is a financial educator, business strategist, and money mentor. She is also a 25-year veteran of making your books make sense to you. She believes that finance should be easy and, more importantly, fun.

Fueled by a passion for wellness, a love of numbers, and an intense desire to help those around her succeed, Nina’s strength throughout her career has been empowering business owners to manage their cash flow better, improve efficiency, grow sales, and reduce costs.



As the founder of Taryn Financial, Nina is deeply dedicated to financial education and uses a holistic approach to help small business owners gain financial clarity, increase their financial knowledge, and develop new confidence in their numbers. Based on her work with hundreds of business owners, Nina created her innovative program, Strength in Numbers, to help her clients reduce anxiety, achieve financial wellness, and make sense of their money through laughter, learning and a proven financial system.

In this episode of Money Tales, our guest is Allison Kinnear. In 2007, Allison found herself in Silicon Valley, working at Google, the epicenter of innovation. She was part of a team providing early childhood education to families of Google employees. While Allison was surrounded by the creation of immense wealth, her pay wasn’t anywhere close to the tech professionals at the company. As those coworkers enjoyed high salaries and stock options, Allison couldn't help but question her own worth. She knew that her contribution to society, nurturing and educating young minds, was invaluable. At the same time, in the shadow of Silicon Valley's affluence, she couldn't shake the feeling of being undervalued. Reflecting on her position, Allison realized that her sense of entitlement was rooted in perspective. Relative to her own field Allison was at the top. She came to understand that comparison was a futile exercise – a "losing game," as she put it.

For over 20 years, Allison has worked with parents, employees, and leaders as they navigate their vulnerabilities in the workplace and in life. She loves working with those in the high-stakes professional world, helping them have less stress and more effectiveness in their work. Allison frequently gives talks on managing stress, overcoming Impostor Syndrome, and creating healthy team dynamics.

Allison has a Master’s in Human Development and is a certified life coach. She currently lives with her husband and two kids. To learn more, visit her at www.allisonkinnear.com.

In this episode of Money Tales, our guest is Laura Moreno Lucas. Laura arrived in the United States from Mexico when she was seven years old, unable to speak a word of English. With her parents tirelessly working to make ends meet and facing their own language barriers, Laura found an unexpected mentor in the form of a janitor at her elementary school. Day after day, this janitor stayed behind after school to help Laura navigate the complexities of her new language, instilling in her not only the ability to communicate but also the courage to ask questions – a skill that would shape her future in profound ways. Fast forward to her first job in the financial sector, where Laura found herself surrounded by the dizzying flow of money that defines Wall Street. She couldn't help but wonder: Where did all this money come from? How did fortunes change hands so effortlessly? Laura stuck with that curiosity as she advanced her career and ultimately headed to the venture capital world.

Laura is General Partner at L'ATTITUDE Ventures, leveraging her exceptional network and expertise to support the firm’s deal flow and outreach strategy. She is the Founder & CEO of Pandocap, which provides strategic advisory and media services that help early and growth-stage companies access capital markets, implement and measure ESG strategies and accelerate towards an initial public offering (IPO). Prior to Pandocap, Laura was a Managing Director at Nasdaq, leading the IPOs of Beyond Meat, Lyft, The RealReal, Airbnb, and other high-profile listings. Laura is also a successful Latina entrepreneur having found and exited Ladada, one of the first fashion subscription startups to feature emerging new designers. Laura is an advisor to 500 Startups, Fulcrum Ventures, and a board member at Pangea Legal and California Lutheran University.

In this episode of Money Tales, our guest is Rena DeLevie. As Rena looks back on the early days of her career, she regrets her harsh leadership style at the time, which she attributes to learning from those around her. To quote Rena, “I was an asshole. I learned from the best and I really threatened and intimidated. It did not feel good.” By the time she hit her mid-thirties, Rena was done. The asshole persona was a ruse that took too much energy to keep up. Rena realized that, at her core, she’s sensitive, empathetic, and intense. She couldn’t keep herself bottled up any longer. She needed to be herself. Making a move likely meant stepping away from the corporate ladder that was paying her handsomely. However, Rena knew in hear heart, at that moment, she needed authenticity more than money.

Rena is dedicated to using compassion and accountability to help humans increase their connection within, and with others, to radically change leadership culture and how we treat one another. In 2001, she had a post-9/11 epiphany and created Compassionate Management, a management methodology that connects compassion and accountability to help leaders deliver the bottom line with integrity.

Rena combines over 25 years with Fortune 500 companies and 22 years as a practitioner of mindfulness/meditation to show us the path to eliminate the fear-based culture so prevalent in corporate America. Her book, Compassionate Management, How Ambitious Creatives Become Kick-Ass Leaders, and her TEDxTalk, Compassionate Management -- using compassion as a business tool, have been used in businesses around the globe as a model to radically change leadership culture and how we treat one another.

In this episode of Money Tales, our guest is Jennifer Guynn. After years of career success as a real estate developer, Jen decided to step away to raise her three children. She describes this as a scary jump for her and her husband because she was making good money, and it would be an adjustment to live on one income. Fast forward to when their youngest child went off to Kindergarten, Jen was ready to head back to work. But she knew that whatever she decided to do next, it had to be worth it to take her away from the kids. She landed on taking a leap of faith by creating a non-profit with a friend, called Pebble Tossers. They were passionate about their mission to equip and empower youth to lead through service. So much so that they decided not to take salaries for a while. And, even when they eventually did, Jen’s priority was to put the money back into building her team and the business. Together they have evolved Pebble Tossers into a successful and award-winning organization.

As Co-founder and Executive Director of Pebble Tossers, Jen lives a life of servant leadership. She serves as a State Commissioner for Georgia Serves, the State Commission for Service and Volunteerism, and is Chair of the Service and Development Committee. Jen is a 21/64 Certified Philanthropic Advisor, a mentor at Cristo Rey Atlanta Jesuit High School, and has been named a Titan CEO as one of the 2023 and 2024 Georgia Titan 100 award winners. She is an Atlanta native, serves on various boards and committees throughout Atlanta, and is married with three adult children and three rescue dogs (and two rescue grand dogs and a grand bunny).