The Playbook Podcast
2nd Shift Playbook aims to create a community for professional women who are all focused on addressing inequality and creating a community for them to thrive in their professional environments.
It’s not just women’s empowerment. We are focused on women who are in high stress, high performance roles and working to navigate work-life balance.
The Playbook Podcast
Michelle Gethers on Charting the Course of Economic Equity and Cultivating Empathy
Imagine striking the perfect chord between a high-flying career and a fulfilling home life. This episode promises just that as we host Michelle Gethers, Visa's Chief Diversity Officer, whose insights on diversity, social responsibility, and environmental sustainability are as rich as her experience. Join us, your hosts passionate about health equity and climate change, as we candidly discuss the daily dance of professional women, particularly those of color, who gracefully manage the symphony of life's demands.
Embark on a journey of financial empowerment as we unpack the implications of the American consumer sentiment surge and tackle the Biden-Harris administration's proposed rules to slash overdraft fees. Listen as we champion economic equity, stress the necessity of equitable wages, and delve into the transformative power of financial literacy. We're here to arm you with strategies for money management and wealth building that are crucial for women to thrive in today's economic landscape.
As we navigate personal milestones and professional growth, we offer up pearls of wisdom for women approaching the significant marker of 60. We discuss embracing the evolution of interests, conquering imposter syndrome, and the art of self-care in a demanding world. Take away tips for young entrepreneurs on nurturing empathy and being present. By the end of our time together, we hope you're inspired, informed, and ready to join us in upcoming workshops that promise growth and empowerment.
Welcome to Second Shift Playbook, the essential podcast for women navigating the dual demands of professional careers and home responsibilities.
Speaker 2:This show is dedicated to the millions of women who've had to make the tough choice between their careers and caring for their families, and to those who strive daily to balance both In a world where women, especially women of color, in high stress fields like the medical sector and academia, face the daunting challenge of the Second Shift at home.
Speaker 1:we're here to offer support, guidance and empowerment.
Speaker 2:Our mission is to shine a light on the stories of resilience and determination, to discuss the policies and changes needed to support women fully and to explore how we can all contribute to a more equitable society. Each episode features conversations with trailblazing women like Tia Williams, the bestselling author and beauty editor at Tom Ford.
Speaker 1:Lily Pantisarpe, an innovative account executive at Disney, pamela Price, a dedicated deputy director of Balm Gilead Incorporated, and Michelle Geathers, the visionary chief diversity officer and head of corporate responsibility at Visa.
Speaker 2:These remarkable women share their journeys, the obstacles they've overcome and their strategies for managing the complex interplay of work and home life Second Shift Playbook isn't just a podcast, it's a movement towards creating a world where women don't have to choose between their careers and their families.
Speaker 1:As a retired anesthesiologist who has dedicated my career to serving the people of North Carolina through health equity and policy change, I am now committed to advocating for women's empowerment and policies that uplift us all as a PhD in sociology, public health researcher and entrepreneur, I have a deep understanding of stigma and discrimination, emotional intelligence, social psychology and stress management.
Speaker 2:I've dedicated my career to advocating for marginalized communities to access resources and am now committed to advocating for women to become financially independent and fully empowered to navigate life's challenges. Join us as we delve into the realities, the struggles and the victories of working women everywhere. Together, we can redefine what it means to work and live in harmony, supporting one another through the challenges of the Second Shift. Welcome to Second Shift Playbook. Welcome to another episode of Second Shift Playbook. I am Dr Alison Matthews and I'm here with my friend and business partner, dr Charlene Green. Just a little bit of background on myself if this is the first time y'all are joining us. I'm passionate about health equity. I'm a sociologist and really care about how we can make this world a better place, especially for women and professional women, charlene.
Speaker 1:Yes, I want to echo what Alison mentioned. I am an anesthesiologist, but I enjoy the health equity work in our state and our country and I want to make the world a better place as well. One of my focuses is climate change and making policies that can have a better decade for us.
Speaker 2:Thank you, yes, so today we are just so excited to be joining with us Michelle Geathers. She is someone who is a friend of Charlene, so I'm going to let Charlene do the introduction, but I just wanted to give y'all an overview of the format of our podcast. So we'll start. We always like to start by talking about what's happening in the news, and then we jump into just an open conversation with our guests.
Speaker 1:Awesome. Well, I first want to introduce Michelle Geathers, who is the Chief Diversity Officer and Head of Corporate Responsibility for Visa. She leads the company's global strategy for growth and inclusive and diverse talent, social impact and environmental sustainability. Prior to joining Visa, michelle served as the President and CEO at the United Way of Greater Greensboro, where she and her team focus on partnerships to end poverty. She led business transformation and fundraising by galvanizing community leaders in businesses and not-for-profits.
Speaker 1:Michelle has done some amazing things, one of which is that she spent 21 years at American Express, including Senior Vice President and General Manager of Card Operations. She also has experience as an entrepreneur with a consulting firm, as a public I'm sorry, certified public accountant and as an author. She's had global leadership responsibility in the United States, canada, philippines and India. And she I can talk so much about Michelle, but her most accomplished things in her life is that she is mom of two children, gregory and Sophia. I know have known Michelle for many, many years. Our kids went to daycare together and Michelle is a woman of integrity, brilliance and just exceptionalism. Michelle gathers yes.
Speaker 3:Thank you very, very, very much, Charlene. I really appreciate that introduction.
Speaker 1:Awesome. We now going to go and I'll let Alice and Michelle gathers talk about some of the things I'm going to mention with the news of the day. So there were two articles that were two topics that have come up in this week, one of which was today, from the Wall Street Journal. Talking about Americans is suddenly upbeat, about economy sediment jet log its biggest jump in decades and the other newsworthy thing is about the Biden and Harris administration proposing rules to curtail overdraft fees and hopefully save an Americans $3.5 billion every year. Just wondering what you guys think about that is more to come with all that information and just what you guys think about what's going on in the world, about all the people that we serve in our communities. I'll let you go first, michelle.
Speaker 3:Wow.
Speaker 3:So the reality is, when consumers feel good, that is a great thing for businesses and families and the government right, so it is a great thing, and that consumer sentiment has segmentation in it, and so we know that we still live in a country where there are millions of people living in generational poverty, and so how we experience consumer optimism potentially looks a little bit different depending on what segment of economic mobility you are in.
Speaker 3:And so I'm excited about the positive trajectory of consumer sentiment, and I ask all of us to think about who is excluded and that there be economic equity that we continue to strive for in our great nation and world. And as we think about that striving for that, it is to make sure that basic needs can be met by those who remain unhoused, as we think about people being able to afford childcare, no matter where you are in the social spectrum, that we address the food deserts that exist for some, that we open up access to wellness and well-care, and that we just make sure that there is equity as people enter the economy, and I think it's something we all play a part in. In the medical sector, you know the clients that you can and cannot see, for a host of different reasons, some of them socioeconomic. And how is it that we make sure that there is more equity as we think about all of our well-being and our shared humanity? So again excited about consumer sentiment Awesome.
Speaker 1:Allison.
Speaker 2:It makes me, you know, when I read articles like that, what you just said really resonates with me, because, as a sociologist, I try to think critically about why they put out an article saying that consumer sentiment is very positive. For the exact reason that you're saying that. Because you know I'm a millennial and I'm on social media and I see a lot of people talking about, you know, concerns about being able to afford a house that you know the interest rates are high, there is difficulty with finding a job and or a career where they're not in a toxic work environment and, you know, constantly trying to navigate a world where they can't afford the life that their parents were able to afford. Right, the cost of college has gone up and people are in student loan debt and so it's interesting for them to put out an article saying, oh, consumer, you know, sentiment is positive or it's improving. Because it makes me question who they surveyed, right?
Speaker 1:Absolutely, and I was just gonna mention one of the things that Michelle talked about was, well, I'm not childcare. So low income families that are, some of which you know very smart people that have gone to college they're not able to get high paying jobs at this time as well, so half of their salary goes to childcare. Childcare is very expensive. So if you're trying to pay your bills, either if you're owning a home or an apartment, and 50% of your income goes to childcare and housing, how are you able to build wealth for future generations and also pay the other bills Food? You know ACES, which is a program that I send my daughter to after school. That's expensive it went up to like $80 a week to send my child to ACES after school if you're a working parent and you don't get off to like five o'clock.
Speaker 1:So I totally agree with what you all are saying. We have to make sure that we're getting, you know, equitable work, wages that are sustainable for living, you know, a great life, and not just poor life, but a thriving, thriving life. We need to work on those things. So, yes, thank you. I'm glad we asked that talked about these two articles.
Speaker 2:Yes, so what, michelle? What you know, you work in the financial sector, what, I guess? Do you have any advice or thoughts on what professional women could do to actually show up and actually have experience, more positive outcome for our financial wellbeing?
Speaker 3:Yeah, one of our realities is we don't understand money, and we should never be ashamed of not understanding money. And when I say that I don't mean you don't understand that that's a $20 bill. I mean you don't understand how to optimize the use of the money that comes in and making sure that it is optimized in a way that allows for generational wealth building. And there's a difference between saving and investing, and sometimes we shy away from this idea of investing because I'm not that sophisticated and the worst one I hear is I don't have enough money to invest.
Speaker 3:Yeah, if you have enough money for disposable income after you have your emergency stash and you're trading off luxury consumable goods versus shoring up a 529 account for college education which allows tax-free withdrawals. If you do not have a Roth IRA, if you are not giving in your 401K at least to the level of the math and start using it early. If you don't have a life insurance policy, if you are not engaged in renters insurance and some of the really basic things, you've got to get that stuff in order. And then you've got to start understanding how to make your money grow over time Not your emergency fund, but your ability to grow. So what I would say is we, as women, spending time with each other to understand money and I'm not excluding men but let's understand how money actually works and how the economy actually works, so that the truth of the Wall Street Journal's article and the people that they survey becomes everyone's truth Awesome.
Speaker 1:And I just wanted to add that many of the people that are working hard every day and are going to help participate in a playbook. They may not have stocks and they may not be in the stock market. They're living paycheck to paycheck. Not because they're not brilliant is because the system sometimes doesn't work for them, and so we need to figure out how we can help them, and that's exactly why we feel passionate about the Second Ship Playbook of giving tools, blogs, information and content so that people can understand evidence-based facts, either financial, medical and other areas, that can help them in their lives and they can make the best decisions for themselves. Awesome, and I would also like to interject that.
Speaker 3:You use the word stock market, and I want to appeal to the public and I want to appeal to the audience. That is not the only way to actually invest and build wealth. It is the most commonly talked about, but most people, many people, make money outside of the stock market. So if that's not your cup of tea, there are other ways to build wealth, and so the diversity of our portfolio is equally as important.
Speaker 2:The best thing I could have ever done was to start a meeting with the financial advisor and also having conversations with my girlfriends about money. We're very transparent about. You know. I talk to them about negotiating salaries and how much money are we investing in real estate, how much are we saving, how much are we putting in crypto? So we have all of those conversations. We talk about estate planning.
Speaker 2:I've started having a lot of conversations with my parents about estate planning and making sure that what they are savvy themselves they already have updated their will and things like that but also me, like, I need to think about my will. You know we have a company together. I have another company, you know. So, like, I think it's really important for women to have those conversations with each other and you know, a lot of times I think women depend on the man in their life to handle the money, or they want to be in a relationship where the man handles all the money and I just don't. Necessarily. That's not my approach. It's not saying that it's a bad thing for them to do that, but I think even in that circumstance, it's important for you to be knowledgeable about the decisions that are being made and that have an impact on you and your financial well-being.
Speaker 1:Awesome. I was going to ask this another question to kind of parlays on that one. Michelle, could you talk a little bit about what Visa offers communities, particularly women entrepreneur populations, what content, tools and mentors that may help them thrive in this economic environment?
Speaker 3:Yeah, so I won't necessarily talk about what Visa has to offer. I'm going to talk about what's readily available to society and to people, and so let's start with basic education. There are tick-tockers now who talk about financial education. There are online tools. There are credit unions who will happily talk to you about saving and the kinds of banking relationships. One of the things that we're hopeful for is that public school education includes a class on financial literacy before you graduate, so that we can start teaching young. We have community groups that are doing education, and you have corporations like ours who are out providing free education through web-based learning. We've gamified financial literacy around the world, and so to the audience. I am asking people to dig for the information.
Speaker 2:Are there any that you find irreplaceable?
Speaker 3:So I probably should have come with a list, but what we'll do is, as a follow-up, if you could post some items. But we have something where you can go onto the internet and it's called practical money skills and practical business skills and it's internet based and people can go online and go to that place. So if you've got a small business and you want some helpful hints, or if you are just an individual and want some helpful hints, you can go to the United Way. If you go on their various websites and look for financial education, you will find something there. So there are a number of places to look.
Speaker 2:Awesome.
Speaker 1:We look forward to getting that information. Absolutely yes, Alison.
Speaker 2:I was thinking, I guess the reason why I asked you if there were any credible resources, because, yes, tiktok has a lot of people who give financial information, but I also kind of take some of their stuff with a grain of salt. You have to.
Speaker 3:And that's why you've got to be discerning, because you are right, alison. Right, because all information is not created the same, and that's why it's so important to seek out just some basic understanding from trusted resources, trusted contacts. I think you used a great example that you and your girlfriends sit and talk to each other, but you don't take that and go invest a million dollars, because instead you take it in in the context of everything else you know. So it's really about getting that baseline of information, and there are a lot of places to go and get the baseline, but, most of all, experience is an extraordinary teacher.
Speaker 1:I just was going to make a comment that early on in my life, you know I write in residency, you know I got a financial planner and I think when this is just speaking for myself and for medical residents and you know doctors when they first starting, you know we're in the hospital all the time. We don't even have time to go eat most of the time. So I was they've 80% of my salary for a long period of time, not because of anything spectacular, it's because you were working all the time and you didn't have time to go out and spend your money. So that was very helpful, to have a financial advisor help with that. But more importantly, I think just getting that help and that mentorship and having people talk to you at an early age about you know how to be frugal, how to think through the next 50 years of your life, is very, very important. I wanted to ask, michelle you know how do you balance your professional life and you know and work, balance and stay healthy.
Speaker 3:Wow. So a couple of things I want to share with you. I don't believe in the word balance, about choice, and I think it's about the choices we make at any point in time in our life. And so here I am now as a woman who is nearing, you know, the end of her career. You know I'm 60. And so it's important for me to think about how I want to enter the next chapter, and I'm an empty nester my children one in college, a junior in college and the other a graduate. So really, for me, now is going to be about how do I and how do I envision what is next for me and what I would say to anybody 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s? What worked a decade ago is no longer potentially your interest, and so I think it's really important that we allow ourselves to evolve and make good decisions based upon the information we have at that time and not to worry so much about this future state or this past state.
Speaker 3:So for me right now, it's about I live in Atlanta. I walk eight minutes to work every day. I travel a lot. You know how do I make sure I'm there for my family? How do I make sure that I'm living a healthy, vibrant life. What is my friend circle? What's my family circle, which is really very different than how I was thinking 20 years ago. Look, I was trying to get those road rats to daycare and you know, doing SAT work 10 years ago and now all of that is behind me. So I do think it is about the options that are available to us in seizing the moment.
Speaker 2:I love that I you know the. So what? What are some of the challenges that you face as a professional woman and what advice could you give to others who are kind of dealing with challenges as they go through their career?
Speaker 3:So the reality is, the challenge of imposter syndrome is real. The challenge of feeling guilty when you are not there for critical moments in your children's lives is real. The challenge of sometimes feeling alone, depending on what profession you go into and you don't see people who look like you, is real. The challenge of not enough time in a day is real. The challenge of trying to optimize for everybody around you and sometimes forgetting yourself and your own well-being and your own state of health is real, and so I faced all of those challenges and created a community that helped me to overcome those challenges, including the right physicians, including also having to talk to a psychologist when I was going through a divorce, including making sure that I tell my kids that if you ever feel like you need to talk to somebody, it's okay. There is no stigma. It is okay. It's actually probably normal to talk to someone about your deep feelings that deserve your time and attention.
Speaker 3:I travel a lot for business in my younger years as well as now, and so for me it was about how do I optimize all those things and how do I effectively say no. You can't do everything, and I didn't know how to tell people no. Oh, I'm an expert now and in fact I say no is a complete sentence, absolutely Awesome. That does not require qualification. So it's going to be about allowing people to live through what they are going through and not to minimize or compare or blow off. We are experiencing, and I'm not sure, what my millennial sisters are experiencing my Gen Z is coming up. I don't know, but I know how to be empathetic, I know how to love and I know how to be there for people by being a good listener, even when I don't know what to say. It's important just to be present, and I know how to do that, and so three things I would like to share as my superpower now that I'm hoping could be helpful to someone.
Speaker 3:So I have an executive coach and he took me through brain training so that I started to understand my triggers, what triggers me to a place that potentially causes a reaction and I'm not talking about extreme reactions or creates discomfort. I know my triggers, and so we talked about how you can compensate A how do you identify the trigger and become aware. And then B, how do you compensate for it. So I'm going to talk about my three compensation behaviors I must exercise at the beginning of the day. I must get in tune with my body and I must tell my body that blood flows freely and that exercise is a really good thing. I also must be spiritually grounded, so biblically or whatever people believe, and I also meditate. I use the calm app every morning.
Speaker 2:That's a good one.
Speaker 3:And then, third, I am very conscious what I put in my mouth and what I put in my body. So food and nutrition are medicine, and I don't live to eat. I eat the right things to live.
Speaker 2:I've had to learn all the more how important nutrition is. You know everything that you put into your body. I don't know if you saw that there's a news article saying that the rates of cancer are going up among younger people and everybody in there saying, oh, the doctors have baffled. The doctors are not baffled, they know what it is. It's the food we're eating and the environment and the stress and all of these, all of the things that you mentioned lack of exercise, sedentary lifestyle all of those things are contributing to the rise in cancer rates. So it's so important.
Speaker 1:And most of the foods that the young people are eating is really not food. It's processed food and it's ingredients that has been processed and you don't even know what it is. It's just really amazing. Like I can't even explain it, but you guys know what I'm talking about. That's fantastic, michelle. You've given us so many nuggets. You have a whole hour on leadership. You are the exceptional leader of all times, because I've had the opportunity to watch you in person with various aspects here in Greensboro and there is no other leader that's probably as gifted as you are. I wanted to expound on maybe something that you have been talking about. What advice would you give young entrepreneurs or women to learn or be like Michelle? How do we be? How can and when I say be like Michelle? Of course they cannot clone you, but integrity, hard work, ethics you have shared some things with me in the past and if you care to share them, that's fine. About when you're doing your job, you should do it with excellence and with dignity. So maybe things like that. Thank you.
Speaker 3:Yes, my mantra is people follow character, not titles, and the example that I often use is if you find a woman who is a mis-ABC cheating on Monday they cheated and they got caught. On Friday they deliver an outstanding solution to a problem. What do you recall about mis-ABC?
Speaker 2:That's your cheating.
Speaker 3:That they were a cheater. Our character is really, really important. I wrote a book called the Next Level, and it was about breakthrough performance anchored by faith, because I believe that performance and character are directly correlated, and I talk about attributes like integrity, consistency, honesty being present. There's just a few attributes, so I talk about 25 attributes, and I suggest that those attributes stand out and speak before you walk in a room, and when those attributes are flawed, sometimes your results are not appreciated as much. So what I would say is there have to be three.
Speaker 3:I often ask people in interviews and in general what three words would you use to describe yourself? And what three words with people who know you best or work for you? What would they say about you? And if your team was on vacation with their family and you were hiding behind the palm tree and they were talking about their boss to their family members, would you be proud of what they would say about you? And so we've got to live in this moment of shared humanity where we really take care of each other.
Speaker 3:I didn't say go to the movies with each other. I didn't say be buddy, buddy, buddy, because you've got to be careful of that too, but I do think that we need to be empathetic citizens of the universe. It's a borderless world now. Everybody knows that we need to be empathetic. Everybody knows everybody. There's a connection, and so how do we optimize our connections? And I don't mean LinkedIn, I mean real human connections. How do we optimize for that?
Speaker 3:And what are those characteristics that you want to be known for? And it's not what I want to know you for, it's what you want to be known for so that I can fully appreciate who you are. The three characteristics that I always want, to be true for me is that I am a woman of high integrity, that I am consistent. What you see is what you get. You're not going to run into a different Michelle, because there's only one. And the third, and certainly not the least, is I always want to be approachable.
Speaker 3:I used to say that if you throw out the garbage in my office or if you're the CEO, I have the same hello for you and I have the same time of day for you, whether you are undergraduate, not knowing what you want, or you're sitting here as two prominent doctors in the world have the same time of day for each one of those. So I just think we all have to have our defining moments and we've got to live by them and make sure that they're true and not true for everybody else, but true for me. So that's how I think about leadership and how we've got to spend time being a leader without a title and, most of all, when nobody's looking. Awesome, alison.
Speaker 2:So I want to wrap this up by thinking about what are some of the favorite books or podcasts that help you navigate your life as a working woman.
Speaker 1:Ooh.
Speaker 3:Ooh, that's a good one. So I'm going to be honest I love audio audibles all my friends.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, I love audibles.
Speaker 3:I go in there. You know atomic habits I was recently. You know what I mean. So I'm just so, when I hear something, I go immediately to audible, listen to. You know the small intro they have of it and I'm like, oh, I'm gonna like that and I get it. So for my long playing rides, et cetera, I have a list of audibles and I gotta tell you I do a lot of TED Talks. I like listening to TED Talks.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 3:So I listen to podcasts the people that I know who are doing podcasts but TED Talks because I can just flip through it and it can just when I'm walking to work I can knock out a TED Talk. I can knock out some things like that. So what I do is I set my filter to TED Talks on certain topics and those topics pop. So I would invite people to set your filters on TED Talks and I know you can do it on podcasts too and they'll just pop. So those are some of the things that I do in. Audibles are my friend.
Speaker 1:Awesome awesome.
Speaker 2:I love the idea of just listening to TED Talks because it's new innovative ideas that are in bite-sized bits of information and Humble Bragg. I've done two TED Talks, so I'm gonna send them to you.
Speaker 3:Thank you send them to me. Yeah, Send them to me. Send them to me and Humble Bragg. I've also done two TED Talks.
Speaker 2:Awesome, we're a good company.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, charlene, you wanna wrap us up.
Speaker 1:So I was just gonna say thank you so much, michelle, for coming on. You've given us so many wisdom nuggets, leadership nuggets. I knew that you would be able to just be amazing on this podcast, but, more so, give wisdom and inspiration to all those that are listening, because you're so brilliant and you're so powerful in your message, and I really thank you for joining us today, because I know there's so many other things you could be doing today with your busy schedule. I will let Allison give her wisdom and thank you as well, and then she will tell more about what we are working on and our Second Ship Playbook.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So just as a reminder to our listeners to like and subscribe and share, you can find us on Instagram, second Ship Playbook on LinkedIn, as well, as you can visit our website, wwwsecondshiftplaybookcom. We have some upcoming amazing workshops for you all to take advantage of. One of them will be on how to launch your side hustle. The second one is on how to write grants and write a successful grant, and then the third one is on how to create your own brand. We want to hear from you all on other topics that you would like to gain some more skillset and insights in, so please let us know, by emailing us or sending comments to us on our website to let us know of any additional content or people that you would like us to interview. So we welcome you to join us in our community and really hope that this helps to support you in your life in achieving that work-life balance.
Speaker 1:And if you're in the area of Greensboro or the Triad area, on February 3rd join us for our launch at the Greensboro Country Club, the Galing Common Vent.
Speaker 2:Gallant Times event. Gallant yes, the Gallant Times event, greensboro Country Club, february 3rd from 3 to 6 pm.
Speaker 3:Awesome, thank you you, you, you, you you.