Shades of Green

In early April, I hosted a series of events through Smith Barney called Shades of Green. In being green financial advisors, as mentioned before, we had the idea to bring together people across Santa Barbara, on the idea and work of all things green. First I had met Ellen, owner of the green home living store Living Green, a few months ago and knew that this was a good place to start. She was an honored woman in our community and had a new store opening soon also. Then, completely unrelated I met two wonderful women from the Community Environmental Council and the group of us began there. Through all of our business relationships in town and others interested in supporting a good cause, we had over 150 members in the community attend to hear from 8 panelists on everything from organic wine and food to investing, real estate, clothing, transportation, and community involvement.
We felt it was a huge success and hope to hold another series in the fall. If you are interested in being included in the next ones, please leave me a comment and let me know.



Thank you to all the hard work and great connections and planning that went into making this an event that brought out the voice of the locals to unite us on the hope of keeping this beautiful city forever green. In the meantime, take at least one simple step each week to make your life just one shade of green darker!

LA Biz Ladies Meetup

Grace from DesignSponge blog asked me to be apart of this great event. She brings together women in different cities for a one night share-all of ideas, creativity, and encouragement. This was the Los Angeles one..held at the Design Within Reach on Beverly Blvd and women came from all over the city to hear from four speakers: They were store owners, desginers, and famed bloggers themselves. I was also a speaker, thanks to Grace and my friend Raya (Paper Pony blog) for the opportunity.

I spoke to the women about finances, investing, and saving. It was the more left-brained session of the evening but seemed to strike a chord with most of them...whether personally or in business. The importance of having a savvy business sense, before diving into a new company or venture is crucial. One book that I recommended to all is called "On My Own Two Feet: A Modern Girls Guide to Personal Finance" by Manisha Thakor. Check it out on Amazon and be ready to take notes and change the way you view money :) I have included a few pictures from this event. As you can see, it was quite a turn out with almost 200 women in attendance!

If you see one of these come to a city near you, I suggest you run, not walk, to get involved with quality and creative women such as the ones I met that night. The inspiration was overwhelming and I hope that I can incorporate more of that into my uninspiring workplace in the business of personal wealth planning...!