Join Empower Hour host Carina Martin for an inspiring conversation with Amy Sherman, Vice President of Public Affairs at Junior Achievement Rocky Mountain, as she shares how innovative financial education is transforming young lives across Colorado and Wyoming.
Key moments:
- 0:00 Introduction & Amy's Journey
- 6:15 Understanding Junior Achievement's Mission
- 12:30 The Economic Literacy Colorado Merger
- 18:45 Making Financial Education Engaging
- 25:30 Dream Accelerator & Finance Park Programs
- 32:15 Legislative Efforts for Financial Education
- 38:40 Building Community Partnerships
- 45:20 Leadership Lessons & Personal Growth
- 52:30 Work-Life Balance & Avoiding Burnout
Learn about:
- How Junior Achievement is making financial education accessible and fun
- The successful merger of two educational nonprofits
- Innovative approaches to teaching financial literacy
- The importance of making financial education a graduation requirement
- Real success stories of students finding their path
- Practical advice for nonprofit leaders and working parents
Whether you're an educator, parent, nonprofit leader, or someone passionate about financial literacy, this episode offers valuable insights into creating lasting change through education.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:16):
Hey there, impact makers.
You know what keeps me up at night?
Thinking about how we can give every kid the tools they need to thrive in life.
And that's exactly why I'm beyond excited to chat with today's guest, Amy Sherman.
Amy's the powerhouse vice president of public affairs at Junior Achievement RockyMountain.
(00:37):
And trust me, she's shaking things up in the best possible way.
She...
just led an incredible merger that's changing the game for financial education in Coloradoand Wyoming.
But here's what I love most about Amy.
She gets that making real change isn't just about the numbers, it's about bringing peopletogether and making things happen.
(00:59):
Whether she's working with legislators, talking to donors, or mentoring the nextgeneration of nonprofit leaders, Amy brings her whole self to the table.
Welcome, Amy.
Thank you.
What a kind introduction.
I'm so excited to have you here.
You know, and I ran into I was just like, you know, would she say yes to me?
(01:20):
When you did, I was so thrilled.
Yeah, so really, you know, want to dive in a little bit about Junior Achievement for thosewho don't really understand what they do.
If you don't mind kind of sharing a little bit about that.
Absolutely.
So Junior Achievement is a global nonprofit and Junior Achievement USA is actuallyheadquartered in Colorado Springs right here in our beautiful state of Colorado.
(01:46):
And we are Junior Achievement Rocky Mountain.
We're one of 99 regions in the country of Junior Achievements and we are Colorado, mostlyDouglas County North through Wyoming.
And we make a big impact in all the schools that we serve and
We love what we do and in a nutshell, we're all about building self-sufficiency withkiddos and that includes financial education, career readiness and entrepreneurship.
(02:14):
So it's everything that I love all in one nonprofit and I'm just really enjoying my newposition.
I love that because you have a background in chamber work.
So it makes sense that you would really love that entrepreneurship program.
So I've heard junior achievement and the words economic literacy.
(02:35):
Could you explain to me what that means and why it's important to teach?
Yeah, so I was the CEO of Economic Literacy Colorado and we merged into Junior AchievementRocky Mountain.
Economic Literacy Colorado was all about professional development and helping teacherskind of train the trainer, giving them economics and financial literacy education to take
(03:00):
back to the classroom.
then at Junior Achievement, we have a lot of student experiences.
in the classroom experiences, in person, experiential, field trips at Finance Park andDream Accelerator.
Economic education and financial education is all about teaching kids the foundationalthings they need to manage their money and understand economics in our world.
(03:28):
Wow, that's so important.
you know, I don't even think kids these days know how to balance a checkbook, honestly.
so that's...
Yeah, it's so true.
It's so true.
Venmo.
Well, that is important work.
you know, what made you interested in being part of the financial education?
(03:51):
And this needs to change.
And I'm the one who's going to help change this.
Yeah, well, how much time do you have?
But going back to my childhood, my mom was one of the first first bank officers as afemale.
So I grew up with a mom that was just a mentor and an inspiration to me.
(04:13):
So I had that.
And then she was also on the Chamber of Commerce board in Casseroke when I was a kid.
So she got me working after school, selling maps at the chamber.
So then I just
loved organizational management and nonprofits.
So trade associations, chambers, economic development, that's kind of where I was going.
And I did go for 25 years, but all along I kept thinking, like, what do my women friendsnot know about financial management?
(04:44):
So when a friend would get divorced or a friend would become a widow and they didn't knowthings, I just kept thinking like, we need to make sure women know about finance.
If you don't have someone in your life or it's not part of your career, you may not knowthings.
I had a girlfriend get divorced that didn't even know who their mortgage was with.
(05:05):
So that started me on this like, women need to know about finance.
But then raising a daughter, I have boy girl twins that are now in college, raising adaughter, I was like, you need to know all of these things at a young age.
So it became just a passion to teach.
young girls about finance, but make sure it goes all the way at every decade of your life.
(05:28):
And now we're looking at like estate planning.
Like that's the age group I'm in.
So do all my women friends know what to do with estate planning when our parents passaway?
So it just became like a side passion.
And then when I was looking for my next career move, economic literacy was a position thatopened up.
(05:50):
knew the former CEO from a previous
project we worked on with Young Americans and Belmar and I just thought like this putseverything together that I'm interested in and that I'm passionate about and here I am.
Wow, that is incredible.
Thank you for sharing that.
Especially about your mom being your mentor.
(06:12):
Mine is as well.
So I love to hear that.
You know, when you were bringing together Economic Literacy Colorado and JuniorAchievement, what conversations really opened the doors for that?
And I'm especially curious about how you got the big donors and the decision makers tocatch your vision.
Well, the beginning was sitting down with Robin Wise, our CEO at Junior Achievement, anexceptional female leader in the Denver metro area in Colorado.
(06:39):
And we just started talking about how some organizations have worked in silos over theyears and why don't we do more together.
And it started from, let's do some programming together to maybe cohabitate in the samebuildings.
They have a brand new building in the tech center all the way to like
let's just merge organizations.
(07:00):
And we talked to an incredible man who was part of both organizations, Buzz Cobol.
And he was our big funder at Economic Literacy Colorado on the board.
Him and his wife Sherry were very important to us at ELC and they were also at JA.
And he just said, this is brilliant.
(07:21):
You guys got to do this.
And then he helped talk to common donors and
Everyone loved the idea.
It was wonderful.
And unfortunately he passed away last fall.
Right before he passed away, he sent a letter to all of his friends saying how excited hewas about our merger, to support us financially and with volunteer hours.
(07:46):
even at his funeral service, they suggested people donate money to Junior AchievementRocky Mountain because of our relationship and merger.
We couldn't be more grateful to him and Sherry for everything they did for us.
And the donors, we have a major donor, Meg Duke, who's filled Buzz's shoes, helping usraise money for people that loved both organizations.
(08:11):
So it's been wonderful.
Our donors have supported us all the way.
What a legacy that Buzz has left on the community that he so loved.
I love hearing that.
And it's so great when donors get it and they invest.
(08:31):
It's hard to find donors these days.
There's so many people competing for funds.
So I've got to think that the merger probably made a lot of donors happy as well thatwent, oh, finally.
places that might be kind of duplicating are coming together.
And I know that's kind of a common thing from donors right now looking for nonprofits todo that.
(08:54):
So when we're looking at children and financial literacy, you're working to make financialliteracy a graduation requirement, I believe.
We are, there is legislation that will be introduced this week.
It's not our bill, but it's a bill from some great sponsors in the House and Senate.
(09:17):
And so there's a lot of discussion around it this week.
There's a lot of supporters coming out, loving the financial literacy graduationrequirement.
So it's just in the beginning of the process and there's a lot of competing 500 otherbills, but.
We think it's hugely important and at least shines a light on financial education and theimportance that all kids in Colorado have access to it, not just a quarter of them that
(09:47):
currently do that.
want all the kids in public charter, private, every school you have out there has afinancial education program.
Tell me a little bit more about only a quarter have that skill being taught to them.
About 26 states have passed a graduation requirement that kids have to take a financialeducation class before they graduate.
(10:13):
And Colorado doesn't have one.
And as you know, we're a local control state.
So you have 178 plus or minus school districts in Colorado.
You would need to go to each school board and ask them to change their graduationrequirements.
About a quarter of the school districts in Colorado already have one in place.
(10:34):
So if you pass this bill statewide, then it would make all the school districts kind ofwork with the same set of financial standards that they already have as a requirement to
graduate.
Well, that would be outstanding.
I'd love to hear that.
Are there areas and ways in which our education system is currently missing the mark onteaching these important skills?
(10:59):
Well, you know, there's a lot of credit card debt and it's harder and harder to afford ahome in Colorado.
So all the way from knowing about credit to debit and credit cards to budgeting, are somany chapters of financial education that we need to improve those numbers in Colorado and
(11:22):
beyond.
And when you take a financial education course,
like junior achievement or some others that are out there, there are statistics that showthat kids move out of their parents' basement faster or have less credit card debt in
their 20s.
There are definitely metrics out there that show how important it is for kids to take thatK-12 and even in higher ed now or whatever they go on to do after high school.
(11:50):
Do you guys also teach about credit scores?
Because I think that's such a thing that so many kids don't understand and it can screw uptheir ability to purchase.
That's awesome.
Yeah, I love that.
It's really important to me to teach that to my kids.
I worked in a jewelry store when I was younger and people would apply to buy.
(12:15):
a wedding ring and they wouldn't get approved.
And I just thought, how sad, you know, had they just, you know, worked a little harder onpaying off their debt or paying on time and they didn't realize how it would impact them
long term.
So, you know, what are some of the biggest barriers preventing financial literacy frombecoming a core part of the education nationwide?
(12:41):
Really, it's just that teachers are aware of the free programs out there and takeadvantage of them.
Junior achievement is free for all kids to come to our programs and to have the curriculumin their schools.
So it's really just getting the word out that junior achievement exists and is a resourcefor teachers and business people come to the classrooms and help teach it.
(13:06):
Parents can.
We have a whole volunteer department that helps
set up the volunteers, and we train the business community or whoever wants to volunteeron how to do it.
So that's great.
The barrier is just awareness, really.
mean, the program's available.
The greatest resource that is out there in Colorado is the Colorado Nonprofit Association.
(13:33):
If you're looking for, if you have a certain issue that you need to help with from anonprofit,
the nonprofit organization lists all their members and you can find an organization tohelp you.
But there's also community foundations with relationships to nonprofits.
Elected officials usually know the nonprofits in their community.
(13:57):
And guess what, guys?
Elected officials are just human beings that love to help make connections in theircommunity.
So ask a leader whether it's a
your teacher, your principal, a neighbor, someone in your community to help you connectwith the nonprofit.
(14:17):
There are resources out there for everyone and you just have to find the right connection.
That's great.
So with that in mind is how is Junior Achievement making lasting systems change?
So at Junior Two at Rocky Mountain, we have two finance parks.
One's in Thornton at the American Furniture Warehouse over here in Thornton.
(14:42):
And one is at our free enterprise center and the tech center.
So kids can come, they do in classroom work and then they come to a field trip at FinancePark and spend the day there going to all the different stations.
And we have a volunteer at each station.
It's every aspect of your financial life that they're learning about car loans.
(15:04):
We're getting a new area with Chick-fil-A to talk about how much kids are spending eatingout now and the door dash and the Uber Eats.
so we're hoping that their day they spend at Finance Park is like a lifelong impact.
And I know you know folks at Young Americans and JA.
(15:27):
in how many people you meet every day that they're like, it's a core memory of theirchildhood going on a field trip to Young AmeriTown or to Junior Achievement.
I meet kids or parents all the time that were like, oh, I had this little business inJunior Achievement 35 years ago.
And it's a core memory that has a long lasting impact.
(15:49):
then J.A.
Rocky Mountain has a dream accelerator that's one of a kind to Junior Achievements.
And that's all about career readiness.
So students come and they spend time looking at like what they love to do, what they'regood at, and they build a selfie with all these positive words about them.
(16:10):
And then they learn about entrepreneurs in Colorado that have made a difference.
They go through this reality check program where you pick a studio apartment or a house ora luxury home and do you want to...
regular car or a luxury pickup truck and you go through all these exercises and then youfind out how many, you know, put your salary in, taxes are taken out, you know, kind of
(16:37):
where you are and what your reality check is financially.
They go to another section where they look at Colorado businesses and can do like a siteselection exercise with snooze or find out.
you know, what kind of partnership you should make in marketing with the Do Good store.
And then they go over to this interactive wall with all 16 industry clusters in Coloradowith their device.
(17:03):
And it's an interactive wallpaper where you can just collect goals.
You can look at a person's skiing and look at all these job ideas and hospitality andcollect goals.
And it all goes into like their portal and gives them
all these pathways for career options that they know they would love to do and also kindof the steps on how to get there.
(17:28):
or maybe they didn't even know those careers existed.
Right.
Sometimes they come in and they have no idea what they want to do and they leave with fiveideas of, oh, I could be a musician or I could, you know, manage a ski resort.
It's amazing to watch them go through this.
So you see an impact when you're just watching them go through our programs and then youhear those stories when they're grownups of how impactful it was.
(17:57):
It's awesome.
What a fun.
My goodness.
Well, I would, you know, I got to congratulate you on being appointed by the Coloradoattorney general.
Weiser, he put you on the financial empowerment council.
Could you tell me what that exactly means and what you personally are hoping to accomplishbeing part of this?
(18:20):
So some legislation was passed not too long ago to create an office of financialempowerment at the AG's office.
And they have built a council of advisors of people in this financial literacy space.
And so there are people from higher ed on the council.
There's a great list of folks on the website that are on the council.
(18:42):
Banks, credit unions, nonprofits, higher ed.
And they have built this
wonderful, you know, there's over a hundred now financial counselors for people inColorado.
So anyone that's struggling to with their own finances that needs information, we havecounselors available.
(19:04):
There's a bank on committee within it with a lot of the banks in Colorado to talk abouthow to solve challenges we have in our communities.
And we want to make sure that every
Colorado has access to financial education and counseling so that nobody's left out ofinformation when they need it.
(19:28):
They have a place to go.
bilingual counselors as well.
Yeah, that's so incredibly important.
And I know sometimes they get missed and so.
And there's a, you I don't know the exact number, but it's around 5 % of people are notbanked because they don't trust the financial institution.
(19:50):
there's, we are building trust and making sure that everyone has access to the informationthey need and no one's putting money under their mattress or $30,000 in debt.
Yeah, that's really great.
love that.
So if you had a magic wand and you could change one policy today to improve financialliteracy, what would it be?
(20:21):
Well, that starting in preschool, all the way through college graduation that you took afinancial education class every year, there are so many great children's books that teach
you about finance.
And we used to call it putting veggies in mac and cheese.
Kids don't even know that we're teaching them concepts.
(20:43):
There's great, every level of education we have, we have
education materials for for that age group.
So I wish every teacher in the country would have access to curriculum starting in pre-k.
And I know that higher ed's doing a great job.
Where my daughter goes to college, they have free financial literacy class that you don'thave to pay tuition to go to.
(21:09):
You can just go.
So there is a huge movement for financial literacy.
It's so important.
And your work in the nonprofit world, you know,
If you don't have food and shelter, you can't learn.
And if you don't have some of your basic needs to just learn.
(21:29):
And then once you get there, you need this foundation of financial literacy to just keepputting one foot in front of the other with all of life's things.
When you get married, when you buy a house, I mean, there's no step in your life thatisn't a financial decision attached to it.
(21:49):
That's true.
And so when thinking of junior achievement, you said it's free.
Now, is that free to all ages?
Is there?
We are K through 25.
Okay.
And they go on your website and they can just sign up for these.
Absolutely, and we have education managers on staff that will work directly with schooldistricts or specific schools or specific teachers to help them, whether it's an
(22:18):
entrepreneurial curriculum, a financial education, any of it.
So we have wonderful materials and toolkits and they are free to access.
Wow, that just makes no sense why everyone wouldn't take advantage of it.
You're helping me wave it right now.
(22:40):
We're waving it.
So speaking of that, what gets you most excited about the future of the financial, ofhaving financial education?
Well, it's probably pretty personal, but my twins are juniors in college and I am so proudof them for what they've done with their money.
(23:04):
And they have Roth IRAs and they have timed savings accounts that they can't access butonce or twice a year that make a lot of interest.
They manage their own grocery budgets in college.
So all the skills that my mom taught me, but then
putting it into how kids move money when they're 20 and 21.
(23:28):
I'm just so proud of my kids.
And so I want all kids to be managing their money in such a responsible way.
They sound like they're impressive, like their mama.
Well, they do do spend some money on Lego, but they call it an investment.
So we'll see.
Honestly, I have to agree.
(23:49):
Legos are an investment.
They last forever.
Where do you see the biggest opportunities for donors to make a real difference?
Well, donors can, we have a few large events per year that the business community is verysupportive of, but also you can sponsor a student or teacher a camp we have in the summer.
(24:14):
There are multiple ways to sponsor what we're doing, but also volunteer.
We have volunteer opportunities.
We have kids in our building.
Well, we want them every day and we hope that our building is full every day of the year.
We need volunteers to be there to help navigate the whole program.
So it's so fun when you get a group from a business that come in and they come in an hourearly and they learn about what they're supposed to do all day.
(24:41):
And then they interact with the kids and they are volunteering all day.
And it's such a team building exercise for the company.
They feel good about what they're doing.
We love what they're helping us accomplish.
And it's just a win-win for the business community.
and what we're doing.
I highly recommend people volunteer in the classroom or at Junior Achievement's FinancePark and Dream Accelerator.
(25:08):
And also financial support, while we couldn't do what we do and offer it for free withoutour donor support.
So it's huge.
It makes a lot of sense and does sound like a great opportunity to do direct service andreally see a difference in a child from when you first start volunteering to the end of
(25:30):
the day where you can see the light bulb turn on.
And I love when kids ask a volunteer, like, what do you do for a living?
And you see, like the other day, I was talking to a guy who works for an energy company.
He started out working as a newscaster and the kids are like, oh, wow, that's so cool.
(25:51):
And there's not a lot of like linear pathways out there.
So it's great for the kids to see.
And especially younger kids will have multiple careers.
over their lifetime.
It's not like our parents where you work the same place for 35 years.
So it's great for the kids to see the volunteers and their own experiences to know it'sokay not to know what you want to do, but let's find out what options there are and the
(26:17):
pathways to get there.
Yeah, I I changed my career multiple times and ended up in the career that ultimately waswhat I love most and that's, you know, serving others.
And when you're called to do that, you just have to listen.
So when I think of, you know, young people, financial education isn't that exciting.
(26:41):
How do you make it engaging and relevant so it sticks?
it is when you figure out what compound interest is.
We make it exciting and you know what the experiential part of coming to our field trips,that's exciting.
I mean it's high tech and it's interactive and they're running around and they're showingeach other their devices and they're like how come you have a better job with more money
(27:11):
or
How come you have a spouse that has a job and mine doesn't?
how come you have two kids and I don't have any kids?
They're like joking around and looking at each other's job that they're assigned that dayand figuring out things.
So they are having fun.
The energy level in our building is incredible.
(27:32):
It's like we're located right next to Fiddler's Green.
It's as fun as when there's a concert across the street.
It's just high tech, high energy, laughter everywhere.
and they're getting the veggies in their mac and cheese the whole time.
And you have convinced me to sign up to volunteer.
I would love to get more information on that.
(27:53):
That sounds like such a fun experience.
So when you're thinking about, you know, the youth, what's one story that really captureswhy this work matters?
There are so many stories, but there are a couple young women that I met when they were inhigh school and they've gone through our programs and then went on to college.
(28:19):
And one of them I met really early on at ELC and she was a musician.
She went to art school and after she went through our programming, she was like, I'm goingto also major in finance so that I can manage my money when I become.
a Grammy Award winner.
you know, now I will follow her for the rest of her time because she was so inspirational,but she put two and two together.
(28:48):
The other example, I've used this before, but I just love her.
Alondra, we had to a nuggets game to learn about finance and sports, and she just came forthe free ticket.
She didn't really care about the finance part.
And by the end, she was like so interested and working.
in finance and sports.
(29:08):
And she went on to CU.
I ran into her at a football game and like she's thriving at CU and she might not havegone to college had she not gone to that program.
But she just was like, oh, I figured out a pathway where I can do all these things.
And so you meet those kids all along.
I I talked to a kid at CU yesterday who was looking for an internship in finance andbusiness and there's
(29:35):
and the world is open to them if they want it.
So there's just, I have a lot of excitement about the youth that's coming up and whatthey're gonna do with it.
And I feel like they are more connected to their purpose than we might have been comingout of college because I just feel like they're connected to like, wanna do something that
(30:00):
I love.
I definitely see that.
Yeah, I feel that they're following their passion more so than, you know, back in the day,I was told, be a lawyer or a doctor, and that's where you get paid the big bucks.
But, you know, you also needed to think about when you wake up, do you want to go to work?
(30:21):
And are you happy?
And does it, you know, make you excited about your day and maybe not...
feel as much like work.
And I love that the next generation is really thinking that way.
And that will help with the mental health crisis out there too, because they'll be happierin what they're doing.
(30:44):
Yeah, when I went to college, I was going to be a pharmacist.
I hated it.
And I was volunteering for a nonprofit and I kept thinking like, I would much rather workat a nonprofit.
And finally, it takes a while to get up the guts to like admit this isn't my pathway.
(31:05):
I didn't want to do this in the first place.
It was just kind of placed on you that that would be a good job.
know?
Yeah, it's true.
it would be a great job for someone who wants to do that.
But that wasn't what I wanted to do.
Yeah, and I love that.
I think, you know, parents need to really be thinking about that too, is not pushing theirkid into the wrong industry with me.
(31:28):
You know, my son went to see you and he started out thinking he wanted to be a computerscientist and then realized, you know what, I don't want to sit behind a computer all day.
And then he says, well, everyone's going into business.
I'll do business.
So we switched him to business and he goes, it's just still not something that
(31:50):
gets me excited.
And I said, what's your favorite thing?
What do you love most?
And he goes, I love watching movies.
And I said, well, what if you woke up tomorrow and you were making movies?
Because I knew he was very creative.
And he goes, I can do that.
Should I do that?
Doesn't pay very well.
(32:10):
And I said, you know what?
It isn't always about the money.
It really is about doing
your life's work and your passion and the legacy you live.
And so he switched and it cost him an additional year, which cost us obviously, but it waswell worth it because he really found what he's passionate about.
And so I do think parents need to be thinking about don't put their children in a box.
(32:37):
And that's so important.
So it sounds like you've done a great job parenting.
Yeah, we high five ourselves all the time because our kids are so awesome.
But I'm just really proud of them.
They went through a program called Colorado Young Leaders.
It's another nonprofit and they did that all on their own and I've learned a lot throughit.
(32:58):
So I'm really proud of them.
Yeah, and you should be.
So when I think of something that was no small feat, what was the biggest challenge youfaced in bringing economic literacy, Colorado and junior achievement together and how did
you overcome it?
We really didn't have any.
(33:19):
I mean, a lot of times when you merge nonprofits, you have two CEOs that kind of like,who's going to be the CEO?
Exactly.
And Robin and I were just like, Robin's the CEO.
We're going to merge into Junior Achievement.
And I am more than happy to learn from her and soak up everything I can about JuniorAchievement and really focus on the education and awareness, government affairs that...
(33:47):
public affairs space to just build up junior achievement.
So we were just lockstep the whole time.
And I have been part of chamber mergers in the past where that was not the case, wherethere was like a who gets to be the CEO if we merge and it falls apart.
And we just never had that.
(34:07):
And we didn't have any obstacles.
Congratulations on that.
is a feat.
And I think about, you know, in nonprofit work, you really do have to put your missionfirst and you have to put your ego aside.
that is ultimately how you grow fastest and do the most impactful work.
(34:31):
Yeah, would have, Robin and I would have had it done in a month, but there's like lawyersand, you know, finance people that were like, okay, we got to go through a real legal
merger.
So we did it correctly, but we just were both so passionate about the end result.
And so it was great.
(34:51):
No challenges in there.
Love hearing that, you don't hear that often.
kudos to you both.
What advice do you have for nonprofit leaders trying to bring different organizationstogether for a shared mission?
And it feels like you just answered that, but if there were any other advice as we knowfunders do want some &A's happening.
(35:17):
I think the thing is just getting all the like minds at the table and having theconversation.
I don't think people come together enough and even have the conversation of what if.
I think a lot of nonprofits struggle financially and are panicking about what to do, butthey don't see a merger as an answer or to build their impact.
(35:43):
Spending time with other CEOs, whether it's the same, a similar mission or not, just beingpart of a nonprofit network and talking through some of your challenges.
It's hard when you're a CEO, I think, to put some of your challenges out there.
So you need a mentor group.
in the chamber world and economic development world, you have trade associations.
(36:08):
Of course, in nonprofit world, you also have a trade association.
being transparent about what your challenges are and looking for people to be in yourmentor network to help you solve them.
So, and not being, goes back to ego a little bit, not being too proud to ask for helpwhere you need it, you know?
Yeah, I do love that.
(36:29):
And a lot of nonprofits are bringing on contractors as well, where they may not bring themon as an employee, but they get the experience and expertise that's needed for a key area.
because nonprofit leaders need to everything, like a little bit of marketing, a little bitof finance, a little bit of board governance, a little bit of, you know, you have to know
(36:56):
all of the departments and all the rules.
And so delegating or hiring a consultant or contracting someone that's an expert, I mean,there's a lot of solutions out there for nonprofit leaders and they just don't need to be
alone.
finding solutions.
(37:16):
absolutely agree with that.
So, you know, obviously you've talked about collaboration and it's at the heart of whatyou do.
How do you build trust amongst stakeholders who may have different priorities?
I think, not to be mushy, but I just kind of lead with kindness and love and relationshipbuilding.
(37:41):
So I have coffee with people all the time and we just get to know each other.
And someday we may do something together, who knows?
But just building relationships and connecting in person is really important to me.
So I think it just comes naturally when...
(38:03):
you're open and convened with others and talk about things.
Also in this world of transactional, you think about what really works.
It's building around relationships, authentic relationships.
Right.
Yeah.
(38:23):
And I think the older you get, the more comfortable you are with being your totalauthentic self.
mean, I listen to a lot of podcasts.
So, you know, my Mel Robbins and my Brené Brown and my Oprah.
Absolutely.
So I am, I think totally this is what you get, you know, and I think that's great.
(38:52):
in relationships.
And you can tell when someone's not authentic.
You really can, you can, and then I just stay away from those people.
That's so fun that you listen to the three podcasts that I do.
That gets me giddy.
So when thinking about having support and whatnot, what role do businesses and corporatepartners play in advancing economic literacy?
(39:21):
I think it's important for every business to have their employees have financial educationso that they participate in their 401ks or they don't get into issues with money and they
understand their benefits.
I was talking to a financial counselor recently who went into a large consulting companyand met with a lot of highly paid people and there's a lot of financial wellness programs
(39:50):
now.
within your wellness program in corporate America because it's so stressful when you havemoney problems.
And so it's such an important piece of our business community to make sure their employeeshave the resources and financial education also because they can't be really productive at
(40:12):
work if they're stressed about, you know, they didn't pay their credit card or theirmortgage is coming and.
So debt collectors.
And believe me as a banker mom and I grew up in a pretty affluent area My mom said there'sa lot of people that are horse poor and house poor and you would never know it, you know,
be like Why can't I get a BMW when I turn 16 and she's like Well, honey, they can't affordit either.
(40:36):
Yeah So there's you know, you don't know how much debt people have and it's very stressfulSo it's really important for the business community
to offer financial wellness to their employees.
I agree, I agree.
So when really doing some fun research on you, I was looking at your leadership journeyand it's so impressive.
(41:00):
So I really like to dive into some of these aha, Oprah moments that you've had inleadership.
So how has your leadership style evolved as you've grown more comfortable in your ownskin?
Well, that's a great question.
I became a CEO of the West Chamber in Jefferson County when I was like 27.
(41:22):
So I was a really young CEO and it was super scary.
But I had a network of other chamber CEOs that were older than me and helped me throughthe whole thing.
But a few years into it, we did like a 360 review in the community and got feedback.
And you don't know if it's coming from
(41:43):
the mayor or your board member or another nonprofit leader.
And it is so valuable for me to read a 360 review of what others thought of my leadership.
humbling.
mean, yeah.
I mean, it went from like, she's real confident to like, she could use some publicspeaking training.
(42:08):
So it helped me kind of.
narrow in on where I wanted to grow as a person.
And I just really feel strongly about being part of your community.
And so I find resources that I thought would be helpful in my leadership journey.
And I always enjoy working with a board of directors and know why they're connected to themission.
(42:36):
yeah, it started kind of young, but
It was a great experience to be the youngest.
And I'm still friends with a lot of my chamber mentors from my 20s.
That says so much.
So speaking of kind of, our listeners, you might be early in their nonprofit careers.
(42:59):
What's one piece of wisdom you wish you had known when you first started out?
that it's okay to make mistakes.
Like you don't have to be perfect all the time, but realize when there's a mistake thatyou need to like work on fixing it or work with your customers or your members.
(43:23):
I you can't be all things to all people and that's hard when you're young and you'retrying to you know be the best leader and make no mistakes and so I think just knowing
that mistakes help you grow.
And sometimes you start programs that fail, but you learn some life lessons out of it.
So, yeah, I think I am a recovering perfectionist.
(43:47):
Yeah, me too.
I was like, I wish you were there when I was younger.
Where were you?
I think that's the perfect answer,
Insight's a little 20-20 though, right?
Yeah.
It really is.
Yeah, I definitely have gotten over that.
Well, Micah might not say that.
(44:07):
He might actually disagree.
Anyway, Micah is the producer, heads up to everyone.
So you built this incredible career in the nonprofit space.
What keeps you motivated and passionate, and especially when the work gets really tough?
The work is really fun right now and I'm loving all of it.
(44:30):
I think what's more interesting in my career is like the kids went to college and myhusband retired from his first career.
Like we had a lot of life change in the years of, in the last few years and just kind ofriding that wave and knowing that change is good.
Like.
(44:51):
as scary as it was a few years ago, it's been such a fun change.
And sometimes you're ready for a change and you don't even know it.
And this has just been so cool for me to go from the economic development to economicliteracy and then merge into JA.
Like it's been a lot in the last two years, but so fun.
(45:11):
And I've learned so much about the education space and the finance world.
And now I at least have a little...
list of things that I don't know that I need to learn about.
And aside from Mel Robbins, I do a lot of like financial podcasts just to understandsometimes what the terminology is in the world of finance.
(45:34):
Is it evolving?
It is.
mean, FinTech is incredible because there's so many new apps in the finance industry andhow kids are moving money and so technology just moves things so much faster.
What do you think about Bitcoin?
so confused.
know, I know.
(45:55):
I just got my husband a Venmo the other day.
I mean, we're just trying to keep up.
So true, so true.
So, you know, obviously you talked about your twins and as a working mom of twins, what'syour secret to balancing leadership, advocacy and your family life?
Yeah, that was hard.
(46:17):
empty nesting makes it a lot easier because you're not feeding to other people and gettingthem through homework.
jokes aside, like going back to my mom, she would just kept saying like, you can do bothand you might not do it well all the time, but your kids are watching and they'll be
(46:37):
really proud of you.
And they are.
It's amazing.
Sometimes we had cereal for dinner.
And my mom will listen to this and she'll be mad I said this, but I have an image of herin pantyhose and a suit jacket with a scotch and water making dinner when I was little.
(46:58):
Because she'd get home at 7 p.m.
and just want to get some of her work clothes off, but she was in a hustle to make dinner.
But it's such a proud memory, even though she probably thought she was sucking at it.
at the time.
even though it's hard, women are tough.
We really are and resilient.
(47:19):
So I never did my daughter's hair.
You can tell in her pictures.
I wasn't good at it.
And I had bad hair when I was a kid too.
So some things you got to do for yourself.
That's right.
your own lunch and do your own hair.
You've seen a lot of people in the nonprofit industry that are suffering from burnout.
(47:40):
What advice do you have for them to keep going and fight through that?
Well, many years ago, I started this thing with my staff where we kind of reported back,what did you do for the one hour for yourself a day?
So every day you got to spend one hour doing something with yourself, whether it'smeditating, riding a bike, reading a book, listening to Mel Robbins, but it's just for
(48:07):
you.
And we made it up one time because we were talking about burnout and we kind of kept eachother accountable.
And I still do it every day.
And so I feel like everyone needs their power hour for themselves a day.
And my husband and I now call it free time after work.
Like, it's free time, so I'll see you in an hour.
(48:29):
And yesterday I did a puzzle.
Like, working on a puzzle.
And that was the capacity I had, just to work on a puzzle.
So I think it's just for your own mental health, you need one hour day for yourself.
great advice.
People do not do it.
Go around and ask people.
They don't spend an hour with themselves a day.
(48:52):
Yeah, but they are good at scheduling their calendar out.
So why can't they just add that into their calendar?
Maybe around meetings, it might not be the same time every day.
yeah, definitely the podcast for me is that hour that I take for myself and kind of getrenewed energy and a renewed spirit.
(49:15):
And if you don't take care of yourself, you can't take care of other people.
You can't be a good leader at work.
you really need to...
People think it's selfish to put themselves first, but you have to spend some time workingon yourself and making sure that your mental health is okay to keep going.
(49:36):
Yeah, absolutely.
Yes, that's such a key point.
I hope everyone really takes that to heart.
In leadership, what's been the most unexpected leadership lesson you've learned over theyears?
It's not unexpected, but a little bit.
Like people want you to succeed.
(49:57):
Board members want you to succeed.
Your staff wants you to succeed.
don't hire an employee hoping, I hope they fail, right?
but sometimes you think everyone's working against you because it's hard.
But I think the phrase is like, assume good intent.
(50:19):
And I think that's hard sometimes when everyone's coming at you with different things.
But everyone wants you to succeed.
And so I think that's just something you got to beat into yourself.
That's great.
So getting back to financial literacy, if every high school student walked away with justone financial lesson from your programs, what do you hope it would be?
(50:49):
knowing how to budget, to spend less than you make and put some aside for savings.
That's great.
That makes a lot of sense.
So for listeners who want to support financial literacy efforts, what's the most impactfulthing they can do, whether they're donors, educators, or parents?
(51:13):
Well, it's all laid out really well on our website, jarockymountain.org.
But I think it's up to the person if they want to volunteer individually, if they want tovolunteer as a team, if they want to come to one of our events.
Like next week, we have the Business Hall of Fame event with the Denver Chamber.
(51:34):
We have an awesome golf tournament in the summer.
We have bowlathons companies can do like.
There are so many options for people to give or participate and they're endless and we canalways help design something for an individual or company that's looking to participate
(51:58):
with Junior Achievement.
Thank you for joining us today on Empower Hour.
I hope you're leaving with fresh inspiration and practical insights to fuel your work.
Remember, every challenge you face is a stepping stone towards impact.
If you found this episode helpful, please follow us and share it with others.
Keep making a difference and lifting others up.
(52:20):
And I'll see you next time.
Hey there, impact makers.
You know what keeps me up at night?
Thinking about how we can give every kid the tools they need to thrive in life.
And that's exactly why I'm beyond excited to chat with today's guest, Amy Sherman.
Amy's the powerhouse vice president of public affairs at Junior Achievement RockyMountain.
(00:37):
And trust me, she's shaking things up in the best possible way.
She...
just led an incredible merger that's changing the game for financial education in Coloradoand Wyoming.
But here's what I love most about Amy.
She gets that making real change isn't just about the numbers, it's about bringing peopletogether and making things happen.
(00:59):
Whether she's working with legislators, talking to donors, or mentoring the nextgeneration of nonprofit leaders, Amy brings her whole self to the table.
Welcome, Amy.
Thank you.
What a kind introduction.
I'm so excited to have you here.
You know, and I ran into I was just like, you know, would she say yes to me?
(01:20):
When you did, I was so thrilled.
Yeah, so really, you know, want to dive in a little bit about Junior Achievement for thosewho don't really understand what they do.
If you don't mind kind of sharing a little bit about that.
Absolutely.
So Junior Achievement is a global nonprofit and Junior Achievement USA is actuallyheadquartered in Colorado Springs right here in our beautiful state of Colorado.
(01:46):
And we are Junior Achievement Rocky Mountain.
We're one of 99 regions in the country of Junior Achievements and we are Colorado, mostlyDouglas County North through Wyoming.
And we make a big impact in all the schools that we serve and
We love what we do and in a nutshell, we're all about building self-sufficiency withkiddos and that includes financial education, career readiness and entrepreneurship.
(02:14):
So it's everything that I love all in one nonprofit and I'm just really enjoying my newposition.
I love that because you have a background in chamber work.
So it makes sense that you would really love that entrepreneurship program.
So I've heard junior achievement and the words economic literacy.
(02:35):
Could you explain to me what that means and why it's important to teach?
Yeah, so I was the CEO of Economic Literacy Colorado and we merged into Junior AchievementRocky Mountain.
Economic Literacy Colorado was all about professional development and helping teacherskind of train the trainer, giving them economics and financial literacy education to take
(03:00):
back to the classroom.
then at Junior Achievement, we have a lot of student experiences.
in the classroom experiences, in person, experiential, field trips at Finance Park andDream Accelerator.
Economic education and financial education is all about teaching kids the foundationalthings they need to manage their money and understand economics in our world.
(03:28):
Wow, that's so important.
you know, I don't even think kids these days know how to balance a checkbook, honestly.
so that's...
Yeah, it's so true.
It's so true.
Venmo.
Well, that is important work.
you know, what made you interested in being part of the financial education?
(03:51):
And this needs to change.
And I'm the one who's going to help change this.
Yeah, well, how much time do you have?
But going back to my childhood, my mom was one of the first first bank officers as afemale.
So I grew up with a mom that was just a mentor and an inspiration to me.
(04:13):
So I had that.
And then she was also on the Chamber of Commerce board in Casseroke when I was a kid.
So she got me working after school, selling maps at the chamber.
So then I just
loved organizational management and nonprofits.
So trade associations, chambers, economic development, that's kind of where I was going.
And I did go for 25 years, but all along I kept thinking, like, what do my women friendsnot know about financial management?
(04:44):
So when a friend would get divorced or a friend would become a widow and they didn't knowthings, I just kept thinking like, we need to make sure women know about finance.
If you don't have someone in your life or it's not part of your career, you may not knowthings.
I had a girlfriend get divorced that didn't even know who their mortgage was with.
(05:05):
So that started me on this like, women need to know about finance.
But then raising a daughter, I have boy girl twins that are now in college, raising adaughter, I was like, you need to know all of these things at a young age.
So it became just a passion to teach.
young girls about finance, but make sure it goes all the way at every decade of your life.
(05:28):
And now we're looking at like estate planning.
Like that's the age group I'm in.
So do all my women friends know what to do with estate planning when our parents passaway?
So it just became like a side passion.
And then when I was looking for my next career move, economic literacy was a position thatopened up.
(05:50):
knew the former CEO from a previous
project we worked on with Young Americans and Belmar and I just thought like this putseverything together that I'm interested in and that I'm passionate about and here I am.
Wow, that is incredible.
Thank you for sharing that.
Especially about your mom being your mentor.
(06:12):
Mine is as well.
So I love to hear that.
You know, when you were bringing together Economic Literacy Colorado and JuniorAchievement, what conversations really opened the doors for that?
And I'm especially curious about how you got the big donors and the decision makers tocatch your vision.
Well, the beginning was sitting down with Robin Wise, our CEO at Junior Achievement, anexceptional female leader in the Denver metro area in Colorado.
(06:39):
And we just started talking about how some organizations have worked in silos over theyears and why don't we do more together.
And it started from, let's do some programming together to maybe cohabitate in the samebuildings.
They have a brand new building in the tech center all the way to like
let's just merge organizations.
(07:00):
And we talked to an incredible man who was part of both organizations, Buzz Cobol.
And he was our big funder at Economic Literacy Colorado on the board.
Him and his wife Sherry were very important to us at ELC and they were also at JA.
And he just said, this is brilliant.
(07:21):
You guys got to do this.
And then he helped talk to common donors and
Everyone loved the idea.
It was wonderful.
And unfortunately he passed away last fall.
Right before he passed away, he sent a letter to all of his friends saying how excited hewas about our merger, to support us financially and with volunteer hours.
(07:46):
even at his funeral service, they suggested people donate money to Junior AchievementRocky Mountain because of our relationship and merger.
We couldn't be more grateful to him and Sherry for everything they did for us.
And the donors, we have a major donor, Meg Duke, who's filled Buzz's shoes, helping usraise money for people that loved both organizations.
(08:11):
So it's been wonderful.
Our donors have supported us all the way.
What a legacy that Buzz has left on the community that he so loved.
I love hearing that.
And it's so great when donors get it and they invest.
(08:31):
It's hard to find donors these days.
There's so many people competing for funds.
So I've got to think that the merger probably made a lot of donors happy as well thatwent, oh, finally.
places that might be kind of duplicating are coming together.
And I know that's kind of a common thing from donors right now looking for nonprofits todo that.
(08:54):
So when we're looking at children and financial literacy, you're working to make financialliteracy a graduation requirement, I believe.
We are, there is legislation that will be introduced this week.
It's not our bill, but it's a bill from some great sponsors in the House and Senate.
(09:17):
And so there's a lot of discussion around it this week.
There's a lot of supporters coming out, loving the financial literacy graduationrequirement.
So it's just in the beginning of the process and there's a lot of competing 500 otherbills, but.
We think it's hugely important and at least shines a light on financial education and theimportance that all kids in Colorado have access to it, not just a quarter of them that
(09:47):
currently do that.
want all the kids in public charter, private, every school you have out there has afinancial education program.
Tell me a little bit more about only a quarter have that skill being taught to them.
About 26 states have passed a graduation requirement that kids have to take a financialeducation class before they graduate.
(10:13):
And Colorado doesn't have one.
And as you know, we're a local control state.
So you have 178 plus or minus school districts in Colorado.
You would need to go to each school board and ask them to change their graduationrequirements.
About a quarter of the school districts in Colorado already have one in place.
(10:34):
So if you pass this bill statewide, then it would make all the school districts kind ofwork with the same set of financial standards that they already have as a requirement to
graduate.
Well, that would be outstanding.
I'd love to hear that.
Are there areas and ways in which our education system is currently missing the mark onteaching these important skills?
(10:59):
Well, you know, there's a lot of credit card debt and it's harder and harder to afford ahome in Colorado.
So all the way from knowing about credit to debit and credit cards to budgeting, are somany chapters of financial education that we need to improve those numbers in Colorado and
(11:22):
beyond.
And when you take a financial education course,
like junior achievement or some others that are out there, there are statistics that showthat kids move out of their parents' basement faster or have less credit card debt in
their 20s.
There are definitely metrics out there that show how important it is for kids to take thatK-12 and even in higher ed now or whatever they go on to do after high school.
(11:50):
Do you guys also teach about credit scores?
Because I think that's such a thing that so many kids don't understand and it can screw uptheir ability to purchase.
That's awesome.
Yeah, I love that.
It's really important to me to teach that to my kids.
I worked in a jewelry store when I was younger and people would apply to buy.
(12:15):
a wedding ring and they wouldn't get approved.
And I just thought, how sad, you know, had they just, you know, worked a little harder onpaying off their debt or paying on time and they didn't realize how it would impact them
long term.
So, you know, what are some of the biggest barriers preventing financial literacy frombecoming a core part of the education nationwide?
(12:41):
Really, it's just that teachers are aware of the free programs out there and takeadvantage of them.
Junior achievement is free for all kids to come to our programs and to have the curriculumin their schools.
So it's really just getting the word out that junior achievement exists and is a resourcefor teachers and business people come to the classrooms and help teach it.
(13:06):
Parents can.
We have a whole volunteer department that helps
set up the volunteers, and we train the business community or whoever wants to volunteeron how to do it.
So that's great.
The barrier is just awareness, really.
mean, the program's available.
The greatest resource that is out there in Colorado is the Colorado Nonprofit Association.
(13:33):
If you're looking for, if you have a certain issue that you need to help with from anonprofit,
the nonprofit organization lists all their members and you can find an organization tohelp you.
But there's also community foundations with relationships to nonprofits.
Elected officials usually know the nonprofits in their community.
(13:57):
And guess what, guys?
Elected officials are just human beings that love to help make connections in theircommunity.
So ask a leader whether it's a
your teacher, your principal, a neighbor, someone in your community to help you connectwith the nonprofit.
(14:17):
There are resources out there for everyone and you just have to find the right connection.
That's great.
So with that in mind is how is Junior Achievement making lasting systems change?
So at Junior Two at Rocky Mountain, we have two finance parks.
One's in Thornton at the American Furniture Warehouse over here in Thornton.
(14:42):
And one is at our free enterprise center and the tech center.
So kids can come, they do in classroom work and then they come to a field trip at FinancePark and spend the day there going to all the different stations.
And we have a volunteer at each station.
It's every aspect of your financial life that they're learning about car loans.
(15:04):
We're getting a new area with Chick-fil-A to talk about how much kids are spending eatingout now and the door dash and the Uber Eats.
so we're hoping that their day they spend at Finance Park is like a lifelong impact.
And I know you know folks at Young Americans and JA.
(15:27):
in how many people you meet every day that they're like, it's a core memory of theirchildhood going on a field trip to Young AmeriTown or to Junior Achievement.
I meet kids or parents all the time that were like, oh, I had this little business inJunior Achievement 35 years ago.
And it's a core memory that has a long lasting impact.
(15:49):
then J.A.
Rocky Mountain has a dream accelerator that's one of a kind to Junior Achievements.
And that's all about career readiness.
So students come and they spend time looking at like what they love to do, what they'regood at, and they build a selfie with all these positive words about them.
(16:10):
And then they learn about entrepreneurs in Colorado that have made a difference.
They go through this reality check program where you pick a studio apartment or a house ora luxury home and do you want to...
regular car or a luxury pickup truck and you go through all these exercises and then youfind out how many, you know, put your salary in, taxes are taken out, you know, kind of
(16:37):
where you are and what your reality check is financially.
They go to another section where they look at Colorado businesses and can do like a siteselection exercise with snooze or find out.
you know, what kind of partnership you should make in marketing with the Do Good store.
And then they go over to this interactive wall with all 16 industry clusters in Coloradowith their device.
(17:03):
And it's an interactive wallpaper where you can just collect goals.
You can look at a person's skiing and look at all these job ideas and hospitality andcollect goals.
And it all goes into like their portal and gives them
all these pathways for career options that they know they would love to do and also kindof the steps on how to get there.
(17:28):
or maybe they didn't even know those careers existed.
Right.
Sometimes they come in and they have no idea what they want to do and they leave with fiveideas of, oh, I could be a musician or I could, you know, manage a ski resort.
It's amazing to watch them go through this.
So you see an impact when you're just watching them go through our programs and then youhear those stories when they're grownups of how impactful it was.
(17:57):
It's awesome.
What a fun.
My goodness.
Well, I would, you know, I got to congratulate you on being appointed by the Coloradoattorney general.
Weiser, he put you on the financial empowerment council.
Could you tell me what that exactly means and what you personally are hoping to accomplishbeing part of this?
(18:20):
So some legislation was passed not too long ago to create an office of financialempowerment at the AG's office.
And they have built a council of advisors of people in this financial literacy space.
And so there are people from higher ed on the council.
There's a great list of folks on the website that are on the council.
(18:42):
Banks, credit unions, nonprofits, higher ed.
And they have built this
wonderful, you know, there's over a hundred now financial counselors for people inColorado.
So anyone that's struggling to with their own finances that needs information, we havecounselors available.
(19:04):
There's a bank on committee within it with a lot of the banks in Colorado to talk abouthow to solve challenges we have in our communities.
And we want to make sure that every
Colorado has access to financial education and counseling so that nobody's left out ofinformation when they need it.
(19:28):
They have a place to go.
bilingual counselors as well.
Yeah, that's so incredibly important.
And I know sometimes they get missed and so.
And there's a, you I don't know the exact number, but it's around 5 % of people are notbanked because they don't trust the financial institution.
(19:50):
there's, we are building trust and making sure that everyone has access to the informationthey need and no one's putting money under their mattress or $30,000 in debt.
Yeah, that's really great.
love that.
So if you had a magic wand and you could change one policy today to improve financialliteracy, what would it be?
(20:21):
Well, that starting in preschool, all the way through college graduation that you took afinancial education class every year, there are so many great children's books that teach
you about finance.
And we used to call it putting veggies in mac and cheese.
Kids don't even know that we're teaching them concepts.
(20:43):
There's great, every level of education we have, we have
education materials for for that age group.
So I wish every teacher in the country would have access to curriculum starting in pre-k.
And I know that higher ed's doing a great job.
Where my daughter goes to college, they have free financial literacy class that you don'thave to pay tuition to go to.
(21:09):
You can just go.
So there is a huge movement for financial literacy.
It's so important.
And your work in the nonprofit world, you know,
If you don't have food and shelter, you can't learn.
And if you don't have some of your basic needs to just learn.
(21:29):
And then once you get there, you need this foundation of financial literacy to just keepputting one foot in front of the other with all of life's things.
When you get married, when you buy a house, I mean, there's no step in your life thatisn't a financial decision attached to it.
(21:49):
That's true.
And so when thinking of junior achievement, you said it's free.
Now, is that free to all ages?
Is there?
We are K through 25.
Okay.
And they go on your website and they can just sign up for these.
Absolutely, and we have education managers on staff that will work directly with schooldistricts or specific schools or specific teachers to help them, whether it's an
(22:18):
entrepreneurial curriculum, a financial education, any of it.
So we have wonderful materials and toolkits and they are free to access.
Wow, that just makes no sense why everyone wouldn't take advantage of it.
You're helping me wave it right now.
(22:40):
We're waving it.
So speaking of that, what gets you most excited about the future of the financial, ofhaving financial education?
Well, it's probably pretty personal, but my twins are juniors in college and I am so proudof them for what they've done with their money.
(23:04):
And they have Roth IRAs and they have timed savings accounts that they can't access butonce or twice a year that make a lot of interest.
They manage their own grocery budgets in college.
So all the skills that my mom taught me, but then
putting it into how kids move money when they're 20 and 21.
(23:28):
I'm just so proud of my kids.
And so I want all kids to be managing their money in such a responsible way.
They sound like they're impressive, like their mama.
Well, they do do spend some money on Lego, but they call it an investment.
So we'll see.
Honestly, I have to agree.
(23:49):
Legos are an investment.
They last forever.
Where do you see the biggest opportunities for donors to make a real difference?
Well, donors can, we have a few large events per year that the business community is verysupportive of, but also you can sponsor a student or teacher a camp we have in the summer.
(24:14):
There are multiple ways to sponsor what we're doing, but also volunteer.
We have volunteer opportunities.
We have kids in our building.
Well, we want them every day and we hope that our building is full every day of the year.
We need volunteers to be there to help navigate the whole program.
So it's so fun when you get a group from a business that come in and they come in an hourearly and they learn about what they're supposed to do all day.
(24:41):
And then they interact with the kids and they are volunteering all day.
And it's such a team building exercise for the company.
They feel good about what they're doing.
We love what they're helping us accomplish.
And it's just a win-win for the business community.
and what we're doing.
I highly recommend people volunteer in the classroom or at Junior Achievement's FinancePark and Dream Accelerator.
(25:08):
And also financial support, while we couldn't do what we do and offer it for free withoutour donor support.
So it's huge.
It makes a lot of sense and does sound like a great opportunity to do direct service andreally see a difference in a child from when you first start volunteering to the end of
(25:30):
the day where you can see the light bulb turn on.
And I love when kids ask a volunteer, like, what do you do for a living?
And you see, like the other day, I was talking to a guy who works for an energy company.
He started out working as a newscaster and the kids are like, oh, wow, that's so cool.
(25:51):
And there's not a lot of like linear pathways out there.
So it's great for the kids to see.
And especially younger kids will have multiple careers.
over their lifetime.
It's not like our parents where you work the same place for 35 years.
So it's great for the kids to see the volunteers and their own experiences to know it'sokay not to know what you want to do, but let's find out what options there are and the
(26:17):
pathways to get there.
Yeah, I I changed my career multiple times and ended up in the career that ultimately waswhat I love most and that's, you know, serving others.
And when you're called to do that, you just have to listen.
So when I think of, you know, young people, financial education isn't that exciting.
(26:41):
How do you make it engaging and relevant so it sticks?
it is when you figure out what compound interest is.
We make it exciting and you know what the experiential part of coming to our field trips,that's exciting.
I mean it's high tech and it's interactive and they're running around and they're showingeach other their devices and they're like how come you have a better job with more money
(27:11):
or
How come you have a spouse that has a job and mine doesn't?
how come you have two kids and I don't have any kids?
They're like joking around and looking at each other's job that they're assigned that dayand figuring out things.
So they are having fun.
The energy level in our building is incredible.
(27:32):
It's like we're located right next to Fiddler's Green.
It's as fun as when there's a concert across the street.
It's just high tech, high energy, laughter everywhere.
and they're getting the veggies in their mac and cheese the whole time.
And you have convinced me to sign up to volunteer.
I would love to get more information on that.
(27:53):
That sounds like such a fun experience.
So when you're thinking about, you know, the youth, what's one story that really captureswhy this work matters?
There are so many stories, but there are a couple young women that I met when they were inhigh school and they've gone through our programs and then went on to college.
(28:19):
And one of them I met really early on at ELC and she was a musician.
She went to art school and after she went through our programming, she was like, I'm goingto also major in finance so that I can manage my money when I become.
a Grammy Award winner.
you know, now I will follow her for the rest of her time because she was so inspirational,but she put two and two together.
(28:48):
The other example, I've used this before, but I just love her.
Alondra, we had to a nuggets game to learn about finance and sports, and she just came forthe free ticket.
She didn't really care about the finance part.
And by the end, she was like so interested and working.
in finance and sports.
(29:08):
And she went on to CU.
I ran into her at a football game and like she's thriving at CU and she might not havegone to college had she not gone to that program.
But she just was like, oh, I figured out a pathway where I can do all these things.
And so you meet those kids all along.
I I talked to a kid at CU yesterday who was looking for an internship in finance andbusiness and there's
(29:35):
and the world is open to them if they want it.
So there's just, I have a lot of excitement about the youth that's coming up and whatthey're gonna do with it.
And I feel like they are more connected to their purpose than we might have been comingout of college because I just feel like they're connected to like, wanna do something that
(30:00):
I love.
I definitely see that.
Yeah, I feel that they're following their passion more so than, you know, back in the day,I was told, be a lawyer or a doctor, and that's where you get paid the big bucks.
But, you know, you also needed to think about when you wake up, do you want to go to work?
(30:21):
And are you happy?
And does it, you know, make you excited about your day and maybe not...
feel as much like work.
And I love that the next generation is really thinking that way.
And that will help with the mental health crisis out there too, because they'll be happierin what they're doing.
(30:44):
Yeah, when I went to college, I was going to be a pharmacist.
I hated it.
And I was volunteering for a nonprofit and I kept thinking like, I would much rather workat a nonprofit.
And finally, it takes a while to get up the guts to like admit this isn't my pathway.
(31:05):
I didn't want to do this in the first place.
It was just kind of placed on you that that would be a good job.
know?
Yeah, it's true.
it would be a great job for someone who wants to do that.
But that wasn't what I wanted to do.
Yeah, and I love that.
I think, you know, parents need to really be thinking about that too, is not pushing theirkid into the wrong industry with me.
(31:28):
You know, my son went to see you and he started out thinking he wanted to be a computerscientist and then realized, you know what, I don't want to sit behind a computer all day.
And then he says, well, everyone's going into business.
I'll do business.
So we switched him to business and he goes, it's just still not something that
(31:50):
gets me excited.
And I said, what's your favorite thing?
What do you love most?
And he goes, I love watching movies.
And I said, well, what if you woke up tomorrow and you were making movies?
Because I knew he was very creative.
And he goes, I can do that.
Should I do that?
Doesn't pay very well.
(32:10):
And I said, you know what?
It isn't always about the money.
It really is about doing
your life's work and your passion and the legacy you live.
And so he switched and it cost him an additional year, which cost us obviously, but it waswell worth it because he really found what he's passionate about.
And so I do think parents need to be thinking about don't put their children in a box.
(32:37):
And that's so important.
So it sounds like you've done a great job parenting.
Yeah, we high five ourselves all the time because our kids are so awesome.
But I'm just really proud of them.
They went through a program called Colorado Young Leaders.
It's another nonprofit and they did that all on their own and I've learned a lot throughit.
(32:58):
So I'm really proud of them.
Yeah, and you should be.
So when I think of something that was no small feat, what was the biggest challenge youfaced in bringing economic literacy, Colorado and junior achievement together and how did
you overcome it?
We really didn't have any.
(33:19):
I mean, a lot of times when you merge nonprofits, you have two CEOs that kind of like,who's going to be the CEO?
Exactly.
And Robin and I were just like, Robin's the CEO.
We're going to merge into Junior Achievement.
And I am more than happy to learn from her and soak up everything I can about JuniorAchievement and really focus on the education and awareness, government affairs that...
(33:47):
public affairs space to just build up junior achievement.
So we were just lockstep the whole time.
And I have been part of chamber mergers in the past where that was not the case, wherethere was like a who gets to be the CEO if we merge and it falls apart.
And we just never had that.
(34:07):
And we didn't have any obstacles.
Congratulations on that.
is a feat.
And I think about, you know, in nonprofit work, you really do have to put your missionfirst and you have to put your ego aside.
that is ultimately how you grow fastest and do the most impactful work.
(34:31):
Yeah, would have, Robin and I would have had it done in a month, but there's like lawyersand, you know, finance people that were like, okay, we got to go through a real legal
merger.
So we did it correctly, but we just were both so passionate about the end result.
And so it was great.
(34:51):
No challenges in there.
Love hearing that, you don't hear that often.
kudos to you both.
What advice do you have for nonprofit leaders trying to bring different organizationstogether for a shared mission?
And it feels like you just answered that, but if there were any other advice as we knowfunders do want some &A's happening.
(35:17):
I think the thing is just getting all the like minds at the table and having theconversation.
I don't think people come together enough and even have the conversation of what if.
I think a lot of nonprofits struggle financially and are panicking about what to do, butthey don't see a merger as an answer or to build their impact.
(35:43):
Spending time with other CEOs, whether it's the same, a similar mission or not, just beingpart of a nonprofit network and talking through some of your challenges.
It's hard when you're a CEO, I think, to put some of your challenges out there.
So you need a mentor group.
in the chamber world and economic development world, you have trade associations.
(36:08):
Of course, in nonprofit world, you also have a trade association.
being transparent about what your challenges are and looking for people to be in yourmentor network to help you solve them.
So, and not being, goes back to ego a little bit, not being too proud to ask for helpwhere you need it, you know?
Yeah, I do love that.
(36:29):
And a lot of nonprofits are bringing on contractors as well, where they may not bring themon as an employee, but they get the experience and expertise that's needed for a key area.
because nonprofit leaders need to everything, like a little bit of marketing, a little bitof finance, a little bit of board governance, a little bit of, you know, you have to know
(36:56):
all of the departments and all the rules.
And so delegating or hiring a consultant or contracting someone that's an expert, I mean,there's a lot of solutions out there for nonprofit leaders and they just don't need to be
alone.
finding solutions.
(37:16):
absolutely agree with that.
So, you know, obviously you've talked about collaboration and it's at the heart of whatyou do.
How do you build trust amongst stakeholders who may have different priorities?
I think, not to be mushy, but I just kind of lead with kindness and love and relationshipbuilding.
(37:41):
So I have coffee with people all the time and we just get to know each other.
And someday we may do something together, who knows?
But just building relationships and connecting in person is really important to me.
So I think it just comes naturally when...
(38:03):
you're open and convened with others and talk about things.
Also in this world of transactional, you think about what really works.
It's building around relationships, authentic relationships.
Right.
Yeah.
(38:23):
And I think the older you get, the more comfortable you are with being your totalauthentic self.
mean, I listen to a lot of podcasts.
So, you know, my Mel Robbins and my Brené Brown and my Oprah.
Absolutely.
So I am, I think totally this is what you get, you know, and I think that's great.
(38:52):
in relationships.
And you can tell when someone's not authentic.
You really can, you can, and then I just stay away from those people.
That's so fun that you listen to the three podcasts that I do.
That gets me giddy.
So when thinking about having support and whatnot, what role do businesses and corporatepartners play in advancing economic literacy?
(39:21):
I think it's important for every business to have their employees have financial educationso that they participate in their 401ks or they don't get into issues with money and they
understand their benefits.
I was talking to a financial counselor recently who went into a large consulting companyand met with a lot of highly paid people and there's a lot of financial wellness programs
(39:50):
now.
within your wellness program in corporate America because it's so stressful when you havemoney problems.
And so it's such an important piece of our business community to make sure their employeeshave the resources and financial education also because they can't be really productive at
(40:12):
work if they're stressed about, you know, they didn't pay their credit card or theirmortgage is coming and.
So debt collectors.
And believe me as a banker mom and I grew up in a pretty affluent area My mom said there'sa lot of people that are horse poor and house poor and you would never know it, you know,
be like Why can't I get a BMW when I turn 16 and she's like Well, honey, they can't affordit either.
(40:36):
Yeah So there's you know, you don't know how much debt people have and it's very stressfulSo it's really important for the business community
to offer financial wellness to their employees.
I agree, I agree.
So when really doing some fun research on you, I was looking at your leadership journeyand it's so impressive.
(41:00):
So I really like to dive into some of these aha, Oprah moments that you've had inleadership.
So how has your leadership style evolved as you've grown more comfortable in your ownskin?
Well, that's a great question.
I became a CEO of the West Chamber in Jefferson County when I was like 27.
(41:22):
So I was a really young CEO and it was super scary.
But I had a network of other chamber CEOs that were older than me and helped me throughthe whole thing.
But a few years into it, we did like a 360 review in the community and got feedback.
And you don't know if it's coming from
(41:43):
the mayor or your board member or another nonprofit leader.
And it is so valuable for me to read a 360 review of what others thought of my leadership.
humbling.
mean, yeah.
I mean, it went from like, she's real confident to like, she could use some publicspeaking training.
(42:08):
So it helped me kind of.
narrow in on where I wanted to grow as a person.
And I just really feel strongly about being part of your community.
And so I find resources that I thought would be helpful in my leadership journey.
And I always enjoy working with a board of directors and know why they're connected to themission.
(42:36):
yeah, it started kind of young, but
It was a great experience to be the youngest.
And I'm still friends with a lot of my chamber mentors from my 20s.
That says so much.
So speaking of kind of, our listeners, you might be early in their nonprofit careers.
(42:59):
What's one piece of wisdom you wish you had known when you first started out?
that it's okay to make mistakes.
Like you don't have to be perfect all the time, but realize when there's a mistake thatyou need to like work on fixing it or work with your customers or your members.
(43:23):
I you can't be all things to all people and that's hard when you're young and you'retrying to you know be the best leader and make no mistakes and so I think just knowing
that mistakes help you grow.
And sometimes you start programs that fail, but you learn some life lessons out of it.
So, yeah, I think I am a recovering perfectionist.
(43:47):
Yeah, me too.
I was like, I wish you were there when I was younger.
Where were you?
I think that's the perfect answer,
Insight's a little 20-20 though, right?
Yeah.
It really is.
Yeah, I definitely have gotten over that.
Well, Micah might not say that.
(44:07):
He might actually disagree.
Anyway, Micah is the producer, heads up to everyone.
So you built this incredible career in the nonprofit space.
What keeps you motivated and passionate, and especially when the work gets really tough?
The work is really fun right now and I'm loving all of it.
(44:30):
I think what's more interesting in my career is like the kids went to college and myhusband retired from his first career.
Like we had a lot of life change in the years of, in the last few years and just kind ofriding that wave and knowing that change is good.
Like.
(44:51):
as scary as it was a few years ago, it's been such a fun change.
And sometimes you're ready for a change and you don't even know it.
And this has just been so cool for me to go from the economic development to economicliteracy and then merge into JA.
Like it's been a lot in the last two years, but so fun.
(45:11):
And I've learned so much about the education space and the finance world.
And now I at least have a little...
list of things that I don't know that I need to learn about.
And aside from Mel Robbins, I do a lot of like financial podcasts just to understandsometimes what the terminology is in the world of finance.
(45:34):
Is it evolving?
It is.
mean, FinTech is incredible because there's so many new apps in the finance industry andhow kids are moving money and so technology just moves things so much faster.
What do you think about Bitcoin?
so confused.
know, I know.
(45:55):
I just got my husband a Venmo the other day.
I mean, we're just trying to keep up.
So true, so true.
So, you know, obviously you talked about your twins and as a working mom of twins, what'syour secret to balancing leadership, advocacy and your family life?
Yeah, that was hard.
(46:17):
empty nesting makes it a lot easier because you're not feeding to other people and gettingthem through homework.
jokes aside, like going back to my mom, she would just kept saying like, you can do bothand you might not do it well all the time, but your kids are watching and they'll be
(46:37):
really proud of you.
And they are.
It's amazing.
Sometimes we had cereal for dinner.
And my mom will listen to this and she'll be mad I said this, but I have an image of herin pantyhose and a suit jacket with a scotch and water making dinner when I was little.
(46:58):
Because she'd get home at 7 p.m.
and just want to get some of her work clothes off, but she was in a hustle to make dinner.
But it's such a proud memory, even though she probably thought she was sucking at it.
at the time.
even though it's hard, women are tough.
We really are and resilient.
(47:19):
So I never did my daughter's hair.
You can tell in her pictures.
I wasn't good at it.
And I had bad hair when I was a kid too.
So some things you got to do for yourself.
That's right.
your own lunch and do your own hair.
You've seen a lot of people in the nonprofit industry that are suffering from burnout.
(47:40):
What advice do you have for them to keep going and fight through that?
Well, many years ago, I started this thing with my staff where we kind of reported back,what did you do for the one hour for yourself a day?
So every day you got to spend one hour doing something with yourself, whether it'smeditating, riding a bike, reading a book, listening to Mel Robbins, but it's just for
(48:07):
you.
And we made it up one time because we were talking about burnout and we kind of kept eachother accountable.
And I still do it every day.
And so I feel like everyone needs their power hour for themselves a day.
And my husband and I now call it free time after work.
Like, it's free time, so I'll see you in an hour.
(48:29):
And yesterday I did a puzzle.
Like, working on a puzzle.
And that was the capacity I had, just to work on a puzzle.
So I think it's just for your own mental health, you need one hour day for yourself.
great advice.
People do not do it.
Go around and ask people.
They don't spend an hour with themselves a day.
(48:52):
Yeah, but they are good at scheduling their calendar out.
So why can't they just add that into their calendar?
Maybe around meetings, it might not be the same time every day.
yeah, definitely the podcast for me is that hour that I take for myself and kind of getrenewed energy and a renewed spirit.
(49:15):
And if you don't take care of yourself, you can't take care of other people.
You can't be a good leader at work.
you really need to...
People think it's selfish to put themselves first, but you have to spend some time workingon yourself and making sure that your mental health is okay to keep going.
(49:36):
Yeah, absolutely.
Yes, that's such a key point.
I hope everyone really takes that to heart.
In leadership, what's been the most unexpected leadership lesson you've learned over theyears?
It's not unexpected, but a little bit.
Like people want you to succeed.
(49:57):
Board members want you to succeed.
Your staff wants you to succeed.
don't hire an employee hoping, I hope they fail, right?
but sometimes you think everyone's working against you because it's hard.
But I think the phrase is like, assume good intent.
(50:19):
And I think that's hard sometimes when everyone's coming at you with different things.
But everyone wants you to succeed.
And so I think that's just something you got to beat into yourself.
That's great.
So getting back to financial literacy, if every high school student walked away with justone financial lesson from your programs, what do you hope it would be?
(50:49):
knowing how to budget, to spend less than you make and put some aside for savings.
That's great.
That makes a lot of sense.
So for listeners who want to support financial literacy efforts, what's the most impactfulthing they can do, whether they're donors, educators, or parents?
(51:13):
Well, it's all laid out really well on our website, jarockymountain.org.
But I think it's up to the person if they want to volunteer individually, if they want tovolunteer as a team, if they want to come to one of our events.
Like next week, we have the Business Hall of Fame event with the Denver Chamber.
(51:34):
We have an awesome golf tournament in the summer.
We have bowlathons companies can do like.
There are so many options for people to give or participate and they're endless and we canalways help design something for an individual or company that's looking to participate
(51:58):
with Junior Achievement.
Thank you for joining us today on Empower Hour.
I hope you're leaving with fresh inspiration and practical insights to fuel your work.
Remember, every challenge you face is a stepping stone towards impact.
If you found this episode helpful, please follow us and share it with others.
Keep making a difference and lifting others up.
(52:20):
And I'll see you next time.
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