September 21, 2025 • 23 mins
Listen as Raven Heyward, founder and host of DiversifyHER, converses with Mary Esposito. She is a Morehead-Cain Scholar at UNC-Chapel Hill, entrepreneur, and content creator passionate about blending creativity with business. She is the founder of Purple Pear (@shoppurplepear), a crochet venture she started as a teenager that has grown into a thriving platform with an audience of over 307,000 on Instagram. She is also the creator of Money with Mary (@moneywithmary1), a financial literacy initiative with more than 49,000 Instagram followers, designed to make personal finance approachable and empowering for Gen Z.
Connect with Mary:
Linkedin:https://www.linkedin.com/in/mary-esposito-52485119a/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hello everyone and welcome back to Diversify Her
Podcast.
I'm your host, raven Hayward,and today I'm happy to have Mary
Eva Esposito join me.
She is a Moorhead Cane Scholarat UNC, chapel Hill,
entrepreneur and content creator, passionate about blending
creativity with business.
She's the founder of PurplePear, a crochet venture she
(00:23):
started as a teenager that hasgrown into a thriving platform
with an audience of over 307,000on Instagram.
She also is the creator ofMoney with Mary, a financial
literacy initiative with morethan 49,000 Instagram followers,
designed to make a personalfinance approachable and
empowering for Gen Z make apersonal finance approachable
(00:47):
and empowering for Gen Z.
Her work has been featured onpodcasts, including Yahoo
Finance, and she was invited tothe New York Stock Exchange in
recognition for herentrepreneurial and financial
education efforts.
Mary regularly speaks on panelsat conferences where she shares
insights on entrepreneurship,financial wellness and social
impact.
At UNC, she serves as a peermentor with the Carolina
(01:09):
Financial Well-Being Center,helping students navigate topics
like budgeting, credit andinvesting, as well as building
the program's official Instagram.
Through these experiences, shebrings a fresh perspective on
entrepreneurship, digital mediaand financial empowerment in
today's evolving landscape.
I'm also happy that I haveknown Mary since my freshman
(01:30):
year here at Chapel Hill, wherewe were both Assured Admits into
Kenan Flagler Business School.
Thank you so much for joiningme today, mary.
How are you doing?
Speaker 2 (01:38):
Hi, thank you so much for joining me.
I'm so excited to be on yourpodcast.
I've known about it sincefreshman year.
We were in the Assured Admitprogram together, so this is
awesome.
This is super exciting, andthank you for having me, of
course.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
I'm glad this is long overdue.
We've been talking about itsince freshman year, so now that
we're seniors I'm glad that wefinally got the ball rolling.
But for the first question Iwant to ask what inspired you to
turn crochet into a businesswith Purple Pear, and what were
some of the biggest lessons thatyou've learned in the early
(02:13):
stages of building a brand?
Speaker 2 (02:15):
Yeah, so, honestly, crochet started as a coping
mechanism for me during myeating disorder recovery when I
was 13,.
I was in a treatment center fora couple months and there
wasn't much else to do, so Ilearned how to crochet and I
also picked up knitting, and Iactually really enjoyed it.
It became a form of therapy forme, and so, even though I was
(02:37):
discharged from the hospital, Icontinued to craft and
eventually I started makingthings.
People started asking how theycould get them, and that's when
I created my Instagram page andeverything kind of just grew
from there.
So I've been crocheting andselling my plushies for the past
, oh Lord, like eight years,eight years, I'm 22.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
So yeah, so yeah that's crazy, so that's truly
amazing.
I remember, even just like,seeing certain TikToks of where
you know it would go viral, oreven at the end of our freshman
year, like I was kind of in thebackground of one of your videos
.
That was hilarious.
But I want to know how are youable to balance crocheting, as
(03:23):
in your business, along withschool, and like typically for a
certain plushie, like how longwould it take you to complete
one of the items?
Speaker 2 (03:32):
first.
I do want to give a shout outto you for that, though, because
do you know how many commentswere like who, who shorty in the
back, like I know you saw?
Yeah, like people werefangirling, they got thousands
of likes.
Hey, no yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
No, I think people originally thought that the
video was about me.
Like some of my friends wouldsend like, oh my goodness.
I thought that they weretalking about you for a second
because of the way I was likefidgeting, and the fact because
it was the end of the class andI was just ready to get back to
my room and go to sleep.
Like those 3, 30 classes incollege are brutal, yeah, so
(04:10):
that was just hilarious and,like I, remember I even texted
you.
I was like there's no way likepeople are actually talking
about me in this video no, theywere like damn, like who is that
?
Speaker 2 (04:21):
So definitely, definitely, definitely.
I mean you were smart.
But to your question, it's hard, I'm not going to lie, I mean
okay.
So I'm really grateful for UNCChapel Hill because it did allow
me this flexibility to balancemy entrepreneurship with my
(04:43):
academics.
For example, I was able to comein with a lot of AP credit that
allowed me to place out like mylanguages and my maths, getting
a short admission to thebusiness school, like I mean you
know, we got to start ourclasses early as freshman year,
collecting those businesselective credits, like starting
the core classes early, studyingabroad, getting funding for
(05:06):
that.
So really I've had so muchsupport through the university
that just made it easier for meto take the minimum course load
every semester, which is around12 to 13 hours, and then have
that flexibility outside of thatclassroom to continue to grow
my business.
So that's what I'm doing rightnow.
I'm currently in 12 credithours and loving it.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
Yeah, that's great, I know, especially being an
assured admit and just havingthe flexibility to take those
credits, but also like theweekend classes that are offered
at the business school, likethose are very helpful as well.
So you've grown both PurplePear and your money with Mary
into these thriving communities.
(05:49):
So I want to know whatstrategies have helped you scale
your platforms and how are youable to balance the creativity
with the consistency of contentcreation, because you and I both
know that in order to havethese strong platforms, you kind
of have to have a schedule orthere's like a method to how
(06:10):
much you're posting and whenyou're posting.
So how are you able to balanceall of that?
Speaker 2 (06:15):
Yeah, so I have to do this thing.
I call it content batching andit's basically where I do the
step of every single process allat once.
So like, for example, I'llscript a ton of videos, then
I'll collect the raw footagefrom a ton of videos, edit an
entire batch and then like, soforth, so forth.
(06:37):
Like down to like, draftingcaptions, preparing the
Instagram drafts to be scheduledout you know what I mean and
then I try to aim to post liketwo to three times a week
although I'm not going to holdyou with this, like senior year,
finishing out this wholesemester thing, like it's like
more, like one to two times aweek, and it is what it is.
(06:57):
Okay, it's, it's temporary.
We're going to get that back uppost-grad, but that's, that's a
post-grad problem.
But, yeah, I want to be moreactive because I do have two
platforms.
That does mean I have to doublemy content output, so it can
get pretty challenging.
So, also, I'm constantlybrainstorming new ways I can
create content that I can crosspost on both through the ad
(07:20):
collaborator feature onInstagram, and so I can get like
through the ad collaboratorfeature on Instagram, and so I
can get like two birds with onestone, I think, is that metaphor
.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
Yes, Killing two birds with one stone, Exactly.
So I want to know.
We've talked about, like, whatsort of inspired Purple Pear,
but what made you want to createMoney With Mary and you know
what motivated you to want toturn that into a platform and
like.
What do you think is mostimportant for Gen Z to know
about financial literacy rightnow?
Speaker 2 (07:56):
Yeah, Okay.
So to answer the first part ofyour question, I started Money
with Mary because I wanted youngwomen especially to feel
comfortable talking about money.
I noticed like growing up therewas definitely a audience
heavily skewed towards meninvolved in the financial
literacy space, and so somewomen might not feel as
(08:16):
comfortable entering that space,and I think that that needs to
change.
I feel like financial educationisn't built into our education
system right now, but it is ascritical as ever.
I mean you know job market,inflation, supply chain issues.
I mean everyone could benefitfrom being more financially
(08:38):
literate, and so I definitelywant to help bring more women
into that space and by creatingthat comfortable environment.
Speaker 1 (08:46):
Very important.
So, to answer the second partof my question with you know,
what do you think is the mostcritical or crucial advice that
you could give right now to GenZ pertaining to financial
well-being?
Speaker 2 (09:00):
is so important to start investing just because the
power of compounding over time.
I mean it's crazy how, like thevalue of money today, you can
put that in the stock market andthen passively, it can compound
(09:20):
and then you know you canretire with a much larger sum of
money.
It's just about that disciplineand that consistency.
You can even automate theseinvestments.
I think it's worth it to checkout.
You know, if you're employed,do you have some sort of
retirement benefits, someretirement account?
Does your employer match yourcontributions?
Or you know, can you use yourearned income towards a Roth IRA
(09:43):
and get that tax benefit?
So there's so many differentthings, I feel like, related to
investing that are so important,but the biggest one would just
be to start.
Speaker 1 (09:55):
Very important.
So through the CarolinaFinancial Wellbeing Center, you
mentor students on budgeting andcredit and investing.
So how has that peer-to-peermentoring shaped your
perspective on leadership andwhat gaps are you seeing in the
financial wellness for collegestudents?
(10:17):
I know you just touched brieflyon investing, but is there
anything else that you'venoticed since working with the
center?
Speaker 2 (10:24):
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, so to answer the firstpart of your question, I feel
like peer mentoring reallyshowed me that leadership is
about listening.
A lot of students do come inanxious about money, so creating
this safe space is what, like,really matters.
But when it comes to the gapthat I most often see in our
student population, well,honestly, I want to be like all
(10:48):
of the above because, like Imean, I'm glad we have a program
now, but I mean 2024, we shouldhave been had this program.
You know what I mean.
Like, students are strugglingin all areas, quite frankly, not
just students, gen Z, arguablyas a whole credit budgeting,
investing all of it, investingall of it but one particular
(11:15):
area for the student body isstudent loans.
I feel like there's a lot ofmisunderstanding and confusion
about how to pay off this debt.
You know, okay, we took out theloans when we were young.
We didn't really know what wasgoing on.
You know, okay, we're in school, we're getting the major.
Okay, now we have to thinkabout graduation, which means,
you know, maybe the have tothink about graduation, which
means, you know, maybe the loanpayments start or maybe the
interest starts right, and whatdoes that mean?
(11:37):
There's been some issues wheresome students have found that
they've been paying off debt on,they've been paying off money
on their loan, but then theyactually still have to pay even
more than the principal amountbecause they were only paying
off the interest and maybe sayit's a predatory, staggeringly
(11:58):
high interest rate.
You're screwed.
You know what I mean.
So just about likeunderstanding that and checking
refinancing options, etc.
Speaker 1 (12:04):
Yeah, that is probably very stressful in a
sense.
And so, with you having to talkthrough certain things like
this with students, like does itever get to you, or is there
ever a moment where you know itmay affect you more than you
thought it would have?
And like, how are you able tolike still take care of your
(12:25):
mental well-being and yourselfin order to like show up for
others?
Speaker 2 (12:36):
ourself in order to like show up for others.
I mean, I think that's a goodquestion.
I think that if we were to lookat it from just a pure
utilitarian perspective, thepositive utility of helping
these people understand andempowering them to get better at
their finances far outweighsthe negative utility that I
might get from, say, like, thestress of approaching their
(12:59):
situation.
So, overall, I think that's theway I look at it.
If it's a scale like makingthat decision, and that's really
helped me, I think also, I feelinspired because when you know
you have these one-on-oneconversations with people, you
can really figure out what arethe greatest areas of need.
I don't have to just guess andthen I can then take that and
(13:23):
incorporate it into my owncontent and knowing that now I
can genuinely really reachpeople where they're at, I can
meet them there.
Speaker 1 (13:33):
Yeah, and that's very important.
Like, I think, what you touchedon is basically just extending
grace, but also having a levelof empathy, because, like you
said, money can be such like ataboo topic for us to talk about
, and so, whenever you are, youknow, educating or consulting or
helping someone throughsomething this personal, I think
(13:54):
it's very important to havethat same approach that you just
explained, and so I'm reallyglad that we have the center and
I'm excited to hopefullycollaborate with them in the
future, with, like otherorganizations that I'm a part of
on campus.
And so I want to now shift tolooking forward and legacy.
So, with features on majorpodcasts and speaking at
(14:17):
conferences, how do you see yourwork evolving over the next few
years and what kind of legacydo you hope to leave for young
entrepreneurs and change makers?
Speaker 2 (14:28):
Yeah, thank you for asking me that.
I think that in the next fewyears I want to continue
exploring what it would looklike to keep integrating and
blending creativity withempowerment, whether that's
through, like social media,workshops, partnerships, etc.
I'm especially interested inthe craftivism movement Stands
(14:49):
for craft activism and for methis is in the context of fiber
arts.
So exploring further how I canuse knitting and crochet to
spark important dialogues andjust kind of push forward these
movements that I want to seeSuper big feminist over here.
So you know, continuing toexamine personal finance through
(15:12):
a feminist lens, advocating forreproductive rights, I
definitely want that to be apart of my legacy.
Some of my biggest role modelsare Georgia O'Keeffe and Judy
Chicago, Great feminist artists.
So once I'm an artist first andI'm an entrepreneur second.
So everything I do revolvesaround like art, you know, like.
Speaker 1 (15:33):
I just I have an artist brain.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
So, honestly, I want to be an artist first, and then
entrepreneurship will follow mewherever that takes me.
I also want to show that youdon't need to fit in a mold to
succeed.
You can dress how you want,talk how you want, listen to
whatever music you want, andpeople are going to take you
(15:56):
seriously or they're going tomiss out.
You know what I mean.
So not having to put yourselfin any kind of box to get to
where you want to be in life inall contexts, but especially in
a professional one.
Speaker 1 (16:10):
Yeah, I think that's really important, something that
you touched on.
How are you able to exude andhave this much confidence?
Do you think that it just camewith time, or is there like a
certain moment or peak andyou're like, yeah, like I need
to stop caring what others sayor think?
Can you explain more on?
Speaker 2 (16:31):
that.
Yeah, this is actually funnybecause I've tried to unpack
this, because I'm like why, whyam I like this?
Okay, this is my working theory.
Guys, let me know in thecomments what you think.
Okay, okay, so I am on thespectrum.
Just hear me out, this is allgoing to make sense.
Okay, I'm on the spectrum.
(16:52):
So I have trouble reading socialcues.
So that means I have a hardtime clocking.
You know, if two people aremaking a look or clocking, is
this socially appropriate for meto wear?
You know what I mean.
Like I have trouble registeringother people's nonverbal
judgments, essentially, if youdon't say it to my face, like
(17:13):
basically over my head.
So that obviously has its cons,but it has its benefits,
because I just it didn'tregister with me.
Like you know the judgment andlike all of that stuff.
I just I just didn't.
I could not understand what Iwas doing that you know was
(17:36):
unconventional ornon-conformative.
I just like, did it.
You know, like that has to.
I don't, I don't know anythingelse, but like I also feel like
I'm an artist and I I operate,um, with this mentality of I
want, whatever I'm doing everyday, I want something I'm doing
(17:58):
or wearing to be sending amessage about who I am or what I
stand for.
I love earrings.
I love statement earrings.
Those are my favorite versionof my favorite channel of this
right, whether it's like bigVenus symbols or, you know,
eclectic symbols or genitalia,all sorts of crazy stuff you
(18:19):
know hanging from my earlobes,any of that stuff and I don't
know.
It gets me creative, right,because I can style different
outfits every day and stuff andjust play around with that.
But at the core, like I don'tknow, that's how I operate.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
No, I really love your theory.
I think that that probably hassome truth to it, because I
think that must be so freeing,to just not care.
I think for me personally, Ialmost overanalyze social
situations, or I feel like I puttoo much pressure on caring how
others perceive me and whatthey may say, so it almost makes
(18:56):
me like so hesitant to doanything or to say anything
because I don't want it to comeoff wrong and I don't, you know,
want others to perceive me in acertain way or light.
But just as you said, like, ifthey don't like it, then so be
it, you know they're lost.
So I think that that's veryimportant and, I don't know, I
feel like that may also just bea representation of how our
(19:18):
generation is, like the Gen Zspecifically.
Speaker 2 (19:21):
We have just been known to cause a ruckus, as they
may say or just like not carewell, I think it also maybe
stems from the fact that, like Idid try to acclimate more in
middle school and I couldn't, Ijust I was the worst at this
kind of stuff, like you knowwhat I mean, and it just felt so
(19:41):
inauthentic and nobody believedme right Like nobody believed
that, you know, I was actuallythis archetype.
And so I realized like, nomatter what I was going to do,
like whether I tried to fit inor just didn't, I was going to
feel the same way, kind ofmisplaced, et cetera, et cetera.
(20:02):
And so, you know, I might aswell go with the path of least
resistance, which was justmarching to the tune of my own
drum.
That was the comment my eighthgrade teacher left on my report
card.
I remember Mary marches to thebeat of her own drum.
Speaker 1 (20:17):
And that's real, and that is amazing, and I think
that everyone should operatelike that.
And so, as we come to the endof this episode, I have a
signature question that I alwaysask, which is what's one piece
of advice you'd give Gen Z onhow they can go out and
diversify themselves, whetherit's in their career, their
(20:37):
communities or personal growth?
Speaker 2 (20:39):
Yeah, I would say my biggest piece of advice is to
build multiple lanes foryourself.
You don't have to pick just onepath, because every single
skill you have will compoundacross different parts of your
life.
So you should say yes toopportunities that stretch you,
and an example of this is I.
(21:00):
So I'm an entrepreneur likewhatever.
I've never been into boardgames.
I picked up chess and now whenI approach my business strategy,
I can envision it as like achess board and I can apply like
these strategies, like forlong-term gratification and like
setting up particular pieces tofall into play.
(21:23):
You know what I mean.
Like it's so interesting to methat this skill set is so
applicable across industries andacross interests and, for
example, spanish.
I'm learning Spanish for travel, but wait, now I can start
building out Spanish translatedresources for financial literacy
.
So it's so interesting to me.
(21:44):
You know like we box ourselvesin, like, oh, I'm interested in
finance, so you know I have todo a JP Morgan internship in
addition to moving to New YorkCity.
Now, I have nothing againstthat.
Actually, that sounds lit.
Hey, I want to do this in thesummer.
Hey, you know what I mean.
But like that's not the onlything.
You know what I mean.
(22:05):
You can be interested infinance and be an artist like me
.
You know I didn't just pickmoney with Mary or Purple Pear.
I wanted to do both, so I didboth.
You know you can and say yes tothings that you, you know you
might not anticipate beingsomething that you're interested
in, because you just quiteliterally never know that is so
(22:28):
real and I definitely took a fewnotes and some golden nuggets
that you just dropped.
Speaker 1 (22:34):
I hope all of you listening did the same thing.
I will be sure to have moneywith Mary, as well as Purple
Pear and your LinkedIn in thebio below.
Thank you again for coming onand talking with us.
I thoroughly enjoyed thisconversation.
I hope everyone listening didas well and I'll catch you next
time on Diversify Her.
Thank you you.
Hello everyone and welcome back to Diversify Her
Podcast.
I'm your host, raven Hayward,and today I'm happy to have Mary
Eva Esposito join me.
She is a Moorhead Cane Scholarat UNC, chapel Hill,
entrepreneur and content creator, passionate about blending
creativity with business.
She's the founder of PurplePear, a crochet venture she
(00:23):
started as a teenager that hasgrown into a thriving platform
with an audience of over 307,000on Instagram.
She also is the creator ofMoney with Mary, a financial
literacy initiative with morethan 49,000 Instagram followers,
designed to make a personalfinance approachable and
empowering for Gen Z make apersonal finance approachable
(00:47):
and empowering for Gen Z.
Her work has been featured onpodcasts, including Yahoo
Finance, and she was invited tothe New York Stock Exchange in
recognition for herentrepreneurial and financial
education efforts.
Mary regularly speaks on panelsat conferences where she shares
insights on entrepreneurship,financial wellness and social
impact.
At UNC, she serves as a peermentor with the Carolina
(01:09):
Financial Well-Being Center,helping students navigate topics
like budgeting, credit andinvesting, as well as building
the program's official Instagram.
Through these experiences, shebrings a fresh perspective on
entrepreneurship, digital mediaand financial empowerment in
today's evolving landscape.
I'm also happy that I haveknown Mary since my freshman
(01:30):
year here at Chapel Hill, wherewe were both Assured Admits into
Kenan Flagler Business School.
Thank you so much for joiningme today, mary.
How are you doing?
Speaker 2 (01:38):
Hi, thank you so much for joining me.
I'm so excited to be on yourpodcast.
I've known about it sincefreshman year.
We were in the Assured Admitprogram together, so this is
awesome.
This is super exciting, andthank you for having me, of
course.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
I'm glad this is long overdue.
We've been talking about itsince freshman year, so now that
we're seniors I'm glad that wefinally got the ball rolling.
But for the first question Iwant to ask what inspired you to
turn crochet into a businesswith Purple Pear, and what were
some of the biggest lessons thatyou've learned in the early
(02:13):
stages of building a brand?
Speaker 2 (02:15):
Yeah, so, honestly, crochet started as a coping
mechanism for me during myeating disorder recovery when I
was 13,.
I was in a treatment center fora couple months and there
wasn't much else to do, so Ilearned how to crochet and I
also picked up knitting, and Iactually really enjoyed it.
It became a form of therapy forme, and so, even though I was
(02:37):
discharged from the hospital, Icontinued to craft and
eventually I started makingthings.
People started asking how theycould get them, and that's when
I created my Instagram page andeverything kind of just grew
from there.
So I've been crocheting andselling my plushies for the past
, oh Lord, like eight years,eight years, I'm 22.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
So yeah, so yeah that's crazy, so that's truly
amazing.
I remember, even just like,seeing certain TikToks of where
you know it would go viral, oreven at the end of our freshman
year, like I was kind of in thebackground of one of your videos
.
That was hilarious.
But I want to know how are youable to balance crocheting, as
(03:23):
in your business, along withschool, and like typically for a
certain plushie, like how longwould it take you to complete
one of the items?
Speaker 2 (03:32):
first.
I do want to give a shout outto you for that, though, because
do you know how many commentswere like who, who shorty in the
back, like I know you saw?
Yeah, like people werefangirling, they got thousands
of likes.
Hey, no yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
No, I think people originally thought that the
video was about me.
Like some of my friends wouldsend like, oh my goodness.
I thought that they weretalking about you for a second
because of the way I was likefidgeting, and the fact because
it was the end of the class andI was just ready to get back to
my room and go to sleep.
Like those 3, 30 classes incollege are brutal, yeah, so
(04:10):
that was just hilarious and,like I, remember I even texted
you.
I was like there's no way likepeople are actually talking
about me in this video no, theywere like damn, like who is that
?
Speaker 2 (04:21):
So definitely, definitely, definitely.
I mean you were smart.
But to your question, it's hard, I'm not going to lie, I mean
okay.
So I'm really grateful for UNCChapel Hill because it did allow
me this flexibility to balancemy entrepreneurship with my
(04:43):
academics.
For example, I was able to comein with a lot of AP credit that
allowed me to place out like mylanguages and my maths, getting
a short admission to thebusiness school, like I mean you
know, we got to start ourclasses early as freshman year,
collecting those businesselective credits, like starting
the core classes early, studyingabroad, getting funding for
(05:06):
that.
So really I've had so muchsupport through the university
that just made it easier for meto take the minimum course load
every semester, which is around12 to 13 hours, and then have
that flexibility outside of thatclassroom to continue to grow
my business.
So that's what I'm doing rightnow.
I'm currently in 12 credithours and loving it.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
Yeah, that's great, I know, especially being an
assured admit and just havingthe flexibility to take those
credits, but also like theweekend classes that are offered
at the business school, likethose are very helpful as well.
So you've grown both PurplePear and your money with Mary
into these thriving communities.
(05:49):
So I want to know whatstrategies have helped you scale
your platforms and how are youable to balance the creativity
with the consistency of contentcreation, because you and I both
know that in order to havethese strong platforms, you kind
of have to have a schedule orthere's like a method to how
(06:10):
much you're posting and whenyou're posting.
So how are you able to balanceall of that?
Speaker 2 (06:15):
Yeah, so I have to do this thing.
I call it content batching andit's basically where I do the
step of every single process allat once.
So like, for example, I'llscript a ton of videos, then
I'll collect the raw footagefrom a ton of videos, edit an
entire batch and then like, soforth, so forth.
(06:37):
Like down to like, draftingcaptions, preparing the
Instagram drafts to be scheduledout you know what I mean and
then I try to aim to post liketwo to three times a week
although I'm not going to holdyou with this, like senior year,
finishing out this wholesemester thing, like it's like
more, like one to two times aweek, and it is what it is.
(06:57):
Okay, it's, it's temporary.
We're going to get that back uppost-grad, but that's, that's a
post-grad problem.
But, yeah, I want to be moreactive because I do have two
platforms.
That does mean I have to doublemy content output, so it can
get pretty challenging.
So, also, I'm constantlybrainstorming new ways I can
create content that I can crosspost on both through the ad
(07:20):
collaborator feature onInstagram, and so I can get like
through the ad collaboratorfeature on Instagram, and so I
can get like two birds with onestone, I think, is that metaphor
.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
Yes, Killing two birds with one stone, Exactly.
So I want to know.
We've talked about, like, whatsort of inspired Purple Pear,
but what made you want to createMoney With Mary and you know
what motivated you to want toturn that into a platform and
like.
What do you think is mostimportant for Gen Z to know
about financial literacy rightnow?
Speaker 2 (07:56):
Yeah, Okay.
So to answer the first part ofyour question, I started Money
with Mary because I wanted youngwomen especially to feel
comfortable talking about money.
I noticed like growing up therewas definitely a audience
heavily skewed towards meninvolved in the financial
literacy space, and so somewomen might not feel as
(08:16):
comfortable entering that space,and I think that that needs to
change.
I feel like financial educationisn't built into our education
system right now, but it is ascritical as ever.
I mean you know job market,inflation, supply chain issues.
I mean everyone could benefitfrom being more financially
(08:38):
literate, and so I definitelywant to help bring more women
into that space and by creatingthat comfortable environment.
Speaker 1 (08:46):
Very important.
So, to answer the second partof my question with you know,
what do you think is the mostcritical or crucial advice that
you could give right now to GenZ pertaining to financial
well-being?
Speaker 2 (09:00):
is so important to start investing just because the
power of compounding over time.
I mean it's crazy how, like thevalue of money today, you can
put that in the stock market andthen passively, it can compound
(09:20):
and then you know you canretire with a much larger sum of
money.
It's just about that disciplineand that consistency.
You can even automate theseinvestments.
I think it's worth it to checkout.
You know, if you're employed,do you have some sort of
retirement benefits, someretirement account?
Does your employer match yourcontributions?
Or you know, can you use yourearned income towards a Roth IRA
(09:43):
and get that tax benefit?
So there's so many differentthings, I feel like, related to
investing that are so important,but the biggest one would just
be to start.
Speaker 1 (09:55):
Very important.
So through the CarolinaFinancial Wellbeing Center, you
mentor students on budgeting andcredit and investing.
So how has that peer-to-peermentoring shaped your
perspective on leadership andwhat gaps are you seeing in the
financial wellness for collegestudents?
(10:17):
I know you just touched brieflyon investing, but is there
anything else that you'venoticed since working with the
center?
Speaker 2 (10:24):
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, so to answer the firstpart of your question, I feel
like peer mentoring reallyshowed me that leadership is
about listening.
A lot of students do come inanxious about money, so creating
this safe space is what, like,really matters.
But when it comes to the gapthat I most often see in our
student population, well,honestly, I want to be like all
(10:48):
of the above because, like Imean, I'm glad we have a program
now, but I mean 2024, we shouldhave been had this program.
You know what I mean.
Like, students are strugglingin all areas, quite frankly, not
just students, gen Z, arguablyas a whole credit budgeting,
investing all of it, investingall of it but one particular
(11:15):
area for the student body isstudent loans.
I feel like there's a lot ofmisunderstanding and confusion
about how to pay off this debt.
You know, okay, we took out theloans when we were young.
We didn't really know what wasgoing on.
You know, okay, we're in school, we're getting the major.
Okay, now we have to thinkabout graduation, which means,
you know, maybe the have tothink about graduation, which
means, you know, maybe the loanpayments start or maybe the
interest starts right, and whatdoes that mean?
(11:37):
There's been some issues wheresome students have found that
they've been paying off debt on,they've been paying off money
on their loan, but then theyactually still have to pay even
more than the principal amountbecause they were only paying
off the interest and maybe sayit's a predatory, staggeringly
(11:58):
high interest rate.
You're screwed.
You know what I mean.
So just about likeunderstanding that and checking
refinancing options, etc.
Speaker 1 (12:04):
Yeah, that is probably very stressful in a
sense.
And so, with you having to talkthrough certain things like
this with students, like does itever get to you, or is there
ever a moment where you know itmay affect you more than you
thought it would have?
And like, how are you able tolike still take care of your
(12:25):
mental well-being and yourselfin order to like show up for
others?
Speaker 2 (12:36):
ourself in order to like show up for others.
I mean, I think that's a goodquestion.
I think that if we were to lookat it from just a pure
utilitarian perspective, thepositive utility of helping
these people understand andempowering them to get better at
their finances far outweighsthe negative utility that I
might get from, say, like, thestress of approaching their
(12:59):
situation.
So, overall, I think that's theway I look at it.
If it's a scale like makingthat decision, and that's really
helped me, I think also, I feelinspired because when you know
you have these one-on-oneconversations with people, you
can really figure out what arethe greatest areas of need.
I don't have to just guess andthen I can then take that and
(13:23):
incorporate it into my owncontent and knowing that now I
can genuinely really reachpeople where they're at, I can
meet them there.
Speaker 1 (13:33):
Yeah, and that's very important.
Like, I think, what you touchedon is basically just extending
grace, but also having a levelof empathy, because, like you
said, money can be such like ataboo topic for us to talk about
, and so, whenever you are, youknow, educating or consulting or
helping someone throughsomething this personal, I think
(13:54):
it's very important to havethat same approach that you just
explained, and so I'm reallyglad that we have the center and
I'm excited to hopefullycollaborate with them in the
future, with, like otherorganizations that I'm a part of
on campus.
And so I want to now shift tolooking forward and legacy.
So, with features on majorpodcasts and speaking at
(14:17):
conferences, how do you see yourwork evolving over the next few
years and what kind of legacydo you hope to leave for young
entrepreneurs and change makers?
Speaker 2 (14:28):
Yeah, thank you for asking me that.
I think that in the next fewyears I want to continue
exploring what it would looklike to keep integrating and
blending creativity withempowerment, whether that's
through, like social media,workshops, partnerships, etc.
I'm especially interested inthe craftivism movement Stands
(14:49):
for craft activism and for methis is in the context of fiber
arts.
So exploring further how I canuse knitting and crochet to
spark important dialogues andjust kind of push forward these
movements that I want to seeSuper big feminist over here.
So you know, continuing toexamine personal finance through
(15:12):
a feminist lens, advocating forreproductive rights, I
definitely want that to be apart of my legacy.
Some of my biggest role modelsare Georgia O'Keeffe and Judy
Chicago, Great feminist artists.
So once I'm an artist first andI'm an entrepreneur second.
So everything I do revolvesaround like art, you know, like.
Speaker 1 (15:33):
I just I have an artist brain.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
So, honestly, I want to be an artist first, and then
entrepreneurship will follow mewherever that takes me.
I also want to show that youdon't need to fit in a mold to
succeed.
You can dress how you want,talk how you want, listen to
whatever music you want, andpeople are going to take you
(15:56):
seriously or they're going tomiss out.
You know what I mean.
So not having to put yourselfin any kind of box to get to
where you want to be in life inall contexts, but especially in
a professional one.
Speaker 1 (16:10):
Yeah, I think that's really important, something that
you touched on.
How are you able to exude andhave this much confidence?
Do you think that it just camewith time, or is there like a
certain moment or peak andyou're like, yeah, like I need
to stop caring what others sayor think?
Can you explain more on?
Speaker 2 (16:31):
that.
Yeah, this is actually funnybecause I've tried to unpack
this, because I'm like why, whyam I like this?
Okay, this is my working theory.
Guys, let me know in thecomments what you think.
Okay, okay, so I am on thespectrum.
Just hear me out, this is allgoing to make sense.
Okay, I'm on the spectrum.
(16:52):
So I have trouble reading socialcues.
So that means I have a hardtime clocking.
You know, if two people aremaking a look or clocking, is
this socially appropriate for meto wear?
You know what I mean.
Like I have trouble registeringother people's nonverbal
judgments, essentially, if youdon't say it to my face, like
(17:13):
basically over my head.
So that obviously has its cons,but it has its benefits,
because I just it didn'tregister with me.
Like you know the judgment andlike all of that stuff.
I just I just didn't.
I could not understand what Iwas doing that you know was
(17:36):
unconventional ornon-conformative.
I just like, did it.
You know, like that has to.
I don't, I don't know anythingelse, but like I also feel like
I'm an artist and I I operate,um, with this mentality of I
want, whatever I'm doing everyday, I want something I'm doing
(17:58):
or wearing to be sending amessage about who I am or what I
stand for.
I love earrings.
I love statement earrings.
Those are my favorite versionof my favorite channel of this
right, whether it's like bigVenus symbols or, you know,
eclectic symbols or genitalia,all sorts of crazy stuff you
(18:19):
know hanging from my earlobes,any of that stuff and I don't
know.
It gets me creative, right,because I can style different
outfits every day and stuff andjust play around with that.
But at the core, like I don'tknow, that's how I operate.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
No, I really love your theory.
I think that that probably hassome truth to it, because I
think that must be so freeing,to just not care.
I think for me personally, Ialmost overanalyze social
situations, or I feel like I puttoo much pressure on caring how
others perceive me and whatthey may say, so it almost makes
(18:56):
me like so hesitant to doanything or to say anything
because I don't want it to comeoff wrong and I don't, you know,
want others to perceive me in acertain way or light.
But just as you said, like, ifthey don't like it, then so be
it, you know they're lost.
So I think that that's veryimportant and, I don't know, I
feel like that may also just bea representation of how our
(19:18):
generation is, like the Gen Zspecifically.
Speaker 2 (19:21):
We have just been known to cause a ruckus, as they
may say or just like not carewell, I think it also maybe
stems from the fact that, like Idid try to acclimate more in
middle school and I couldn't, Ijust I was the worst at this
kind of stuff, like you knowwhat I mean, and it just felt so
(19:41):
inauthentic and nobody believedme right Like nobody believed
that, you know, I was actuallythis archetype.
And so I realized like, nomatter what I was going to do,
like whether I tried to fit inor just didn't, I was going to
feel the same way, kind ofmisplaced, et cetera, et cetera.
(20:02):
And so, you know, I might aswell go with the path of least
resistance, which was justmarching to the tune of my own
drum.
That was the comment my eighthgrade teacher left on my report
card.
I remember Mary marches to thebeat of her own drum.
Speaker 1 (20:17):
And that's real, and that is amazing, and I think
that everyone should operatelike that.
And so, as we come to the endof this episode, I have a
signature question that I alwaysask, which is what's one piece
of advice you'd give Gen Z onhow they can go out and
diversify themselves, whetherit's in their career, their
(20:37):
communities or personal growth?
Speaker 2 (20:39):
Yeah, I would say my biggest piece of advice is to
build multiple lanes foryourself.
You don't have to pick just onepath, because every single
skill you have will compoundacross different parts of your
life.
So you should say yes toopportunities that stretch you,
and an example of this is I.
(21:00):
So I'm an entrepreneur likewhatever.
I've never been into boardgames.
I picked up chess and now whenI approach my business strategy,
I can envision it as like achess board and I can apply like
these strategies, like forlong-term gratification and like
setting up particular pieces tofall into play.
(21:23):
You know what I mean.
Like it's so interesting to methat this skill set is so
applicable across industries andacross interests and, for
example, spanish.
I'm learning Spanish for travel, but wait, now I can start
building out Spanish translatedresources for financial literacy
.
So it's so interesting to me.
(21:44):
You know like we box ourselvesin, like, oh, I'm interested in
finance, so you know I have todo a JP Morgan internship in
addition to moving to New YorkCity.
Now, I have nothing againstthat.
Actually, that sounds lit.
Hey, I want to do this in thesummer.
Hey, you know what I mean.
But like that's not the onlything.
You know what I mean.
(22:05):
You can be interested infinance and be an artist like me
.
You know I didn't just pickmoney with Mary or Purple Pear.
I wanted to do both, so I didboth.
You know you can and say yes tothings that you, you know you
might not anticipate beingsomething that you're interested
in, because you just quiteliterally never know that is so
(22:28):
real and I definitely took a fewnotes and some golden nuggets
that you just dropped.
Speaker 1 (22:34):
I hope all of you listening did the same thing.
I will be sure to have moneywith Mary, as well as Purple
Pear and your LinkedIn in thebio below.
Thank you again for coming onand talking with us.
I thoroughly enjoyed thisconversation.
I hope everyone listening didas well and I'll catch you next
time on Diversify Her.
Thank you you.
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