In this episode, our guest Nicole Stanley and I dive into the emotional, strategic, and systemic layers of personal finance. Nicole is the founder of Arise Financial Coaching and the creator of the Money Momentum Method—a system born from her own transformation from debt and anxiety to a thriving six-figure net worth by age 27. We talk about the real reasons money creates so much stress, how our childhoods shape financial behaviors, and how to build confidence even when things feel uncertain.

Through her ADHD lens, we see a different way of thinking about financial planning—one that values automation, visual cues, and goal-based tracking over rigid spreadsheets. And when we talk about changing the world, Nicole makes it clear that empowered women with financial literacy aren’t just making better lives for themselves—they’re lifting whole communities.

Nicole Stanley is a financial coach, entrepreneur, and the founder of Arise Financial Coaching, a growing practice that has already served over 600 clients worldwide. She developed her signature approach, the Money Momentum Method, after transforming her own life: from drowning in debt and stress to building a $250K+ net worth by the age of 27—all on an average salary and without shortcuts. Her journey was fueled not just by numbers, but by a deep need to reclaim her peace of mind and autonomy from the grip of financial anxiety.

Nicole began coaching informally—helping friends and family navigate their budgets—before realizing the power of what she’d created. In March 2020, in the midst of global uncertainty, she launched her coaching business officially. Since then, Arise Financial Coaching has grown to include a team of ADHD-informed coaches, group programs, and accolades from platforms like TIME, Yahoo Finance, and CNET. Nicole’s mission is clear: to help people stop feeling behind and start building financial lives that feel aligned, joyful, and free.

[00:01:41] Meeting Nicole and her early money story [00:05:31] Coast FIRE by age 27 [00:07:19] Detaching from Dave Ramsey-style deprivation [00:10:56] ADHD, money, and the myth of laziness [00:18:21] Childhood financial anxiety and parental influence [00:23:48] Building confidence even in financial chaos [00:29:41] Redefining social justice through money [00:33:19] Coaching clients through tithing and debt [00:37:41] Resignation and learned helplessness in today’s economy [00:41:27] Why empowering women financially transforms communities

#FinancialFreedom #DebtFreeJourney #ADHDAndMoney #WomenAndWealth #FinancialCoaching #MoneyMindset #EmpoweredSpending #CoastFIRE #MoneyAndFaith #NeurodivergentMoney

Instagram Website Threads TikTok Francis Cabrini Prince Charming Isn't Coming: How Women Get Smart About Money by Barbara Stanny Viking Economics: How the Scandinavians Got It Right-and How We Can, Too by George Lakey

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Diana Gisel Yañez is an Investment Advisor Representative of Natural Investments PBLLC. Natural Investments is an independent Registered Investment Advisor. All the Colors is not a registered entity and is not an affiliate or subsidiary of Natural Investments. See our Disclosures and Disclaimers and read our Form CRS.

In this episode, our guest DonJay Rice and I take a deep dive into the complex relationship between money, grief, and healing. Early in DonJay’s career as a wealth manager a series of personal and professional turning points led him to add behavioral coaching skills to his work, way before it was a common practice for wealth managers. In our conversation, he opens up about how an experience with three widowed clients changed everything he thought he knew about money and human connection.

We explore how personal history shapes our financial behaviors, the ongoing impact of childhood experiences, and what it takes to truly feel emotionally safe with money. DonJay shares insights about his own upbringing in poverty, becoming the legal guardian of his special needs brothers, and how discovering his "transferable skills" outside of traditional finance became a catalyst for work filled with purpose and meaning. We also reflect on the journey from emotional numbness to the subtle joy of appreciating nature and why helping others reclaim their voice is part of his life’s work.

DonJay Rice is a Financial Coach and the founder of Drumbeat of Wealth, where he specializes in guiding clients through the tangled intersections of money, grief, and trauma. With over 25 years of experience in financial services, including 28 years as a wealth manager, DonJay brings a unique blend of financial expertise and deep emotional insight to his coaching practice. His work is grounded in behavioral finance and shaped by his own journey through personal loss, hardship, and healing.

Having grown up in poverty and navigated complex family responsibilities from a young age—including becoming guardian to his special needs brothers—DonJay developed an acute sensitivity to how unresolved grief can shape our financial lives. Today, he draws on that lived experience, as well as formal training in financial psychology, to help others find clarity, purpose, and a renewed relationship with money. Whether it's unspoken money anxieties or long-standing emotional patterns, DonJay helps clients find their rhythm again—one beat at a time.

[00:01:50] Meeting DonJay Rice [00:04:48] The moment three widows changed his career [00:08:29] Leaving financial advising without a plan [00:12:10] Realizing he had transferable skills [00:16:22] Childhood financial enmeshment and trauma [00:21:22] Why people box up pain and how we eventually unpack it [00:26:02] The value of sensitivity and unstructured time [00:32:22] Bringing social justice into financial coaching [00:38:20] How DonJay works with clients post-therapy [00:41:53] Exploring “half-truths” and inherited money beliefs [00:47:50] The role of a coach: not an expert, but a mirror

#moneyandtrauma #griefsupport #financialcoaching #healingjourney #financialbehavior #socialjusticework #donjayrice #traumainformed #moneyhealing #coachingwithpurpose #drumbbeatofwealth

Drumbeat of Wealth LinkedIn Instagram Facebook Nobody Nowhere: The Remarkable Autobiography of an Autistic Girl by Donna Williams

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Diana Gisel Yañez is an Investment Advisor Representative of Natural Investments PBLLC. Natural Investments is an independent Registered Investment Advisor. All the Colors is not a registered entity and is not an affiliate or subsidiary of Natural Investments. See our Disclosures and Disclaimers and read our Form CRS.

In this episode, I take the mic solo to talk about something I've struggled with for years: rest. As a woman of color, entrepreneur, and daughter of workaholics, rest has never come easy. I share personal stories—from my time hustling in Los Angeles to a life-changing sabbatical in Costa Rica—and unpack how I’ve slowly learned to embrace rest, not as a luxury, but as a necessity, especially as I’ve learned more about what I need as a Highly Sensitive Person.

This conversation weaves through memories of burnout, the lessons I picked up in cultures that value community and slow living, and the deep unlearning required to step away from internalized capitalism. I reflect on what it means to decouple productivity from self-worth, how Highly Sensitive People are wired for rest, and why our society’s obsession with overwork is exploitative. If you’ve ever needed permission to slow down, this episode is for you.

[00:01:50] Why rest matters for entrepreneurs [00:08:00] Challenging the idea of “charging your worth” [00:09:40] Lessons from Tico culture and slowing down [00:11:20] Discovering that rest improves productivity [00:18:20] Hitting a wall: the moment of deep burnout [00:19:50] The illusion of rest while digital nomading [00:26:00] Building white space into the calendar [00:31:10] Rest as a core need for sensitive minds

#MindfulBusiness #RestIsRevolutionary #BurnoutRecovery #WorkLifeBalance #RestOverGrind #MoneyMindset #WomenInBusiness #MinorityOwned

Breaking Toxic Patterns of Workaholism Debt: The First 5,000 Years by David Graeber The Dawn of Everything by David Graeber and David Wengrow

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Diana Gisel Yañez is an Investment Advisor Representative of Natural Investments PBLLC. Natural Investments is an independent Registered Investment Advisor. All the Colors is not a registered entity and is not an affiliate or subsidiary of Natural Investments. See our Disclosures and Disclaimers and read our Form CRS.