In This Episode We Talk About

What does it look like to rebuild your relationship with money, raise a financially savvy kid on your own, and still show up fully in every area of your life? Rhiana Whitmire is doing all three. In this episode, we get real about money habits, single motherhood, the power of community, and what it means to rise after loss. Rhiana is writing a series of financial literacy books for kids ages 3 to 16, leading alongside me at WIFS, and raising her daughter with the kind of intentionality that only comes from doing the hard work on yourself first. This one is going to hit.

Key Takeaways

✨ You cannot out-earn bad money habits

✨ Narrating your financial decisions out loud is one of the easiest ways to teach kids about money

✨ The village is not optional. It is the strategy.

✨ Fear is real. Put it on the shelf and go anyway.

✨ Being a single mom means you hold all the balls

Who This Episode Is For

This episode is for the mom who is navigating money stress, doing it mostly alone, and wondering how to raise kids who are smarter about finances than she was (basically all of us). It is also for every woman who has let fear make the decision for her one too many times.

Connect with Jessica Perez

Instagram: https://instagram.com/jessicaperez

LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/jessica-perez-consulting

Connect with Rhiana Whitmire

Instagram:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rhiana-whitmire/

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In This Episode We Talk About

Kristen Cantrell has built something most people would consider impossible: 42,000 moms in a national real estate community, Hello Culture chapters in 38 cities (and Canada), 400 agents in her real brokerage group, and two podcasts. And she did all of it as a mom of two boys, without a roadmap, in an industry she landed in because she refused to go back to a job that didn't see her as a whole person. In this episode, Kristen gets real about building big while staying present, the health crisis she quietly survived for years before finally finding her root cause, the season her marriage is in right now, and why community isn't optional for women who want to go far. This conversation hits.

Key Takeaways

✨ You don't have to build alone. Finding your counterpart changes everything.

✨ Burnout and health problems are not your personality. Find your root cause.

✨ Community isn't networking. It's having five people to call when life gets hard.

Who This Episode Is For

This episode is for the mom who is building something real and still figuring out how to stay in her body, her marriage, and her purpose at the same time. If you have ever felt like your health symptoms were dismissed, your relationships were running on empty, or your calendar was full but your cup was not, Kristen speaks directly to you.

Connect with Jessica Perez

Instagram: https://instagram.com/jessicaperez1123

LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/jessica-perez-consulting

Connect with Kristen Cantrell

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/heykristincantrell

Hello Culture: helloculture.com

Moms in Real Estate: momsinrealestate.com

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#BeyondtheBalance #WorkingMoms #MomPodcast

In This Episode We Talk About

Sue Kuraja built her career in financial services sales and distribution the hard way, from mining high-net-worth clients at a bank to going 1099 as a wholesaler for MassMutual, all while raising four kids without a village in a city she moved to on faith. In this episode, Sue gets real about the job offer she turned down because they asked her to promise she would not have kids, how her husband became a stay-at-home dad for five years, and what it actually looks like to burn the candle at both ends without burning yourself out. She also shares the leadership lessons she pulled from three years on the national executive board of WIFS and what she told herself in those rooms when the work was hard and unglamorous.

Key Takeaways

✨ Turned down a promotion because they wanted her to choose between the job and motherhood.

✨ Nobody fights harder than a working mom.

✨ Do the right thing. Not the easy one.

Who This Episode Is For

This episode is for the mom who is trying to hold her career together while nobody claps for the invisible work she does every single day. If you have ever been told what you can and cannot be, or if you are in a season where you are running on empty but you are not ready to stop, this one is going to land.

Connect with Jessica Perez

INSTAGRAM

https://instagram.com/jessicaperez1123

LINKEDIN

https://linkedin.com/in/jessica-perez-consulting

Connect with Sue Kuraja

LINKEDIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/suekuraja/

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#Beyondthebalance #WorkingMoms #WomenInFinancialServices #WIFS

In This Episode We Talk About

Lindsey Lewis is a CFP, COO, Managing Director, Investment News 40 Under 40 recipient, and a mom of two who once won a silver medal in pole vaulting. She is not doing one thing well. She is doing everything with purpose these days. In this episode, Lindsey pulls back the curtain on what it actually looks like to build a career in financial services as a woman, navigate new motherhood with a traveling spouse and zero family nearby, evolve your faith and your marriage at the same time, and still show up as the person you are becoming. This one is honest, real, and packed with the kind of clarity that only comes from someone who has lived through the hard chapters and chose to keep building anyway.

Key Takeaways

✨ Rest is not optional. It is data. And when you skip it, everything pays the price.

✨ Your village in today's world is built with intention and sometimes a credit card. Stop waiting for it to show up.

✨ Work-life balance is a myth. Work-life harmony is the real goal, and some weeks you are going to sing a wrong note.

Who This Episode Is For

This episode is for the mom who is holding it all together on the outside and quietly unraveling on the inside. If you have ever come back from maternity leave too soon, rebuilt your village from scratch in a new city, or felt the weight of being the only woman in the room, Lindsay is talking directly to you.

Connect with Jessica Perez

Instagram https://instagram.com/jessicaperez

LinkedIn https://linkedin.com/in/jessica-perez-consulting

Connect with Lindsey Lewis

LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/lindseycarolyn/

Website: https://startwithcatalyst.com/team/lindsey-lewis

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In This Episode We Talk About

Lindsay Evans spent 22 years building a career in tech, data, and product management while navigating early motherhood, a cross-country move, a six-month postpartum breakdown, and a daughter's seizure that changed everything. Now she has made the leap from VP of Product to COO of her husband Andrew's RIA firm, and she is five weeks in and thriving. This episode is the real, unfiltered version of what it looks like to build a life on your terms, including the parts nobody posts about.

Key Takeaways

✨ You can be a better mom when you stop pretending to be a perfect one

✨ The decision is never as scary as the analysis paralysis that keeps you stuck

✨ Your marriage is a partnership in risk, not just in love

Who This Episode Is For

This episode is for the mom who is holding a corporate title in one hand and a family on the other, and quietly wondering if there is another way. If you have ever felt like you lost yourself somewhere between your last promotion and your kid's first day of school, Lindsay's story is going to give you permission to find your way back.

Connect with Jessica Perez

Instagram: https://instagram.com/jessicaperez112

LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/jessica-perez-consulting

Connect with Lindsay Evans

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lindsaygevans/

Follow and Support the Podcast

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#Beyondthebalance

Laura Hubbell is the Chief Information Officer and partner at one of the most well-established RIAs in the industry based in Atlanta. She is sharp, strategic, and the kind of woman who commands a boardroom. She is also the mom who sat across from her husband and had the real conversation about who handles pickup and drop-off. And some nights? Dinner is hot dogs and broccoli. Not because she failed. Because she is being honest about what the season actually looks like. In this episode Laura and Jessica get into what it actually means to structure your life around the career you built, the family you love, and the version of yourself you refuse to compromise. No highlight reel. Just the real thing.

• ✨ The pickup and drop-off conversation is one every two-career household needs to have out loud
• ✨ Confidence is not about having it all together. It is about knowing who you are when you do not.
• ✨ Hot dogs hit the food groups. And being honest about your season is a power move, not a failure.

Instagram
https://instagram.com/jessicaperez

LinkedIn
https://linkedin.com/in/jessica-perez-consulting

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laura-hubbell-cfa

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Share This Episode

Tag Jessica and when you listen and share your biggest takeaway. #Beyondthebalance

In This Episode We Talk About

Desaree Suttle didn't plan to be an entrepreneur. She planned to be a doctor. But life, a trip to Africa, a body that didn't cooperate, and a father-in-law who saw something in her rerouted everything. Now she runs a real estate firm, an interior design company, an HVAC business, and a pilot car company her mom manages. This episode is raw and real: how Desaree built multiple businesses, stepped into the role of stepmom to two kids, keeps her marriage alive through therapy and intentionality, and is still figuring out how to say no without guilt. She doesn't have it all figured out. Neither do we. That's exactly why you need to hear this.

Key Takeaways

✨ Stepparenting as a full time parent is hard

✨ You can't build everything without learning to say no to somethings

✨ Weekly couples therapy isn't a last resort

✨ Decision fatigue in design (and life) is real

✨ Community changes everything — get in rooms where you're not the most successful person

Who This Episode Is For

This episode is for the mom who's holding it all. The businesses, the blended family, the marriage, the mental load and still feels like she's one decision away from dropping something. Desaree doesn't pretend she has it together. She just keeps showing up. And that's what makes this one land.

Connect with Your Host, Jessica Perez

Instagram: @jessicaperez1123

LinkedIn:

https://linkedin.com/in/jessica-perez-consulting

Connect with Our Guest, Desaree Suttle

Instagram: @desareesuttle or @thesuttledesign

Website: https://desareesuttlehomes.com/

Follow & Support the Podcast

✨ Follow Beyond the Balance wherever you listen

✨ Leave a 5-star review, it helps more moms find this show

✨ Share this episode with a mom who needs it today

#BeyondtheBalance

Toni Gonzales has been in financial services for 30 years — and she did it as a new grad, a newlywed, a new mom, a single mom, and now a blended family matriarch with four thriving adult kids and a granddaughter. This episode is for every mom who's ever wondered if she has to choose between building a career and building a family. Toni is proof that the answer is no, and she'll show you exactly how she did it. From turning down a promotion that would've uprooted her family to calling out unconscious bias in real time, this episode is packed with great tips, real life and how you can show up to be the best version of you!

✨ The village is the strategy — not a nice-to-have

✨ Women are over-mentored and under-sponsored, know the difference

✨ Co-parenting with intention protects your kids and your career

✨ You can't be what you can't see — so show up, even before you feel ready

If you're a working mom, climbing in a male-dominated room, navigating co-parenting, building a blended family, or just trying to figure out how to be fully present at work AND at home — this one was made for you.

Toni Gonzales is a 30-year veteran of the financial services industry, currently a consultant with Simplicity DFG. She's a former national president of WIFS (Women in Insurance and Financial Services), a board leader and a mentor with the FinServ Foundation. She is a mom of four, a grandmother, and proof that you can build, lead , and still be present when it matters.

Instagram: @jessicaperez1123

LinkedIn
https://linkedin.com/in/jessica-perez-consulting

LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/ToniGonzales

Instagram: @tonilgonzales

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