Highly Sensitive Money for Highly Sensitive People who want to align their values with their money

The Paradox of Sensitivity: Thriving as a Caregiver Without Burning Out with Amy Pinnell

The Paradox of Sensitivity: Thriving as a Caregiver Without Burning Out with Amy Pinnell
Amy Pinnell shares with us the unique intersection of high sensitivity, caregiving professions, and financial wellbeing. Amy shares her journey from burning out early in her social work career to creating a sustainable practice that serves highly sensitive helpers and healers. We explore why sensitive people are both naturally gifted at caregiving and more vulnerable to burnout, the role financial stability plays in preventing burnout, and how to release the martyrdom mentality that tells us service requires self-sacrifice. This is an essential conversation for anyone in a helping profession who's trying to honor both their calling and their own needs.
Meet Our Guest
Amy Pinnell is a Registered Social Worker, Clinical Therapist, and the founder of Sensitive Social Worker. She is on a mission to help tender-hearted, deep-feeling helpers and healers engage in meaningful, social-justice oriented work, without burning out. Through her private therapy practice (Brave Spirit Counselling), online courses and live workshops Amy has helped 100s of helpers and healers release martyrdom mentality and embrace their sensitivity so that they could continue showing up whole-heartedly for their communities and for themselves. 
Amy is the creator of the Love Notes for Social Workers Card Deck, a pocket-sized support for busy Social Workers which has been purchased by Social Workers worldwide. Amy has a Masters of Social Work from the University of Victoria and has 10+ years of experience working as a Social Worker in the areas of mental health and addictions.
Episode Highlights
The childhood memory that revealed early money beliefs: "My parents would not be able to afford all those gifts"
Realizing the two options presented in childhood: spend as little as possible or use credit
The challenge of asking clients for money in private practice after years of free services
How learning about high sensitivity felt like "a missing puzzle piece"
Why 50% of therapy clients are highly sensitive, even though only 15-20% of the population is
The critical difference between burnout prevention and burnout recovery
Why reducing stimulation matters: highly sensitive people can't filter out noise, lights, smells, and energy the way others can
"The personal is political"—bringing social justice into personal finance decisions
 
Resources Referenced
Sensitive Social WorkerInstagramBrave Spirit CounsellingThe Highly Sensitive PersonSensitive Strengths Instagram
Keywords
#HighlySensitive #BurnoutPrevention #SocialWork #FinancialWellbeing #EmotionalBoundaries #SelfWorth #HelpingProfessions #SocialJustice #SustainableCaregiving #MartyrdomMentality
 
Click here to watch our interview on Youtube
 
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.

The Nervous System's Role in Financial Decision-Making with Sarah Carr

The Nervous System's Role in Financial Decision-Making with Sarah Carr
 
Today I speak with Sarah Carr about the intersection of trauma, neurodiversity, and financial well-being. Sarah shares her journey from growing up in a high-demand high-control religious environment to becoming a financial therapist who helps clients—particularly women and neurodivergent individuals—reclaim their relationship with money.
We discuss how trauma responses show up in our financial decisions, why income became Sarah's security blanket after leaving an oppressive marriage, and how raising two children on the autism spectrum taught her about nervous system regulation and the beauty of different ways of thinking.
Meet Our Guest
Sarah is a Certified Financial Therapist®, Certified Financial Planner®, and wealth manager committed to helping people rewrite money stories, deconstruct old patterns, and cultivate embodied financial well-being without shame.
Raising and educating two neuro-diverse children, Sarah has learned more about the impacts of Autism and ADHD on her clients' financial lives and relationships. Sarah serves on two non-profit boards: Reclamation Collective, a national community advocacy organization providing resources and support for those harmed in religious and spiritual contexts, and Endless Mountains Pride, a local non-profit providing education, advocacy, and connection for the LGBTQ+ community.While Sarah works with clients across the country, she resides in upstate New York where her favorite place to recenter is along one of the many waterfall trails she loves to hike.
 
Episode Highlights
Growing up in high-demand, high-control religion shaped Sarah's early beliefs about women and money 
The identity crisis of becoming a stay-at-home mom after having financial independence 
How leaving an oppressive marriage revealed her money script that income equals security 
Discovering financial therapy while navigating early motherhood 
Processing personal trauma while learning about son's autism diagnosis 
Working with women leaving high-control religious systems and neurodiverse clients 
How trauma creates stuck emotions and disrupted agency 
Permission slips and questioning deeply held beliefs about capability 
We don't heal individually—we heal collectively
Resources
WebsiteLinkedIn InstagramFacebookReclaiming Financial Agency: An Interview with financial therapist Haylie Castillo The Financial Wisdom of Ebenezer Scrooge by Ted Klontz and Brad Klontz Truth and Repair by Judith Herman
Keywords
#FinancialTherapy #ReligiousTrauma #Neurodiversity #MoneyMindset #FinancialEmpowerment #TraumaHealing #NervousSystemRegulation #FinancialWellbeing #WomenAndMoney #HighlySensitive
 
Click here to watch our interview on Youtube
 
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.

From Avoiding Bank Statements to Financial Therapy Pioneer: Bari Tessler's Journey

From Avoiding Bank Statements to Financial Therapy Pioneer: Bari Tessler's Journey
Bari Tessler is a financial therapist and pioneer in merging emotional literacy with financial literacy. We talk about her 26-year journey creating the Art of Money methodology. Bari shares how she went from throwing away bank statements in graduate school to falling in love with bookkeeping and developing a somatic-based approach to financial therapy.
We explore her current year-long sabbatical, the importance of adapting business models to different life phases, the practice of money dates with candles and chocolate, and why checking in with our bodies is essential to our relationship with money. This conversation offers both practical tools and deep wisdom about honoring our rhythms, redefining success, and bringing our whole selves to our finances.
Episode Highlights
Bari's identity as a highly sensitive person since childhood
How Bari has adapted her business model five different times over 24 years
The power of group work for unshaming money stories
The courage required to pivot when business models stop working
How Bari's father shaped her early relationship with work and money
The ritual of money dates: candles, chocolate, and celebrating small steps 
Why 85-95% of money decisions are based on emotions
Money as a doorway to understanding relationships, intimacy, and worth
Meet our Guest
Bari Tessler, M.A. is a Financial Therapist and a pioneer in the Financial Therapy field. She has a Masters degree in Somatic Psychology from Naropa University, 1998. She then ran a bookkeeping business for therapists and artists. In 2001, she merged all her training and created a somatic-based Financial Therapy methodology that she has been teaching for 24 years. She is also the founder of The Art of Money, a financial therapy program and a Mentor Program for therapists, coaches and financial professionals.
Bari is the Author of two books: The Art of Money: A Life-Changing Guide to Financial Happiness and The Art of Money Workbook. Her work has been featured on Oprah.com, Inc.com, US News & World Report, Reuters Money, The Fiscal Times, USA Today, The Cut, Girlboss, Nerd Wallet, Real Simple, MindBodyGreen, and REDBOOK. She has also been featured on the cover of Experience Life and Mindful. Bari loves to read, dance and enjoy dark chocolate. She lives in Boulder, CO with her husband, son, many cats + a big puppy. You can find her here.
Resources 
Website InstagramCheers to 10 Years of Money Memoirs"The Art of Money: A Life-Changing Guide to Financial Happiness" by Bari Tessler"The Art of Money Workbook" by Bari Tessler
Rick Kahler on the importance of money emotions in financial planning
"Women Who Run with the Wolves" by Clarissa Pinkola Estés
Keywords
#FinancialTherapy #ArtOfMoney #SomaticFinance #MoneyDates #HighlySensitiveMoney #Sabbatical #EmotionalLiteracy #FinancialLiteracy #BusinessPivots #MoneyAndEmotion
Click here to watch our interview on Youtube
 
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.

The Trauma of Money: Why Traditional Financial Literacy Isn't Enough with Chantel Chapman

The Trauma of Money: Why Traditional Financial Literacy Isn't Enough with Chantel Chapman
In this episode, I talk with Chantel Chapman, founder of the Trauma of Money Institute, about how trauma—both personal and systemic—profoundly shapes our relationship with money. Chantel shares her journey from financial literacy educator to developing the Trauma of Money after recognizing that traditional approaches couldn't address her own destructive money patterns rooted in childhood experiences.We explore capitalism as a traumatizing system, the concept of financial fawning, the importance of discernment over shame, and why healing our relationship with money requires addressing both our individual experiences and the broader economic context we live in. This conversation offers a compassionate, trauma-informed framework for understanding money behaviors that goes far deeper than budgeting advice.
Episode Highlights
What trauma-sensitive approaches to money really mean 
How capitalism creates trauma through profit-over-everything values 
Chantel's journey from mortgage broker to creating the Trauma of Money
Why Chantel trains professionals rather than working one-on-one
Experimenting with reimagining capitalism through profit-sharing
The acronym PAUSE: Perhaps An Unseen Solution Exists
How any trauma can impact your relationship with money
The difference between hedonic and eudaimonic approaches to wellbeing
Why we need dopamine reset periods to get off the hedonic treadmill
Meet our Guest
Chantel Chapman is an International Bestselling Author—named to the USA Today Bestseller List and #1 on The Globe and Mail's Canadian Non-Fiction list—for her book The Trauma of Money (Wiley, September 2025). She is a trauma survivor, financial trauma educator, and the creator of the Trauma of Money (TOM) Method. Her journey through complex PTSD—and her realization that traditional financial literacy couldn't shift her own destructive money patterns—led her to uncover the profound link between trauma and financial behavior. In response, she spent years researching trauma, addiction, behavioral science, and economic systems to develop an innovative method for financial healing and empowerment.
Chantel is the founder and CEO of the Trauma of Money Institute, an internationally recognized certification program that has trained thousands of professionals across more than 22 countries. The TOM Method is reshaping how we understand money—not just as numbers, but as something deeply shaped by emotion, lived experience, and systemic forces.With over 20 years of experience in financial education and fintech consulting, Chantel has taught and written curricula or programming for institutions such as Humber College, Wilfrid Laurier University, Adler University, and Simon Fraser University, and has worked with organizations including United Way, YMCA, NDN Collective, the American Psychological Association, JP Morgan Chase, and YPO.She also serves on the National Task Force for Economic Justice, supporting CCFWE's mission to end financial abuse. A sought-after speaker and advisor on economic justice and trauma-sensitive practices, her work has been featured in The New York Times, Forbes, NPR, and The Globe and Mail. Chantel is a settler of European descent who works and resides on the stolen traditional lands of the Kwantlen (kwaant·luhn), Musqueam ("mus-kwee-um"), and Tswassen (saa·wa·sn) peoples.
Resources
Trauma of Money Institute Instagram"The Trauma of Money" by Chantel Chapman "Man's Search for Meaning" by Viktor Frankl 
Keywords
#TraumaOfMoney #FinancialTrauma #TraumaSensitive #BeyondCapitalism #FinancialHealing #FinancialFawning #HedonicVsEudaimonic #MoneyAndTrauma
 
Click here to watch our interview on Youtube
 
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.

Social Justice for the Sensitive Soul: Permission to Work Differently with Dorcas Cheng-Tozun

Social Justice for the Sensitive Soul: Permission to Work Differently with Dorcas Cheng-Tozun
In this episode, I sit down with Dorcas Cheng-Tozun, author of "Social Justice for the Sensitive Soul," to talk about how highly sensitive people can engage in meaningful social justice work without burning out completely. Dorcas shares her own experiences with severe burnout in the nonprofit sector and how she learned to create sustainable rhythms of activism and rest, for herself and her family. 
We explore the importance of changing our external settings rather than trying to change our sensitivity, the value of contemplative practices alongside active work, and how financial giving can be a meaningful form of social justice participation. This conversation offers both validation and practical wisdom for those of us who feel deeply about creating change while also needing to care for our wellbeing and saying not to martyrdom.
 
Episode Highlights
Introduction to what it means to be a highly sensitive person in social justice work
The invitation to change the settings around us rather than changing ourselves 
How giving 10% became a lifelong habit starting with $0.10 from a $1 allowance 
The importance of meaning in work for highly sensitive people 
Why sustainable activism requires balancing our best selves with our needs 
The culture of overwork in the nonprofit sector and its consequences 
The importance of collaborating with people who aren't highly sensitive 
Final reflections on the gift of sensitivity in social justice work
Meet our Guest
Dorcas Cheng-Tozun is an award-winning writer, editor, speaker, and social impact professional. She is the author of Start, Love, Repeat: How to Stay in Love with Your Entrepreneur in a Crazy Start-up World, Let There d.light: How One Social Enterprise Brought Solar Products to 100 Million People, and Social Justice for the Sensitive Soul: How to Change the World in Quiet Ways. She also has two published Bible studies on the topics of Migration and Mental Health. Her work has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, Christianity Today, Image Journal, and dozens of other publications in the US, Asia, and Africa. She recently served as a high school instructor of social innovation at Valley Christian Schools.
Dorcas has over twenty years of experience in the nonprofit and social enterprise sectors, working in the areas of community development, leadership development, affordable housing, and off-grid energy access. She served as the first director of communications for d.light, one of the world's leading social enterprises, and has provided communications consulting for social-benefit companies around the world. A Silicon Valley native, she has lived in mainland China, Hong Kong, and Nairobi, Kenya. She and her entrepreneur husband have been married for twenty years and have two sons.
Dorcas has a BA in communication and an MA in sociology from Stanford University, as well as a professional editing certificate from the University of California, Berkeley.
Resources
Dorcas Cheng-Tozun website
LinkedIn
Instagram
"The Highly Sensitive Person" by Dr. Elaine Aron
"Social Justice for the Sensitive Soul: How to Change the World in Quiet Ways" by Dorcas Cheng-Tozun
 
Keywords
#HighlySensitiveMoney #SocialJusticefortheSensitiveSoul #HSPBurnout #Activism #ContemplativePractices #NonprofitSector #SustainableChange #RestAndAction #SensitiveSoul
 
Click here to watch our interview on Youtube
 
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.
 

When the Body Speaks: Functional Medicine & Somatic Wisdom with Dr. Kaeri Schaefer

When the Body Speaks: Functional Medicine & Somatic Wisdom with Dr. Kaeri Schaefer
Kaeri Schaefer brings us “collaborative understory medicine”—a root-cause, relational approach that treats symptoms as body communication. Today we cover Kaeri’s path from family medicine residency to functional medicine, bodywork, and somatic practice, and how this reshaped the way she supports “chatty” bodies (often highly sensitive nervous systems). 
Throughout the episode we discuss how money and medicine intertwine—including the role of financial privilege, the tension with insurance, and what it took for Kaeri to launch a nonprofit clinic and later step away to practice more freely. We discuss practical somatic cues around money stress (chest, jaw, pelvic floor), how space and environment affect care (natural light and color matter), and why relationship—not hierarchy—creates safety and better outcomes. I’m grateful for Kaeri’s grounded wisdom and the gentle pace she models for truly listening to our bodies.
Meet Dr. Kaeri Schaefer
Kaeri Schaefer, MD is a healing provider integrating functional medicine, bodywork, and somatic practice. Trained at the University of Wisconsin and board-certified in Family Medicine, she blends clinical rigor with deep listening, describing her approach as “collaborative understory medicine.” Her additional training includes functional medicine through the Institute of Functional Medicine, craniosacral and osteopathic studies with Carol Gray and Christopher Frothingham, DO, and decolonial medicine coursework with Dra. Rocio Rosales Meza.
Kaeri’s work centers relational, consent-forward care and longer visits that allow the body’s communications—not just “symptoms”—to be heard. A mother of two, magical queer cis-womyn, and intuitive healer, she honors inner knowing and self-honoring action as pathways for personal and collective healing. She has led accessible care initiatives, including a nonprofit model committed to not turning anyone away, and now practices in a way that supports her clients—and herself—to feel grounded and radiant.
Episode Highlights
Introducing “collaborative understory medicine”
From “loud bodies” to “chatty” nervous systems
Naming financial privilege and its impact on career choices
Why 20 minutes isn’t enough: pace, safety, and trust
Ditching “non-compliant” medical approaches to center consent and collaboration
Moving beyond labels in medical care
Somatics of finance: locating money stress in the body
Reframing shame as systemic grief and longing for equity
Keywords
#Somatics #FunctionalMedicine #IntegrativeMedicine #BodyCommunication #TraumaHealing #NervousSystem #MedicalBurnout #AccessibleCare #MindBodyConnection #FinancialWellness
Resources
Website
Embodied Anatomy course
The Myth of Normal: Trauma, Illness, & Healing in a Toxic Culture by Gabor Maté
Click here to watch our interview on Youtube
 
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.
 

Social Work to Wealth: Taylor Gilbert on Financial Empowerment

Social Work to Wealth: Taylor Gilbert on Financial Empowerment
Taylor Gilbert brings us into an exploration of what happens when a medical social worker brings courage, clarity, and financial literacy into one conversation. Together we unpack how negative money messaging shows up in social work, how salary transparency and negotiation can shift outcomes, and why values-aligned investing matters when your life’s work is caring for others.
In this episode, our guest Taylor Gilbert and I also get into the practicals—her early $40K starting salary and six-figure loans, the pivot that launched her blog and podcast, and her current pursuit of CFP® coursework to pair money coaching with comprehensive planning. Highlights include: the moment HYSA changed her path, the real costs families face around death, a nuanced look at “income vs. outcome,” and concrete ways social workers can find lucrative, values-aligned roles. Diana also reflects on the care-first side of financial planning and why being well-resourced reduces burnout for helpers.
Meet Our Guest
Taylor Gilbert is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW), Certified Financial Social Worker (CFSW), and the creator of the award-nominated blog Social Work to Wealth. By day, she serves families in end-of-life settings, facilitating organ donation conversations across Oregon, SW Washington, and Western Idaho. Outside the hospital, Taylor translates complex financial topics into clear, compassionate guidance for social workers, blending career strategy with money education.
Her own money pivot began after discovering high-yield savings accounts in 2021. She and her husband totaled their debt at $277,721.41 and have since paid down $77,000, sharing the process publicly to reduce shame and increase transparency. Taylor’s platform has grown into a blog, newsletter, and podcast committed to salary transparency, negotiation, and expanding the map of lucrative, nontraditional career paths for social workers.
Now a financial planning student pursuing CFP® coursework, Taylor is building the skill set to support clients across cash flow, debt reduction, investing, and retirement—always through a values-aligned lens. Her mission is simple and radical: help social workers become financially well so they can sustain their calling and serve their communities without burning out.
Episode Highlights
$40K income for first job as a Masters level Social Worker, with six-figure student loans
Discovering High-Yield Savings Accounts and a new financial path
Launching the Social Work to Wealth blog
Money talk ripples through Taylor’s family
The surprising costs around death and funerals
Starting CFP® coursework: why planning skills matter
Values-aligned investing for social workers
Reframing the false trade-off between income and outcome
Social work needs a rebrand around money
From stress to relief: claiming agency over money
Keywords
#SocialWorkToWealth #SocialWorkers #MoneyMindset #FinancialPlanning #CFP #ValuesBasedInvesting #DebtFreeJourney #SalaryTransparency #EndOfLifeSocialWork
Resources
Social Work to Wealth website InstagramTikTok LinkedIn PodcastClick here to watch our interview on Youtube
 
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.

Breaking Free from Scarcity: Money Mindset, Nervous System Healing & Sliding Scale Business Models with Emily Rose

Breaking Free from Scarcity: Money Mindset, Nervous System Healing & Sliding Scale Business Models with Emily Rose
In this episode, our guest Emily Rose and I sit down for a spacious, values-led conversation about how scarcity shows up—in people-pleasing, and overachieving—and what it takes to repattern those reflexes in the body and mind. I introduce Emily’s work with women and femmes at key life thresholds and we explore her sliding-scale philosophy, the relief of not having to “justify” what you pay, and why nervous-system safety belongs at the center of money work. Emily also shares money imprints from her childhood and the mindset shift in her mid-20s that changed everything. 
Emily names something many of us feel but rarely articulate: when money tightens, our bodies often rush ahead of our minds. Layer by layer, we trace how scarcity takes root—in family scripts, in the “morality” of doing money the “right” way, in systems that reward separation—and how it loosens when safety, relationship, and reciprocity come first.
Emily Rose — Guide, Somatic Practitioner, Writer
Emily Rose walks beside women as they release scarcity, fear, and struggle, returning to what’s always been steady within them. Her practice weaves emotional alchemy, body-based healing, unconscious repatterning, and ritual to help clients move from survival into rest, belonging, and full self-expression.
Drawing from Buddhist meditation, witchcraft rituals, gardening, painting, and hands-on creativity, Emily integrates modalities like breathwork, Human Design, hypnosis, NLP coaching, parts integration, astrology, timeline therapy, somatic mapping, and energy work. A 4/6 Manifesting Generator, she moves at the pace of curiosity rather than pressure—meeting people where they are with sliding scales, scholarships, and pro bono support.
Emily writes Returning to the Well, a Substack of reflections, gentle teachings, and nature-rooted practice. In alignment with her values, a portion of her earnings supports causes such as the ACLU and WILD.
Episode Highlights:
Scarcity patterns: people-pleasing, perfectionism, overachieving
Sliding scale, scholarships, and pro bono philosophy
Donors funding access and livable practitioner pay
Vipassana: a living example of gift economics
Scarcity in capitalism vs. a culture of enough
A values blueprint: from safety to global care
Why avoiding debt is nervous-system care
Childhood money stories and inherited scarcity
Retirement as a self-employed person
Spotting grasping and choosing neutral before acting
Keywords
#EmilyRose #MoneyMindset #ScarcityToAbundance #SlidingScale #GiftEconomy #SomaticHealing #Breathwork #NLP #ValuesBasedBusiness #FinancialTherapy #Enoughness #CommunityCare
Resources
WebsiteSubstack InstagramLinkedIn
Click here to watch it on Youtube
 
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.

Inside EQAT with Lina Blount: People-Powered Tactics, Quaker Witness, and Climate Finance

Inside EQAT with Lina Blount: People-Powered Tactics, Quaker Witness, and Climate Finance
My guest Lina Blount has us explore how people-powered movements change what’s politically possible—especially when traditional advocacy hits a wall. I introduce the show’s focus on the emotional, ethical, and practical sides of money, and Lina shares how a 2011 nonviolent direct-action training sparked her path from volunteer to EQAT’s Director of Strategy & Partnerships. We dig into why EQAT targets Vanguard, the world’s largest investor in fossil fuels, and how Quaker practice informs strategies that are both bold and grounded.
Meet Lina Blount
Lina Blount is an organizer, trainer, and nonviolent action strategist who leads as Director of Strategy & Partnerships at EQAT (Earth Quaker Action Team). After years of volunteering and serving on EQAT’s Board as co-clerk, she stepped into staff leadership to help shape campaign vision, build coalitions, and grow people power for climate justice.
Lina’s background includes work on the education team at Pendle Hill Quaker retreat and study center, organizing with the Divestment Student Network, and two years as a canvass director and anti-fracking organizer in Pennsylvania. She’s spent over a decade on environmental justice campaigns in the Philadelphia area, translating Quaker faith-in-action into clear strategy.
Originally from the Pacific Northwest, Lina grew up near Mount Rainier, the daughter of a civil engineer—an origin story that feeds her belief that material problems have material solutions. She now lives in West Philadelphia, where EQAT holds accountable one of the most powerful financial actors in its own backyard.
Episode Highlights:
Role at EQAT & episode intro
Electrified by a 2011 training
Four Roles of Social Change
Why EQAT plays the Rebel
Vanguard in EQAT’s backyard
Shareholder advocacy stalls at Vanguard
Quaker worship & a 300-person action
Money Moving webinars: values first
As You Sow fund screener & AFSC “Investigate” tool
Divestment as sound fiduciary choice
Keywords
#LinaBlount #EQAT #DivestFromVanguard #ClimateFinance #EthicalInvesting #Quaker #AsYouSow #FossilFree #ShareholderAdvocacy #PeoplePoweredMovements
Resources
Never Vanguard PledgeEarth Quaker Action TeamAs You SowInvestigate at AFSC
Click here to watch it on Youtube
 
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.

Genet “GG” Gimja on Progressive Pockets: Align Your Spending, Giving & Investing with Your Values

Genet “GG” Gimja on Progressive Pockets: Align Your Spending, Giving & Investing with Your Values
 
In this episode, our guest Genet “GG” Gimja and I explore the gap between what we believe and what our money is quietly doing in the world. We dig into practical shifts and big questions alike: how banks leverage our deposits , the tools that make values-aligned portfolios more doable, the trade-offs inside the so-called American Dream, and how identity and lived experience shape the way we earn, give, and steward resources. GG’s refugee roots and research-driven approach bring rigor and heart to the gray areas: private prisons hidden inside index funds, politicians funded by our favorite shops, portfolios that look “neutral” but aren’t. Along the way, we name the quiet signals that sensitive people notice first, and the practical boundaries that make sustained care possible.
 
Genet “GG” Gimja — Host of Progressive Pockets
 
Genet “GG” Gimja is the creator and host of Progressive Pockets, a podcast born in the fall of 2020 from a simple but urgent question: how do we use money to reflect our values? What began as a private, 8-episode show on giving quickly expanded when listeners asked about impact investing and ethical spending. GG realized “giving back” wasn’t the whole story—our retirement accounts, banks, and everyday purchases also carry real-world consequences.
 
Today, with 100+ concise, practical, sometimes funny episodes, GG examines the crossroads of social impact and personal finance—helping people align how they spend, donate, and invest with the world they want to help create. Her format often responds to listener letters, translating dense research into clear, doable steps without losing moral nuance.
 
Grounded in her Eritrean American background and refugee roots, GG brings a community-centered lens to money. She treats generosity as flow, looks squarely at systemic contradictions, and invites listeners to pair conscience with competence—moving from uneasy awareness to informed action.
 
Episode Highlights:
 
Welcome & how we met at FinCon
Behind the scenes of a solo, research-driven show
Co-organizing the Social Justice Meetup community
The donate-with-one-hand, invest-against-values moment
From skepticism to practical tools for values-aligned portfolios
The “canary in the coal mine” and high sensitivity
Refugee roots, the American Dream, and community trade-offs
Abundance vs. debt and redefining wealth as stewardship
Recognizing sensitivity: instantly spotting what people need
From self-rejection to sustainable self-care
 
Keywords
 
#ProgressivePockets #GenetGimja #ValuesAlignedMoney #ImpactInvesting #SocialJustice #Donations #EthicalSpending #PersonalFinance #MoneyAndMeaning
 
Resources
Progressive Pockets Podcast
 
Click here to watch it on Youtube
 
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.