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

Learning to Ask: Financial Literacy as an Ongoing Practice with Corinne Gardner

Learning to Ask: Financial Literacy as an Ongoing Practice with Corinne Gardner
In this episode, I sit down with Corinne Gardner, a women's health and relationship coach who helps women shed shame and practice self-appreciation. Corinne shares how her journey toward financial literacy paralleled her journey toward embodiment—both requiring her to ask uncomfortable questions and find mentors who would truly listen.
We talk about the women in her family who modeled both overgiving and resilience, how she discovered values-aligned investing through asking questions she wasn't sure had answers, and why receiving is a skill many of us have to consciously learn. This conversation is for anyone who's ever felt like a "lone wolf" in their growth and is ready to find support.
Meet Our Guest
Corinne Gardner is a connector facilitator by heart, a women's health and relationship coach; aka a Shame Shedder. She founded Evulva Wellness to reimagine how women speak of themselves, as a pathway of believing in our worthiness without struggling as 'lone wolves' in our transitions and conscious pivots. She encourages women to practice self-appreciation. Bridging the fields of architecture, designing spaces for nurturing real connections and clarifying our wants and needs, Corinne encourages women to notice, honor and voice our natural embarrassment, shame, and distress to people who will really listen, trusted mentors, coaches and friends, we can shift and revel in being ourselves without apologizing for our ever-evolving uncertainty, needs and desires. 
Corinne believes and has experienced herself, that when women feel safe, heard and well-supported in their flourishing as a judgement-free process then we can safely shift from focusing on 'figuring things out or constantly doing' to nurturing aligned Self pleasure practices to evolve. For Corinne's fuller BIO click here.
Episode Highlights
Financial confidence and literacy as an ongoing practice, not a destination
The dissonance between seeing her nanny’s self-fulfillment while the women in her family struggled with financial secrecy 
Witnessing chronic doing, overgiving, and self-abandonment in the women around her 
Receiving as a skill learned through conversations with women outside her family 
Discovering that values aligned investors exist 
Corinne's reminder that everyone's path to financial empowerment unfolds in their own timing
Resources
WebsiteInstagramLinkedIn
Keywords
#FinancialLiteracy #ValuesAlignedInvesting #ShameWork #WomensEmpowerment #FinancialMentorship #Embodiment #SelfAppreciation #HighlySensitiveMoney #FinancialHealing
 
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.

What Happens When You Invest in Your Own Backyard with Angela Barbash

What Happens When You Invest in Your Own Backyard with Angela Barbash
Angela Barbash grew up watching her parents file for bankruptcy over and over, and as a young adult, she made a lot of the same money mistakes because no one had taught her differently. After spending years in traditional finance, she kept running into the same wall: clients asking how they could invest locally, and firms telling her she couldn't talk about it. So in 2013, she started Revalue, an investment firm that helps everyday people align their investments with their values. We talk about her start in financial services, what it takes to build a marketplace from scratch, and why she refuses to turn anyone away.
Meet Our Guest
Angela is a mom, anthropologist, entrepreneur, and an unabashed challenger of the status quo. She has dedicated over 20 years in service as an investment advisor in the Metro Detroit region, including founding Revalue as a values-driven investment firm in 2013. Angela has contributed countless hours to field building, public education, and infrastructure development to help build a more compassionate industry centered on solidarity economy principles. You will often find her educating on the topics of financial resiliency, community capital, and conscious business management. When she's not sleeping and breathing regenerative finance, she can be found playing with her husband and two kids, enjoying the fresh air of the outdoors, or playing D&D with her family.
 
Highlights
How  clients asked Angela to help them invest locally instead of Wall Street—and why traditional finance had no answer
Why four different firms told Angela they loved her work but she couldn't talk about local investing or holistic wealth
Crying and leaving a regional meeting where advisors talked about golf while clients were losing everything
Building Revalue as an employee-owned cooperative where seven of ten team members are owners
The network of activists and allies who helped Angela survive the brutal first five years of building her business
Why community investing is more relational and human-centered than Wall Street—and why that's actually a good thing
Three strategies Revalue uses to help non-accredited investors access community investments
Breaking out of intergenerational poverty cycles 
Angela's unwavering commitment: serving anyone who comes to Revalue, even with just a thousand-dollar Roth IRA
 
Resources
ReValueLinkedInNational Coalition for Community CapitalWorkforce Intelligence NetworkKingscrowd Honeycomb Credit Republic We Funder
Keywords
#CommunityInvesting #LocalEconomy #ValuesAlignedInvesting #FinancialAccessibility #RegenerativeFinance #EmployeeOwnership #SolidarityEconomy #IntergenerationalWealth #CommunityCapital #WealthBuilding
 
Click here to watch our interview on Youtube
 
Angela Barbash appears here as a guest, not a client of Natural Investments. No compensation was exchanged in connection with this episode. Angela and Diana are colleagues in the values-aligned investing space — that professional relationship is disclosed as a potential conflict of interest.
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.

Anne Symens-Bucher: Building Community Through Trust, Not Transactions

Anne Symens-Bucher: Building Community Through Trust, Not Transactions
I’m thrilled to bring you a conversation with Anne Symens-Bucher, co-founder of Canticle Farm and former executive assistant to Joanna Macy. We explore her 15-year journey of fundraising for Canticle Farm, an intentional community in Oakland.
Anne shares how the realization "I can't do this alone" became the foundation for a completely different approach to money—one rooted in relationship, gift economy, and the courage to receive. We talk about unhooking the exchange between giving and receiving, the intimacy required to truly ask for support, and what it means to practice faith in abundance even when the path forward isn't clear.
Meet Our Guest
Anne Symens-Bucher was Joanna Macy's executive assistant for 20 years before Joanna's death in July of 2025. Prior to that Anne worked for 25 years for the Franciscan Friars of the St. Barbara Province, primarily as co-director of their Justice, Peace, and Integrity of Creation Office. In the 1970s, she lived at the New York Catholic Worker with Dorothy Day, and subsequently founded the Oakland Catholic Worker. She co-founded the Nevada Desert Experience, organizing events at the Nevada Test Site and serving on the NDE Board for 3 decades. 
Anne and her husband, Terry, are the founders of Canticle Farm in Oakland, an intentional community experimenting at the intersection of faith, social justice, and Earth-based nonviolent activism. Canticle Farm is rooted in Franciscan spirituality and the Work That Reconnects, a body of teachings of which Joanna Macy was the root teacher. Anne & Terry have been married for 39 years and are the parents of five children and grandparents of three.
Episode Highlights
The moment "I can't do this alone" changed everything about fundraising
"You are already further along than you realize"—trusting what's already happening 
As a fundraiser, it's your job to ask, their job to say yes or no 
Why the "no" makes it easier to trust the "yes" 
Canticle Farm as a platform for the Great Turning 
Gifts just move—they don't need to be forced forward 
How to receive a sacred gift: pausing to honor the exchange 
Making the leap of faith before the path appears
Resources
Canticle FarmsJoanna Macy
Keywords
#Fundraising #GiftEconomy #IntentionalCommunity #JoannaMacy #CanticleFarm #SocialJustice #Abundance #Relationship #AskingForHelp #ReceivingGifts
 
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 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.