Hello CLTV community! 

As Spring has begun to emerge in Boston, we at the Impact Collective have been busy working to build our internal team, plan upcoming events, and connecting with incredible organizations. Working to close the racial wealth gap and to create a new, more equitable U.S. economy. Connecting with women, community leaders, and partners doing aligned work has been so fulfilling—and there’s a lot more work to be done!

In our efforts to re-imagine the Intensive Workshop, we’ve been working to better understand the short- and mid-term impacts of our work with participants and alumni, as well as the causes of and barriers to impact. This will support us to then identify and design compelling, resonant programmatic opportunities. Deeply engaging our target audiences with our mission and to make learning about the racial wealth gap and aligning your wealth with your values more accessible. We’re so excited to share with you as our offerings evolve.

In partnership, 

Julia Johannsen

Founder of The Impact Collective

Celebrating our Collective Conversation with the Diverse Investing Collective

On Friday, we held an incredible Collective Conversations event with Robyn Russell and Ivy Jack from the Diverse Investing Collective! The event brought together a full Zoom room of CLTV alumni, local organizations committed to closing the racial wealth gap, and investment professionals from across the country including folks representing the organizations above.

Our conversation was a vibrant one with many questions about the importance of diverse investment teams, emerging data, lived experiences having these conversations with family and wealth managers, and tons and tons of great resources dropped in the chat from recommended books to trusted wealth advisors to embark on this journey with. We’ll be sharing all of these great resources with you in our upcoming newsletters, LinkedIn, and on our website!

In the meantime, checkout the Diverse Investing Collective’s explainer video above to learn more about how the organization is working to accelerate progress toward having more women and people of color at financial decision-making tables investing more assets. Not only because it’s the right thing to do, but because the evidence shows gender-diverse and racially-diverse teams deliver higher returns.

Register for our next Collective Conversation on May 3rd, @12 PM

Applying a Racial Equity Lens Across Asset Classes with Re-Envision Wealth

Sign Up For Alumni Coaching

Tell us about yourself and how you got into this work?

I joined the Impact Collective as a facilitator and curriculum designer in 2022, after going on my own winding money journey. I grew up with a lot of silence about money. Unless my Dad was driving me to my public school in his brand-new Jaguar convertible (I always slumped down so no one could see me), all I knew was that we "had plenty." It wasn't until my mom wrote me a check for more money than I could have imagined to purchase my first home that I realized: I was rich. 

As I began to confront that fact, against the background of the pandemic and the George Floyd uprisings of 2020, I knew I wanted to act. My partner and I decided to move $30,000 from our savings account to BIPOC-led social justice movements. But still, I was scared. Despite all of my knowledge, despite encouragement from others in my community, I found every excuse to delay moving that money. It wasn't until I began to work with a money coach who talked me through my concerns and options, helped me develop step-by-step plans, and was there at our next session checking up on whether I had done my homework that I was able to let go. 

It was that experience that inspired me to support others in aligning their wealth with their values as a coach, and ultimately led me to the Impact Collective. 

Tell us a little bit more about the value of CLTV alumni coaching?

Coaching is like a gift to yourself of bringing in some additional support and accountability that extends beyond a workshop or event. It can help alums get from aspiration to action, and helps bridge the gap between the amazing transformative learning experiences people have with their cohorts, to the one-on-one translation. How do I follow through and turn this into action in my own life, with my own financial situation?

As Julia has said many times, the Intensive is the beginning, not the end, of a process that is so big and so complex. But changing what we do with our money is hard, for so many reasons—logistical, relational, emotional—and I don't think most of us can do it alone. We have to negotiate so much inner transformation that sometimes can only happen one step at a time. For those of us who do better when we have someone cheerleading, holding us accountable, and helping us make impossible challenges seem manageable, coaching can be a huge support. 

What is your favorite part of coaching CLTV alumni?

I love coaching Impact Collective folks because they're so motivated and smart and true powerhouses in so many ways. It’s really rewarding to help turn the thinking into concrete steps forward.

Coaching is not about having an expert tell you what to do with your money, like a financial advisor might. It’s about having someone help you take everything you know and come up with a plan that is aligned with your needs and your values. So I think my favorite part is just the moments when we can put all of the ideas and questions and worries on the table and step back to see the big picture and find a really clear concrete next step. That can be really hard to do on your own! With support from a coach, it's often easier to identify and celebrate the next step. 

What’s your dream coachee?

My dream coachee is someone who's really motivated and dedicated to aligning their wealth, their values, and to using whatever tools and resources are at their disposal to help close the racial wealth gap. Also those who are open to learning and recognizing that this is both a technical challenge and an emotional and relational challenge. The more we can attend to that and notice the places in us that are resistant, that are scared, that are uncertain—and to make space for that—the more likely the technical steps we take are likely to stick and are likely to lead to continual growth in this lifelong process.

What’s your vision for the future of CLTV alumni coaching?

My vision for the future of alumni coaching is that women get set up with coaching as part of their time in the Intensive Workshop, and that it really helps them develop clear, realistic Individual Action Commitments and put them into action. After the workshop ends, I hope many women continue with coaching so that they have support to make bigger, more sustained changes. 

I really hope that many, many alumni participate in coaching, that we have a robust group of coaches with diverse experiences and identities who can meet women where they are and help support them with the variety of questions and goals that they have for aligning their wealth with their values.

Something about you we might not know?

One thing you might not know about me is that one of the most rewarding parts of my experience doing this coaching has been working with my own family. I was really honored that my Mom asked me to help her come up with a giving plan for some money she had set aside. I got to help her think about what was most important to her and how to prioritize and create a plan for that. That really felt meaningful to her and to me. Then, I got to do the same thing with my brother and his partner! Getting to watch the ripple effects in my family and just to open up more honest conversations about money and how we want to be in the world has been really, really powerful. 

On the personal side, I’m a big women's basketball fan, so this month, you can find me watching lots of basketball. We just celebrated my daughter’s first birthday with a March Madness party at a bar. Having my daughter who teaches me and helps me learn every single day has been a joy.

 

Collective Conversations is our new series of monthly opportunities to learn, take action, and build community. Please join us and bring friends on the first Friday of every month for a one-hour Zoom conversation with experts and activists from within and beyond our community.

Upcoming topics include direct giving, investing to close the racial wealth gap, how to find the right investment advisor for you, Boston’s Black business ecosystem, and more! We hope can attend one or more of the following Collective Conversations:

• Friday, May 3rd, @12pm
  Applying a Racial Equity Lens Across Asset Classes
  with Anna N’Jie-Konte and Keith Beverly from Re-Envision Wealth
  Register here
  
  
• Friday, June 7th, @12pm
  Collective Conversation Topic TBA
  Jay Coen-Gilbert and Kevin Eppler from White Men for Racial Justice
  Registration Coming Soon!

"The Impact Collective is a powerful platform working to shift awareness to action on racial justice. In these particularly difficult political and legal times facing DEI, this community's work has become even more important. I appreciated the opportunity to participate and look forward to the opportunities for closer collaboration."
— Zach Komes, Investor Relations Manager at Founders First Capital Partners

Boston's Creating Conscious Collisions Road Show

Be sure to join our Impact Collective team at the Creating Conscious Collisions Road Show in Boston on June 13. (Say that three times fast!) The invitation-only convening will bring together investors, executives, allies, and champions to hear from outstanding women of color entrepreneurs. The aim is to leverage our collective energy and resources to propel women of color entrepreneurs faster and farther on their journeys to entrepreneurial success.

Get tickets at woccon.org/roadshowtickets. There is no cost to attend. Just come ready to connect! Now in its third year, these events will visit 15 cities nationwide in 2024!

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