Designing Work-Optional Lifestyles for Women & Couples with Dynamic Financial Plans | Financial Consultant for Executives & Business Owners in Sports & Tech | Financial Wellness Speaker

Somewhere between building a career, managing a household, and making a thousand decisions a week, your financial life got complicated. And nobody handed you a manual.

By most measures you're doing everything right. But there's this voice in the background that doesn't quite go away. Am I leaving money on the table somewhere? Do I even know what I don't know? 

You have accounts, maybe an advisor, maybe a spreadsheet you keep meaning to update, but nobody has ever looked at how it all fits together. And that's the part that bothers you most.

You could spend hours researching it yourself. A lot of women do. But you have a hundred other things that actually need your attention.

That's where I come in.

I'm Renee Cohen, CFP® and founder of Nexa Wealth. I work with women in their 40s and 50s and their families who plan alongside them who are ready to stop guessing and start knowing that nothing is falling through the cracks.

I don't hand you a plan and disappear. We work together as life keeps moving - through decisions as they come up and priorities as they shift. Because a financial plan that sits in a drawer isn't really a plan. It's a document.

You don't have to become an expert. But you will understand every decision we make and why. Being in control doesn't mean doing it alone. It means having the right person in your corner.  My clients come to me carrying a lot of uncertainty. What changes isn't that their life gets simpler. It's that they finally have direction and someone to think it through with.

If any of this sounds familiar, I'd love to talk. Reach me here or at nexawealthplanning.com.

Not ready to talk yet? I put together a short guide called The Financial Blind Spot Blueprint — it's a good place to start if you want to see where the gaps might be. You can grab it in my featured section.

Renee Cohen, CFP®

Stryker Coaching & Communications

Transformational life coaching and executive coaching.

DISC-based communications, leadership development and team trainings.

Communication training.

Motivational and educational speaker.

Owner and Founder

Carowinds

Responsible for strategic development and execution of integrated communication/marketing plans to support brand strategy and drive consumer demand. Oversee all public/media relations, social media, website/blog content, mobile app., email newsletter and digital marketing. Primary spokesperson and crisis communications lead. 

Manage full-time and seasonal staff with a focus on results, continuous improvement and personal development. 

Develop results-based annual communications plans supporting clear business objectives comprising media outreach, social media strategy, content marketing, events and community relations. 

Lead large-scale media/VIP events promoting new attractions and events, resulting in widespread media and social media coverage. 

Manage budget for large scale events and media activity.

Introduced new community relations opportunities, including a partnership with Charlotte-Mecklenburg Library supporting Summer Break and themed on-site OneBlood blood drives. Strengthen and support ongoing relationships with JDRF, Make-A-Wish and other community partners.

Communications Director

Duke Energy Corporation

Hired and managed social media team of top performers. Developed enterprise strategy and governance for high-profile corporate channels resulting in industry leading presence. Trained and supported executives. 

Oversaw content strategy to promote programs and paid campaigns, drive awareness and elevate marketing efforts, resulting in average 40% YoY increases in engagement rate, click-throughs, and leads. Directed development of analytics reporting system to drive continuous improvement and leverage brand building and marketing opportunities.

Communications Manager

Managed brand image through strategic communications planning, media relations, and community outreach. Managed crisis communications and scenario planning.

Developed news releases and announcements, media advisories, social media content, fact sheets, web content and internal communications. Successfully places dozens of positive stories and op-eds.

Senior Communications Consultant

Launched and managed first social media channels, developed brand-building content strategy. 

Developed training curriculums for community managers, content generators, executives and employee ambassadors. Trained hundreds of people, both one-on-one and in large groups.

Social Media Consultant

PRstore

Oversaw copywriting team serving 15 franchises for B2B and B2C marketing, advertising and P.R. Developed web copy, brochures, email marketing copy, case studies, white papers and product backgrounders.

Chief Copywriter

Self Employed

* Assistant editor for Wake Living magazine - wrote, edited and proofread editorial content and ads; assisted in creating editorial calendar, determining and assigning articles, and overseeing freelance staff

* Regular contributor to Charlotte magazine, Greater Charlotte Biz, Charlotte Parent and various other publications.

* Copywriter providing Web content, ad copy, advertorials, print marketing copy and press releases to small businesses.

Freelance Writer

Life coach for leaders. Stop overthinking for good. Raise your confidence to match your position for less stress and greater success. Foodie talk welcome. #UnderThinkIt

⚡ It's time to become the calm, capable, self-assured leader who connects at home too. ⚡

Are you a vigilant and responsible high-performer who:

✅ Always feels like you’re not doing enough?
✅ Starts every day feeling overwhelmed and behind even before you begin?
✅ Is solving work problems in your mind even when your body is with family or friends?
✅ Constantly second-guesses your decisions and analyzes and anticipates everyone’s opinions?
✅ Secretly worries that, despite all your hard work, you’re actually a fraud and will be found out?
✅ Wishes you could feel as successful as people think you are?

I felt the same way. I was the good student, the responsible teammate, someone who always got great performance reviews.

Until I got into leadership. It felt like all the rules had changed but no one told me.

And here’s what I figured out after years of trial and error led me to coaching:

Keeping your head down, trying to solve everything yourself and hoping someday someone will notice and reward you doesn’t work.

You’ve got to manage your emotions, take control of your time, work smarter and advocate for yourself and the team.

Through my D.E.C.I.D.E. coaching program, I help leaders like you stop overthinking, get recognized for their work and feel great in their lives again. You can enjoy your career, feel fulfilled, and relax and recharge in your off hours. 

The D.E.C.I.D.E. framework develops your D.irection, E.nvisioning, C.ourage, I.nsight, D.etermination and E.mpowered action.

Message me or click the link in my profile to schedule a personalized planning session to learn more. It’s an hour to explore what you want and exactly how to get it.

Lisa Stryker, certified coach, speaker, trainer

You could feel the room shift when I shared the research with 100+ HR professionals: 

> Women are still underrepresented in senior leadership, and we're (at least) 50 years from parity.

> Men and women are equally ambitious, but only with equal support.

> Self-promotion is the only strategy directly correlated with compensation.

Together, we walked through how women can advocate for themselves without sounding defensive, apologetic, or self-congratulatory with the B.R.A.G. Framework and Method for strategic visibility. 

And we talked about unearthing hidden gems and acting as allies and sponsors to bring their value to light and add their contributions to the mix.

If you want more women in leadership, you can’t quietly reward self-promotion in men and critique it in women. Let's all do better.

Thank you to CHARLOTTE AREA SHRM for creating space for a real discussion about advancement and equity, and to Quail Hollow Country Club for the exceptional hospitality. Cathy Graham, SPHR, SHRM-CP and Rolanda Thompson Rowe, thank you for inviting me in.

The audience was so engaged and the questions and comments added depth and richness to this important conversation. 

🎤 If your organization is serious about advancing women into leadership, and you want a research-backed, practical session your audience can apply immediately, message me for speaking and workshop availability.

Lisa Stryker

Amplify your leadership impact & accelerate your career | Tame self-doubt, strengthen your inner authority and be SEEN with B.R.A.G. communication | Leadership & Executive Coach for highly collaborative corp. leaders

You can be warm and authoritative. The people who separate them don't have your best interest in mind.

Someone told you to "speak up more." So you did. 

And then you hear that people are saying you're "a bit much."
or you sensed the room go cold.

So you toned it down. Softened your delivery. Asked questions instead of making statements.

And then your manager says, "You need to speak up more." 

You're caught in the double bind so many women experience, bouncing between assertiveness and warmth.

Nobody tells you there's a third option:

Sending competency signals. 

When you connect your work to what others care about — team wins, key objectives, shared goals — you signal competence without sacrificing warmth. 

People who do good work AND connect it to what others care about are trusted and respected.

Warmth alone - being "nice" - won't get you respect.

Assertiveness alone won't earn trust. 

Instead of...

“Sorry, can I just add one thing really quickly?”

or

“Hold on. I have something to say.”

try

“One point to add here. The data from last quarter suggests we may see stronger adoption if we roll this out regionally first.”

No, it's not fair, and yes, it takes more thought. 

Fighting reality costs more than learning to work with it. 

If this describes your last six months, let's talk. You don't have to keep recalibrating. Book a call, and we'll figure out what's actually going on and map the specific shifts that would start changing how you’re perceived immediately.

🔗 at the top of this post.

The women who advance in their careers aren't waiting for the system to fix itself.

The number of women in the C-suite dropped last year for the first time in a decade. The system wasn't built with you in mind, and that has been true for a long time. There's not much out there to indicate this will change significantly any time soon.

Here's what's also true:

McKinsey's research on women CEOs found that the leaders who navigate this well have stopped collecting permission. They act from conviction instead.

McKinsey calls it the "inner game."

I call it having your own back. 

Here's what that looks like when it's missing:

She's sitting in a meeting where her idea just got credited to someone else. 

She has two choices. She knows which is the right one. She waits anyway.

She has the read. She second-guesses it away.

The research shows that the thing that cost women the most isn't bias. It isn't the broken rung. It's waiting. 

For the right moment. 
For enough credentials. 
For someone to say they were ready.

The system is real. The barriers are real. And none of that changes your ability to decide how you'll be inside it.

The leaders who move aren't the ones the system chose.

They're the ones who stopped waiting for it to.

Ready to have your own back and stop waiting? Let's talk.

The fastest way to advance your career?

Having your own back.

One of my private coaching clients, a senior director at one of the biggest banks in the country, messaged me after her first interaction with a high-level leader. He was sarcastic and short with her. Her first instinct was that she'd done something wrong.

She apologized.

Later, she told me she wished she hadn't. Because she knew she had nothing to apologize for. She's working on her executive presence, and defaulting to self-blame isn't it. 

Having your own back closes the gap between what you know and what you do under pressure.

When you have your own back, you:

— Trust your judgment without waiting for permission
— Know your mind and act with integrity 
— Make decisions without needing full consensus 
— Take credit for what you do

She's still building that muscle. Next time, she'll hold the line. Keep it factual. 

Skip the apology she doesn't owe.

I help leaders think clearly, speak decisively, and hold their ground when the stakes are high. Click the booking link at the top of this post to learn more about my private coaching program.

This one question could significantly change how you live and lead in the next thirty days.

"Whose expectations am I meeting?"

The people I work with are hard-working, high-integrity, sincere, and collaborative.

And they treat themselves worse than any boss.

They expect things from themselves they'd never expect from anyone else.

Long hours. 
Perfect results. 
Relentless self-evaluation. 
The standard set by "I don't want to let anyone down."

They care deeply, and that caring has quietly turned into managing everyone else's opinion of them.

So they carry too much. Overthink decisions and replay conversations. 

And they're tired. Frustrated. Maybe even resentful.

You tell yourself this is what's expected, but how much of that weight you're carrying is made up of your own sky-high expectations?

Somewhere along the way, you decided that everyone else's comfort is your job. That any sign of disapproval means you're failing.

It's not true.

And it's keeping you stuck in execution instead of leading, blocking off opportunities to make more meaningful contributions.

To be more visible and valued.

The leaders who stop confusing other people's expectations with their own start making better decisions, earning more respect, and sleeping better.

That shift starts with having your own back.

Where are you carrying weight that isn't yours to carry?

"Assertive women get a reputation for being difficult," they say. I say: That's what they call women who get results. 

They're also hard to ignore.

"Don't be difficult" is good advice for staying safe. It's terrible advice for building a reputation that earns you a fat paycheck for all your hard work.

"Easy to work with" is what we're taught will get us high-stakes assignments that lead to promotions and pay raises.

Here's what that often requires of you: 

Hedging: "I might be missing something, but…" "Sorry — can I just add one thing?"

Over-explaining: "I just want to give you some context before I share my recommendation, because I know this might be a different direction than what we discussed, and I want to make sure everyone's on the same page…"

Being too humble: "The team did all the work."

Executives don't hear humility. They hear uncertainty. Stretch assignments go to leaders others trust to make hard calls — leaders who are willing to be less nice in favor of being trusted and respected.

A director client wanted executives to like her. If they appeared frustrated or annoyed, she immediately backed down. She soft-pedaled her ideas and minimized the risks she saw in their approach.

Once she saw how that looked to the executives, like she was an order-taker, not a strategic partner who stayed focused on business objectives under pressure, she worked on having her own back going into these meetings.

Disagreements became the training ground for her to stay calm and stand firm on her point of view. She decided what success looked like, and it didn't require everyone's approval or a tension-free room. 

She's a VP now, with her eye on a juicy promotion. 

A solid "I recommend we…" and "here's the risk of taking that approach," delivered with conviction, may get you labeled "a bit difficult."

But it will also get you respected and promoted. 

"She's nice" is sweet, but not as satisfying as seeing 20% more deposited into your account. 

That's the shift I help you make.

I work with leaders who want better pay, more influence, and greater control over their time. Book a consultation and we'll identify exactly where you're costing yourself credibility and what to do about it.

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Renee Cohen, CFP®

Lisa Stryker, certified coach, speaker, trainer

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The Battle

Renee Cohen, CFP®

Lisa Stryker, certified coach, speaker, trainer

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

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