RightWise Wealth is built around a relationship-centered, fiduciary model. How did you identify this gap in the wealth management space, and what inspired you to launch your own firm?

After business school, I worked in two places that couldn’t be more different—and I saw the exact same lesson in each. Capital Group manages trillions of dollars and still does big business in traditional commissionable mutual funds; I also worked at OpenInvest, a Y-Combinator and a16z-backed startup with a zippy digital custom indexing product.

But what I saw in both is that people don’t want to buy investment products from Instagram ads: the wealth firms that succeed are those rooted in people talking to people. More than just answers, people want trust and connection—an insight even more important now in the age of AI.

When OpenInvest was acquired, I had to choose whether to accept the generous retention package or to take the check and pursue my own path. At the same time, I was convinced that careers would look different post-pandemic: more flexible, more rooted in community. I wanted to bet on relationships in wealth, to bet on the future of work—and to bet on myself.

Reflecting on your time at BCG, what lessons or strategic frameworks have stayed with you, and how do they influence the way you lead RightWise Wealth—whether in operations, client relationships, or long-term planning?

At BCG, I saw the transformative power of mentorship. I started at BCG as a 22-year-old Russian Literature major whose only for-profit work experience was at a used bookstore. Brad Henderson in Chicago had a special affection for liberal arts kids, and he created an umbrella of amazing mentors—including Kedra Newsom Reeves and Heather Lord, who were my first Project Leaders, and both cared enough about me to be fantastic coaches. I got to work with Heather again almost 10 years later at Capital Group, where she launched and built the firm’s strategy team and again embodied the example of great mentorship.

Some of our Ambassadors come from finance, but most are new to the space. I love teaching them about the Fed’s dual mandate or why I think that whole life policies are generally oversold. The same way that BCG mentors such as Shalini Unnikrishnan and Wim Celen opened up the business world for me, I hope I now open up the finance world for Ambassadors—who can turn around and bring that education to their communities.

Many BCG alumni go on to start their own ventures. What aspects of the BCG culture or training do you think foster that entrepreneurial mindset, and how did it shape your own journey?

My first entrepreneurial foray was actually a “magic time” project, reaching out to Chicago museum leaders about their corporate benefits programs. Several partners at BCG—including Michelle Russell—made time to coach me on how to run the project, how to structure my deck, how to source and engage my stakeholders. I can’t imagine many other places that would encourage a 23-year-old to have that much room to run.

Launching your own company requires a spark of confidence that invites a tip into arrogance. BCG is where I learned that it’s a good thing to feel and take authority, so long as you stay humble before the facts, and you prioritize humans.

Fun fact: one of the museum executives who participated in that “magic time” project arranged a behind-the-scenes tour of the Field Museum of Natural History to thank our project team. A decade later, that woman saw one of my LinkedIn posts, and reached out to become my firm’s first Ambassador.

RightWise’s Ambassador program is a unique concept. Please tell us more about the idea behind it and how it aligns with your values of education, empowerment, and community building.

My goal is to decouple the client acquisition and client service responsibilities of being a financial advisor. Many advisors enter the profession because they love spreadsheets and helping people—only to discover that it’s often a sales job. Whether you’re a salt-of-the-earth insurance broker or at a top-shelf private bank, advisors are usually required to recruit a book of business and, as a result, washout rates are high.

We acquire clients via our Ambassador program, which creates trusted advocates within communities that are otherwise out of reach. For example, one of our Ambassadors is a partner at a VC firm; one of our financial advisors then wrote a webinar, “Personal Finance for VCs,” with our Ambassador’s insights into her group’s most-common questions. Our Ambassador then fired up her address book, resulting in 100+ people in venture capital registering for our webinar. And because this role is part-time, no one feels the “sell this product or lose my job” over-incentive that sometimes invites bad behavior.

On the client service side, because I offer a career track with no cold calling or top-of-funnel responsibilities, I can recruit exceptional advisors with a true heart for service and offer part-time options.

What these have in common is a vision for the future of work: flexible options and strong affinity.

What’s been one of the most unexpected challenges in building RightWise Wealth from the ground up, and how did you navigate it?

My most bone-headed moves as an entrepreneur have a common theme: building for scale too early. When I was at MGM Resorts, I managed an employee survey that had tens of thousands of completed survey responses; at Capital Group, I learned to speed-type “*10^9” in my financial models. But when you’re just a startup, it’s better to do things manually at first. Not only do you conserve time and capital, but you also leave more room for learning.

Looking ahead, what is your long-term vision for RightWise Wealth? Where do you hope to take the company in the next 5 to 10 years?

The other week, I was walking around the convention center of this beautiful new locals casino here in Las Vegas, my hometown. I could see a future where our Ambassador on-site takes over a convention hall, with hundreds of Ambassadors excitedly taking notes on a keynote about financial planning, then going into breakout rooms for professional development sessions and team building.

And I can then see those Ambassadors heading back to the airport and flying home, bringing everything we’ve taught them back to communities all across this country, helping thousands of families find peace in their marriages, invest for kids’ college, implement little tweaks in their employer stock program to pull forward their future retirement date by 24 months.

We actually do have an on-site next month, though it’s just one conference room in a suburban hotel, not a Las Vegas convention center. But while that level of scale is still beyond us, the depth of our impact today is real. I can’t wait to see where this ride takes me from here.