In this episode, host Lorie Jones sits down with Nelly Mubashi—CEO and co-owner of NWAM, LLC (Northwest Asset Management and RIA Innovations). From a childhood in war-torn Nicaragua to climbing the corporate ladder and eventually building a $9.2 billion company from the ground up, Nelly’s story is all about defying expectations.
Nelly was denied company support to take her Series 7 exam but took matters into her own hands, fueling a career that would become a beacon of inspiration for women everywhere. In this conversation, you will hear about her unconventional entry into finance, the importance of knowing your “why,” and the unique challenges she faced as a first-generation immigrant woman in leadership.
Lorie and Nelly also discuss learning from bad advice, the power of authentic self-expression in the workplace, and the essential lesson of self-advocacy and being your own cheerleader. Let this conversation be the spark that fuels your ambition and confidence.
Show Highlights:
- The power of your “why” for a purpose-driven life and career. [04:36]
- How Nelly Mubashi entered finance in the face of gatekeeping. [08:27]
- Lessons from the rise of a recession-born RIA firm to phenomenal growth. [12:32]
- Simple yet profound advice for the fear of lacking expertise. [16:37]
- Why blending a warm management style with clear-cut processes in HR policy matters. [20:57]
- A story about language, culture, self-consciousness, and fitting in. [25:50]
- Girls really should sometimes just have fun—and network. [29:58]
- Find confidence in the universality of insecurity in achievers. [34:02]
- An insider’s view of the dual challenge faced by women co-owner CEOs. [37:40]
- Should a CEO in a hybrid staff role transition to a CEO-only focus? [41:10]
- Reminding young professionals to be their own cheerleaders. [44:24]
Connect with Nelly Mubashi at LinkedIn. Do make sure to mention “Fearless Females podcast with Lorie Jones” in your message to her!
If you enjoyed this episode, please go to Apple Podcasts and leave a review!
For more information about Lorie Jones, go to https://fearlessfinancialadvisors.com/fearless-females.
00:01.61
Lorie Jones
Good morning, fearless females. We are in for a treat today. We are here with Nellie Mubashi and she is the CEO of NWAM LLC, which um goes by two different names, Northwest Asset Management and RIA Innovations. But I have known Nellie for years now and I was just telling her before we got started that truly she is my inspiration. I think a lot of times like people say, you know what would? Well, my idea is always, well, what would Nellie do?
00:32.94
Lorie Jones
If I could come up with what you would do, then that is what I channel in my life. And I try and and and one day if I could be as cool as you are, it would be amazing. So I am so excited that we get to hear from you today, Nellie. Thank you so much for joining us.
00:48.25
Nelly
Thank you for having me, Lori. And it’s definitely a mutual feeling. um I mean, I’ve known you for a while. i admire you. I actually took a look at your website and all the podcasts that you’ve done, and it’s just inspiring. um Quite a bit of work, for sure, but it’s just amazing the number of women, leaders, and and and inspiring stories that you’ve brought to your audience, and it’s just amazing.
01:12.05
Nelly
Thank you for having me.
01:13.30
Lorie Jones
Yeah, I’m so excited. So I always start with the same question. i love reading. What is your favorite book?
01:21.35
Nelly
Well, I couldn’t pick, so I have two books. um I couldn’t pick between both of them. And one of them is really more business related. The other one is really more pleasure because I love reading.
01:34.06
Nelly
The first one is ah Start With Why by Simon Sinek. And I know I saw your website. You have a couple books from him.
01:44.52
Nelly
But this particular book that I’m talking about, Start With Why, has really inspired me through my whole career. um It was published in 2009, I believe.
01:55.56
Nelly
But it really kind of takes you through the journey of understanding why you’re doing things. And it gives examples of companies and and big leaders um like Steve Jobs, for example, the Wright Brothers.
02:08.85
Nelly
But basically, um the the gist of it is that you have to understand why you’re doing something in order for you to move on and make the decisions and actually um understand your whole world and what inspires you.
02:24.95
Nelly
And so I’ve taken really all the concepts that he talks about, ah an understanding why and then how and then what. And I’ve applied that not just to my career as a co-owner, CEO of the company, but also in in my personal life. you know Why do i get up?
02:44.07
Nelly
Why do I go to the gym? Why do I need to do something? And it’s just amazing, inspiring, and it kind of drives me towards, you know, being better and understanding why I want to do something.
02:57.03
Nelly
Like, for example, if I am to launch a new service or a new product at the company, um I have to go back to the why am I doing this? You know, what is the foundation of the business and what is our objective?
03:06.94
Lorie Jones
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
03:11.08
Nelly
And does this new product or service or hiring this new person, does that connect and jive with the why of the company. And um I find that by doing that, it’s just an easier decision making process. um Same thing with my life. You know, it’s it’s pretty amazing how you kind of day in, day out doing the same things, but people just do it automatically. You know, why am I going to the gym?
03:38.70
Nelly
Why do I have to do this? um But it’s it’s just making your life be purposeful, um understanding
03:44.93
Lorie Jones
Uh-huh.
03:46.52
Nelly
you know, what’s your what’s your end goal, what your objective is. And the other book that I have is more for pleasure, um is is The Fourth Wing. That’s the one um I just read a few weeks ago ah by Rebecca Jaros.
04:01.01
Nelly
And that’s really more of a fantasy book. It’s about dragons and about a war school.
04:04.40
Lorie Jones
huh
04:07.51
Nelly
um And it just kind of takes you through this journey of this, you know, tiny, short female who goes through all of these challenges. um because her mom forced her and then she realizes that she’s actually good at it and that she can actually overcome what everybody else can do and it doesn’t, her size and and her experience doesn’t hinder what, you know, the outcome of of what what she wants to do and and how she does it.
04:34.61
Nelly
So it’s it’s been an awesome book for me to to kind of go through and has, you know, different um chapters and he has like
04:35.38
Lorie Jones
one
04:42.89
Nelly
I think three books right now, there’s two more to come out that I’m pretty excited to to read, but it’s been an amazing experience just reading it.
04:52.77
Lorie Jones
I love that. Well, I am a Simon Sinek devotee. I do love his ideas and and um I’m not sure i found the why in going to the gym yet.
05:08.29
Lorie Jones
But I do use it as an overarching for, I love how you put that where you look at your business and you’re like, does this new thing that we’re doing, does it fit with our why? And if it doesn’t, then, you know, we need to, we need to look at that before we bring that into fruition.
05:22.39
Nelly
move on. Yeah.
05:23.72
Lorie Jones
Yeah. I like that. So Nellie, tell me a little bit about your journey. Like, how did you get started? Like, where did you go? um how did you get where you’re at and kind of what do you do today? Just tell me a little bit about that.
05:36.64
Nelly
Of course, of course. and Thank you. um So my journey was a little bit unconventional. um So I mean, obviously I went to undergrad. I went to school in Asheville, North Carolina at a small school, Warren in Wilson College.
05:51.42
Nelly
um Once I graduated, I moved to St. Louis to join my boyfriend at the time, husband now.
05:58.17
Lorie Jones
Thank you.
05:58.42
Nelly
And I started looking for jobs. um And, you know, the only job available at that point were not great. um So I actually started in credit card collections at the U.S. Bank.
06:10.46
Nelly
And it was, as you can imagine, not great. ah The experience was actually fine in terms of my coworkers and and and what they did day to day. But just, you know, talking to people about money. and And this was not like a fun talk about money. was really more like, hey, you haven’t paid your bills.
06:28.13
Nelly
and And it was not a pleasant experience. But I did it. and did it for about a year and a half. And then once my husband now graduated, he went to Washington University in St. Louis.
06:41.27
Nelly
ah He got a job at Microsoft. So we actually moved over to Seattle because of his Microsoft job. And I quit my ah U.S. s bank you know credit card collection job because it was not really what I wanted to do.
06:53.89
Nelly
I moved here, looked for jobs. I knew that I wanted to be in the investment wealth management industry. I had actually done an internship back in college.
07:04.76
Nelly
And I knew that I wanted to kind of do something similar, but I didn’t really know where to get started. I didn’t really have any connections. I didn’t have a place to start. I didn’t understand the the entry points were or who to talk to.
07:21.49
Nelly
So I saw this receptionist job at Hyper Jeffery, which is a regional or was a regional brokerage company. And I decided to apply for the position.
07:33.04
Nelly
And keep in mind, keep in mind that I had ah b a BA in business administration and economics, but I was applying for for a receptionist job. but
07:41.47
Lorie Jones
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
07:42.01
Nelly
But I wanted to do that because I knew I wanted to get into the industry. And that was at the time, just my only way, or at least that I thought um that was my only way.
07:53.31
Nelly
So I applied, I got the position as a receptionist for Piper Jeffrey, and that was downtown Seattle, Fifth Avenue. And I started, but I knew that I did not want to just be a receptionist. So i actually went to my manager and I asked her um to do the Series 7 exam so that I could become eventually an advisor.
08:15.72
Lorie Jones
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
08:15.96
Nelly
And she said no, because as a receptionist, you’re you’re not really supposed to have any, you know, advisor certifications. It was a completely different path. So I went um and bought my own books and signed up for the online exams, the practice exams. And I studied for three months. And then I went back and I said, you know, can I at least open… um exam window because at that point the series 7 exam has to be sponsored by FINRA firm.
08:45.28
Lorie Jones
Mm-hmm.
08:46.57
Nelly
So they finally agreed to open the window. I did the exam. I passed um the exam and then once I passed I went around to different teams and asked if they were looking for a junior advisor and most of them said no.
09:01.73
Nelly
um There was one team that was actually ah in transition. They had one person leave and there luckily um talked, interviewed with them, and I got the position as a financial advisor associate, their junior advisor um on the team.
09:16.54
Nelly
And that’s how I got started in the wealth management investment industry as a financial advisor associate at Piper Jeffrey.
09:18.63
Lorie Jones
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
09:24.70
Nelly
ah But a couple years later, ah Piper Jeffrey got purchased by UBS. And that was a whole different experience um because the culture was different. We moved to a different building. We had a different manager that UBS pretty much sent us.
09:41.54
Nelly
And the manager was really not great to me. um I would probably count that as one of the not great experience that I’ve had in my career. year
09:50.69
Lorie Jones
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
09:51.25
Nelly
ah But we, as a team, we stuck around a lot that that branch for a couple of years. And then we left, we formed our own RIA. So we started with four people, ah three advisors, one assistant, the assistant left um after a few months, and then one of the advisors retired after a couple of years.
10:11.59
Nelly
And so it was just really my partner, Greg and myself. And we decided to just grow the business so that we could have nicer things like better software,
10:24.16
Nelly
price and power, you name it. um And so we started hiring advisors under the Northwest Asset Management umbrella, which is for in-house advisors.
10:35.65
Nelly
um So we started hiring advisors. We got this ah pretty popular local advisor um who attracted other popular advisors. And so we kind of got started that way.
10:48.41
Nelly
um And then in 2011, because we started our RIA back in 2008, middle of the financial crisis.
10:53.01
Lorie Jones
Mm-hmm Oh yeah
10:54.56
Nelly
um That’s when we spun off from UBS. But, you know fast forward from 2008 when we started ah to 2011, we were presented with an opportunity to ah provide services to other RIAs. So not employees or not advisors under us, but other companies ah that did pretty much the exact same thing as we did.
11:17.84
Nelly
And they were looking for asset management services and back office services.
11:18.12
Lorie Jones
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
11:21.44
Nelly
And we said, you know, why not? We’re already doing this for advisors. Why can’t we just do it for a company now? And so we didn’t really have a branding for that at the time. We just did it. So we did the asset management. We did the back office and paperwork. We were much, much smaller back then.
11:37.93
Nelly
um And then that that side of the business just grew. and in 2015, decided to brand it RIA Innovations, because at that point, we had quite a few advisors or companies under that umbrella.
11:50.82
Nelly
And we had to make a distinction between the in-house advisors for Northwest Asset Management and the outside RIA firms that hired us for services, which was RIA Innovations. and And since then, the company you know has been growing.
12:05.55
Nelly
um i would probably say the last five years has seen an exponential growth, um but the you know it’s it’s been a journey for sure.
12:13.64
Lorie Jones
Oh, my goodness. see Yeah. um And I know that we were, um you know, under Northwest Asset Management for a while and then RAA Innovation. So, I know that your your theory is is like on that RIA innovation side, you’re you’re helping those advisors. If they want to do their own thing, that’s great. You you help them to be RIAs themselves, but you give them a platform and a technology that they can go ahead and and and it’s it’s good.
12:45.21
Lorie Jones
Like I like what you guys do.
12:47.11
Nelly
Thank you. That’s exactly right. and And that was the purpose. I mean, just making it easier for advisors to plug in and do their work because there’s a lot of like big companies um out there that you know require you to pay them a lot of money for for things that don’t cost that much money. So a lot of that is really overhead or profit that they’re trying to charge you for. And and we’re trying to we’re trying to build something that advisors can actually ah afford, but also feel respected and and feel like they’re being heard and being serviced the proper way.
13:21.84
Lorie Jones
So it’s so interesting though. You started out with two people, Nellie. And the company is huge now. I know. How many advisors do you have now?
13:31.51
Nelly
hundred and five between both sides
13:33.05
Lorie Jones
Oh my goodness gracious. That is a story in and of itself. Like how ah did you just keep it you, the pluck and courage of like going to a team and just saying, Hey, I want to be an advisor.
13:45.93
Lorie Jones
Can I join your team? And being told no. And then,
13:49.13
Nelly
That’s scary.
13:50.08
Lorie Jones
i would do another team Yeah. So but like I can see where you’re you just as as you iterated into each new successive phase of your your journey in your career.
14:01.59
Lorie Jones
I can see that pluckiness being like, well, I don’t know how to do it yet, but I’m sure we’ll figure it out. Yeah.
14:09.41
Nelly
Exactly. I mean, I think I feel like that’s been kind of the theme for most of my career. You know, just figure it out, just do it. And And and in ah in I and also mean, there is no such thing as, you know, an expert from the start. I mean, you can’t you can’t graduate college and know everything. You can’t start a new position and know everything. I mean, every single person is expected to learn and understand and be open to new ideas and and just, you know, have a grit, just keep going at it.
14:38.26
Lorie Jones
yeah I love that. So if you can look back, um is there an investment you made in yourself that you’re like, oh my goodness, if I hadn’t done that, I just don’t think I’d be where I’m at today.
14:51.49
Nelly
Definitely paying for my own book, that Series 7 book. If I did not do that and if I had listened to that, no, I wouldn’t have started in in this industry. So I wouldn’t be really here because I would still be on that operation, administrative kind of path. And I don’t know where I would have ended up.
15:10.48
Nelly
But I, know, I didn’t let them say no. I studied, bought things on my own and decided that, you know, I was ah I knew what I wanted to do. And I was not going to stick to what they wanted to do at the time, for me at the time.
15:26.86
Nelly
um and And just, you know, invested on my own and studied on my own and passed that exam.
15:33.70
Lorie Jones
There probably wasn’t a whole lot of women advisors at that point either.
15:37.28
Nelly
Oh, no. Oh, no. Even the branch at Piper Jeffrey, think we had over 80 advisors at that branch, you know, can comfortably say that about 10% were women.
15:51.27
Nelly
Yeah, everybody else was an assistant.
15:51.47
Lorie Jones
yeah So there.
15:54.76
Lorie Jones
So they, so that, ah you know, because I know at the beginning of my career and I started out after you guys had all would already come in and there were women advisors in the room, not many, but there were, you know, some.
16:05.23
Nelly
Yes.
16:06.63
Lorie Jones
um And, and I think that, that, that sense of like, well, the girls do the admin, they do the operations and, and the guys do the advisor side of things was, was
16:18.87
Nelly
Exactly.
16:19.90
Lorie Jones
was pretty much the way it went. So, so asking, Hey, I want to be an advisor that, I mean, just to put it in context, that was, that wasn’t something that girls did at that point.
16:33.32
Nelly
I was told that, yes.
16:36.80
Nelly
I didn’t listen.
16:38.23
Lorie Jones
I love it. I love it.
16:39.45
Nelly
I’m kind of stubborn.
16:40.36
Lorie Jones
and What gave you the courage not to listen? Like you’re young, you’re just out of school and you’re surrounded by male advisors who are telling you this isn’t your place. What, how did you, she just like, how’d you so brave?
16:54.95
Nelly
Well, I kind of have a tough skin um and it It’s maybe from my upbringing. I mean, so I didn’t say the story, but I was actually not born in the US.
17:04.08
Lorie Jones
Hmm.
17:04.41
Nelly
Probably by my accent, you can tell. um I was born in Central America, Nicaragua nineteen seventy nine ah in In is when the war actually kicked off in my country. So there were about 10 years of war. So my first 10 years of life was, you know, seeing, know,
17:25.59
Nelly
you know, I guess planes that have bombs and then then trenches where people would run to AK-47s hanging around everywhere and and people in uniforms and things like that.
17:37.05
Nelly
So that’s how I grew up. And after the 10 years of war, it was really more of 10 years of not much resources.
17:47.19
Nelly
So there was scarcity, for ah food, services, resources, health care, the entire thing.
17:48.20
Lorie Jones
Mm-hmm.
17:53.71
Nelly
And so That was kind of my life when I grew up and it wasn’t an easy one. um
17:59.26
Lorie Jones
and
18:00.46
Nelly
And kind of that gave me a thick skin too to not take stuff from people.
18:07.93
Lorie Jones
I love it. So like after um going through war and scarcity, like someone telling you, no, you’re not a financial advisor doesn’t even hit the surface. that
18:17.24
Nelly
Not even close. Not even close now.
18:23.16
Lorie Jones
So tell me, Nellie, have you ever gotten any really bad advice? Well, it sounds like you definitely did. Like they told you no. But can you think of a, is that is that the time or can you think of a time that you were given bad advice and did you take it? Did you not take it?
18:37.77
Nelly
Good question. um Yes, I’ve gotten really bad advice a lot of times. um But the one that I did take was when someone told me when I was already a manager and someone approached me and they said, you know, you shouldn’t try to be friends with your staff because if you have negative feedback or if you have to fire them, then it’s not it’s going to hurt and it’s not going to go well.
19:03.14
Nelly
And I actually took that um And i said I said, good advice. And and i said, okay, well, that makes sense because you know if I’m managing people and ah have to tell them that they’re not they’re not doing something right, um it’s not going to go well if I’m pretty you know friendly or BFF with them.
19:21.05
Lorie Jones
Mm-hmm.
19:22.35
Nelly
And um that’s the way that I started when I was a manager. i didn’t really like it. It felt pretty isolating I saw other companies, for example, that had ah more more of a close-knit relationship with their employees, and I didn’t see anything wrong with that.
19:39.74
Nelly
But I kept going. I mean, I took the advice, and I kept at arm’s length from a lot of the staff and employees because I just thought that, you know, if I have to fire them, it’s going to be bad. And I did that for quite a few years, and it wasn’t the culture that I wanted to live in.
19:59.94
Nelly
And so I changed that. I mean, eventually I realized, you know, this is kind of silly. um And I don’t have to be, you know, BFF with people, but friendly, um you know, talk about their family, remember their kids’ names, remember their dog name, um you know, send them flowers if their dog passed away or something.
20:19.22
Lorie Jones
yeah
20:19.33
Nelly
just Just things like that. I think that that’s the culture and company that I want to work at. um and And I kind of regret having listened to that before because it was just not right.
20:32.35
Lorie Jones
and it if It feels a little bit, it just feels wrong and it’s a little bit lonely, huh?
20:38.57
Nelly
It is, it really or it was, um because I mean, I just kind of separated myself and just did the work and because I had to do the work and didn’t really interact much with people.
20:40.79
Lorie Jones
Yeah.
20:49.66
Lorie Jones
So how did that change though? Because the reason you were doing it was you didn’t want to have to fire people. I’m assuming you had to fire people that you, you were, i had a ah more personal relationship with. Did it,
21:02.37
Lorie Jones
for us.
21:03.38
Nelly
Well, good question. um And well, A, um i did hire an HR person who has more policy and procedures. And so it’s it’s easier because if you have you know policy and procedures towards something, then you know that if someone is not performing well, you start with maybe a verbal warning and then you start you go with a written warning. and You talk to them, you you put them on a performance improvement plan, a PIP,
21:32.02
Nelly
um And if all of that fails, then, you know, it’s pretty clear that that person is not a good fit.
21:32.05
Lorie Jones
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
21:37.06
Nelly
And so i think if, since we now have that, it’s easier if someone is not performing to let them go. um And it’s not, you know, it’s not my fault. It’s not my opinion.
21:48.01
Nelly
It’s, you have all this, um you know, guess history that shows why it’s happening. um We didn’t have that before because we were much smaller. So it was really just me giving feedback to that person, and if it didn’t work out, then letting letting them go. So i would probably say, even if you’re small, start with policy and procedures that are pretty clear um so that there is no confusion or um opinions involved.
22:18.49
Nelly
It’s really fact. Here is this, here is that, here’s what you did. um We tried to help, and it didn’t improve.
22:25.34
Lorie Jones
I like that idea. So like, basically, you put the distance in the policies, procedures, HR sort of thing and put the warmth and connection in the and the people relationship part of thing.
22:38.27
Nelly
That’s correct. And I can still, you know, talk about their family and talk about their, their their you know, their hobbies and things like that without it mixing with the HR portion, which is completely separate now.
22:50.65
Lorie Jones
Yeah, I like that idea. And and again, i you know I like Simon Sinek and he talks a lot about treating employees like human beings. They have lives that are important.
22:59.33
Nelly
Yes. Yes, they really do. And they’re nice people. And I mean, you hire them for a reason because you likely have the same values and and the same, you know, for early hobbies and things like that, or, you know, whatever. It’s, there are people that need to have a connection. And I think that connection was missing before.
23:19.68
Lorie Jones
Yeah, yeah, I like that. um What about a situation that if you could go back and kind of redo, have a redo? Like you, yeah i I always say that if I went back and i knew the same thing, I’d do it the same way. But what if you had all the knowledge that you had today and you could go back and redo something? Is there a situation that you’re like, oh, yeah, I do that?
23:41.51
Nelly
Yes, I you know i let, guess, people opinion and comments um influence on how I acted. um and then I’ll give you an example because this actually is, I don’t know if it’s a funny story, but it happened in college.
23:51.13
Lorie Jones
Mm-hmm.
23:57.27
Nelly
you know A friend of mine had posted something online and I responded with a comment saying, ha, ha, ha but in Spanish,
24:09.80
Nelly
you spell ha ha ha with a J. So you do J-A, J-A, J-A, J-A instead of H-A. And that person came back and said, what do you mean?
24:23.77
Nelly
and I was confused. I’m like, ha ha ha. And then I i go out i go and look it up. And i realized that Spanish and English, you know that that that expression is spelled differently.
24:30.38
Lorie Jones
Mm-hmm.
24:35.98
Nelly
And I’m like, oh. um And that kind of embarrassed me a little bit and I stopped posting comments because of that because I’m like, okay, well, you know, maybe I’m kind of thinking maybe in Spanish and not in English and I’m going to post something and people are going to laugh or something and and I internalized that and I shouldn’t have because, I mean, yeah I speak to two different languages and we have a different culture.
25:01.32
Nelly
ah So that really shouldn’t have influenced what I did from that point forward, but it did.
25:06.36
Lorie Jones
Mm-hmm.
25:08.69
Nelly
um And my kids actually make fun of me now because they’re like, ja, ja, ja. And I’m like, it’s not jar jar ja, ja, ja. It’s ha, ha, ha.
25:14.83
Lorie Jones
Mm-hmm. ah
25:17.17
Nelly
But I understand now that is it looks different and it sounds different um between Spanish and English. And it was just hilarious that, you know, it was just a small thing.
25:23.79
Lorie Jones
know
25:27.07
Nelly
But it made me realize that i do I did that before, like where I let people, you know, small comments like that influence what I did. So I stopped doing that and I just try to be authentic. I try to be myself. And if there’s a difference between how you say something or how I say something, that’s fine because we’re we two different people.
25:50.47
Lorie Jones
Yeah, I know that’s, that’s hard for me to and I know that I’ve kind of grown into like I was terrified when I started um in this industry to wear any sort of colors, because you were like,
26:04.52
Nelly
Yes.
26:05.68
Lorie Jones
You like wear black and white and you wear your suit jacket and you wear your high heels, even if you’re trekking across multiple conferences and your feet are hurting like heck, you know, like I i just didn’t show up who I really, I really do wear pink and flat shoes, you know, like.
26:23.39
Nelly
you go.
26:23.43
Lorie Jones
Yeah.
26:24.12
Nelly
And it’s okay. i wear I wear jeans now, or not jeans, but um sneakers.
26:25.22
Lorie Jones
yeah
26:29.03
Lorie Jones
yeah
26:29.35
Nelly
i but I still put on a suit, a pantsuit, but and now I wear like either white or black sneakers. I hate ah high heels and i don’t I don’t want to do that just to piece or make someone think that I fit in.
26:42.37
Lorie Jones
Yeah. And, and that’s a really hard place to get to. i don’t know if if you can do it when you’re younger and just starting out like you want to fit in.
26:46.22
Nelly
It is. It is.
26:53.29
Lorie Jones
I don’t know if thoughts about that.
26:56.27
Nelly
You know, it’s I’ve actually seen more and more younger people do that, which is pretty impressive because my younger self would not have done that or had the courage to do that.
27:07.69
Nelly
But i do I do see, I think, so I’m Gen X. So millennials and Gen Z, I think, are a lot more open to being authentic themselves.
27:20.92
Nelly
And I see that on the staff that we hire, on the younger advisors that we have, there are a lot more um laid back about how they dress and how they talk.
27:31.44
Nelly
And I kind of like that.
27:33.13
Lorie Jones
Yeah, me too. Maybe we’ll just watch their example and and keep being brave at showing up authentically wearing our colors or ah posting our comments.
27:36.61
Nelly
There you go.
27:43.30
Nelly
For sure.
27:44.44
Lorie Jones
Yeah.
27:45.27
Nelly
For sure.
27:46.40
Lorie Jones
If you could go back and talk to yourself when you were just at the start of your journey, you know, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, is there any advice he’d tell you and that h
27:57.91
Nelly
Yes, um I would definitely tell myself to have more fun um and then also to prioritize friends. um And i’ll I’ll tell you why. So to have fun because I really didn’t have any fun in college. I mean, I a did a lot of studying and I did internships and I did you know work study because my college was, it required you to work 20 hours a week at least. um And so i I was always busy and I didn’t invest in friendship.
28:33.09
Nelly
um And that was a mistake for sure. um so I would tell myself to maybe join a sorority, to attend, you know, I guess games at the school, to the sport um events, things like that, and to just relax. I mean, you can still study, you can still do some work, but find some time to actually bring that other aspect because it’s pretty important to make friends. And it’s pretty important to cultivate those relationships because those are the ones that are going to connect to you in later life.
29:08.14
Nelly
And I did some of that, but not a lot. And and so my friends are very few from from from college and I wish that I would have spent and invested more time doing that.
29:19.02
Lorie Jones
I like that idea. i met I’m a little bit introverted myself and I do notice that I’m like, ah and and yeah you know you always want those friendships, um but but it’s important to to remember to have fun
29:31.93
Nelly
Yes.
29:36.67
Lorie Jones
while you’re along the journey to, to, to develop those relationships and have fun. Yeah. I think that’s important. um I maybe need to tell my 18 year old though, maybe not too much fun.
29:44.30
Nelly
agree
29:48.33
Lorie Jones
I can’t
29:48.76
Nelly
Not too much fun, of course.
29:51.89
Nelly
But you know go to games, join a team, and do something. um Just build that build a network.
29:58.82
Lorie Jones
like that. What, what scared you the most when you started on your career and does it still scare you?
30:08.16
Nelly
I would probably say it scares me less now, but, you know, when I started, i was pretty self-conscious about myself. You know, I have, um I’m short, I’m 5’3″, have an accent, I’m brown, um minority, like Latin. So there were all these things that were not, you you don’t see a lot of that or even much of that in the industry. And so,
30:33.57
Nelly
I was always self-conscious about myself, um about what I said and how I talked. um And would probably say it scares me less now or I maybe care less about it because I have more confidence, have the experience, I have the backing of what I’ve done and the success that I’ve had.
30:55.39
Nelly
And so I don’t, I stop caring basically if if I fit in or not fit in. if I was too short or I’m brown or have if i have an accent or whatever.
31:07.57
Nelly
um Because at the end of the day, it really doesn’t matter. um it’s What matters is what you did, how you did it you know, did you did you do all of that, I guess, for for for success. um and And I feel like, you know,
31:26.26
Nelly
Things, I guess, that I was scared of when I was younger um were all things that came as a result of insecurities. um and and And know obviously, I mean, people have insecurities even when they’re older.
31:37.26
Nelly
I think I still do. But I think a lot of that went away from all the work that I put in through the years and and the success that I’ve had um and just, you know, existent.
31:49.09
Lorie Jones
Yeah, that’s, that’s a really interesting idea. Because yeah, I still have insecurities, but I am more confident in what I do. know? And so does that just come you think with like, just being, you know, trying a situation, being fearless, trying it a little bit, seeing if it works. And as you as you gain those skills, you just get more and more able to show up?
32:14.31
Lorie Jones
Or is am I missing something? Yeah.
32:17.62
Nelly
So I think the thing that changed my point of view um and for me to stop caring about all of that was that I saw that other people were also insecure. i mean, these, you know guess, male males, white males and that that have been in the industry for a while, that are some of them are successful, some of them are not, they also have the exact same insecurities. I mean, I’ve talked to quite a few advisors.
32:45.88
Nelly
I interview pretty much every single person, whether they’re coming under an oracle of asset management or RIA Innovation and coming for services, because I want to make sure that they fit in within our culture.
32:57.02
Lorie Jones
Mm-hmm.
32:57.13
Nelly
um But by in doing that, i understood or I saw that there were every single advisor is different. Every single person is different. And to be frank, I mean, know what I would observe is even though maybe someone would have all this confidence, they didn’t really know what they were doing.
33:18.93
Nelly
um They needed help. um And I knew what I was doing and I knew exactly how to help them. and And that just gave me the confidence to understand that even if you have if you look like you have everything put together and you look the part and you you you feel that you have achieved everything at the top, ah you may still not know what you’re doing. um and And I saw that when I was talking to advisors and I understood that there was a lot of education that needed to happen there because maybe they’re bread of experience.
33:55.25
Nelly
only allowed them to see things one way, ah where there was all this other world um that they were diving into by being maybe their own um company, in their own RIA, or their own independent advisor that they were scared about.
34:08.50
Lorie Jones
Mm-hmm.
34:10.00
Nelly
I mean, a lot of advisors come in very stressed out um because they are leaving their prior employer. They’re scared that they’re going to get sued by the employer, that their clients are not going to come.
34:21.79
Nelly
They’re very stressed. And us kind of like calming them down and just emphasizing that we’ve done this before, that we have experience, that it’s going be okay.
34:32.31
Nelly
um It just made me see see that, you know, it’s okay to be insecure. It’s okay to not know everything um because there’s resources out there um that can make it better.
34:43.00
Nelly
But it also gave me the confidence confidence to see that even if someone seems like it’s put together and they have everything, that may not be the case and it made it okay for me to also not be confident and have insecurities.
34:58.44
Lorie Jones
Oh, I really like the way you put that. And, and that is, it’s true. If you start looking around and you start asking, like, half of us don’t know what we’re doing either, right?
35:08.93
Lorie Jones
like We’re just hoping life works out and we’re doing our best and we’re working hard.
35:10.24
Nelly
No.
35:15.18
Lorie Jones
And like, i you know, I have all the credentials behind my name that I still worry, you know, are they going to like me? Is someone can invite me to sit with them at the lunch table?
35:22.56
Nelly
right
35:23.87
Lorie Jones
Like that never goes away, right?
35:25.83
Nelly
But they’re thinking the same thing. They’re thinking the exact same thing. So it’s okay to still think um like that because we’re humans at the end of the day.
35:30.80
Lorie Jones
Yeah.
35:34.25
Nelly
But um everybody else is the exact same. I mean, they they’re scared to approach um people they don’t know. And they’re scared to put themselves out there.
35:44.98
Lorie Jones
Yeah. yeah Yeah. um Do it. Be fearless. it it It works out for you. You find those connections that you were talking about and you find the um the people that really add the the inspiration to your life.
36:02.80
Nelly
I agree, yeah.
36:03.78
Lorie Jones
Yeah. What about, um did you face any unique challenges because you were a woman?
36:13.21
Nelly
I do and I still do. i did and I still do. um Because the the one thing or the first impression from advisors is always like, you’re in operations or or you only understand operations. You don’t understand what I’m talking about.
36:28.87
Nelly
um which means that they haven’t looked at my resume and they don’t understand that um I’m an advisor or I was an advisor and I understand where they’re coming from. But I get that a lot where people underestimate me because they immediately immediately put me in a category of you’re an assistant or operations or you know support.
36:41.27
Lorie Jones
Mm-hmm.
36:48.87
Nelly
You’re supporting someone. You’re here for someone. um and And it’s kind of funny because ah you know when you start talking to people and they find that, no, I’m not here for anyone. I’m i’m actually a co-owner, CEO of a company and I’m representing my company.
37:05.17
Nelly
um the The whole conversation changes, but that’s their first impression. um It’s just, it’s always been like that and it’s still like that.
37:09.67
Lorie Jones
sir
37:12.79
Nelly
most I was um at a conference last year in Q4 in November um and out of 40 attendees, they were they were all head of companies. They call it TAMPS, Turnkey Asset Management Programs.
37:26.79
Nelly
and And somehow we kind of fall into that category for some of the products that we have. But it was a TAMP conference and there were 40 attendees, 40 head of companies, big companies.
37:38.09
Nelly
I was the only women CEO and co-owner of a company there out of all those 40 people. um And one of the people who organized the event was for this major custodian.
37:51.73
Nelly
ah The lady came and said, you know, you’re the only woman. CEO here out of all the 40 people that we have and and everybody else, like the the other women that you see, um that person is support.
38:04.77
Nelly
This is an assistant. This one is helping organize the event. But I was the only women CEO advisor in that whole group. So it’s it’s always been a challenge.
38:16.55
Nelly
You get underestimated and, you know, you just kind of take it and move on. I mean, it it it doesn’t really matter what they think. It’s really what you do. You just have to keep going.
38:31.08
Lorie Jones
Yeah, i I ran into a similar situation several years ago where I sat down at a table at a luncheon at some sort of symposium or presentation or something like that. And they the guys at the table, the advisors kind of look you know looked at me and looked away.
38:46.61
Lorie Jones
i and must have looked like I was a secretary for somebody and my colleague came in and sat down next to me and they reached over me and like shook his hand and introduced themselves. And I am like,
38:59.57
Lorie Jones
it It really did change the way i i I stood up and reached out and shook their hands. and I’m like, I’m an advisor.
39:07.00
Nelly
ah
39:08.54
Lorie Jones
So i I do get that. You’d get that. i’m not i I’m usually not the only woman in the room.
39:12.08
Nelly
All the time. Yes.
39:16.84
Lorie Jones
So that has got to be a unique experience.
39:21.12
Nelly
It definitely was. But I mean, I’m kind of used to it because it happens more often than not. I mean, I attended master class last year as well, earlier last year. And out of like 50 people, five were women.
39:34.72
Nelly
um So and it’s always been like that. I mean, I think the more and more or the the smaller the group, the smaller the women representation in that group.
39:43.87
Lorie Jones
Yeah.
39:44.67
Nelly
Yeah.
39:44.60
Lorie Jones
Yeah. Yeah. so what about Nellie, what is the thing you are the most proud of?
39:54.14
Nelly
Definitely building and growing this company. You know, we, I was actually looking at our statistics and I made a change ah back in 2020 where, you know, I was, i was an advisor, but I was also managing the company.
40:10.16
Nelly
And I just said, you know, I can’t do both because you can’t really be good at everything, but you can be good at something.
40:13.54
Lorie Jones
Thank you.
40:18.32
Nelly
So I was spending my time you know talking to clients on the advisory side and and rebalancing and trading and doing financial planning, but I was also doing the company management, hiring people, um and trying to build a company. and and And it was just really, really hard to do both.
40:36.81
Nelly
And so I said, I’m really good at the corporate side, managing, growing, setting up policy procedures, you know reaching out to connections, things like that.
40:49.60
Nelly
And i’m um I ah really like working with clients and I have been, a lot of them had actually, I’ve been working with them since 2004, which is when I started as an FAA um under Piper Jeffrey.
41:02.91
Nelly
And it was kind of hard to let them go, but I just had to pick what I was really good at and spend all my time on that. and And when I did that back in 2020, so now five years of history, our company pretty much more than doubled. So we had about $4.1 billion between Northwest and RE Innovations back in 2020.
41:27.55
Nelly
We’re at $9.2 billion right now. And that has really, um I mean, it’s been an explosion between hiring, doubling our staff numbers, you know tripling our advisor numbers, and and then just having a bigger company.
41:30.50
Lorie Jones
wow
41:43.65
Nelly
so been ah It’s been quite an experience just going through all the growth and the pains that this growth brings, but it’s definitely something I’m proud of because i i think if I didn’t make the decision of spending all my time on this, it wouldn’t have happened.
42:04.71
Lorie Jones
I agree. And I think, I think that’s really important to look at is like there, you know, I know I recently had a ah situation where I had to decide which way to go.
42:15.48
Lorie Jones
and um and it’s harder than you think, like, because you, you are good at it and you loved your clients and you wanted to do
42:20.70
Nelly
It is.
42:26.92
Lorie Jones
it it’s It wasn’t that you didn’t want to do both. You did want to do both and you were good at both. Like it’s it’s hard to make that decision and so necessary for your growth.
42:32.22
Nelly
and
42:38.13
Nelly
It really is. And he also gave me more time to spend with my kids because even though now, you know, had a single focus for my career, It also freed up my time to you know go to games and and spend more time and give ah family time to to my kids.
42:55.72
Lorie Jones
I love that for you. That’s another good reason that we need to look at.
42:57.30
Nelly
yeah
43:00.72
Lorie Jones
we We can’t do everything. And even if we can, maybe we shouldn’t. Right.
43:04.10
Nelly
We shouldn’t. We really shouldn’t, no. Because then you’re stressing out about a lot of things and not concentrating on a single thing.
43:10.57
Lorie Jones
Yeah. So any advice for a young lady who’s just starting down the path that you’re already so successful at that you’d, you’d share.
43:18.85
Nelly
I do. um I would probably say, you know, be your own cheerleader. That’s what I would summarize it. um And it was actually funny because I i i feel like I was, but I wasn’t vocal about it.
43:31.40
Nelly
So putting all the work, I so was getting all my certifications. And I thought that by doing that, it would just naturally happen.
43:42.73
Nelly
And I was actually at Women in Wealth conference last week, Friday. And one of the panelists had a similar um talk where she was talking about her regrets. um And she said that she regretted not being vocal about what she wanted ah because she had gotten certifications. She had worked her butt off to get a promotion and she didn’t get it.
44:06.75
Nelly
And when she went back to her boss and said, you know, why didn’t get why didn’t I get the promotion? What kind of feedback can you give me? Well, the boss said, well, you didn’t ask. And she was just taken aback because she thought that it was pretty obvious that she was doing all of this so she can get a promotion.
44:16.07
Lorie Jones
Mm-hmm.
44:23.22
Nelly
But the boss simply said, you didn’t ask. So be your own cheerleader. Ask. Ask for a raise. Ask for a promotion. ah you know just Just make sure that you have your pom-poms out for you for yourself. And make sure that your boss and whoever you know works with you know exactly what you want and what you’re working towards.
44:45.57
Nelly
because if you don’t vocalize it, nobody’s a mind reader. and And in this case, i mean, yes, it would have been obvious to me as a boss, but it’s not obvious for everybody. So you have to ask.
44:58.52
Lorie Jones
I love that. I do. i Because a a lot of times we just, we we do the hard things and we were we’re quiet about it. We’re quiet about the fact that we’re doing, I can’t tell you how many women I have interviewed who they’re like, oh, I don’t do anything cool.
45:06.49
Nelly
yes
45:14.52
Lorie Jones
You don’t want to interview me. I don’t do anything cool. And you get them on and you find out all these amazing things that they’re doing. They’re just not, they’re not cheerleading. They don’t have their palm.
45:22.78
Nelly
They’re not cheerleading themselves.
45:23.45
Lorie Jones
Yeah.
45:24.09
Nelly
No, you have to do that.
45:24.47
Lorie Jones
Yeah.
45:25.75
Nelly
You really have to. i mean, if you don’t do it, nobody’s going to do it for you.
45:29.89
Lorie Jones
Yeah, it’s true. So, well, thank you so much, Nellie. I really appreciated our conversation. i really learned a lot.
45:36.71
Nelly
Likewise.
45:36.70
Lorie Jones
And and um if I have a young lady who’s listening to this, who wants to connect with you and ask questions or get some advice, how does she do that?
45:47.09
Nelly
So the easiest way, ah first is a LinkedIn connection and just mention your podcast. And then she can send me or he can send me an email directly to my work email, which is nelly.mubashi at nwaset.com.
46:01.18
Nelly
You can find it on the website too by just looking up my name.
46:04.63
Lorie Jones
Perfect. Well, thank you so much for your time. And I really appreciate it.
46:08.70
Nelly
Thank you, Lori. Appreciate it. Thank you.