Financial Feminist

The 2026 job market has been brutal. If you’ve been looking for a job, you know how tough it is. If you already have a job, I’m sure you’ve been told that you should just be grateful. Keep your head down, don’t make waves, ask for a raise when things "settle." My guest today thinks that instinct is completely backwards, and after this conversation, so do I. Kathryn Valentine –– executive coach, one of the country's leading experts on women's negotiation, and repeat guest –– coaches women inside communities like J.P. Morgan, Bain, and KPMG. And her work starts with an uncomfortable finding: women now negotiate as often as men, but succeed about half as often. Today we're talking about what to do when your company says there's no budget, why the timing of your ask matters so much, what AI gets wrong about your salary, and how to survive the messy middle of a negotiation without folding. If you've been telling yourself you'll just wait a year to ask, listen to this first.

Kathryn’s Links:

76 Things You Can Negotiate at Work: http://76things.com/

Learn more about Kathryn Valentine: http://worthmorestrategies.com/

Negotiate Like a Woman with Kathryn Valentine: https://herfirst100k.com/financial-feminist-show-notes/negotiate-like-a-woman/

Learn the exact strategies to save money, pay off debt, improve your money mindset, and increase your net worth. Get your personalized plan: ⁠⁠https://herfirst100k.com/ffpod⁠.

00:00 Intro

02:13 Why negotiation matters: career, stress, and $1M

05:24 Women ask now, but with the wrong tools

06:30 Negotiating during layoffs

08:28 The relational ask (and the WSJ advice that backfires)

11:36 Common negotiation mistakes women are told to make

13:12 What to ask for when raises are frozen

15:33 The 76 things you can negotiate

19:42 The gender gap goes way past base salary

26:42 In the room: what to say when it goes off-script

31:08 The three biggest mistakes that sink negotiations

34:15 How to find your market rate

37:32 "Ask a white guy"

40:34 Should you use AI to prep?

44:29 The average negotiation lasts 25 days

45:57 Live calculator: what one raise is worth

50:25 Who to talk to (and who to avoid) during a negotiation

56:54 Changing jobs when the economy is bad

59:25 When to leave corporate and build your own thing

66:27 Why mid-sized companies are best for flexibility

71:07 What to do this week
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Carleigh Bodrug is back! She's the CEO and founder of PlantYou, a #1 New York Times bestselling author, a self-taught plant-based home cook, and the author of the brand-new cookbook Quickies. Her first episode was one of our most-loved ever, so I brought her back to tackle one of the biggest line items on your budget right now: food. We get into why convenience wins at 6 PM, how to actually cut your grocery bill, how to stop throwing money in the trash (literally), and why a food system works the same way a money system does. It's practical, it's shame-free, and there is a salad kit eaten out of a mixing bowl.

Carleigh’s Links:

PlantYou Quickies book

Carleigh's Instagram

How to Lower Your Grocery Bill and Stop Food Waste

Additional Resources Mentioned:

millionaire mindset: parenting yourself episode

Ready to take the confusion out of investing? Learn the exact methods to start investing, avoid the mistakes that cost people millions, and how to balance investing while paying off debt inside Stock Market School. Learn more here: ⁠https://herfirst100k.com/ffpod.



00:00 Intro

00:42 What Happens to Healthy Habits When You're Maxed Out

04:16 The Psychology of Pre-Cut Food

07:26 Shop Your Pantry First

11:15 The Deeper Psychology of Convenience

12:51 Cooking as an Investment in Yourself

18:23 Building a System That Beats Willpower

24:52 How "Quickies" Was Born

28:08 What Makes a Recipe Actually Quick

32:00 Perfection Is the Enemy of Good

35:33 Using Every Scrap: Reducing Food Waste

39:31 Cooking Is a Learned Skill

43:54 Rapid Fire Speed Round

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Ready to take control of your money and finally start investing? Visit ⁠⁠https://herfirst100k.com/ffpod⁠ to register for our FREE workshop, Stock Market Secrets: Debunking Common Myths for Successful Investing to learn how to avoid common mistakes and how to build wealth without fear or confusion.

Today's episode is a little different from our normal format. It's my conversation with Jasmine Star on The Jasmine Star Show, and we're sharing it here because it goes deep into something I don't usually get asked about on my own show: the actual business mechanics behind Her First $100K. We talk about the $49 coaching sessions that started it all, the money story I inherited from my parents (and had to unlearn), the exact logic I used the night before I quit my job, and why "done is better than perfect" has become my whole content philosophy. If you're building something of your own, or thinking about it, this one's for you.

Jasmine’s links:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jasminestar

Website :https://jasminestar.com/

00:00 Intro & the story behind the name "Her First $100K"

02:25 Documenting the money journey publicly — and why that built accountability

04:27 Rebranding to Her First $100K, and her dad's reaction

06:30 The $49 coaching sessions that started it all

08:01 From coaching, to a $97 workshop, to a course

10:30 Tori's money story: safety, risk, and her parents' fear

14:19 Why women are conditioned to avoid risk

15:35 The night before she quit her job

18:54 "Give your dollars a job": the psychology of scaling income

24:21 Her First $100K's revenue model today

28:33 What's stayed the same (consistency) vs. what she let go of

31:58 Building an email list early, and current team structure

33:53 What Tori loves doing vs. what she's delegated

42:04 The "chin video" strategy: why imperfect content wins

44:54 "Done is better than perfect": hiring, imperfection, 2026 content trends

50:05 Owning success without performing false humility
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Almost everything you've ever been told about working out was tested on men. Today's guest is here to hand you the actual playbook for your body. The one that accounts for your hormones, your cycle, and your life stage instead of pretending you're just a smaller man. In today’s episode we’re talking to Dr. Stacy Sims––exercise physiologist, nutrition scientist, and one of the leading voices on training women's bodies––about why lifting heavy protects your brain (not just your muscles), why "toning" isn't even a real thing, how to actually train through menopause instead of white-knuckling it, and why your smartwatch might be lying to you about how tired you really are. If you've ever felt like the fitness industry wasn't built with you in mind, you're absolutely right, and Dr. Sims is going to tell you exactly what to do instead.

Dr. Stacy’s Links:

Website: https://www.drstacysims.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drstacysims

Ready to take control of your money and finally start investing? Visit https://herfirst100k.com/ffpod to register for our FREE workshop, Stock Market Secrets: Debunking Common Myths for Successful Investing to learn how to avoid common mistakes and how to balance investing with paying off debt so you can build wealth without fear or confusion.

00:00 Intro

00:50 The Fitness Industry's Blind Spot

02:14 When the Research Is Only About Men

04:16 Why Women Need Heavier Weights

05:42 Lifting Heavy Protects Your Brain

07:26 Strength Over Thinness

10:36 100 Healthy Years, Not Just 100

16:27 Why Women Fear Lifting Heavy

17:04 Pushing to Failure Is the Point

21:35 Where to Start: At Home, 10 Minutes

24:58 Why You Shouldn't Train Fasted

30:03 What to Eat Before You Lift

31:52 Training for Menopause, Not Against It

35:41 The Hormone Therapy Pendulum Swing

38:16 Why Girls Really Quit Sports

40:36 Your Smartwatch Is Lying to You

45:35 Relearning Your Body's Signals

46:57 Fitting Fitness Into a Busy Life

52:22 What Successful Women Know About Health

54:36 The 80/20 Rule for Life
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Today I'm answering your biggest questions about investing, retirement, and what to do with your money when the headlines start screaming recession. I get these questions constantly in my DMs, so I'm pulling the most asked — mortgage payoff vs. investing, the actual logistics of retirement withdrawals, what to do with an old 401(k) you've been ignoring, and how to finally get out of Edward Jones — and giving you real answers. My advice doesn't change based on who's in office or what the market's doing this week. It changes based on math, and I'm walking you through the math.

Additional resources:

How to Start Investing: https://herfirst100k.com/financial-feminist-show-notes/how-to-invest/

What You Need to Know About Mortgages with NerdWallet’s Kate Wood: https://herfirst100k.com/financial-feminist-show-notes/how-to-get-a-mortgage/

Learn the exact strategies to save money, pay off debt, improve your money mindset, and increase your net worth. Get your personalized plan: https://herfirst100k.com/ffpod.

00:00 Intro & Investing Mindset

04:41 Paying Off Your Mortgage vs. Investing

09:56 How to Withdraw Money in Retirement

16:51 Rolling Over Old Retirement Accounts

21:02 How to Leave Edward Jones

30:31 Wrap-Up & Credits
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