Margaret Reid, CFA’s Post

First week of the New Year! I’m celebrating another birthday week✨🥳 Reflecting back at the 18 year old Camelia sitting down at a bench depressed and almost a high school drop out. I was judged by others for being a teen mom, and classified as another “statistic”. I was truly believing and caring about what others thought of me at that time. Fast forward today. - College graduate who obtained multiple degrees - In the Wealth Management & Real Estate Industry - Have a Real Estate Portfolio & continue to build it - Great Mom - Great Landlord - Working towards obtaining my CPA and CFP - Supporting small businesses and other entrepreneurs in their business endeavors - Not caring about others perception of me. - Admitting I’m not perfect nor claim to know everything. I own up to my mistakes and flaws ✨Valuing my time spent with my family and creating more memories ✨ Here are some big Take Aways: - Don’t drive a fancy car and buy designer clothes to impress people - Make a financial budget and stick with it. - Track every dollar you make and how you’re spending it - You want something? Be Obsessed and go after it! - NETWORK and BUILD CONNECTIONS with like-minded individuals. People who are more successful than you and learn from them. “When writing your life story, don’t let anyone hold the pen”. (unknown) Not the company you work for, not your boss or professor! NOBODY! You hold your pen 🖊 and write your own story. How you want to live your life and enjoy it. ✍️ #accountant #latina #personalgrowth #realestateinvestor Happy New Year!! 🍾🖤

We had three rules for Auden when he went off to college. Like most things I do, these rules came from someone I know and respect: my business partner, whose son happens to be a year ahead of mine at CU. “I made my son get a job,” he said. ”He has to earn it. He is on scholarship – my scholarship. To maintain his scholarship, he has to have a certain GPA, stay in shape and have a job.” Those became my three rules as well. The job doesn’t make a dent in the galactically irresponsible number that is out-of-state tuition at these universities. Instead, it instills work ethic, responsibility and ownership of your situation. We're in this together, and privileges such as a four-year scholarship to a university can’t just be a free ride. That's not how it works. I took this to Auden and we had a chat. Did he want to get a job? No. Did I hear that 90% of the guys in his fraternity do not have jobs? Yes. My answer to that was “Great. That means 10% of them do, and those are the 10% that I want you to be best friends with – and whose parents I will probably like the most.” Because being successful and being in the 1% in life means more than just managing expectations; it's about exceeding expectations. This past week, I was in Boulder visiting Auden. I woke up, got my workout in, and went over to Deli Zone on the Hill on campus. It was 9:00 am on a Monday morning, and there was my son behind the counter, working, earning. It absolutely was the best breakfast sandwich I ever had. My new favorite delicatessen in America is Deli Zone. Am I bragging? Humbly, I hope. What I really hope you take away from this is that I hope everyone feels the same way about their kids as I do about mine. We’re living in a challenging time, raising young men. We focus on what we can control and think about what positive masculinity looks like, and work to cultivate physical, emotional, spiritual, and financial strength. This is the time that we should be doubling down as husbands, fathers, parents, and providers. The way I see it, raising the next generation, particularly in challenging times, is about more than providing opportunities. It's about instilling a sense of duty, value and purpose that transcends the material. It’s about teaching them what positive masculinity looks like, acts like and feels like, embodied in family values, ethics and strong character. #midlifemale #midlife #parenting

🌱Do we carry the weight of our family's dreams as a burden or a privilege?🌱 As professionals rooted in the immigrant journey, we find ourselves in a unique position. Our career milestones aren't just professional accomplishments; they carry the hopes and dreams of generations that came before us. Yet, amidst the pressure and expectations, how do we interpret this weight we carry? Is it an obligation imposed upon us, or is it a choice that we willingly embrace? Let's dive into this, not just as a topic but as a real-world consideration that shape our daily life and work. Does this weight provide you with a deeper sense of purpose? Or do the expectations add a layer of complexity and stress, complicating your path in ways that others may not understand? These conversations are a delicate because we're profoundly grateful for the sacrifices made by those who came before us. Yet, we didn't ask for these sacrifices, and it's worth acknowledging that they set the stage for implicit pressures to fulfill dreams that are not always entirely our own to make it all "worth it." The reality is, these nuances aren't just chapters in a story; they shape the narrative itself. So, let's give ourselves the space to reflect on how these layers shape our own individual journey. For a deeper dive into my own perspective on this, check out my latest blog post linked below. It's a work in progress, just like all of us. 😊 #HispanicHistoryMonth https://lnkd.in/eBR9UpXi

Got sworn in today. The culmination of a 4.5 year journey. That was filled with ups, downs, and: -Faith -Work -Family -Babies -Support -Struggle -Sacrifice -Relationships -Perseverance -Unhealthy choices Here’s my story: (warning, long-ish post incoming) Maybe it will inspire someone to keep chasing dreams and push through the roadblocks. 10 years after undergrad, I looked up from the manager’s desk of a small ag retail outlet. I couldn’t picture a bright future selling fertilizer for a struggling company. Long a thought in the back of my mind, my wife and I decided to look into Law School. My goal was to focus on farm/ranch succession planning. Not wanting to “waste” time studying, I took the LSAT just to see if I’d be in the ballpark. If so, I’d study and retake it. I lucked out and scored well enough on the first try. So, I applied to Law School. One catch, my wife and I don’t carry non-RE debt. That meant saving up piles of cash for tuition, books, room & board, fuel, and to replace my current income. We cranked down the budget, and I worked nights and weekends at my 2nd & 3rd jobs: -Local sheep farm -Ag business advisory August 2019 came to find me moving into the cheapest, dumpiest apartment I could find. Two hours from my home, wife (who was 5 months pregnant), and almost 2 yr old daughter. I stayed in that dungeon apt during the weeks, traveled home on the weekends, and dealt with the stress & loneliness by eating & drinking too much. Between school, work, commuting, and my unhealthy choices, my relationships at home were strained to the max. Sheer commitment kept my wife in my corner supporting me. But that wouldn’t last forever. Enter COVID-19. What was negative to most people, came as a blessing to us. Law School had never been remote, ever, and COVID forced us to go online. I was able to move back home, work full-time, and attend class virtually. Originally I had planned for school to take me 4+ years, but because of this turn of events, I was able to squeeze it into 3. Summers were spent working my CRE day job & helping on the farm evenings & weekends. During the school year it was my day job + classes. Unfortunately, I hadn’t dropped my unhealthy habits, so my home life wasn’t improving. Through relying on relationships I’d developed with classmates and professors, I somehow managed to graduate middle of the class in May ‘22. Big accomplishment, hurray, thank you’s passed all around, but it was still incomplete. There was a pesky Bar Exam standing between me and becoming a licensed attorney. Because I didn’t need to study much in school, I didn’t take bar prep seriously. I focused on catching up at work and patting myself on the back for a job well done. I should have been focused on repairing & strengthening the relationships with my young, growing family, making healthier choices, and studying for the exam. I sat for the exam, waited 10 weeks for results, and failed. 1/3

🎉 Celebrating 2 Years of Reveni 🎉 Two years already! This second year has been a journey of consolidation and exponential growth with a 30% growth MoM. Looking back, I am thrilled to see how the foundations we laid in the first year remain strong, and the excitement and passion from day one are still intact. Like last year, what stands out most to me are the unforgettable lessons learned this year: 👷♂️ If the first year was about learning to manage emotions, this year has been about maturity and resilience. The challenges are increasingly complex, the frequency of stressful situations is rising, and responsibility only grows and changes. Maturity means commitment, ensuring insecurity doesn’t control your decisions or cloud your vision, and this work must be conscious and strenuous, or I promise you, it doesn’t just happen. 🤙 Having a true culture in the company is efficient: if the company’s values are well-rooted, you save time and mental space. I heard another entrepreneur say that the satisfaction of creating a tribe that operates on its own values and rules, setting aside externally imposed standards, is a driving force through tough times. And I can attest to that, I’m all in. 💥 I’ve spent the year wondering if my work reflects my passions and how to keep that passion alive as Reveni grows. I don’t have all the answers yet, but I am certain that I couldn’t be doing anything else. In fact, how could I have worked elsewhere? 👨👩👧👦 Family is the most important thing to me. I’ve been lucky enough to become a father again this year, and although I thought there couldn’t be a worse time, it has been a gift. Spending time with my kids and wife is now more sacred than ever, and because of that, I do my job better. There are days when everything goes wrong, and finding a home that welcomes you is the most comforting thing there can be. As always, I want to end by giving thanks for another year: - to God, for always being so close even when I am far away - to my wife Sol, for the home and haven she has created for our family - to my partners Gonzalo and Pablo, for your guidance and dedication this year, for being my friends - to the Reveni team, because your effort, commitment, and work have brought us here without failing. Thanks to you, I still have hair - to our investors, clients, and partners, for trusting in us and helping us grow 🔮 A year ago, Reveni was a promising project with impressive early adoption. Today, we continue to consolidate our leadership, expand our borders, and diversify our solutions, always with a clear vision: maximising per-unit profitability for ecommerce brands. Every new client, every new partnership, is a testament to the value and trust in our vision. 🚀🚀🚀

Today is National First Gen Celebration Day- a day to give a shout out, testify, celebrate, and support. There is a large group of us that exist. First Gen students are not 'new'. We have been around for decades. Some of us didn't understand, in the beginning, what the term actually meant. I'll share a different perspective of my story. I became homeless my senior year in HS. I moved in with a classmate and finished out my senior year, while working at Whataburger. (my first job) I faced many challenges as a child, then a teen, and so it's really amazing (now that I think about it) that I not only finished high school, I finished at the top of my class. (albeit very small class, I was still top 5). That earned me a scholarship to the local community college in my hometown of Waco. (Go Highlanders of McLennan College) Life was hard. I bounced from house to house of different relatives. I tried college because I had a scholarship. But life was just too hard on me and I made some decisions that changed my trajectory. For the next few years, I found myself married at 19, living in a new state, far away from family and friends, but still had the urge to be 'educated'. I went to college in Norfolk, VA and I completed that program with a 4.0. I moved back to Texas and began my studies at McLennan all over again. I had to start from scratch. (my first lesson on 'for profit schools and how their credits do not transfer') It was disappointing, but I was determined to get that associates degree. I worked multiple jobs, helped raise my niece, and went to school. I had my WHY. For most First Gen students, there is always a 'WHY'. My niece, then my nephew- became my WHY. I continued my education to Tarleton State University through an amazing opportunity that allowed me to stay in Waco and still be around my family. I made sacrifices and in those moments, I never knew how it was going to pan out. Several years later, I had earned multiple degrees- I received my Bachelors and two Masters degrees from Tarleton State. The journey was not easy. I even completed my doctoral studies at a different school (but life happened again and I was left at ABD level). There are a lot of details I am leaving out, but what I want to make sure I stress is this- I had pockets of support at every level. In HS, there was the classmate and a few dedicated teachers who helped me. After the first failed marriage and moving back to Texas, I had the support of my sister and mom and the wonderful faculty and staff of McLennan College and Tarleton State. These life experiences are what laid the foundation for me to be compassionate, passionate, and full of tenacity when I began working in higher ed. The work educators do matter. Happy First Gen Celebration Day! #firstgenerationcollegestudent #firstgencelebration #college #eduactiontransformslives #transformation #lifechanging

Teach me, Correct me... ? Well, within limits, can't go 'off the ranch" Come & whisper in my ear, give us dirty laundry... My Dad may be the last surviving of original engineers that got KET up and running, fighting cancer 6yrs likely from Gyphosate exposures spraying it on the tower guy wires, to save money & other EMF field exposures in the UHF 600mhz band: was he part of the 50th Anniversary celebration ? Nope, & the cannibalistic media is all too 🤔 eager to eat their own as all the business models are collapsed by the phone mafia/syndicates, & were my warnings heeded along with others from the 1990s? Hardly, you might check out #23-5337 in the 6th Circ Ct of Appeals for part of "my" side which: WKYT, defunct Morehead Snews and ASHland's Daily Flemdependent & others did not dare get: 11pages with references, if it is said not to be filed, there's copiessss. Enjoy the recognition from the 4th Estate that's more of a 5th column ... while it lasts.

WHY I’M RETIRING FROM DEI (POST 7 of 10) y’all. it’s a new year, and i’m on some BOLD SHIT…nothing new. AND. i’m prioritizing living a life FILLED with radical joy, radical love, and radical acceptance…not necessarily in that order… i don’t take it lightly that the work matters. i’m not saying DEI isn’t important. i’m just saying it’s not my work…and this is the year i live in congruence. here’s ANOTHER reason why: ✌🏽speaking of adding (see post 6 of 10)…i LOVE math. but this shit ain’t mathin! WE are capable of change. WE do it all the time. EXAMPLE: in a single HANDFUL of years, WE have become a society that asks and honors* people’s pronouns…which seemed like a battle for many in the beginning. but WE stayed the course and figured it out. (*MOSTLY. some of us still refuse. it’s true. some of us ALSO refuse to read books, hold doors for people coming in right behind them, or wash their hands after using the bathroom. 🤷🏽♀️😩) AND YET…you’re telling me that this SAME SOCIETY, over the course of 400+ years can’t wrap their minds around making it right with the descendants of ACTUAL slaves?! like. WE can’t get there, and just own that shit was fucked up?! WE can’t all agree that OWNING PEOPLE led to some WILD consequences that should be addressed, if not ELIMINATED altogether?! REALLLLLY?! WE are just gonna be out here writing laws, making entire scenes, and adamantly fight that?! hmmmm. okay. well, at this point, it’s not even a lack of capability or understanding. it’s a lack of willingness. this is a CLASSIC case of dragging the horse to water. and here WE are in waterworld…and folx are STILL parched?!? that shit is a CHOICE. i know what you’re thinking…but dr. lloyd…you’ve been doing this work for decades. you’ve shifted culture dramatically everywhere you go. you speak for the people who are too afraid. you’re bold AF. AND. you have a ph.d. in doing the work…if you don’t do it, then who will?! shiiiiiiiit. y’all better figure it out. ro-sham-bo…draw straws…einey-meany-miney-mo…nose goes…or run an inequitable election process. i don’t give a fuck HOW you do it… but trust and believe, i will NOT be a target AND a shield any longer… AND. since i’ve always had to work AT LEAST 10 times harder than my counterparts…this is technically job creation, too! see that?! changing the world…one thoroughly exhausted, highly-qualified AND entirely-undervalued Black woman at a time. what’s next for me?! STAY TUNED!! but for now, just know that you + me + DEI = three…and three is a CROWD. i’m OUT. ✊🏽🖤👑 #exitstrategy #dei #equityinaction #selfcarefirst #nothankyou #imgood #byefelicia #gettingunstuck #livingmybestlife #shineandthrive #doingthingsdifferently #WE

I have been writing a series on my substact titled Legacies series. Below is an excerpt from my latest writing: The great basketball player, Shaquille O'Neil told his kids; "Before you get any of my wealth, you have to present a master's degree." Two of his kids have gone on to get a university education. How effective is this strategy? Only time would tell. One of the surest ways to preserve wealth is through education (formal and informal). Bernard Arnault is the only billionaire aside from Warren Buffet not in tech on Forbes's top ten richest people. He recently named his daughter, Delphine Arnault, as the heir to his massive business empire. He is worth an estimated 240 billion dollars. Delphine's ascent to this exalted position wasn't a mere handout; she earned it through sheer determination and perseverance. Amidst discussions of family privilege, Delphine's awe-inspiring journey stands as a testament to the power of education. Armed with a degree from the prestigious London School of Economics and a transformative stint at McKinsey, she relentlessly climbed the corporate ladder. Each rung brought her closer to her dreams, proving that dedication and knowledge can forge an unshakeable legacy. Let us turn our gaze to the inspiring tradition of the Kohler family, exemplars of wealth and success. In a world where entitlement could reign supreme, they chose a different path—one of apprenticeship. Each aspiring executive is humbled by beginning their journey as a plumber. Yes! A plumber. To continue reading https://lnkd.in/dJ3Rs8Ev Kindly subscribe and share

Interested in what Laura Johnson and I have been up to recently? Here's a little recap. If you are in need of some help with evaluation, impact or strategy development then give us a shout!