Her Life, Her Practice, Her Way

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Podcast by Tara Conti Bansal

Her Life, Her Practice, Her Way

The "Her Life, Her Practice, Her Way" podcast—was created for female financial advisors who want more than just success on paper. It’s for those of us who care deeply about our clients, our families, and ourselves, and who are looking for real connection, support, and inspiration as we navigate the complexities of life and work. What You’ll Find Here: Stories of women building financial advisory practices on their own terms Honest conversations about challenges, growth, and fulfillment Practical insights from women who are redefining success A supportive community of like-minded, exceptional female advisors I believe that we do our best work—and live our best lives—when we honor our values, trust our instincts, and leverage our unique strengths. This is a space where we can explore what that looks like together. Whether you’re new to the profession, evolving your practice, or simply seeking a little more ease and joy in your day-to-day, you’re so welcome here. Let’s build something meaningful—together. 👉 Join the Community by subscribing on the podcast website: www.herlifeherpracticeherway.com 👉 Learn More About Coaching by contacting Tara on the Contact page of www.herlifeherpracticeherway.com
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Latest episodes

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03 February 2026

Kim Abmeyer: Becoming the Advisor You’re Meant to Be

In this episode, Tara talks with Kim Abmeyer, founding equity partner of Ascentis Wealth and Ascentis Asset Management, about responsibility, growth, and the importance of women supporting one another in financial services.

Kim shares how she grew into the role of advisor over time—initially not wanting to be an advisor—and why that early hesitation may be one of her greatest strengths today. She reflects on building long-term client relationships, creating asset models, and finding fulfillment in the positive impact she makes.

The conversation also explores the value of community, including the women’s group Kim is part of that prioritizes connection, friendship, and mutual support over competition.

This episode is a reminder that there’s no single right way into this profession—and that caring deeply, even feeling scared at first, can be a sign you’re exactly where you’re meant to be.

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20 January 2026

Planning for Success, Not Just Survival — with Amy Irvine

What happens when fear becomes a signal to pay attention to, rather than a stop sign?

In this episode, Tara sits down with Amy Irvine to talk about the courage it takes to build a financial planning practice that truly fits your life. Amy shares how loss became a wake-up call, why she walked away from a traditional AUM model, and what she learned when she realized she had planned for failure—but not for success. It’s a thoughtful, honest conversation about values, mentorship, and trusting your own voice as you design what comes next.

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In this episode of Her Life, Her Practice, Her Way, I sit down with Amy Irvine, founder of Rooted Planning Group, for a deeply human conversation about courage, intention, and what it really means to build a practice that fits your life.

Amy’s story isn’t one of chasing growth for growth’s sake. It’s a story shaped by loss, reflection, and a quiet but persistent inner voice asking, Is this the life I want to be living? After the sudden loss of her uncle, Amy found herself questioning not just how she worked—but why she worked the way she did. That moment became a catalyst for change.

She shares what it was like to leave a traditional AUM-based firm, launch a values-driven planning practice before “remote work” was normalized, and build a flat-fee model that prioritizes people over portfolios. Along the way, Amy speaks candidly about fear, self-doubt, and the realization that she had planned carefully to avoid failure—but not fully for success.

What stands out most is Amy’s humanity: her commitment to mentorship, her generosity with other advisors, and her willingness to talk openly about the emotional complexity of leadership and succession. Now, as she thoughtfully transitions her firm to the next generation, Amy is once again modeling what it looks like to trust, let go, and lead with integrity.

This episode is a reminder that you don’t have to follow someone else’s blueprint. You can build a practice rooted in your values, your voice, and the life you actually want to live.

Episode Highlights

  • How personal loss became the wake-up call that changed everything
  • Why Amy chose a flat-fee, planning-first model over traditional AUM
  • The fear she didn’t talk about—and what finally pushed her forward
  • “I planned for failure, not success”—and what she learned from it
  • Building a practice before remote work was the norm
  • Mentorship as both a gift received and a responsibility carried forward
  • Navigating succession, identity, pride, and grief—at the same time

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47:14

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16 December 2025

For the Love of Systems: Being Good Humans First with Kristen Lux

Operations coach and business owner Kristen Lux shares her journey from working in restaurants to systems / operations consulting and coaching. She talks about what it’s really like to run a business with her husband, and why entrepreneurship is personal development on steroids. We talk ADHD, boundaries, couples counseling, and why being good at this work starts with being a good human.

Episode Highlights

  • How Kristen's childhood and her parents' divorce shaped her and led to years of disassociation and depression as a teen.
  • What the restaurant industry taught her about people, prioritization, and operating in constant chaos — and why she still has “server nightmares.”
  • Being passed over twice for management in favor of older men, and how that painful experience eventually pushed her out of restaurants and onto something different.
  • Moving into commercial real estate and then the solar industry, where she essentially built “a company inside a company” and discovered she was an operations person at heart.
  • Feeling like the “junk drawer” at work — the person everything gets handed to — and how that fueled her passion for dignifying operations roles.
  • The leap into entrepreneurship and how her husband nudged her into it, even when stability felt safer.
  • Why she calls business ownership “personal development on steroids” and what happens when things aren’t working and the mirror points straight back at you.
  • Bringing her husband into For the Love of Systems: their complementary strengths, shared clients, proprietary frameworks — and the stress and uncertainty that surfaced a challenging season.
  • Habit Story: the assessment that maps behaviors to the stories we tell ourselves, and how retaking it showed her how much she had actually changed.
  • Trauma therapy, couples counseling, and the deep inner work that helped them come out the other side with a stronger marriage and clearer roles in the business.
  • Her people-first approach: paying a small team well, offering benefits, and designing a digital-first company so she can treat employees like how she wants to be treated.
  • Why she loves working with financial advisors - strong values alignment, and believes the future of advice is female — with mentorship as a key lever.
  • How systems and tech (and good boundaries) help her manage ADHD and avoid burnout in both life and business.
  • Designing a life around walking in nature, being close to trails in Columbia, MO, and defining success as freedom — including the dream of a four-day workweek.
  • The sweetest part of all: after a hard season, her marriage is now the thing bringing her the most joy.

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01:10:31

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02 December 2025

Michelle Gass: Finding the Work She Was Meant For

Michelle Gass shares how four different careers led her to the work she was truly meant for. In this conversation, she reflects on discovering life planning, building a team that genuinely hums, and creating a practice that finally feels like home.

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In this conversation, I had the true pleasure of sitting down with Michelle Underwood Gass—with Paradigm Advisors. Michelle’s path makes you believe in serendipity and the ways life prepares us for the work we’re meant to do.

Michelle didn’t arrive in financial planning quickly or conventionally. Her journey spans four careers: tax accounting, working in a family office, hedge fund management, and finally financial / life planning. Every chapter added something essential. As she says, her work today is “a culmination of everything I’ve ever done and got me to my happy place.”

What stands out most is her deep love of people. Michelle is very curious, non-judgmental, and committed to treating everyone with dignity. It’s no surprise she found her calling in life planning, where the work moves beyond spreadsheets and goes into values, meaning, time, and what really matters.

Michelle has also built something rare: a truly humming team. Each person plays to their strengths, collaborates closely, and shares ownership of the client experience. Her clients don’t refer to themselves as “Michelle’s clients.” They say, “I’m a Paradigm client.” That team-based clarity takes intention and heart—qualities she embodies.

This episode is full of wisdom for anyone building a practice, questioning their next step, or wanting to serve from a place of purpose. Michelle is proof that our careers can evolve beautifully and surprisingly over time—and that when we listen to what lights us up, we find work that feels like home.

Episode Highlights

    • How Michelle’s four-decade journey through tax, family office, and a hedge fund unexpectedly led her to her true calling in financial planning.
    • Why discovering the Kinder life-planning approach felt like coming home—and how she uses money, time, and values as the foundation of her work.
    • The intentional way she built a four-person team where everyone works in their highest and best role.
    • What she loves most about planning: “seeing the sense of relief and fulfillment that our clients get once they realize that they’ve got this.”
    • Her early belief that she had to “master everything” before moving forward—and how she eventually learned to leap before everything was perfect.
    • How she defines the right client: engaged, willing to collaborate, and ready to invest time in their own financial life.
    • Why she wants more women in the profession—and how the industry can demystify the math and build confidence in women earlier
    • The power of simplicity: why complex strategies aren’t always better, and why helping people live the life they want matters more than any investment product.
    • Her reflections on designing a practice that fits her life now—balancing impact, growth, and making time for family and joy.
    • The wisdom she hopes younger advisors embrace: don’t wait until everything is perfected. “If you don’t try, you can’t fail. If you can’t fail, you’ve never done anything.”

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44:49

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18 November 2025

I've Got You - Part 2 with Shanna Due

Part two with Shanna Due is an honest look at the comfort we find in being supported—and how we can offer that same presence to ourself and others.

This episode — the second part of my conversation with Shanna Due — is all about what it feels like to carry people through some of the biggest, most emotional and uncertain decisions of their lives. One of the things I love most about Shanna is her natural instinct to say, “It’s okay. I’ve got you.” She does that with her clients, with her students, with her kids, and honestly with anyone lucky enough to cross her path.

In this conversation, we talk openly about the beautiful and brutal parts of being an entrepreneur — the moments where everything feels like it’s clicking, and the next moment where you wonder what in the world you were thinking and whether anything is working at all. Shanna names the doubts out loud: the fear of making mistakes, the weight of wanting to do right by people, the pressure to get it “right,” and the emotional big highs and lows that comes with building something of your own.

We also talk about how quickly life can change — how many times women reinvent ourselves, often quietly, often alone, and often without giving ourselves credit for the courage it takes. From raising teenagers, to shifting careers, to redefining success, this conversation is a reminder that most of us are navigating more than we ever say out loud.

If you need encouragement, if you’re questioning your path, if you’re carrying something heavy, or if you’re trying to give yourself permission to choose a life that actually fits — Shanna’s voice will meet you right where you are.

Episode Highlights

  • Shanna’s desire for every client to feel held, supported, and never alone in the messiness and challenges of college planning
  • How she structures her work around parenting teens and honoring her definition of freedom
  • The emotional rollercoaster of entrepreneurship — why it feels so extreme, and why it’s completely normal
  • The pressure women feel to reinvent ourselves again and again, especially in midlife
  • How “perfect” is often the enemy of good
  • How Shanna built a niche practice from scratch, without a roadmap
  • Why women are deeply needed in financial planning — and how to help more women enter the field
  • The balance between boundaries, accessibility, and being human
  • What success looks like to her now: choices, joy, meaning, and freedom

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36:12

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04 November 2025

Intentionality, Humility, and Heart with Shanna Due

I first met Shanna Due through The Society of Advice and later had the chance to work with her more closely in an accountability group she leads. She’s smart, genuine, and deeply intentional about how she designs both her life and her practice.

In this first part of our conversation, Shanna shares her path from growing up with financial insecurity to building Due Financial and helping families make thoughtful college decisions that fit academically, socially, and financially. We also explore what I call “money head trash” — the hidden beliefs that shape how we think, talk, and argue about money.

The conversation cut off when my power went out, but what we captured here is rich, real, and well worth a listen.

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54:13