Episode 010 - Guest Interview: Marie the Mentor
Friend interviews her long-term mentor about how to find the right career, the many ways one can be philanthropic, painting upside down, and how to raise financially literate and independent young women.
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Show Notes
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Guest: Marie has requested to remain anonymous.
Range book
Upcoming Shows in and around DC:
The Picasso show runs until June 12 2022
The Yayoi Kusama show runs until November 27th 2022
Joan Mitchell show runs until August 14th 2022
Megan will share Friend’s first painting on her IG stories.
Homework:
Do math puzzles and play the piano.
Rate, follow, like, or share The Art$ with a friend.
We would love to hear from you! Email us your questions and ideas at podcast at artbymegan dot com
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Friend: And get all your wiggle out.
Megan: Megan is going to touch everything on the table. Then we're going to start.
Friend: All right. Ready?
Welcome to The Arts, a brand new podcast about art and money. I've spent my career managing at some of the world's largest financial institutions. So I can't tell you my name, but trust me, talking about money is my jam.
Megan: And I'm Megan, I'm an artist and a teacher. And now co-host of this amazing podcast. We're having this conversation because we came to a realization. We have no idea how the other person spends her workday.
Friend: Or her money. So let's chat about it.
Megan: On today's show, we Are delighted to introduce you to a very special guest and influencer, but not in the sense that we've gotten used to as elder millennials.
Friend: Are we elder millennials? We're like on the cusp.
Megan: There's a whole episode about this. I mean, she's a truly wise and wonderful woman of lasting and significant influence in her own community and beyond.
Friend: Yes, our guest today is very special to me. And I'm so thrilled that you agreed to speak with us because I found her to be a font of wisdom and encouragement in my life for almost two decades. And I wanted more women to be able to hear from her and learn from her.
Megan: Okay. So while we're preparing for this, I had to read through the bio that you basically write for me in our show notes here,
Friend: You're welcome.
Megan: like, literally my life coach is on the line. Uh, do I have this correct? That she was it former teacher, a current writer, a real estate developer, a painter, a historian, a public speaker, published author and philanthropist.
Friend: Yes, that is all one person
Megan: Okay.
Friend: and so she's all of those things. Plus she cooks like a Michelin starred chef, like get an invitation for dinner.
Megan: I'm on it.
Friend: And, and she knits and crochets. Um, she makes gifts for everyone's babies and she collects art.
Megan: Oh, that's the golden ticket.
Friend: I know, it's like the only way you have the ability to fit that much in it is to be older than us. Like it's like goals. I mean, I don't know anybody our age who has that kind of
Megan: Range.
Friend: breadth. Exactly, range. I like that side note Range is a fantastic.
Megan: Oh, I know.
Friend: All right. So we're only going to refer to today's guests by her name, her first name, Marie.
Um, we're not going to share too many other specifics about where she lives and so on, at her request, she has just a general disinterest in much public, credit. And, we will respect that.
Megan: That's cool. I mean, I think we can honor people's desire to maintain some level of privacy in this world, especially when they're coming to speak with us about their finances, you know, I mean, it's still like, it's a topic that isn't always public. I mean, we can learn a lot from people from their own experience and their wisdom, but doesn't have to be like full, publicity. And it actually might help some more people join us in the conversation. So this is good.
Friend: Yeah. It allowed them to be more open in some cases. Yeah. I would rather have an anonymous, but honest conversation than no conversation at all. And I think you'll find that, you know, she's very open.
Megan: Yes. People aren't as open as us sometimes.
Friend: And also, uh, your cohost.
Megan: Well, you're
Friend: your, cohost. So like it's only fair.
Megan: Right? Yeah.
Friend: can do the same.
Megan: Totally. All right. Well, let's do this, but first The Scene.
Friend: The Scene. All right, you go ahead. I'd like to know what's happening in, all things cool this week. And then I have a surprise for you.
Megan: You know, I love to report on all things. Cool. I actually have like a scroll of upcoming, shows that I want to see that are coming to my neck of the woods.
Friend: I think for this one, we need to show that little video clip because Megan just did like a very like Moses-esque S..
Megan: Yeah. It's like the dead sea scrolls. That's how my brain works. Like in actual scrolls of information.
Friend: I love the animation on that one.
Megan: I am. I'm an animated, I'm like a GIF or Jif, whatever. okay. So, uh, Picasso shows coming to DC and like never heard of that coming to DC. So that's exciting. Yeah. And. Yayoi Kusama, you know, the infinity mirrors, the Japanese artists with all the polka dots.
You've seen her polka dot paintings
Friend: I don't think so. I don't think I know.
Megan: So that's coming to DC and there's a Joan Mitchell show coming to Baltimore, Maryland, which is like an hour north of me, but worth the trip because John Mitchell is like one of my favorite abstract expressionists. You also might know her work, even though you're not remembering it in your brain right now,
Friend: No, I'm just thinking about Joni Mitchell.
Megan: Yes, which is a problem for her. It's like bad PR. They may have been friends.
But anyway, there's a lot of art to see. So I need to, um, go in public.
Friend: Okay. We'll share the dates and seriously, I would love to come in. I love the art scene in DC. I think it's fantastic.
Megan: It's kind of underrated in a nice way and it's free a lot of times, which is really surprising. So there's that.
Friend: Cool. Okay. I've been so excited, but I've been waiting for weeks to do this. so when, when I told Marie that we were doing this podcast, I was telling her about it. And, you know, we'd love to have her as a guest. She decided that at a minimum, I needed to learn to paint something.
So she has over the course of a few weeks, more complicated by the fact that, we're in different countries. So when I'm near her, we do a lesson. And she's given me three sessions where we paint in the afternoon together.
And I wanted to show you, I finally finished the painting that, we've been working on. And I do not know how to describe it. I don't, I don't know, like the type of painting, I'm not sure. So I sent her a picture of the top of a mountain in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and she printed it out and helped me to put it onto canvas.
Megan: Oh, that's very cool.
Friend: to like, get your live reaction to
Megan: I'm going to like, I'm taking a picture of my live reaction.
OMG!
Whaaa..
Okay guys, I know you can't see this because it's a podcast and that's like, you know, the fatal flaw of podcasts is you can't see it, but it's a perfect rendering of ski village. Is that like the ski hut?
Friend: It's the waffle house
Megan: my
Friend: of me and it's like skis leaned up.
Megan: Those mountains look legit. And the sky. That must've taken a lot of, time.
Friend: It was three three hour sessions.
Megan: I mean, the fact that you could accomplish that in that little time actually is pretty shocking. How do you feel about monochrome it's black and white? Mostly.
Friend: it's
Megan: And with grey?
Friend: Yeah.
It turns out I like painting with white.
Megan: What? Okay, so there's like a whole thing about that. The color I most often use is white because it's almost like, um, it's a blending tool.
Friend: Yeah.
Megan: Always just plain old, white paint on the canvas. You know, you put the pigment down and then you use the white to move the colors around, but it's a very forgiving. Did you like it or was it too scary to paint?
Friend: I had so much fun.
Megan: Yeah.
Friend: I loved it. I didn't have much anxiety or stress about it. Yeah. I just like started it just like went for it. I mean, she was there with me. Right. she was painting her thing and I was doing mine. And so she just taught me each little piece of it as we went along and I loved it.
So I've been doing like restorative yoga for years as a practice. And I, that helps me manage stress and the chaos of these large cities in the crazy work. I found that this was an even better vacation from my mind.
Megan: Yeah.
Friend: I was so, in awe of how preoccupied my mind was from any other thing during that time, it was very relaxing.
Megan: It's shockingly relaxing. Like if you can really let it go, but it takes a little time. I'm surprised you weren't anxious at all. Not because you're an anxious person, but just because like, when I teach classes, the number one complaint is people have a hard time letting it go.
Friend: time for that.
Megan: She's also probably a really good teacher and a calming older lady force. Oh, my gosh. That's really precious. What a great exchange.
Friend: It was really like gold dust. The only final thing I would say is that after I left the painting room, and I went back out into the world, I felt like I had new eyes.
I felt like I was noticing color and she lives in the, country. So like trees look different to me, the sunset, I was like, oh, I could paint that. I could paint that. Not that I all the sudden I'm an expert, but.
Megan: No, but it's like, you can appreciate what you learned, which is literally the whole point of anything.
Friend: Yeah. It was really cool.
Megan: That's So, cool. I'm very happy for you. I love the idea of, um, tapping into. Wiser older people in society and like listening to them and slowing down and doing something with them that you didn't normally think that you would do together.
Friend: Yeah.
Megan: Like that alone is quite powerful.
Friend: Yeah, it was special. So, so that, so that's, what's happening in The Scene. I guess what I would say to listeners is like, don't be afraid of a blank canvas and just do something, just like take an online class. find someone who knows and who's willing to teach you and like lend, I didn't have any supplies or anything. Right. I mean, I live in a New York City apartment. There's not room for like, all the hobbies. So I used her supplies
Megan: That's cool.
Friend: you know, yeah. So I guess
I would say, just try it.
Megan: I'm not great at that. I'll fully admit, like, I'm good at doing the things I like doing, but it's harder for me to try something completely new. Like if I were to be like, I'm going to go try and woodworking ticket today, that would be that's nerve wracking to me a little
Friend: Hmm.
Megan: I'll do it, but I just have to like, try
Friend: Also like what's the cost of playing around with woodworking when you could be doing 14 other things.
Megan: This is why you have to hang out with people that aren't your own age. If you gives you fun perspective.
Friend: Yeah, I think that's great.
Megan: Anyways, let's go.
Friend: Alright. So let's get to the interview.
The Main Exhibit.
Ok, we are here with Marie today and she's been a long-term friend and mentor of mine, and so excited to get to sit down with her and ask her some burning questions. Thank you for agreeing. Thank you for being here.
Marie: My pleasure.
Friend: Would you like to give us a little bit of background about yourself, your career and what you're doing today?
Marie: Certainly I guess I just had a normal childhood with great parents, but they never encouraged to do anything great they just supported me and whatever choices I made. So when I was in high school and I played sports that's was my big thing, playing sports, and I decided to go into university so I could play varsity sports there.
At that time, the only choices for women were secretarial school, become a nurse or a teacher or get married and I thought, okay, I'll got my degree and I'll be a teacher. Then I did that. I was 20 years teaching really enjoyed it. My last few years were teaching gifted girls which was perfect because I got to mentor and encourage them in their studies and their future paths.
They were 16, 18. Okay. And I retired early out of that then I went into restoring old houses. Because I have a passion for things that are old. And I just wanted to do that. My husband and I bought a house out in the country that was built in 1858 and we restarted the whole thing.
Let's build another addition onto it, So that took up a few years. Then we did a few more houses together after that I was into photography. I had my own dark room and developed my own pictures.
And that morphed into, I decided to write a book about the history of all the houses in the community that I live in. So there were 376 houses built before 1920. And I wanted to look at when they were built and who lived in them all these years and what those people did as much information as I could find.
So I spent eight years researching. And the last two years have been writing it. And I'm now at the point where I'm almost done I'm on the last edit. It's three volumes and well over 1200 pages.
Friend: Wow.
Marie: In the meantime, there's an old hotel in the town and it was one of the subjects of my book. I went through the old hotel for the history of it, and I came out of it thinking this would be perfect for seniors residents, because there were so many seniors in my town who sold their houses and they had no place to go. There were no nice apartments. So I bought it, I bought it. I bought an old hotel.
I told him what I was going to do, that I was going to restore it so that it would be livable for seniors and make it just exquisite for them. And then on the main floor put in businesses that used to be in the town many years ago, like a brewery, a bakery, a really nice restaurant. So He said, yeah, you go ahead do it.
So I, I figured it out. I worked with the construction people. I learned about construction kind of one step ahead of everything that was going on. And it wasn't impossible. It was fun. Probably one of the most enjoyable projects I've ever done. And then it was done and it was like, now what? I'm still taking care of it, but the building I missed.
So I recently just bought an old house that has to be torn down and I'm working on getting it demolished and I'm going to build another house, my retirement house for us.
Friend: What do you do in your spare time then when you're not renovating and rebuilding and restoring and writing
Marie: and writing. And recently I've gotten back into painting because of you, I love painting.
I just find it invigorating clears my head. What else do I do? I have three dogs. So I take them for walks. I have a needy husband, so I have to take care of him 21 grandchildren. And so I spend time when I can, outside of COVID doing things with them. Yeah.
Friend: And we may hear some dogs. The dogs may want to join the podcast a little bit here, which is fine. They're welcome. They're very sweet.
So that's a. That's a lot that, so painter, historian, writer, developer, restore of all things old.
Marie: Yes. Yeah.
Friend: Wow. And how long did you say it's been since you left teaching? Or how long were you in teaching?
Marie: 20 and 20 years. So that was 96, when I left teaching.
Friend: So you've had more years not teaching them teaching,
Marie: but people would often say, don't you miss it? No.
Friend: All right. Well thank you for for sharing and hopefully our listeners are starting to get a picture of what an amazing woman you are. It's been my, my pleasure and privilege to have you in my life for so many years. have a few questions for you. And you can answer them or not answer them. It's totally up to you.
Marie: Okay.
Friend: Did you get a chance to have a look at the the scale of like how comfortable you are talking about money So it's, it's like from one to 10, where would you place yourself on that comfort scale?
Marie: Say about seven. Eight. Okay.
Friend: All right. What, what would keep you away from the top end of the scale? I think where's your discomfort.
Marie: Because those are the unknowns where I have some money invested that I can't remember where it is right now.
Friend: You are not that old.
Marie: I don't always pay attention to those little details. I'm married to a wonderful man who takes care of those details I used to, but now I let him do it so I can do other stuff.
Friend: Okay. That's fair. And you know, I don't know if I would describe you as. I think you're a very busy what does a typical day or week look like for you or any days the same?
Marie: No. never.
Friend: So what do you do all day?
Marie: Well, Lately it's just been researching writing, but for example, I was helping out an organization with their showcases. I was fixing them up for them. So I just finished that. And I write off and on for our local newspaper, not so much lately since I've been finishing up the book, but they called me Friday and asked me to write an article for tomorrow. So I've got tomorrow only to write this article. So that is kind of ongoing writing articles and people will call me with questions on history.
So research things for them. And then there's, you know, the daily stuff of making meals. I love to cook and I love to make kind of exotic meals or just perfect meals, but I don't spare any time. will say, why are you spending so much time on these meals? And I say, because it's an art,
Friend: It is an art that's right. You also, in addition to many, many other things inspired my ability to cook. So thank you for that. It's not just function. It can also be form. Can also be new, a real adventure, real, real expression. Next question for you. What has been one of the biggest failures in, your life or career?
Marie: Well, sadly it would be spending so much time in teaching. Although I liked it, I think I stayed in it because it was safe and it was a guaranteed income. And I wasn't allowing myself to try other things. And that's what I really regret because I think I could have done even more in my life.
Friend: So that the time, time invested in it, not doing other things.
Yeah. Interesting. Did you know Megan also left teaching? No, no. Yes. She was in so a little bit of similarity.
Marie: I encouraged people who are in that same boat now to get out.
Friend: Yes. Yes. And I don't know if you remember, but when. Back when I was deciding between business school or teachers college. Do you remember what you said?
Marie: I said, don't go into teaching.
Friend: And I listened to you and you were right.
Okay. What is something, you know, on the flip side of failure is success. What is something that you're really proud of that you'd like to share with us?
Marie: Definitely be the old hotel that I rescued and did all that work on it? I, you know, I had, I had some background in building with restoration of houses, but not with a big commercial building that I was rebuilding.
I had to got up first and rebuild. It took two years and a lot of money and gray hair and lots of things like that, but it was wonderful working with the architect and the builder. And I have meetings every week with my onsite supervisor just to make sure I knew what was happening. see, it progressed from the shell to apartments and then picking out all the finishing details for the apartments was so much fun. Um, yeah.
Friend: How big is it? How many rooms are units?
Marie: There are 12 apartments. Self-sufficient with their own washer and dryers, and they have their own heating and air conditioning in each one too.
Friend: And kitchens.
Marie: And kitchens state-of-the-art of everything. And I made sure the ceilings were high and they all had beautiful crystal chandelier's.
I designed it as if, my parents were still alive. This is what I would have built for them so that they would have appreciated that.
Friend: So that's so nice and so opposite from many of the places you could live in your later years.
Marie: So I always have a waiting list of 21 people. Wow. And soon as a name goes off, A couple more go back on I never thought that I could do anything like that, but if you just take it day by day, and if I had questions, I asked them and I learned, and I'm looking forward to doing it again.
Friend: You would do it again?
Marie: Oh yeah.
Friend: Was it also it sounds like it was a success for the community, for you, for the, residents. Was it also a financial success or did it not go the way you would've planned?
Marie: Well, that way people ask me that I'll say, ah, no, I still haven't broken even yet. Okay. But I didn't spare any expenses because my husband said if you're going to do it, do it right. And make it beautiful. So I did and went through all my money and then put my hand into my husband's pockets and took as much out as I could.
And then when I got a bank loan, Yeah.
Friend: But, but it was the right thing to do. And it's beautiful.
Marie: It's my people that live there just love it there. The community loves it and it really restored the downtown area. And other people started fixing their buildings to. It is beautiful. It's a beautiful project.
Friend: Can I go on the wait list?
Marie: 30 years,
Friend: Hopefully it doesn't take that long by the waitlist, but all right.
Marie: Um,
Friend: Next question. What do you think? I might know the answer to this. We've maybe touched on it, but what, what kind of investments do you like to make or what do you love to invest in and why?
Marie: I think that the safest investment is land and buildings. Buildings rarely go down in their value, especially around here.
The last two years buildings increased tremendously.
Friend: Is that because around here, just for the listeners is it's rural, not in a big city. Do you think people just are looking for space or what do you think is driving that?
Marie: I don't know. What's been driving up this, but I know that a lot of people from the big city close by, they decided they don't want to live there anymore so they're coming to the smaller communities, perhaps they're the ones who are driving up the price, but it's good for people who are selling. And that's good for my portfolio.
Friend: At least on paper until yes.
All right. I have a couple of more finance oriented questions for you.
Marie: Okay.
Friend: And one of the things, as you know, we're trying to do with the podcast is find a way to organically help improve financial literacy among women, my age and near to my age.
And when I think about you, I think now that is a woman who has a good sense for how to manage your own assets and teach others to do the same. And so I was wondering, where did that come from? Who influenced your financial literacy and independence?
Marie: Good question, I don't think I grew up knowing that it's probably once I was on my own and influencing young girls that I thought it's important for them to realize that they could be the sole provider in their life. So they have to make sure they get a good education, good job, invest their money wisely and just do all those things themselves.
Don't expect someone else to do for them. And I tried to impress upon my own three daughters. And now my granddaughters, I said, just do as much as you can for yourself and you'll grow.
Friend: So it wasn't that wasn't something that came from your family or from your schooling as much as just observing the women, young women around you
Marie: Did I have any mentors? I think once I started working, I would meet women who weren't in education and I would look at what they were doing and I learned from them for sure.
Friend: I don't think a lot of people will have that kind of influence in their life, which is one of the reasons I wanted us to talk to you is to get that perspective. And certainly for me you know, you, did give me a lot of direction in this way. Do you remember how you influenced my financial independence and some of my decisions and was that intentional?
Marie: Oh, for sure. Yes. I would definitely try to give you advice and lead you in the right direction for success because I remember that time, you underestimated your skills and you were going to just settle And I knew you were very bright and had all these assets, your personality, and you could do anything. And that's why I encouraged you to go big. Try out for things.
Friend: Yeah. I remember one of the, one of the first things that really stuck with me in this area or on this topic was. We were talking about banking and credit cards. And you said you get your own credit card, do you remember?
Marie: Yeah.
Friend: It was like the first thing, and I don't think I had even thought about that yet.
I was like, who needs a credit card? And that, At the time, you know, married young then just would've thought like, well, he has one, so it'll be fine. And you were just adamant that that was not, you know, that was not enough. It was not sufficient for me to just coast along.
Marie: You needed your own credit card, your own bank account. You had your driver's license, but I come across young people now who don't have the driver's license and I say, get your driver's license.
Friend: So you can drive yourself away. If I need to .
Always put $20 in your wallet, just in case you need it.
It's good advice. Good advice. And it's even to this day, it's something that I think, wow, that was forward looking. You know, when I move into a new country and I've moved into several countries, credit history and establishing, you know, that on my own is, has been so, so important for just stability and being able to buy things and, you know, it's good advice.
Um, the last question around sort of the finances and money that I have for you. I wondered if you could share with us: you know, finances and financial health and wellbeing is not just around earning and investing. I think personally, it's also around giving and I've seen that from you. And I was wondering if you could share you know, what is the role of giving and your philanthropic efforts? And has it changed over time
Marie: Well, as I become more financially stable and have more money, I'd like to give it away to not just research like for cancer or Ms, but for small organizations need a little help or people who've suffered a loss and there's a GoFundMe project on I'll put money into that.
Or even just waitresses. We always tip large because I remember when I was a waitress and I would get a dollar tip, which was big in 1970. So I try to help them out as much as I can. We've helped kids with their education paying for that.
Friend: And that's a big help. That's a big start.
Marie: Yes. And it's such a worthy thing.
We don't ever want to be re be repaid for that. We just want to give. encourage people to be their best. And it's very gratifying for us to later hear how well they've done with their lives because they had that little start.
Friend: So that sounds like a conscious decision. Like you have enough, so you will also give.
Marie: And not all people can do that, but another thing people can do is give their time when I do a lot of volunteering too, as much as I can for the community that I find very gratifying and I don't need to be thanked for that. It's just my way of giving back.
Friend: And didn't you do I have this right? during COVID you dressed up in costumes and anonymously delivered meals and supplies and so on to people.
Marie: It's a local restaurant, just a small restaurant and I'm friends with the owner and soon as COVID hit, you know, she couldn't have people in anymore, so she thought she'd deliver food, but she couldn't deliver herself because she was cooking. So I had costumes, I'd put a costume on and I'd go deliver her luncheon orders.
And people would just find it very funny. I liked doing that because I like making people laugh, especially during stressful times. And I bought probably another 15 costumes, just so I would have a variety of things to wear. And then. Lunches for my tenants in my apartment building. And once a week I would take over something that I made for them for lunch.
And that kind of went into dinners as well and barbecues, and just kept going
Friend: I love that about you. I love the giving aspect. It's always been, it seems to have always been there.
Marie: Especially with cooking during construction of the apartment building. I used to cook for my. My Workman once a week, that started out with just a hearty soup on Wednesday morning.
And then eventually it went into spare ribs with mashed potatoes and vegetables and dessert, a whole thing, the whole thing. So every Wednesday, All the Workman came on Wednesdays. Cause they knew that they'd get a full meal.
Friend: How many, like how many men?
Marie: Uh, 45 days
Friend: That's like a catering yeah. Side gig catering.
Marie: And, but it was fun because I got to know my Workman. When I don't think that a lot of owners of buildings get to do that. That's just people that are working there, but I would sit down with them, find out about their life story and encourage them to do more .Yeah, it was a real comradery that I had with them. I remember just before Christmas, I decided I'd make a Christmas meal for themselves. I made a big Turkey with stuffing and mashed potatoes and vegetables and desserts. And I brought in my good China and tablecloths, and we set it up on, on boards and saw horses and fed them a huge meal.
And they were just so happy.
Friend: It's probably the best job they've ever worked on.
Marie: No one's ever treated us as well. Well, you all deserve it. You work hard and you were part of my family. So that was the, family aspect.
Friend: Wow. That's so kind.
Marie: Oh, it was fun.
Friend: Oh, you're so lovely. All right. Let's shift into, I have two more topics, art and mentoring.
So for the art questions, because you're also a prolific painter and you have the writing in, I mean, I don't know anyone who writes three volume epics, like you do the Odyssey. Exactly. So what or who influenced your creative pursuits?
Marie: I guess they were always there. And I dabbled in things when I was younger, but I never thought of myself being creative or artistic.
I just did things and I think probably started with restoring old furniture and then collecting photographs of family members from the past. And then researching family histories for other people as well. The painting only started when I was split 55.
Friend: It's never too late. It is never too late.
Marie: Right. I always tell people that now, because I thought I can't paint because I can't draw. And my friend said you don't have to draw. To be able to paint. So she took me to one of her painting classes and I instantly fell in love with the, creativity and just how my mind would go blank for three hours. And I wouldn't have to worry about anything and I couldn't wait to start my next painting and it's become a passion.
Friend: What kind of paint?
Marie: Oil painting and small canvases. I like to do very small detailed work.
Friend: Yes.
Marie: And I started with landscapes, but I've always wanted to do portraits. And that was so hard when I tried it. But now it's not so hard. All of a sudden I challenge myself all the time with the things that I wanted to do.
Friend: That's so good. Can you estimate how many paintings you've done? Cause I have walked through your gallery and it is, I mean, you, could you estimate how many paintings you've done in the years?
Marie: Probably between a hundred twenty five, a hundred and fifty
Friend: prolific.
Marie: It's like the wedding gowns.
Friend: Marie also collects wedding gowns. How many of those do you think you have?
Marie: At one point I had 275 of them. It started out with one little gown. Is that an auction and they were auction off this wedding gown and nobody wanted it. And it went down to $15 and I thought that's a piece of art. How could no one want to buy it?
So I bought it and then I just kept buying.
Friend: Do you still have them? I might. One of my designer, friends told me that the best way to learn how to sew is to disassemble garments.
Marie: Yes.
Friend: Would any of them be eligible for disassembling? All right. Maybe, maybe that's another project. So when, you know, you mentioned
Marie: um,
Friend: challenging yourself and going into painting portraits, can you give us your little secret for how you get the faces right?' cause, I've never heard that before now I'm new to this space,
Marie: If you've ever read about right brain left brain artists tend to be very good at this, but I have a problem with translating what I see on my original photo into my painting. So if I turn it upside down, both what I'm painting from and when I'm painting on, I can do a much better job because I not mixed up, it just comes out, what's on there I paint on my canvas, because I don't know what it is. I'm just painting that cube in there.
Friend: The upside down painter. I will I'll be interested to hear from Megan if she's ever heard of that in art school, but it, I mean,
Marie: It works, worked for you today.
Friend: I don't paint to sell. This is just a hobby for me as an expression. Most of the paintings I've done have been places that I've gone to, and I want to recreate that memory so I paint that.
It's wonderful. It's a wonderful hobby. Next question for you. Can you describe to the listeners how you are trying to inspire the next generation of artists?
Marie: Just artists?
Friend: Writers, musicians, bankers, any, I mean, you just have such a gift of encouraging people to do more than they think.
Marie: I just remembered something in this room. A few years ago, we had opera students here and they would do recitals because they needed practicing in front of people. So we would open it up to 50 people maximum and we would have entertainment on a Sunday afternoon.
Friend: Can we talk about this room because most rooms don't fit 50 opera singers. Could you just describe a little bit about what this room is that we're sitting in?
Marie: It's a really large conservatory. And I have a grand piano at the one end. And when I would have people in like this, I would just move all the furniture to the walls and bring in some other chairs. And just so it was comfortable and the acoustics in this room are great. For painting I mentioned about my grandchildren before. Quite a few of them wanted me to show them how to paint. So first time I did it, I think there were seven of them and they're all around the table and they're waiting there and I've got the paint. And I came out of the bedroom with a wig on and big glasses. And I were just talking like this,
Friend: Is that the archetype of the art teacher,?
Marie: It was that day and I had them each choose what they wanted to paint, and then I drew it on their campus for them. And then I just got them started and they loved it. They did their first painting. Then we did another session. We've done four sessions altogether, and I've noticed a change in how they're painting now.
Friend: And what's their age ranges ?
Marie: At the time. It was between four and 16.
Friend: Wow.
Marie: And the little ones were just as good as the older ones. And when we get together, now they always say, can we paint? I'm hoping that will continue in their lives. And that's the cooking. I do a lot of cooking with them too, because I think kids need to know how to cook.
Friend: Yes. So you could think can't get that on your iPad. No order. I mean, you can order, but it's not the same. Well, I think that's a wonderful thing that you're doing and you're so intentional about it. I think it's, it's just wonderful.
Marie: I get a lot of laughs out of it too, and they remember those things.
Friend: And in the end, you're still teaching. You didn't get that far away from now. What were you teaching when you were teaching?
Marie: English?
Friend: Okay. And what was your worst subject in school?
Marie: Math.
Friend: Common theme here. what's that about?
Marie: Because everyone else in my family was really good in math, but not me. And I could just, I just couldn't get it. I eventually got it when I went to university and had to take statistics and had a tutor and it fell into place. But I wasted all those years in high school suffering in math class. I didn't understand.
Friend: How we could start a support group.
Marie: Yeah.
Friend: All right. The last couple of things I wanted to talk about, it's it's in this sort of mentoring an influence side of things, and I don't mean influence in today's day. Instagram. I mean, like, no, you're really having an impact on young women's lives. What advice do you give to younger women when they're considering their options for career or education or even creative pursuits?
Do you, do you have standard advice or is it, you know, depending on the individual?
Marie: I usually start with a career inventory test. That will give him an interest or it's right. Give them input into other people in careers who have the same interests that they do and match them to what career they should be looking at.
That's a really good start. And then. It probably got 50 careers that are suggested. We'll go through all those with them. See if any of them seem interesting or making them do a little research on what that means to be an aeronautical engineer, just whatever is out there. And then from there, we look at universities, colleges, if they can afford to go away, if they have to stick around home.
And encourage them to get out on their own don't live at home because they need to be self-sufficient and manage their own lives. They can't have something to do it for them all the time. Yeah. Like what?
Friend: I think I'm edge case millenial here.
Um, all right. And last question for you. You have several daughters, as you mentioned, and young women that you've encouraged and mentored over the years. So for those listeners and some of our friends with young daughters themselves How do you encourage those mothers of daughters to encourage financial literacy and independence?
Marie: It's a whole package deal. You have to first focus on their self-confidence and build up their self confidence, whether it's in education or in their hobbies or interests.
And then once they feel secure in that knowledge about themselves, then you have to start telling them about the importance of having money using it wisely. How to earn money and how to keep your money and, you know, people don't usually talk about those things.
Friend: Exactly.
Marie: What you have to remind them that as a young woman, you can't expect to be taken care of You have to do it yourself and you have to watch out for yourself. I've lost my train of thought where I was going with this, but yeah. I've talked. I've done a lot of public speaking in the last 10 years, mainly because of the hotel that I bought, people want to know about that. And if I have an audience of women, I impress upon them how important it is to encourage young women. You know, if they're quiet or shy or if I'm the middle child, they won't get that attention. So whenever you have that chance, just reach out to these young people and give them the opportunity. For example, with my book launch, I could have hired someone who's done it before, but there's a young girl in the community who just graduated from university.
And I asked her, would she like to do it? I've never done it. I said, well, I'm sure you can find out how to do it, you know I'm on the internet? And so she's grasped that and she's investigated it and we're all ready for whenever the book launch is going to happen. So I like giving young people opportunities to prove to themselves that they can do it. And it's something else to put on their resume.
Friend: That's so trusting of you and. I'm just like, well, let's off the top of our heads. Think of all the ways you did that for me, you let me run a political fundraising event and a grand opening launch event. You hired me for grand opening launch event with catering Do you remember that mural?
Marie: Painted a mural in my house.
Friend: I'd never painted anything. Okay, you did a mural. What else? Sorts of things, just like that.
Marie: I would have dinner parties here and I would hire you to do all the cooking and serving.
Friend: Yes. And then I would hire staff.
Marie: I remember the first one and I had all the liquor bottles. So you said, well, what is that you had to put labels on, so you'd know what kind of,
Friend: cause I didn't even grow up in a house with alcohol. So I had no idea what was going on. All sorts of things. And it's good to know. I mean, that was 20 years ago almost. Yeah. So it's good to know that you're still taking a risk on these young because you know, I think that's really a very tangible and nice way to help launch other people.
Marie: Yeah. And everyone has that possibility of doing things. You just have to give them the opportunity and if they need a little bit. You get them guidance. Otherwise I usually just say, run with it and come back and
Friend: wow. That's, that's amazing. Marie, you are so special. Thank you for for both your input and your guidance over the decades, but also for sitting down with us for this.
Marie: Wow. I never imagine that I'd be on a podcast just because of the ordinary things that I do.
Friend: they are extraordinary. They are unusual. I think most of our listeners will not have met someone with the combination of creativity smarts, financial wisdom, independence, and generosity that you have.
So thank you.
Marie: I wanted to tell you one more story that kind of thought me going when I was teaching and I had to go to a luncheon. I was sitting beside a banker was just small town banker. And he asked me what I did. And I said, I was a teacher. And then course I knew what he did, and I said, you know, it's a shame that there aren't more women in banking.
He said, yeah, it's a rough life. And I said, well, you make it hard for women to get anywhere in banking because you move them around all the time and a woman just can't move her family. He said, yeah, that's, that's true. It's more of a man's world. And I said, well, don't you think you should change that?
And he said, no, it's good. The way it is.
Friend: What year was this?
Marie: Oh, this was 84. And then he said, You're not married. Are you? And I said, no, he said, yeah, I could tell. I thought, but that was, you know, that was in the midst of women's liberation. I wasn't a card carrying women's lib, but I certainly stood up for women's rights at that point in my career and always did. And I think that's what fostered me to become a proponent of young women and encouraged them to do whatever they could because of the archaic attitudes of the men in business back then. Wow. Bankers.
Friend: The bankers. And now look at us now you're sitting beside the one who's moved around and yeah, it was hard certainly on the personal life to be, you know, doing the moving.
That shouldn't have excluded me from no trying. Right. So in, in a lifetime, we've made some progress.
Marie: We have, I see a lot of progress. I also see the millennial women slipping back into subservient role. And that dismays me because I think, you know, we fought so hard for you to get to the top and now you're just don't want it. That was a little side note.
Friend: I like it. I like the side. Or do you have any other side notes or stories that you would like to go on record with?
Marie: Think about that.
Friend: You come back to us. We'll do a part two.
Marie: You know, you only have so many years to do what you want to do and I'm reaching the last chapter of mine. So I'm cramming in as much as I can and I'm going to have fun. but you're young. You still have all these years ahead of you, I think for how much fun you're gonna have doing creative things.
Friend: Yeah. Lots of times.
Marie: People need both creative and the regular jobs too.
Friend: Yeah. Good. Thank you so much fun. We did it.
Astute listeners will realize that only one of us was there.
Megan: So everyone, you figured it out there were only two classy women on that episode. And one of them wasn't me.
Friend: Because, logistics.
Megan: Well, yeah, also sometimes we're going to interview people that we like want to sit in the same room as, and sometimes there's a pandemic or childcare conflicts, and that's just like,
Also there's geography, which is just a general issue.
Friend: One of us had to cross a border to get that interview.
And, it was, I think it was a Saturday, Friday or Saturday night and that's prime family time for one of us.
Megan: Correct.
Okay. Here's what we're going to do. We're going to react to Marie. I have like eight talking points. I could do a whole episode on my reactions to her.
I think we need to get her back again. Number one, she is in fact, a reincarnation of Peggy Guggenheim, who I'm obsessed with, with she has the little dogs. She has a literal conservatory in her home where she invites an opera singers. She travels the world. She does philanthropic things for people. I mean, what an angel of a human..
She's angelic and interesting and intellectual and humble. It was like such a lovely compilation of attributes. I was like, I love her.
Number two, I do want to make one disclaimer And I don't want to correct what she said necessarily, but I want to address one thing she taught for 20 years and she, I think loved it, but she also might've regretted it a little. I I'd sensed in her voice. What's your take on to that?
Friend: I think she loves.
And she was working in a niche area or in a special area with, you know, very high potential young women.
But I, I think her regret was that it was like an opportunity cost
regret, the other things that she could have done with those years and staying in it for too long.
Megan: Okay. My commentary on that is like, there's no judgment on this podcast of teachers. Like they're clearly the most valuable member of society. If you are a teacher, there's literally no fighting it because this woman is a teacher. She's a mentor, but she just doesn't need to be a classroom teacher for life.
And a bigger issue that I heard kind of woven in. And of course she's much older than us too. is that maybe she just didn't have as many options. And so teacher is often presented to women. As a choice that is safe. And I took the bait on that as well. Right. I was an art major. I was a Spanish major. I didn't know what to turn that into right off the bat.
So I became a teacher only to find out accidentally that I was like really good at it and loved it. But. I don't want people listening, who are teachers to be offended by the thought that it is like a dead end job or like a thing that you, you shouldn't choose. What I do want people to understand is that as a woman, you have every opportunity.
And more, you can literally make up your job, right? Like Marie is a perfect example of that. So you don't have to pigeonhole yourself into a career that feels safe forever. And I
think that should be the takeaway.
I just want to be clear, clear, clear on that.
Friend: That's great. We love teachers. We need teachers.
Megan: I mean, they're essential.
Friend: We're always seeking out teachers in life. I think it has to also be a, would love our listeners to remember, to keep it in its context. And this was the seventies, right?
I would guess I didn't ask her this question, but I think mid to late seventies, when she was making her career choices, that's a very different, right, her options were really different
Megan: Then what girls now are doing
Friend: Exactly. So I think that's, that's a little bit of it is that if you feel like you didn't have more choice and so you pick something, but it wasn't really the right thing for you.
Megan: But I do think there's a lack of opportunity that she mentioned sort of as for subtext, not opportunity, but choice in her own career, choosing that, mean that choosing that career is bad
Friend: No, it just meant for her.
Megan: for her it wasn't what she wanted.
Friend: And it just so happens that for you, you realized that there were other things that you could also do that doesn't like, that's an individual reaction. So I'm hoping that the audience is mature enough to, to be like, cool, cool.
Megan: And of course we're like, we're always taking into account like, duh, this, this podcast is about finance. So we're taking into account that like at a, at a point, someone does have to pay the bills, right? Like a job as a job, as a job at certain points in your life, it doesn't always have to be the dream job.
It doesn't always have to be like lucrative. Sometimes you just have, have an experience and you build on that. So I think it's more about having the opportunity to expand. And not feel stuck.
Friend: Yeah. I mean, it's good. I was wondering if you might have had some thoughts about that, so I'm glad you raised it.
Megan: Well, I just don't want to offend teachers right now, especially because they do deserve to be paid double, if not triple,
Friend: in the U S like what are what's happening?
Megan: and I've seen them literally saved my children's lives this past year. Like, so it's just that the work they're doing is
Friend: Marvelous.
Yeah.
Megan: Okay.
Friend: No, good. I think that's a good, good point. What else?
Megan: I thought that her career trajectory was hilarious. Honestly. I think it's so interesting to hear from someone who is so interested in so many things, and it's really healthy to think of that because I don't think we're in the, times anymore of picking one career and going in that direction forever.
And I think it's okay to kind of accept that. but yes, the, the non-linear trajectory sometimes I think is seen negatively. What's your take on that?
Friend: No, I say, go for it. You have one life. Try everything.
Megan: But in your world of finance, is it linear? Is that preferred or glamorized or is it okay to take the road less traveled?
Friend: I think linear is a more direct road to the top. It's faster, but it's boring.
In my, my singular view, you know, I like the diversity of trying different things and what's great about finance and I would love to do this more in depth somewhere else. On another episode. Is that working in finance is so many things.
It's not just one, like one track. You do one thing all day long, you just process loan applications. there's so much like we're a technology company and we're a law firm you know, we have a massive HR department and we, manage risk, Like there's so many dimensions to It that I would rather take the road less traveled and try all sorts of different things, work in different departments and groups then just be like speed through doing one thing to The top. I also think it makes you a better leader. I am a little biased, but I came from, a bank that believed in what they call mobility, which is basically like geographic and subject matter variance, you know, movements so that you can see things from a whole bunch of different perspectives.
And once you've done that, then you're a better manager, because you can think globally, you can't just you know, some people I work with, they miss, they don't even miss the forest for the trees. They miss the trees for the pattern on the bark. And I think to be running these massive firms, you need to see like, where did the trees fit in the ecosystem?
Megan: I love that because it's just important for women in any industry to understand that it's choose your own adventure, especially when you're following a creative passion. And when you want to make a lot of money, it applies to both routes and all of the skills you collect along the way. This is what Marie mentioned too, is like, you're basically just collecting a resume that then eventually you will use, right?
So her giving opportunities to young people like that is humungous. I think of people doing that for people. That's amazing.
Friend: I love the trust that that takes too like, think of, you know, hiring somebody to work in your home or in your business, how easily. Could you, I'm asking myself this question, like how easy is it for me to just let go of the reins and be like, Yeah, sure, no problem come and manage my whatever for me. it's hard.
Megan: Yeah. I don't like delegating and I think it takes a lot of humility to be able to delegate and faith in people. Like she has a great deal of faith in others.
Friend: yeah.
Megan: That's just lovely.
Friend: You know, I came from a family with no alcohol for most of my life. And when I started working with her, she would have these wonderful parties, basically all you can eat and drink and dance and so on. And I was hiring people to run the bar, I was kind of overseeing and I had no idea what we were serving. Like none. she could have been like, okay, I can't hire you for that part. Or she could have been like, all right, well, I'll just educate you and find a way for you to learn it without having any experience in it.
Megan: I mean, that's why she's truly a teacher, cause she's willing to like work through it with anyone in any subject. And that's like maybe not a career for life, but that's still a skill that she's always going to use and have, she's still teaching people everywhere, everywhere. She goes.
It's inescapable.
I mean, and this is why sometimes I believe in like, people are really good at certain tasks, no matter what their career is. Right. They're really just, there are some fundamentals that each person can say, this is my gift. This is what I'm really good at it. And like, you can apply that to wherever you
Friend: Exactly. I mean, you can teach at a bank. We have entire, we have an entire learning department and every bank does. So if that's your gift, but you want to make a little more money or you want to try something different, you know, go corporate, get out of the classroom. You can, you can do that working in a corporate environment. It's the same skill and it will make you good, no matter where you apply it.
Megan: I like that. She, um, seems quite free too, for a woman of her generation, which makes it sound so old. I'm sorry, Marie don't take that the wrong way, for a person who is wiser than us, she is free in a way that I find to be very admirable and like a goal of mine. She's not necessarily independent of her husband or family, and that's not something I crave either, but I do want to feel like my choices are mine as that, especially as you get older and older, it's nice to know that you can maintain your own identity through motherhood, marriage, businesses, careers, you know, like she's still herself.
Friend: Yeah. Well, I, think there's two parts in that one is her deciding. Do exactly what she needs to be herself. And the other is her partner deciding that he fell in love with her because of who she was, why would he want her to change?
And so they have this beautiful, like independent but supportive relationship where they both get to be exactly who they are. Yeah. it's really cute.
Megan: That's really special I think those were my overwhelming thoughts.
Friend: Okay.
Megan: else do you think we should reflect on? Is there anything we missed?
Friend: I forgot to ask her two things. I forgot to ask her about her own activities as a collector.
And I forgot to ask her to assign homework,
Megan: Oh, well, her homework is for all of us to, um, be very well-rounded people
like when she was listing her abilities and hobbies and just passions, I was like, all right, surely I can make dinner, like Meghan, get out a recipe and try harder. You know, I just think like all of us, not to, not for the aim of perfection, but for the, like, for the goal of trying.
Friend: So I texted her afterwards to say, oops, I forgot. Is there anything you would like to assign? So let me just read it here. She says, um, do some math puzzles, which I thought was just keep your mind sharp. And, play the piano. For me, she tells me to keep painting every week.
Megan: So let's just like, keep trying something new. stretch your mind beyond the mundane. I was kind of hoping she would, she would, her homework assignment was like, come to my gala.
I can't, I can just picture her being like, all right, girls, I'm having a gala.
Friend: yeah.
Megan: Don't worry about the dresses. I have a collection.
Like, are you a fairy godmother?
What's happening?
Friend: Totally is, she totally is., I would, I would love to know from the listeners, is what questions would you have for someone like Marie?
Megan: Yeah.
Friend: I don't know that we'll do like an Ask marie because She's clearly very busy,
Megan: She's got a lot to do.
Friend: Not everyone has someone like that in their life.
Megan: Yeah. It's rare to find someone who's older and that confident and that interested in the world.
Friend: And that interested in passing it along I think she really has a passion for bringing others along with her. It's not just for her.
Megan: Totally cool interview. Thank you for doing it so that I could burgers. Thank you for helping me with my work-life balance.
Friend: Well, we don't want people to think that you're working part-time at McDonald's. So I'm sure you don't always serve burgers
Megan: I do flip a lot of things here. I flipped waffles. We like circle food more on that in the next episode. I think we'll leave it at that.
Friend: That was amazing.
Awesome.
As always, for listening to The Arts.
Megan: This is Megan of Art by Megan.
Friend: And her friend, your patron of the arts.
Megan: Wishing you more art.
Friend: And maybe, a better understanding of your money.