Olivia Hails: Camille York is a financial advisor with Raymond James. She’s a trailblazer in the industry, shares a practice with Jody Clark called Clark and York Wealth Partners and she is a recent recipient of Investment News’ Rising Star and Excellence in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. And I’d like to read the definition of Rising Stars here: “Rising stars might be in the early stages of their career, but they show exceptional promise in what they have already contributed to the success of diversity of the profession.”

I met Camille a few years ago in Tampa and I’m so thankful for that. I knew that the moment we started talking that I wanted to know more. I knew I wanted to follow her journey and stay connected in her life. I always left our conversations feeling full and inspired. And frankly, I felt like we could change the world.

I’m so honored to have you with us today, Camille, because even though a few years have passed since we’ve seen each other in person, I just feel like so much has been accomplished. And it’s almost like we were these little schoolgirls on the playground talking about all the world could be. And now here you are being recognized by the industry on a national level, just completely blowing me away. So, I’m so excited for you to share your story because we both love the financial services industry, advancing women in the business and helping those who might otherwise just not know where to go for advice. And our conversations were great because they weren’t, “Men are the worst. How are we going to get by? How do we navigate?” It was like, “No, we want women to be more involved. We want to succeed together. We want to lift everybody up. We want to involve communities that aren’t well served by our industry.” Like myself, I think that when someone pushes you down, it just inspires you to jump 10 times higher. And I think your journey is just an absolute show of that. Combined with a lot of hard work, a lot of determination and perseverance has led you to where you are today. So with that, welcome Camille York. Please share with everybody who are you and how did you get here?

York: Thank you so much, Olivia. Wow, what an intro. I do remember when we met, and just to echo your sentiments, just having this sense of, “I want to stay connected to you,” because you are just such a breath of fresh air and to meet another woman who’s in the industry that’s passionate about moving the industry forward. I’m so glad that we did stay connected and that we were intentional about that. So I was born and raised in Pinellas Park, Florida which is right outside of the Tampa Bay, right outside of Tampa. It’s in the Tampa Bay area. We say over the bridge, so I always say we’re right over the bridge and everybody local knows what bridge that is. But finance was actually never my thing. And I don’t know if I shared this with you, but I always loved broadcast journalism so I’m super excited to be here on this podcast because I’ve loved all things mass communications since probably about middle school. And so I changed course in college. Instead of telecommunications, I started majoring in public relations. But then I got my master’s in business management and I took a finance class and I loved it. And I would nerd out using my financial calculator and it’s just still so funny. Never really registered, like hey, maybe this is an area that you should look into. And my dad has always been in the financial industry, too, but still didn’t … bells did not go off whatsoever until I started working at the credit union right after graduation. And I was working in the marketing department at the credit union, so still thought, you know, all things marketing, communications, all that jazz. But it was through my work at the credit union that I really developed a love and a passion for the financial industry and then discovering financial planning through my time there as well, I found my path.

Hails: I love that. And you know, same thing for me. Finance was never in the cards. Until my senior year when I started interning, and then I was like, “Wait a second. What is this whole entire world I know nothing about? And you’re telling me that my parents could have saved this much money if we had done a 529 and, you know, just started there and snowballed. However, I hate my financial calculator so we do not share that. I hate … there’s nothing more that I hate. I’m staring at mine on my desk right now because I’m doing my CFP and it’s … yes, it’s too much. So good for you on that. So I want to unpack this a little bit more, your time at the credit union, because something that you’ve told me that you did, I think is so unique. Probably about the time that we were in college, I think we’re about the same age, so when we were in college or maybe master’s [program], food trucks were just becoming a thing. They were like, “Hey, meet me out Friday night at the food trucks,” and you were just kind of figuring out what that was. I loved going to food trucks and explore. However, you took a special spin on what a food truck could mean or what you could do with what looked like a food truck. So I want to hear more about that experience because I think this really highlights a lot of your creativity and when you really started to develop an interest in the business and how you went about that.

York: Sure. So what my first role was, I was called a youth outreach specialist. And so what that looked like is we were building out our collegiate program for financial literacy. And so being a recent graduate, I kind of had this fresh perspective on what’s cool, what’s in. It’s funny actually, my first college roommate, she and her mom own and operate a food truck now and they were actually one of our vendors when I was working at the credit union. So wild, full-circle food trucks were definitely a thing at that time. I was interested a little bit, but I know it was like all the craze back then, and so we’re like, how do we connect with collegiate students? What are they into? What do they like? And so we thought, let’s do a food truck. But we’re not serving food, we’re serving up financial literacy. So that was a play on it. The term we used or the slogan was, “Feed your wallet.” And so there was an ATM on the back. I literally say I went to Lazy Days RV to learn how to drive the food truck. That was an experience in itself. You know, I’m pulling up on campus and you see this petite little girl just hopping out this food truck. It’s like, it was wild. But it was so much fun designing the food truck, one, because that was a project in itself, but really just seeing it come to fruition and having students meet with me one-on-one to talk about budgeting, talk about credit repair, talk about setting those financial goals. Just like you, I started learning about different products and services at the credit union. And I’m like, “Why did I never know this?” You know, “Mom, are you aware?” And I called her about a money market account. I went, “Did you know?” She did, but it was never a conversation that we had. And so it’s … I don’t know how many other people don’t know how much financial literacy can help provide them so that they can go back and share that with their friends and their family and whatnot. So yes, that was just a really great project that I worked on. But meeting with the students one-on-one is what really started that intrigue with, okay, what could this look like as a career? Is there a career where I can do this full-time, all day, every day? And that’s when I first learned about wealth management and then, really, shadowed that department, jumped over there, assisted two financial advisors for a period of time. And through my work in assisting, that’s when I really gravitated toward working with women. I identified very quickly that women were underrepresented and underserved in our industry and they’re actually really great investors. They just shy away from it because of a lack of knowledge or a lack of confidence. And so I’m like, I want to do something before they get to this point. And the advisor I was working with, he had an aging book so we had a lot of widows that we were inheriting. And so I’m like, I don’t want to wait until we get to this point. So at this point, now they’re scared. They’ve had this huge life transition. They don’t know what assets they have, how they work. And I’m like, there has to be something that comes before this. Like, we’ve got to get them engaged before they get to this point. And so of course you see a problem, fix a problem, so like, “I’ll do it. I’ll do it. Let me just throw myself into the business and become an advisor,” and that’s literally what I did.

Hails: I love that. And I’ve talked ad nauseam of how I think there needs to be curriculum in high schools and if you’re going to college, here’s a prep kit of everything you need, credit score, protecting yourself from identity theft, building credit, budgeting, how to really think about investing. And where to start? I get that question from a lot of young females all the time. It’s like, “Well, where do I start? You know, I’m not making money yet. I’m on either a student loan budget or parents are giving me a [hand],” whatever the situation may be, “so I don’t really … that’s not for me yet.” But you know, I think what you were able to do with your food truck is have those conversations and really make people interested in what you were doing, which I think is just fabulous. Because if you can start there, then you’re getting people early on and not getting these women who are age 50+ and maybe widowed and at a loss and just so incredibly disconnected that there really isn’t … you know, how do you answer that question? Where do you even start? So with those experiences, and you’re assisting advisors at this point. Was there one client or was there one person where you maybe helped a situation and you’re like, “This is it. This is the career. I’m running towards it now”?

York: They were two and they were widows. And I received the most beautiful thank you cards and orchids when I left from them because I literally held their hands. So you suffered this tragic loss, I’m here for you, let’s work through this. And there was one in particular, I would literally meet with her just about every week for a few weeks until we got everything settled because we just went account by account in order to not overwhelm her. And I just said, “Listen, I will continue meeting with you until we get this done.” Because the advisor who I worked with allowed me to just kind of take over. You know, he’s like, “You can handle this start to finish. Let me know what if and how you need me, but I’m going to let you handle this.” And that really just showed me how impactful you can be in someone’s life. Like that’s something she’ll never forget. In fact, still working with widows, that’s just one of my favorite things to do just because how much they need someone to be there to support them through that process and that journey. And it’s just invaluable, the help and the support that you can give. So that is, those two clients in particular are what really launched me into, “This is what I want to do.”

Hails: Which I think, those are the ones that will stick with you forever, it’s pretty incredible. So with that, kind of catch me up between you’re working for advisors, you’re starting to think, “OK, this is my career path.” You get to work with these two widows and you probably spend a lot more time with them than what they were expecting or what they were used to. Our business is to handhold like that, it takes a lot of effort. And not a lot of people do that anymore. There are some that do, but you really had a different process. So how did you develop a process out of that, moving to the next steps of your career?

York: Sure. I really wanted to assume an advisor role at the credit union. But the credit union, as most people know, credit unions are so small. Someone had to die or retire in order for me to get one of those roles. That’s just what it was. And so I was fully aware and I did apply for some promotions for … they didn’t have a junior broker position, but they had a retirement plan consultant position, which they were focused primarily on 403(b)s going into the schools. But I’m like, OK, that’s a steppingstone. And after just being told “no” enough times, I said, “Forget this, I’m going to go do this somewhere else.” I remember even bringing them a proposal that was modeled after Raymond James AMP Program, their training program. And I’m like, “Listen, I will help you build this out if I can be the initial junior broker. Let me pilot the program.” And it just, it was a lot of no’s until I was on my way out the door. Yes, and so I had my eyes set on Raymond James and I loved the training program. I loved everything that they offered. The culture, it just made sense and so I just went for it. It was a pretty quick turnaround from me saying, “Hey, I want to grow,” and recognizing that was not the place where I was really going to be able to grow in the way that I needed to and just taking that leap of faith and moving over to Raymond James.

Hails: Kudos to you for recognizing that, because too often we hear a no and a no and a no, or we don’t ask. But good on you for recognizing that if this is not going to move forward, I have to move forward and push that into the next direction. And I know that not every day has been an easy journey. There’s always the days that we have sometimes it’s the toughest days that really create growth and change in our life. So throughout your journey from moving to the credit union, starting over at Raymond James in the training program to now having opened up your own successful practice that’s actively growing, are there some tough days that you had and do you mind sharing?

York: Absolutely, there are tough days. You know, there can be any variety or combination of things going on all at the same time. But one that really comes to mind in particular, I did a bit of everything when it comes to prospecting when I first started out. I would try it all because you’ve got to see what sticks, what works for you, figure out what type of advisor you want to be. And so I did a lot of trade shows. This one in particular was in the Sarasota/Bradenton area and it was dead. I mean there was no one there. We as all of the vendors were just counting down the hours so, you know, when we were done, there was just not a lot of traffic at all. And this one attendee in particular, he walked by and he almost did a double back. And I’m like, “Oh, you know, someone came in to talk to me,” and nobody has walked by in the last 30 minutes. So I’m like, “OK, great.” And he says, “You know, I don’t think this is your thing.” Like not even a, “Hey, how’re you doing?” We didn’t exchange any words other than, “I don’t really think this is your thing.” And I just said, “Excuse me? Can you clarify that a little bit, I’m a little confused.” And he says, “You know, I’m sure you’re great at a lot of things, but I just don’t really think this is yours.” And that was the exchange and he just, you know, walked away. But from there, it was so motivating just to say, one, “You have no idea who I am. You have no idea who I am or what I’m capable of and the things that I have overcome and persevered through, so you have no idea. And two, watch me.” And so it was so motivating to just say, “Okay, that’s your opinion. It’s one person’s opinion. It won’t make me or break me, but I’ll show you.”

Hails: Yes, just makes me want to, I don’t know, get the boxing gloves out. But this is what I talked about, why I think I relate with you so much, is that when people try to tear you down, it just pushes you to want to be better and to [say], “I’ll show you, and not only will I show you, but I’ll trailblaze through and do something in a new way that people aren’t doing things.” So I love that. I think it is the tough days that really push us through to the next level of who we’re going to be and how we’re going to do it.

All right, so I want to talk about your recognition this year in Investment News, it’s pretty incredible to be recognized nationally as a rising star for excellence in diversity, equity and inclusion.  So, ESG is a buzzword in our business. ESG: environmental, social and governance. There’s sustainability investing, there’s all different types of SRA compliance and all these different things. It’s just constantly evolving, but I think it has to be acknowledged and we have to all now define it and that’s what has made it hard over the years I think, is because so many people do see it as subjective, if you will. But you were nationally recognized for this. So I want to know, how do you see ESG? What does it mean to you? And diversity and inclusion, how do you define this? What does it mean to you in our business and in your personal life?

York: Sure, so I think of ESG as investing with impact. So, wanting to do good and achieve benefits beyond financial returns. I think one of the beautiful things is that clients have realized that they don’t necessarily have to sacrifice financial returns to make an impact. And that’s one of the most beautiful things that have come about with this ESG movement. But it’s really encouraging just to see the different places and spaces that you can make a difference through investing, by investing sustainably. So when I think of ESG, that’s what I think of. I think of impact when I think of diversity and inclusion. So diversity, that’s measurable. Like you can look in a room and clearly count and see how diverse a room is for the most part, whereas inclusion is more of a mindset. Does everyone feel welcome? Do they feel like they belong there? And then equity. So everyone who’s in the room, if it is diverse and we are including them, do they also all have the same opportunities, experiences and circumstances? And is it fair for everyone that’s in the room? So that’s how I usually break those three down.

Hails: And I like that. I think it’s so true. And especially in our business, most companies out there in the last couple of years have really adopted these phrases and initiatives toward diversity and inclusion. But then when you go to employee to employee and say, “Can you define this?” I would say that it would be a small amount of people that could define it, especially the way that you just did so eloquently. You know, you’re sitting on the ESG Committee at Raymond James, right?

York: Yes.

Hails: So tell us a little bit about that and what your responsibilities are. Because as a rising star in the business, I think it’s a pretty big deal that you’ve gotten to a place where you were nominated to be sitting on a nationwide committee for the firm. Tell us a little bit more about that.

York: Sure. It’s really nice to be at the forefront of change. So you know, we’ve spent a great deal of time bringing ESG money managers onto our platform and vetting that out as well as, you know, what do our clients want? So I just recently met with a client and we were really drilling down into diversity and inclusion metrics. And I will say, great client and one of my favorites, actually. But you know, we had a real honest conversation with, what does this even mean? Because some of the metrics just aren’t there. Like there’s not enough reporting around pay equity for some firms, or how diverse the board is and what are you putting in place to ensure that there will be diversity going forward if it’s not present already? You know, aside from proxy voting, what else is being done to truly move the firm forward in you know or the company forward in the issue space? So we really drilled down into that and so I’m able to go back to the council and just say, “Hey of what we see on the platform, these are blind spots. You know, these are gaps. These are areas that we need to do a better job of focusing on. This is what clients are asking for. And what are we doing in order to give them what they need and what they’re asking for and to provide adequate resources and products and services to our clients”. So it’s really, really nice to be at that forefront and to raise my hand and say, “This was the direction that we are going, but maybe we should rethink that and go a different way or do something a little bit different.” Because as you know, boots on the ground, here’s what I’m hearing, here’s what I’ve experienced, here’s what I know firsthand, and we could look at that a little bit differently. So it’s really, really nice, and a great group of people to be working with, too. But also to know that we’re not just talking about it. We’re actually taking steps to do something about sustainable investing and making sure that we provide our clients with resources that they’re looking for.

Hails: Yes, and I think that leads into my next question of, from your vantage point, how do we go from being reactive to proactive, because it sounds like you’re being a part of that proactive change. So what kind of advice would you have for others out there that just really don’t know how to think about this yet?

York: You know, it’s so funny. So we want to get our marriage license. There were native Spanish speakers applying next to us. And even though they were utilizing the form that was in Spanish, it still didn’t readily make sense. Some of the points or the questions that they were asking, it just didn’t translate well, and you could tell. So luckily, my fiancé speaks Spanish so he was able to translate quite a bit for them. So I think of things differently now, with that in mind, that I probably wouldn’t think about before. But I said to him, I said, “You know, this is really why diversity and inclusion is so important in a business, but especially in a workplace.” Because I said, “How many people do you think looked at this form and made sure that it made sense for everyone? Did they run this form by someone who was not a native English speaker to say, ‘Does it make sense?’ Some of those points, do they translate well? Do they make sense?” And I think it’s the same thing on a broader spectrum to just say, “Who’s in the room? Who’s making these decisions? And do they have the perspective that’s needed to ensure that you can avoid some of these missteps and that you can see some of those blind spots?” So I think part of  being proactive is recognizing who’s making the decisions around that, and do you have diversity of thought in the decision-making process?

Hails: Yes. So much of what people think is based on experiences, the way they were raised, the family dynamic, the value set, really being able to step outside of your own personal experiences and have the empathy to expand your lens, I think it’s so important, so that’s a really good point.

I love to celebrate women in the business. I think we all know that, but especially women who have carved their own path. And if people listening haven’t figured out that you’ve definitely done that by now, this story will definitely really, really help them understand you a little bit better. Everybody’s got a different way of building their business and you didn’t listen to what people told you. So I want you to share if you will, you know we talked about one of the tough days that you had that really pushed you. But along the way, there were things that people said to you that you didn’t listen to. “Don’t run your business this way. Don’t do pro-bono advice. If you do pro-bono advice, people are never going to give you the business that you need in order to make money in this business.” But we both know that money is not a motivator for you and never has been. So unpack that a little bit, if you will, for those listening, and then eventually get to your Clark and York.

York: Oh, I love that. So that’s such an important part of my journey as well and why I really, really loved that Investment News award because it spoke to exactly what you just explained and me really taking the time to build the best and the way in which I wanted to build it. And quite frankly, not listening to the unsolicited advice that I was getting. One of those things that, when you talk about, I had a second story for a challenging day. So this is my second story, so I’ll share it. Someone in the business actually told me that I would have a difficult time building my practice and getting clients to give me money if I wore my hair in its natural state. So it was very shocking, too. I just, I wouldn’t have expected it from the source that it came from, but it really annoyed me because, you know, I had to sit with that and decide, “Am I going to be a dialed back version of myself or shrink myself to make the people around me feel more ‘comfortable?’ Or am I going to be 100% myself and show up exactly as I am and be proud of who I am in the business that I build through that authenticity? So obviously, I chose the latter. So that was another milestone for me where I’ve just really decided I’m going to do whatever I want to do and I’m going to build my practice in that way and let’s just watch it work. Social media was another part of that, in that I was discouraged from spending time on social media. But again, I’ve got this communications and public relations background, that’s what I know how to do. I know how to communicate with an audience through social media and use that to promote financial literacy and I’ve been doing that every month. I’ve had a focus since 2018 and I haven’t missed. I haven’t missed a month. And people look to that. You know, they know that you can come to me as a source of financial education consistently, month over month. And so I think it was really exciting for me that Investment News celebrated that and honored that and rewarded that and that someone found that to be noteworthy and important because it’s important to me. So that was really great for me and a significant part of the journey. And then partnering came somewhere in there, in that I found someone who didn’t want to change me. So we had a lot of similarities. Jody, too, worked with quite a bit of women and understood my passion for helping women become the CFO of their finances. And so we did quite a bit of that too, but we also started networking in the same places and spaces. And I think what I enjoyed most, because the business can be a little territorial so, you know, you walk into an event, someone else is there you know, it can be an issue. But he was just never like that. He always was very encouraging and was like, “Do your thing. You know, do your thing, kill it, you got this.” And I think that made all the difference for me because I hadn’t experienced that from others in the business, and he was just very different and very gritty. I’m gritty too, and so it just made a whole lot of sense where one plus one can equal three, because I wasn’t rushing to partner. It’s not something that I felt like I needed to do. I was always open to doing it, but it had to make sense and partnering with Jody just made sense.

Hails: Yes, when you let life happen and you go about it with your own authentic self, don’t let people tear you down. Go away from those people and find the people … let those people gravitate toward you based on how you’re coming off in the work that you’re doing. And I just admire you so much because I know that doing pro-bono work and giving out financial advice for free is frowned upon in our business sometimes and, in fact, you use that to build awareness of your name and build your brand that, “This is who I am. This is what I have to offer and this is what you need to know in order to be successful with your finances.” So let’s talk about your business. What’s your ideal client? And I know you’ve got a pretty unique onboarding process with clients. So, who’s a good fit for Camille?

York: Yes, so what I call women primary decision makers. So it can be women who are married, single you know, certainly single, whatever that makeup looks like. But women who are actively engaged and taking an interest in their finances. So not someone that necessarily has all their ducks in a row and, you know, getting it all right, but someone who wants to create that financial plan, to stick to the financial plan and to learn. My favorite conversations are when clients are asking me questions. “What does this mean, Camille? Why is this important to me? Why should I care?” And I don’t know that you’ll find that often that advisors truly enjoy questions, but I do because I want my clients to be educated and informed. I want them to be empowered. I want them to know what we’re doing and why we’re making that decision. So when I have a review with a client, you know, something that happened in the market or in the world around us and they connect that to their portfolio and why we’ve made decisions, like that is such a win for me. That is such a win that they get it, that those aren’t just numbers. It’s not just holdings, that they understand one, big picture, but two, how it directly relates to them, and those are my favorite days. Those are literally my favorite days. So yes, I say women who are the primary decision makers are typically my target audience and who I work with the most. When you think about ideal client, the middle-aged, you know, about between 40 and 50, but who are coachable is really key. You’ve got to be open to taking advice, implementing the advice and sticking to the plan. The plan doesn’t work unless you adhere to what we’ve put together, so that’s really important for me. And you know obviously, it’s a process that you work through together. So Camille does not come and say, “This is what I think, this what we’re going to do,” and that’s it. You know, we work on it together. It’s done collaboratively, but it only works if you allow it to.

Hails: Yes, so somebody that wanted to just say, “You do everything, I don’t want to be involved,” is probably not your ideal client.

York: No, it’s tough.

Hails: Yes.

York: It’s a really tough process.

Hails: But I love that, because I think if you’ve got an engaged client, that’s going to be a better relationship for the long-term versus just being disengaged and then all of a sudden, a market event happens and now somebody is engaged but hasn’t looked at anything for a long time. So that it’s almost like you have to unravel that instead of really starting at the beginning.

So, we talked a little bit about the younger female earlier, too, and really trying to educate women in their 20s. I know that a lot in my generation and the generation behind us have adopted a lifestyle of living above their means and a lot of that I think can be attributed to social media. And so if you’re looking at a young female right now, what advice do you have when to start saving, how to really balance that living above your means? If you think of a launch point for accumulation?

York: Yes. I think you know, there’s so much like you said, social media can be so overwhelming. You know, it’s great when it’s great, but it can be so overwhelming just because there are so many sources of information and it’s really hard to figure out what makes sense for you, what’s factual and what’s made up, what’s opinion, all of that. But I think just getting back to the basics, like you’d be surprised just how much a budget can be helpful. You know with most clients, a lot of times, that’s where we start, especially with my younger accumulators, that’s part of the process is that I give them a worksheet and they write down all of their expenses and income and that is always a very eye-opening exercise to say, “Whoa, I had no idea we were spending so much money doing X, Y and Z.” And then it starts to be on autopilot, as much as you can automate your savings is so beneficial. I can’t tell you how many clients don’t realize just how much they’ve accumulated and saved by putting things on autopilot. And it can be a nominal amount until you start becoming comfortable with the process and understand what that looks like. But automating your savings is huge and taking advantage of the opportunities and resources that you have. So if you, you know, fresh out of college, you have a 401(k), figure out what your company is matching, make sure that you’re not leaving money on the table. You know, I often hear 401(k) match is referred to as free money and I’m like, but it’s not even that. It’s really part of your sign-on package. So, like, nobody gives vacation days back. No one says, “You gave me two weeks of vacation but you know, I only need a week, you can have that back,” No. So why would you not take full advantage of the match? That’s exactly how I think of it. Like, no, those are part of your benefits. Don’t leave those on the table. You need those. Just get the full match. Just get the full match, put the money away, automate your savings and you’d be surprised just how much those basic fundamental things will set you up for the later stages of life.

Hails: I also, too, encourage an auto-escalation, because the more that there’s raises that come along the way, they may be big, they may be small, but if you auto-escalate in what you’re putting away and deferring in your 401(k), you learn to live without that money. And I think if you do that from the beginning as you said, automate your savings, then it’s kind of out of sight out of mind. So, yes, I think it’s such a good point that you make.

York: Two that you just reminded me of. So one, one of my favorite clients, I love all my clients, but she always asks, “What question am I not asking?” And I think that is such a strong question because it prompts me to think you know, “You’re right. We haven’t talked about this. You’ll probably want to know this.” So if you don’t know what question to ask, what question am I not asking? You know, what do most people ask when we’re going over this? Like that is just such a strong question, “What question am I not asking.” But also, when I first started my job, sitting down with the financial representatives that we had on hand is how I bought my house. Literally, I sat down with them in January, February I think, my lease was about to come up. He’s like, “You’re well positioned to buy a house. Have you thought about it?” There’s an amazing first-time homebuyer down payment assistance program that I had no idea about because I wasn’t in the market of buying a house and I closed in April. Literally, that would have never happened had I not sat down with the resources available. So it’s so key that you take advantage of everything that you have that’s available to you so that you can move yourself forward financially because the resources are there. You just got to find them.

Hails: So to wrap this up today, I’m going to throw your client’s favorite question back at you. What am I not asking you that I should be?

York: I would say something that most people don’t know, that’s what I’ll say. Something that most people don’t know is that I was extremely shy as a child. So I always say strength is on the other side of fear. Because you build a practice based on giving workshops and presentations and public speaking and getting on this podcast and all of the things. I was so afraid of talking to people, I would wear sunglasses all the … People thought I was just a little diva as a child. But my mom would put sunglasses on so that people weren’t directly looking at me or else I would be in sheer terror and scream. Being as social as I am now and being in a business of meeting with clients one on one and building those relationships and stuff, it such a 180 for me as a child because I just did not enjoy interacting with people or talking to people or any of that.

Hails: That’s so crazy. I never would have guessed that. So I always end my interviews with a fun lightning round of questions and you can feel free to throw some back at me after but, uncovering some more things about you that people don’t know. So texting or talking?

York: Texting.

Hails: Oh, I wouldn’t have guessed that. Favorite holiday?

York: Oh, Fourth of July.

Hails: Same. Last song you listened to?

Hails: Oh, all right. And last one, favorite childhood show?

Hails: Oh, great one. I loved that show too. Oh my gosh, that’s awesome. All right, anything you have for me?

York: Sweet or sour?

Hails: Sweet.

York: Beach or mountains?

Hails: Combination, but probably beach.

York: Pumpkin pie or sweet potato pie?

Hails: Neither, don’t like pies.

York: Me neither, my girl.

York: Okay, ham or turkey?

Hails: Oh, turkey. Yes, yes, but I don’t really … it’s like the only thing I eat at Thanksgiving is turkey. I don’t like Thanksgiving food so I get a lot of flak for that.

All right, well thank you, Camille for spending some time with us on the Invested in Connecting Women podcast today. I love your story. I love that you are paving away just by being you and by doing things differently. And I love that you are representing what diversity and inclusion means for this business and that you are trying to open it up for young girls to come into this business, and I think there’s a lot to come for you. So I’m excited to follow your journey as you continue on, and hopefully you’ll have some time to step away and get married and enjoy that. I know what it’s like having got married this year, so kudos and cheers and thank you for being here.

York: Thanks for having me. It’s been a pleasure.