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Expert Interview with Valerie Clark of the Greater Boston Business Council and Tsipora Consulting
Plymouth, MA
Links mentioned in the show:
- Sadler Financial
- Greater Boston Business Council
- 3 Reasons you should never say Homosexual blog post
Books Mentioned:
- Sheryl Sandberg’s book Lean In
- The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It
- Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap… and Others Don’t
- The Essential Drucker: The Best of Sixty Years of Peter Drucker’s Essential Writings on Management
- Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion
Listen to the episode by clicking the play button below!
Would you prefer to read the transcript than listen to the episode? No problem! Read the transcript below.
AUDIO TITLE: 30 Days, 30 Voices – Valerie Clark
Jenn T Grace:
Welcome to 30 Days, 30 Voices: Stories from America’s LGBT business leaders.
Intro:
You are listening to a special edition of the Gay Business and Marketing Made Easy Podcast. Tune in for the next thirty days as we interview one business leader per day, each day in June to celebrate LGBT Pride Month. That’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender pride month. You’ll learn insights around business and marketing from those who know it best. And now your host. She’s an entrepreneur, a marketing maven and an advocate for the LGBT business community. Jenn, with two N’s, T Grace.
Jenn T Grace:
Hello and welcome. Thank you for tuning into this special Pride Month episode of the Gay Business and Marketing Made Easy Podcast. Information about today’s guest and links mentioned in the show will be available on the website at www.JennTGrace.com/30days30voices. If you like what you hear in this interview, please be sure to tell a friend. And now, without further ado, let’s dive into the interview.
I am excited to be talking to Valerie Clark today, she has a long history of working in the financial field as the owner of several start-ups. Most recently she is an investment professional with Sadler Financial Group based in Plymouth, Massachusetts. In addition to this, she is the President of the Greater Boston Business Council, which is Boston’s LGBT Chamber of Commerce. Val, I have given the listeners a brief overview of who you are, but why don’t you tell us a little bit more about yourself and your business, and what your path looked like that led you to where you are today.
Valerie Clark:
Sure. You know I think like a lot of people, my path was not- definitely not one that was straight or well-defined. I kind of stumbled into my profession. I’d thought that I would be a teacher when I was in college, and I have a degree in history and modern languages. Then I found out how much teachers actually make, versus how much money I owed the government for my degree. And I decided that you know, I simply- I couldn’t, as passionate as I was about the opportunity, I just couldn’t live on $25,000 a year. So I had been in the restaurant business probably since I was about fourteen, and one day was actually in a restaurant waiting on tables when I was recruited right off the floor.
Jenn T Grace:
Wow.
Valerie Clark:
Yeah. So it was- totally took me by surprise but literally inside of a month, you know I had my securities licenses and I was sitting behind the desk ready to do all sorts of damage. And you know, it’s sort of the cliché within the financial services profession is that these kids when they recruit them, they’re just so full of energy and ready to go, but the truth of the matter is they just don’t even know what they don’t know.
Jenn T Grace:
Yeah, absolutely.
Valerie Clark:
So I, you know I was with a major bank at the time and had a successful career from let’s say- I want to say early 2000 on until 2006 when I left sort of pre-crazy housing market bubble bursting and all of that. And I had the opportunity at that time to go do a startup, and I said, you know based on what I’m seeing and the bad behavior and the crazy, and sort of the feeding of the monster- the proverbial monster as it was. I said I’m going to go take my marbles and I’m going to go over here and play with these kids, and there’s no paycheck, there’s no benefits, but the end result hopefully will be better than where I am right now. And unfortunately it was not. Failed miserably because the bubble did burst, and- but in all honesty it was one of the greatest learning experiences of my life, and I wouldn’t trade it for anything. You know it was sort of how to get an MBA in two months or less; it was a pretty intense experience. So you know once that startup ended, I kind of looked around and said, “You know what I’m going to do,” and we had this technology group within the company and I said, “I’ve got an idea. What if we kind of redo this, but just from the technology point of view as opposed to we had sort of the bigger, the broader vision of the original business.” And that’s what I did. I put two guys on picnic tables in the basement of my house and we got to work, and we wrote some stuff and then sold it to another insurance company. And they- again thinking that this would be like my claim to fame, and that would drive me into the world of the Bransons and the Steve Jobs if you will. The company immediately shelved our product so that no one would ever use it, and so when that was finished and over with I kind of was absolutely sort of fuddled by the whole experience. I said, “Well I’ve got to go do something else because this technology stuff is moving way too fast and it’s obviously- I love it but it wasn’t my field of expertise by any stretch.” So I said I’ll go back to the field of expertise and I was in financial services. So I literally called up my accountant who was Russ Sadler, and I said, “Listen I don’t know what I’m going to do with myself, but I think I need to go back into financial services,” and he said, “Sure, come on down,” and I joined his office and have been there ever since.
Jenn T Grace:
Wow. That’s quite the zig-zagging path but that’s really interesting. And actually in a lot of the interviews that I’ve had, I find that a lot of people start off their history with saying that it hasn’t been a clean cut path. Which I think is for the better, because think of all the different types of experiences you’ve had, just like you were saying it was like the crash course of MBA.
Valerie Clark:
Right, I mean I just- it was such an experience because you went from sort of this really just inspired hopeful mood about what you were doing, and how we were going to change an industry, and the technology was just unbelievable and everybody was just so on board; to finding out that- and not knowing this of course at the time, that the CEO and the head of IT had, in his contract, written in that should the business fail, he was allowed to buy back his software, his code, for a dollar.
Jenn T Grace:
Wow.
Valerie Clark:
And he did. And unbeknownst to us, he had another investor waiting the wings for whom he had told this information.
Jenn T Grace:
Wow.
Valerie Clark:
Yeah. And so he literally scuttled the company for his own personal gain. Which I’m happy to say he did not gain anything in the end, but you know it was just sort of- you know you went from this, almost I want to say it was like a middle school project, to just haiku drama, almost just cloak and dagger kind of espionage if you will. And it all took place literally inside of- at the end of the business, inside of a three month window. And every day you walked into the office and it was just like somebody hit you in the face with a shovel because you never saw it coming.
Jenn T Grace:
Wow, that’s intense.
Valerie Clark:
It was a very intense period of time for me.
Jenn T Grace:
Well at least it was a good learning opportunity.
Valerie Clark:
To say the very least. There’s not many people who can say that this is what their career path has been like and they’ve had this experience. So-
Jenn T Grace:
Yeah. Well we learn a great deal from our failures, and I’ve had my own past business failure- failures, plural, but one company in particular failed and I feel like I wouldn’t trade that experience for anything because it teaches you so much when you’re at that point where you start off and you have this like doey-eyed vision of like, ‘I can change the world,’ and then two years later it’s just- it didn’t work, you know?
Valerie Clark:
Oh yeah, no it’s- somebody said to me once, you learn- you get great praise for your success, but you learn not nearly as much as you do from your failures for sure. But I mean it’s sort of like the parent who wants the baby, they want the baby, and then they get the baby and it’s two in the morning and the baby will not sleep. You know that’s kind of how you’re in this place where you’re like, “Oh my God I can’t believe I ever wanted this, what was I thinking?”
Jenn T Grace:
That’s funny. That’s a good lighter note to bring us over to our next question, and that is I like to start off the interviews with something light and airy, just to kind of set the mood. And my question to you is, is there a fun fact or something really random about yourself that few people know or would expect from you?
Valerie Clark:
You know it’s funny when thinking about this question, I tend to think that I’m not nearly that interesting or light and airy. But most people don’t know that I was actually- I grew up in upstate New York and I grew up on a farm, and a dairy farm as a matter of fact. So I am well-versed in the task of shoveling a lot of proverbial waste is it were.
Jenn T Grace:
I did not know that, that is interesting. Dairy farmer Val, I like it.
Valerie Clark:
Yeah, dairy farmer Val got off the farm as quickly as possible.
Jenn T Grace:
So the next question I have for you is around an ‘ah-ha’ moment. Did you have one when you realized where you are right now, or where maybe you have been in the past, that’s where you’re supposed to be?
Valerie Clark:
Yeah. And it took a long time, as you know we were talking sort of about the path of your career not being necessarily clear, particularly when you start. You know financial services particularly in the past couple of years have gotten such bad press, and deservedly so. But one of the things that became very, very clear to me was when my grandfather was very ill and dying, and I actually had to come home from college my freshman year to take care of him and spent the last year with him. So there weren’t things like long-term care. I mean hospice was understood and- but it wasn’t something, you know you didn’t have sort of the CNA model that you do now. And long-term care insurance and things like that, so it was very much left to the families to take care of and pay for. And you know my grandfather owned six farms, and what I realized later on down the road when I got into financial services, was that some really bad decisions had been made. And at his expense and at the family’s expense. And kind of come to recognize that there’s so much you can do to prevent- hopefully prevent so much of this from happening. But that really my calling was not to be sort of the next Wall Street maven, but it was to really to protect people from being taken advantage by others within the industry who would not see them do well, just obviously themselves for their own gain. So that was my ‘ah-ha’ moment, you know kind of dealing with another client who was going through a similar situation that I had gone through with my grandfather. And I thought to myself, ‘This is it. This is why I’m here. It’s to act more in a protectionist light as it were for my clients.
Jenn T Grace:
Wow. It makes me wonder how people who aren’t going about it in that same manner end up successful. Because you have to think of like that disaster that people who are doing it in such an unethical way and aren’t doing it for the best interest of their clients; how they continue to get clients. It baffles me sometimes.
Valerie Clark:
Well I think a lot of it comes from sort of the- you know when you enter into financial services sort of the one of the problems with the industry is that it is commission-based. So it becomes a situation where it is those who do get, and by any means necessary. So- and that’s problematic because you know when you train and you go through these classes and you do all these things; you’re told in the book, first do no harm, you’re allegiance is to your client, not to the company. And yet the company says, ‘Listen if you want to be here on Monday morning, here are the four pieces of whatever we’re selling and you’d better go sell them and I don’t care if it’s the right thing for your client or not. This is how we make money so go do it.’ And you know it’s- people stay in business because they stay one step ahead, and typically the average American- they don’t- I think this is the insidious part of it. It’s not like you lose 30% of your portfolio. You know you only have like a 1% return or a 3% return. Well you really probably had more like a 20% return, you just didn’t see any of it because of the fees and the nonsense that went on behind the screen. And that to me is the part that is just- it’s like the- it’s so cruel is how I look at it. And it’s just not fair. And companies kind of cover it up and justify it. ‘Well we’ve got to make money, we’ve got to keep the engine alive.’ And every business as we know has a bottom line, it needs to make money, and you can’t fault anyone for their desire to make money and earn a living. But at the same time you really ought to question the motives and say, ‘To what end? Am I really helping anybody?’
Jenn T Grace:
Yeah I would much rather have less money in my pocket but be able to sleep at night knowing that I’m actually helping people and making a difference, versus making suggestions and recommendations to people that are just not in their best interest and have more money. That doesn’t make sense to me.
Valerie Clark:
Right. You know to say, ‘Well I get a 4% on this product, but if you buy this one which is mediocre I get an 8% commission,’ and that happens a lot.
Jenn T Grace:
I’m sure. What a- that’s a drag, but it’s good to see that you’re certainly going about it the right way and it actually makes- it brings us to our next question which is what inspires you and keeps you motivated to do what you’re doing every day?
Valerie Clark:
You know at this point it’s interesting because I’m sort of so deeply entrenched in the business that to leave it would be- I don’t know. I would probably have to do like underwater basket weaving or something. I don’t know what else I would do. But you know I think that it’s- the way that I work with my clients is to teach, not to lecture. And hopefully the reaction that I get from them and the understanding when they leave my office, they’re better equipped to make a decision. So from my point of view I’m still very much a teacher at heart, and I don’t- you know sort of the whole idea of well I’ve got a guy or a gal who just takes care of this for me, so I don’t have to think about it. To me is just- it’s total BS and if you get ripped off, then guess what? Congratulations, you deserved it. Because you can’t- in this day in age you just can’t have that attitude.
Jenn T Grace:
Absolutely, that’s really good. So I guess along those lines as well, what is the best piece of business advice that you’ve been given?
Valerie Clark:
You know it sounds cliché, but particularly when I had the issues with the start-ups and the first one failing, I remember the statement that it’s not how many times you get knocked down but it’s whether or not you get back up. So- and it sounds really cliché and you’re like, ‘Yeah, yeah,’ but you know when you’ve mortgaged your house and you’ve dumped all this money into a project, and you’re literally facing being homeless, and not to mention what you’ve done to your family and not being able to recover from it, and the desperation that that- where that takes you emotionally, it really is meaningful. I mean I absolutely could have just said, “I’m going to go work someplace else,” and just walked away from the whole thing and given up. And you know it really is important that you learn your lessons and you put the pieces back together again, and you move forward as best you can.
Jenn T Grace:
Absolutely. Yeah, that’s great advice, absolutely. So I want to switch gears a little bit and start talking about marketing a little bit.
Valerie Clark:
Okay.
Jenn T Grace:
And so you are the current President of the Greater Boston Business Council, which is Boston’s LGBT Chamber of Commerce. And you have a history of being on the Board of Directors as well. So this question to you I think you’ll have a nice, interesting answer for us. And the purpose of the podcast that I do that’s an ongoing thing is to educate people, whether they’re allies to the community or LGBT business owners themselves. And what I do is try to educate them around best practices and give them advice that helps them be successful in marketing to the community. So my question to you is what type of advice would you give somebody listening around the LGBT community? What things do they need to do, or should they do, that you feel would help them be successful?
Valerie Clark:
Well you know it’s interesting because being now the President of the chamber, I’m so sort of less involved with whether or not my marketing program is correct or gay-friendly, or straight enough for the rest of the world to take on, and to kind of appreciate. But you know and also with that being said, you know we live in the northeast. So it is a very different ballgame if you will than say being down south in terms of the marketing. But one of the things that really sort of shocked me after I came out and sort of to my peers in financial services- and you know this was over ten years ago, was it’s how much work had been done in terms of trying to explain to the marketing departments how important marketing to the LGBT community was, but how poorly they were doing it. You know it was a scenario where they would say, ‘We want the ‘gay dollar’. We want that, and we’ll do whatever- we’re allies.’ And then would turn around and make some hideous joke thinking that they were- it was okay because they were one of us, and truthfully they like us but it was okay to make some sort of a ridiculous joke, that they didn’t even realize was highly inappropriate. So one of the first things I would say to any marketing professional is you need to do your research first, before you go out and go, “Yeah, you know what we’re going to put two guys or two gals on the cover of our marketing piece and say that we’re gay friendly.” Because you know it’s never enough just to have two people of the same sex, and the dog and sort of- they always do this where it’s like the perfect living room that’s just absolutely well-decorated. Of course, it’s two gay guys living together. And so from my perspective, you know you really have to get clear on what is important to the community, and also really understand it because they’re offensive and they’re not trying to be offensive. And that was sort of my- when I remember meeting with the head of marketing who had just been hired for another large firm that I was doing some work with out of the Midwest. And man, they thought they hit a slam dunk, they really just were so proud of themselves. And I with one raised eyebrow just brought the entire marketing department to a screaming halt. I was like this is not even close, guys. Not even close. So you know it is, it’s about getting clear and really understanding the community, and sort of the history of it. I mean if you don’t know Stonewall, if you don’t know Harvey Milk; and I’m not saying that you have to be an expert in it but if you don’t know the story and the history, you’re really going to have a hard time marketing to the community because we do know this, we do know our history. And you know we’re also I think acutely aware of people who come to the market and say, “I just want to get the ‘gay dollar’ because I know they make more money, and they don’t have kids generally speaking. So you know their DINKS, dual income, no kids so they’ve got extra money to spend. So it’s for me it’s really, it’s a subject that really- I don’t want to say it deserves gloves, but it really deserves the research. I mean you wouldn’t just market to women or to mothers these days without having done sort of the research on where they’re spending their money and what they’re doing with their kids. And you know sort of just the obvious research that you would do.
Jenn T Grace:
Yeah, you’re spot on with absolutely everything you just said. And these are- what you were talking about which in the beginning you had mentioned that it’s not that people are intending to be offensive, but sometimes it’s just when you brought the marketing department to its knees; I’m sure what they came up with, they felt really good about and they had no idea that layer of offense that would be taken to the community because they didn’t do their research. And that was actually the reason why I started my blog back in November, which was to educate people who- they really have good intentions, but in terms of execution they didn’t have all the right resources, and that’s why I figured you know what, somebody has to be out there telling them or at least giving them some sort of guidance to say, “Alright, you have the right idea. Now let’s take it that next step further and this is what you should do, X, Y and Z.”
Valerie Clark:
Right, right.
Jenn T Grace:
Yeah.
Valerie Clark:
I see it within even the diversity groups at companies and one of our favorite- and you and I talked about this a couple of times. You know the use of the term homosexual. It was on the news the other day, I mean so it’s not- you know they were talking about homosexual marriage. And clinically that may be correct, you know technically. You know what that’s going forward as is a very negative connotation. And just people don’t get it because it’s never been pointed out.
Jenn T Grace:
Yeah.
Valerie Clark:
You know there’s been sort of an evolution if you will as the president has involved in his thinking on gay marriage, you know there’s also an evolution within the community itself. So what these terms mean.
Jenn T Grace:
Absolutely.
Valerie Clark:
And you hear people trying to say the right thing, but you also then hear sort of other groups use it in a very hostile matter of fact way.
Jenn T Grace:
Exactly. And actually my top read blog post is, ‘Three reasons you should never say homosexual.’ And it’s because of- it’s usually, and I don’t like saying the right wing crazies, but I doubt any of them are listening to this, but it’s usually that type of audience that grabs ahold of that word and just really digs it deep into the ground with such a negative connotation to it. So if you are trying to be genuine and be authentic and do things the right way, the last thing you want to do is grab onto a word that has such a bad stigma to it.
Valerie Clark:
Absolutely. I mean it’s- you know you can’t- I think that as the world changes, and obviously the past several years, it’s almost like someone hit the fast-forward button. I am so happy for where we are as the community. Obviously we have more work to do becoming- I don’t want to say just another group, but obviously isn’t that sort of what every group wants? To not be looked at so separately from everyone else. You know but I think about my own family. Not speaking to- when I came out, not speaking to my parents for over ten years. Just sort of being tossed out and this won’t stand in our house. And you know my own family’s sort of evolution in thought and sort of really realizing how absolutely foolish, and what a waste of time, and a loss of time that holding onto one ridiculous point, biblical or otherwise. Really, really is just a waste. So you know I guess I kind of go forward with all people out there who are- whether you’re working on your marketing campaign or you’re dealing with the issue of a sibling or someone coming out; you know you’ve got to get educated. And in this day in age there’s no excuse, the material is everywhere. You can pick up a phone, you can turn on a computer, I mean it’s not that hard to really get to the core of what is the LGBT movement along with the struggles and strides over the years for the community.
Jenn T Grace:
Absolutely, you’re spot on. Education is key.
Valerie Clark:
It always has been in almost any crisis. What you’ll find out is that the individuals in the crisis, or creating the crisis, lacked education.
Jenn T Grace:
And oftentimes, not because they wanted to.
Valerie Clark:
Correct.
Jenn T Grace:
Yeah. Very interesting stuff and such a great point to bring up. I do want to shift gears over to business ownership for a moment, and ask you as an LGBT person yourself, if you have been able to leverage that status in being a business owner?
Valerie Clark:
You know this is an interesting question, because you know initially I want to say no. Because you know when you market yourself, you know particularly in financial services as just the LGBT person, well then a lot of people feel sort of excluded like you’re only going to deal with this percentage of the population. And the truth of the matter is, it’s so hard to get clients these days, that dealing with what might be only 10% of your population, you seriously limit yourself. So I don’t know other than people’s perception of me as a person, that it’s helped or hindered my business. But I will say this, because I did think about this particularly with my male friends. I am like- and I don’t know how to explain this in sort of any eloquent, truly eloquent manner. But I am like their female guy drinking buddy, where they feel as though they can tell me anything and get a female perspective and yet not be judged as if I were a straight female.
Jenn T Grace:
Interesting.
Valerie Clark:
So it’s- to me it’s my relationship with men and men in business, straight guys in particular, I always find really interesting the dynamic and the closeness of my relationships to these guys. Because they’re- they just, I guess feel extremely comfortable in talking with me because they know that there’s absolutely no chance that anything is going anywhere. But they can be completely honest and still get a woman’s point of view.
Jenn T Grace:
That is such an interesting point. I have not heard that before, but that makes such sense too.
Valerie Clark:
And it’s weird because I thought to myself for many years that it would be exactly the opposite, right? Straight guys, ‘Oh my God here come the lesbians.’ And if they all look like sort of the Portia De Rossi’s of the world, they don’t care what you’re saying. And my experience has been exactly the opposite. When they actually value my opinion, and it’s not a sexualized relationship or even one where there’s sort of sexual tension. So in that respect, for me it’s very just interesting. I haven’t had I think sort of the stereotypical relationship with straight guys that I think a lot of women would tell you that they have. You know particularly when it comes to getting a job or being heard in the office. I think of Sandberg’s book right now, ‘Lean In,’ where it’s just business is sort of a male dominated arena, and it may very well be that they do see me as someone who’s just one of the guys, I don’t know.
Jenn T Grace:
Wow.
Valerie Clark:
We could do a social experiment.
Jenn T Grace:
We could. It’s really interesting though because if you think about it in terms of leveraging that to your advantage, at the end of the day solid relationships are key to business. So if you’re able to use this to your advantage in terms of relationship building then there you go. There’s that leverage. That’s really, really interesting. Wow. I love that answer. So my next question, so we have two left and then we will say goodbye.
Valerie Clark:
Okay.
Jenn T Grace:
And my next one is around a program, a tool, a business book; something that you use now that’s just kind of transformed the way that you’re able to do business.
Valerie Clark:
I’m an avid reader for starters, so I probably at the very least read about two books a month. There are so many that it’s kind of- you know you take some information from each one and hopefully are able to use it. Probably the one- or the couple that have had the biggest impact on me is ‘The EMyth Revisited,’ and talking about sort of the startup business, startup industry as it were. ‘Good to Great’ is another book that is just- should be, if you haven’t read it you ought to. It needs to be on everybody’s desk as a reference guide. And then of course you know ‘The Essential Drucker’ for management. Because a lot of what I do, and have done, comes from an ability to manage. Just because you are good at your job doesn’t mean you’re going to be a good manager of others. And that’s definitely- it’s a skillset that has to be learned and not just thought that you can handle it. Another book that I think is really, really important, and this had a huge impact in terms of psychology for me is a book called ‘Influence,’ Doctor- I want to say Cialdini if I remember correctly, wrote it. Really about why people do the things they do psychologically. You know it’s sort of if you will, you see somebody smoking a cigarette and you know full well that they ought not be smoking. But you know your brain in that moment- that brain is telling that individual that they will receive a level of happiness in that moment for having that cigarette. And though it seems counter-intuitive, you know your brain works to make your happy; gets you out of pain and into pleasure. So in sort of understanding more the mechanics of the way that people think and work and why they make the decisions that they do. That impacted me I think very, very greatly in my business.
Jenn T Grace:
Those are really interesting, interesting books and I’ve read a couple of them and they are definitely- especially The EMyth, that one’s come up a couple of times. And for anyone who’s listening, every one of these interviews that I do, I do have a blog post that is on the website that has this information, has information about how to get in touch with Val, and it will also put those book recommendations out there as well so it’s easy to access. So the last question I have for you is what is one thing in your business right now that is just really exciting?
Valerie Clark:
Well you know one thing that’s really exciting for me right now is, as I said I work with my accountant, Russ Sadler, and he’s had a business for almost thirty years. He’s a former Colonel in the US Air Force. Just a tremendous guy, you know I trust him with my life which a lot of people can’t say about their accountants and CPAs, but this guy is just such a stand-up guy. One of the things that’s going on for me is kind of juxtaposed with the chamber of commerce; and that is that the NGLCC has- which is the National Chamber, has a certification program for gay-owned businesses. And sort of one of the things that we’ve been talking about doing for the past year is transitioning my own department sort of away from Sadler, and yet very much affiliated and connected to- particularly from the accounting point of view because he just does such a tremendous job. But to basically have my own letterhead if you would. So we’re going through the motions right now of branding and all of that good stuff, and creating which what will be my own division, which will be called Tsephora Consulting, and it’s spelled with a ‘T’ not an ‘S’ for those of you who are thinking about Sephora the makeup company. It’s- Tsephora is actually the Hebrew name for bird, and you’ll find a lot of women who use that who have that name, and it is actually my wife’s middle name.
Jenn T Grace:
Interesting.
Valerie Clark:
Yeah, so I we decided to go forward with my own division of the company. So I’m pretty excited about that.
Jenn T Grace:
That’s really cool. That’s awesome, congratulations.
Valerie Clark:
Well thank you.
Jenn T Grace:
So I do want to thank you for taking the time out of your day today; I’m sure you are busy just like everyone is. But before you go I want to give you an opportunity to plug yourself one last time, and let people know where they can find you, find your business, et cetera.
Valerie Clark:
Absolutely. The best way to find me right now, before I give you my thirty second elevator speech, is either through the Greater Boston Business Council which you can get me via email at Valerie.Clark@GBBC.com. Or you can find me through the Sadler website which is www.SadlerLTD.com. And- or my direct line which is, rather the direct line to the office, is (617) 548-0952. And you know really to sort of plug what I do, is I don’t think any different than any other financial services provider; it’s to be a holistic and honest provider of services for investments and estate planning, and all of those things that sort of encompass your wealth. And ultimately sort of the most important yet overlooked portions of your life, is to whether or not one will be able to retire successfully and live that life later on that they always dreamed of. And that’s really what my passion is, and protecting my clients from those who would seek to do them harm.
Jenn T Grace:
Excellent that’s a great mission, a great vision, and thank you again for your time today. It was great talking with you.
Valerie Clark:
Thanks Jenn.
Jenn T Grace:
Thank you again for listening to this special Pride Month episode of the Gay Business and Marketing Made Easy Podcast. To see a full lineup of the thirty guests featured throughout this series, visit www.JennTGrace.com/30days30voices. And if you liked what you heard here, consider leaving a review in iTunes or telling a friend or colleague. You can do both of these easily by visiting www.JennTGrace.com/iTunes.
Thanks again, and stay tuned for the next interview by another amazing LGBT business leader.
Want to see who else is being interviewed for this Pride month project? Check it out here – 30 days – 30 voices – Stories from America’s LGBT Business Leaders
This podcast episode originally aired in June 2013.
