Today on The Unique CPA, I’m thrilled to welcome two incredible professionals who are not only experts in their fields but are now joining forces to launch something truly important for the accounting profession: Nancy McClelland and Questian Telka. They are now the co-hosts of the brand-new podcast called She Counts, which I’m excited to discuss today. Together, they are creating a space to explore the experiences of women in accounting, challenge outdated industry norms, and elevate stories that too often go unheard. We’re going to be talking about why She Counts matters, what inspired them to create it, and how they’re hoping to drive change, which I love change in the profession, while having some fun along the way. Plus, you’ll hear a bit about their upcoming sessions at this year’s Bridging The Gap Conference. Nancy, Questian, welcome to the show.

Thank you!

Randy, thank you so much for having us!

We’re happy to be here.

As anybody listening doesn’t realize, it took me like three tries to get that intro done. So we got it done at least, and now we’re ready to go. 

So you did a beautiful job. That was a gorgeous intro because not only was it really lovely, but you get what we’re doing. That makes me so excited. You know, we really are trying to drive change in the industry, which is something that I know you’re passionate about. So thank you for that lovely intro.

Very passionate about it, and I know about it because you told me about it already. So I got to learn from you. But I understand, and I appreciate what you’re doing. There’s a lot that we could dig into with what you’re doing, but why don’t we just start with the big news and give us a little deeper understanding of what’s going on with the podcast—you know, what kind of conversations you’re having, you’re going to have guests on. Give me the whole backstory of what’s going on here.

Fantastic. Well, thank you again for having us on The Unique CPA. This is the perfect place to be able to announce that we’re finally, which you’ll hear about it a little bit later, because it took a while, we’re finally launching this podcast passion project. She Counts is a real talk podcast for women in accounting. We’ve teamed up with Earmark, so you’ll be able to get CPE for listening. And we’re going to have authentic conversations about the challenges that women in accounting face.

Yeah, I think our aim is really to break through the isolation that so many women in accounting experience—Nancy and I both did ourselves. So each episode is really supposed to be like a virtual community where all of the women, you know, tuning in and all of the bookkeepers and accountants in all the many different roles in accounting can feel seen, heard, and be understood. And you know, we hope to do that by bringing up relatable—hopefully—topics. So we’re really excited.

Yeah. I mean, really, we want to bring into the open those taboo topics that, you know, they’re common challenges, they’re unspoken questions, that to be honest, I mean, women in accounting face them every frickin’ day. Whether they’re running their own firms or working within organizations, we want to extend to everyone out there, to every woman who has ever struggled with a workplace issue or questioned if her experiences are “normal,” quote-unquote or not, we want to extend our professional circles to include them because it’s an isolating place to be, as Questian was saying. 

Yeah.

So I am not completely qualified to bring up what those issues are. But let me tell you, Nancy, you and I may have discussed this once, and I don’t remember if we did or not, but I was out in Portland last year, or maybe it was two years ago. I think I did talk to you about this, and I was bringing up horror stories that I had in accounting. It was my second job in accounting, and to me, it was just a terrible thing. And then the women that I was with, there was a bunch of women, we were just out to dinner, and it was like, “Wow, I don’t understand what a real horror story is.” Because, I mean, the gist of it was if you haven’t locked yourself in the closet and cried at work, you haven’t had a normal interaction within the profession, which makes me feel boggled and sad that that’s a reality, that everybody had that same response to what they’ve gone through in the profession.

Well, what’s really interesting too is that so many women, when you’re bringing up these stories, so many of us have these stories. For a long time, you feel like you’re alone or you’re the only one who has that story. Then you start talking to other women, and you realize that everybody seems to have one of those stories. So we really want to help other women by kind of bringing topics like that to the forefront so that they don’t feel so alone.

Absolutely. And not just other women not feeling alone, but Randy, I have a question for you that is related to this: How did it change you as a cis white male, hearing those stories at that dinner? How did it change the way that you then went out into the world and interacted with women? Did it make you a better leader? Did it make you a more compassionate human being? Because this podcast isn’t just for the women who are struggling with these things, but for all people to be able to see what’s going on and to make us all better people. So what was your experience with that?

Yeah, my experience was for sure like, “How did I not know this? How is this not something that I’ve seen or heard?” Because it was not—there were fifteen people out to dinner—and it was not just one person saying this. It was the entire table. And I’m like, this is something we need to talk about. This is something we have to figure out why it’s happening. We have to figure out what’s going on. So from that standpoint, when I go out and present, I have a different mindset when I’m talking about culture, I have a different openness to realize that I don’t know everybody’s situation. I think I’ve always thought that way, but it’s like there’s more going on out there than I realize, and I need to make sure that I don’t try to fit everything into one bucket.

Absolutely. That’s so perfectly said. I mean, women are actually hungry for community and validation and practical advice from peers, like you’re saying, you know, from other people who actually understand their specific challenges. I mean, Questian and I wanted this for ourselves, right? This was something that we craved, so yeah, we just decided to create it. 

That’s why we did it.

Let’s get into that then because you said there is a backstory. It was a long process to get going. When did the brainstorm for this begin on this, and what was the tipping point that made you decide, “Okay, we need to do this, and now how do we go about it?”

Yeah, I mean, I think every time Nancy and I would get on a call with each other, we would just have these incredible conversations—I call it conversational chemistry. And we were having all these topics come up continually between the two of us, but we also realized that we were having these conversations with other women in the community on WhatsApp, at conferences, and both of us are very fortunate that we have that community already, because we are able to go to those conferences and we have been able to grow that. But we want to make that something that’s accessible for everyone. So I think I actually said to Nancy as a joke, “Hey, maybe we should make a podcast,” because I was like…

She did. I mean, because to her point, the biggest motivation in deciding to launch this podcast is that it’s what we each wished we had had in our own lives as we were each starting our firms. You know, I’ve run my firm for 24 years, and Questian, how long have you been running yours? 

Almost five. 

And then before that, you worked in the accounting industry at larger firms, right?

I worked at Deloitte, but in an operational role, then I worked in an accounting role at a nonprofit.

So we’ve got lots of background and experience. Throughout our lives, I mean, basically, Questian and I are our own target audience: Women in accounting who want to feel seen and heard and have real talk conversations about the realities we face. It’s so isolating, Randy. It really is, it’s so isolating, until you find out, like in the Bridging the Gap Vulnerability is a Strength panel that I did last year… You know, when you find out that others in your community are struggling with some of the same things that you’re struggling with, it actually helps build resilience. And if you have resilience, you can bounce back when things get difficult.

Yeah, and it took, definitely a little bit of nudging. 

Two years of nudging, bugging me, and bugging me and bugging me because first she said it as a joke, then she got this idea that, you know, we actually took this text thread of ideas and we copied it to a Google Doc—that was the seed. Now we’ve got over 30 episodes planned, but it started with this one text thread that we copied to a Google Doc. She kept bugging me, and I kept saying no. I had turned down previous offers to host a podcast, and I felt like I just didn’t have time for this, you know? So it was a slow, slow, slow burn until it completely caught fire.

Yeah. And I learned that persistence works with Nancy too because I’ll share with you that when we met each other through Bookkeeping Buds, I was like, “Wow, she is so smart and bright.” This was all in a Slack channel. I’m reading and communicating with her and I was like, “Hey, you’re amazing. I want to be friends.” And Nancy was like, “Yeah, I really don’t have time.” But I didn’t give up. I didn’t give up.

That’s great. 

I’m a monster! Well, she proved to me what a smart cookie she was. Not only did we end up becoming friends, but I was like, “Hey, do you want to do contract work for me?” So she was actually one of my team members for quite some time.

Nice. I did not know that story.

Yeah. While she was launching her own firm, it was wonderful. So we know each other as friends, we know each other from Bookkeeping Buds, and we know each other from working together. We’ve had lots of opportunities to discuss these unique challenges of being a woman in the field.

So what I hear is it was a two-year process. It was over a chat.

Probably longer.

And then so after this two-year process of going through everything and the persistence Questian had, not only becoming friends but working together and then starting the podcast together, do you think today is now the perfect time? Have things gotten to a spot where maybe people are more open to these conversations? Do you think this is the right time? Is there a reason now is the time?

I think that whenever there’s anything really important that you want to do, you can’t do it yesterday, and tomorrow’s too late. So today’s always the perfect time, right? This is when it’s happening because this was, for us, when it caught fire. Because I, sort of on a whim… So I am a recipient of the “Top 50 Women in Accounting” award from Ignition, and this year they decided to change and instead of giving the award out every year, they’re going to give it out every other year, and in the opposite years, they’re going to be highlighting voices of alumnae, and to that end, they put together a grant for projects that we’re working on that affect women in the field. On a whim, you know, we’ve had this Google doc that we’ve been adding to and adding to, and we keep having these conversations, and you know, I think at the point at which I did this, we probably had a good 15 to 20 episodes already planned for this imaginary podcast that was going to happen in the future. And on a whim, when I saw they had put this grant out there, I decided to apply and they immediately wrote back: “This is amazing. Yes, we want to support it.” It was just immediate. They’re such wonderful people. So I got in touch with Questian and I was like, “Well, I think we’re doing this because we just got a grant for it,” and we decided we wanted to talk to Earmark because we knew if we were going to do this, we wanted to do it big, right Questian?

Yes, we wanted to do it the right way. We wanted to give it the best chance at being successful that we could. And we wanted CPE too, right?

Yeah, CPE is really important for all of us. So that’s why “now” happened. But I think if you look more closely at what’s going on in the world right now, these have always been problems. None of this is new. But there’s no doubt that the current attack on DEI is painful, and it’s terrifying. But that’s not where our motivation came from. This is something that has always been important, and what’s different is that now, we’re not talking about it around the water cooler. We have the reach of Earmark and podcast hosting platforms, which have the power to help people feel less alone while they’re in their homes and home offices, right Questian?

Yeah. It’s important because until we get to a point where women feel truly represented in their positions of leadership, and then they feel seen and heard in the roles they occupy, and we have equivalent salaries to men, for example—it needs to be discussed and talked about. We need to keep pushing the cart forward as much as we can. If you’re not having those conversations, then you’re not making progress. It starts with people recognizing and acknowledgment. And we’re looking for not just a podcast for female listeners; we’re also looking for the men in our lives to get involved, when they hear the stories, to have that perspective, and to let it influence the decisions they’re making. So that’s really important too.

Do you think we’re at a moment in time, though, where people are more open to hear? I mean, I think we’re not by any means perfect, but I think we’re better than we were five years ago, in my opinion. At least on some of the topics I talk about too, like mental health and that. Have we gotten there with this, or is this still lagging behind other areas where people are getting more likely to share stories and be vulnerable?

For me, I would say that it depends on who’s listening, and it depends on what community you’re in, it depends on what conference you attend. Are people more willing to listen to stories about people who don’t look like them or think like them or have the same experiences they do? I’m not sure about that yet. But I do think that people are becoming more willing for our industry as a whole to be honest about the challenges that we are experiencing as accountants. Burnout is something you hear discussed; mental health is something now discussed in ways they didn’t use to be, which is in a large part due to you, Randy. I mean, I want to put credit where credit is due here. There’s no—I see you shaking your head and I know that our podcast listeners cannot see you shaking your head. But it is true. Your The Unique CPA podcast, the Bridging the Gap conference, the keynotes that you’re doing at the various conferences, and just the inspiration that you are then giving others to take that torch and run with it.

That kind of thing, you know, I think that you’re seeing lots of different types of posts on LinkedIn, for example, of people sharing real stories about things that are happening to them. So, while I don’t necessarily think that the voices of women and minorities and the disabled and other people who have traditionally had their voices suppressed or not been given a microphone or not been given a stage, I don’t know that that’s getting any better. In fact, it might be getting worse right now. But I do think that the time is right for people to open their minds to having honest conversations about the realities of what it means to work as an accountant. 

Yeah. And it has to start somewhere, right? Somebody has to start it. And I think what you see is the more people make themselves vulnerable and they share the stories and they bring up the topics and the more other people feel comfortable also talking about the same thing and sharing as well. So yeah, I agree. I’m not sure. In one aspect, I think people are ready to listen, and in another one, another, like the political climate feels like it’s…

Yeah you are correct. I think maybe I live a little too much in a bubble. I live in “Bridging the Gap and The Unique CPA World,” and maybe I don’t get out enough in other areas because I feel like at least we’re, you are trying, we’re trying to, to make a difference, and…

Randy, though, you make an excellent point when you talk about that bubble, that’s the bubble that Questian and I get to live in right now because we have gone to conferences for so many years and built so many wonderful relationships with people in the community. And we have these happy hour Zooms and we have WhatsApp groups and, and we have communities like Bookkeeping Buds and Ask a CPA and Realize, and you know, so many groups out there. We are all sort of living in this bubble in a sense. But there are zillions and zillions of people, especially women who don’t have that. And that’s why this podcast is important. This podcast is not just for the people who already agree with us, that these are topics that need to be talked about, this podcast is to reach people in spaces where they’re not feeling seen, and they’re not feeling heard, and they don’t get the benefit of that bubble. We want to take our bubble and we want to make it bigger. And we want to bring them into it. 

Yeah. And to Nancy’s point, our plan is to have it kind of formatted less like interviews and more like a, you know, hey, we’re going to have conversation, you know, with an additional guest. So just as if we were meeting at the coffee shop, the three of us were getting together and then we were talking about one of the topics. And what we really want to do is bring in other individuals that are either other accountants that are maybe leaders at bigger firms or smaller firms or are more diverse as well as, you know, having guests on that can really give perspective and different points of view, not just the two of us. 

Yeah. I mean, we don’t want it to be like just two white girls complaining about men. That is not what this podcast—I mean, this podcast could be that, right? I won’t say that Questian and I have never gone out for drinks and just had a conversation where we got together and complained about men. That has happened in our lives. But that’s not this podcast, right? Sometimes it’ll be just us. Sometimes we’ll have guests. We have a long wishlist. Some of them are names we all know and some are newcomers to accounting. Some aren’t in the industry, but they’re recognized subject matter experts on issues that affect women in all professions. So I love what Questian’s saying about, we are trying to bring in voices of women who’ve had experiences that are not the same as ours. There’s a lot, as you were saying, from that dinner that everybody has experienced, but there are some things that you’re going to experience that are different if you’re in a bigger firm or different if you’re running your own firm. So we want those voices out there and we want them to reach people who need to hear them. 

No, that sounds great. Alright, so Questian you said this, we’re just talking about, you know, the different types of individuals and different positions within accounting. And I’m no expert but looking at statistics, there’s actually more women in accounting. I think it’s, you know, anywhere from 60% women to 40% men. I don’t know if my numbers are right, but when you see the evolution or people growing in the profession, it seems like leadership becomes more male heavy—or it not seems, believe me, I’ve been at conferences with leading partner conferences where it’s 90% men it feels like in these conferences. 

The AICPA has actually done a lot of research on that and Questian, and I have looked up statistics on it and the actual number that you’re looking for is women hold only 19% of partner positions in CPA firms. And if you look broader in, in business context overall, it’s only 14% in executive officer roles. And we know that your numbers are at between 50 and 60% of people in accounting are women. So yes, please continue with what you’re saying, but just to provide some data there. 

So I’ve read things before, and I don’t read a lot because I’m just not that smart. But I’ve read some things before—I don’t know why I said that. Justin, cut that out. I’ve read things before, and I truly believe it and I’ve seen it in n action where you have a diverse group in leadership, it just makes an organization that much stronger. So when you’re seeing this, not just with men and women, but all different things, but how do you see elevating different kinds of people into leadership really do make a firm better, make a business better, help them be more successful?

Questian, do you want to talk a bit about the takeaways of that DEI panel that you were on at, at Scaling New Heights last year? 

Well, I think one of the takeaways, which, well, I guess this is a takeaway, but then I’ll answer Randy’s question after. The biggest takeaway was that it needs a bigger stage. So we, you know, we had it and it was great—the session was great—but what we really needed is people to come in and we needed a bigger reach. That’s what we realized. We really needed a bigger reach, but to answer the question, like how does it help, I mean, if you’re speaking about women in particular, just think about, you know, 40% of small business owners are actually women. So if you think about serving your clients and appropriately serving your clients, then you would want women in leadership in your firm because they’re going to help your firm because they offer that representation they havea  female’s perspective on servicing those clients. And when women feel seen and they feel heard, you know, this definitely increases confidence and motivation, and so having representation in a business that is familiar to you, it really can build up your confidence. 

And one thing that I’ll point out too is we, we talk about having pipeline issues and not just when it comes to women, when we talk about, you know, people of different ethnicities and different abilities—when you’re looking at where you want to work, people generally want to feel a sense of belonging in their environment, right? So they’re going to be looking at taking jobs in firms that are putting people that they see themselves in, in leadership positions. And so if you want your firm to be able to have a diverse set of clients and service a diverse set of clients, then you need to have a diverse set of individuals running your firm and working throughout your firm at all different levels.

I couldn’t agree more. 

I agree and I use that as an example a lot when I’m out speaking, because for the first 10 years of Tri-Merit, we were clones of me, and we did a nice job. We grew decently. But when we intentionally got way more diverse in all areas of diverse, you know, whatever it, it, sex or religion or where you’re from, or your abilities or your thought process, or your faith or whatever, that’s when we took off. Because the diversity of thought was so important that we did not have before. And that’s what I’ve heard, especially in like board of directors, when there’s a mix of men and women in there, it’s just a much better situation is that story that I read before. 

I’m excited. I honestly wanted to ask about, you know, how we can even support women more in this, but I, the show’s going to talk about that. So I don’t know if we have to get deep into that, unless you want to spend a little time on how do we support women at kind, how do we, you know, make sure women are better representative in leadership levels or is that going to go way too deep into the conversation?

Well, it’s something that needs to be talked about, which is why we’re starting this podcast. 

Exactly. 

So it’s something that I think that we should touch on to some extent here, but it’ll be a sneak peek. 

Okay. Let’s do it. 

As to what is to come, we have so many topics that we want to cover on this podcast. We will never, ever, ever run out of topics to cover, but how we can support women in accounting is obviously going to be something that we return to over and over and over again. First, there’s acknowledging that there’s a problem, right? Questian talks often about recognizing the cognitive bias. Do you want to talk about that a little bit? Because I think that that’s where this all starts. 

Yeah, of course. So, I mean, you know, that’s part of the problem, right? Is that we have these ideas and thoughts that our brains have been trained to think in a certain way, and we don’t even recognize and know that it’s happening. And it doesn’t make people bad people, it just means that there are processes over many years of time that have been kind of handed down through families, through generations that change the way or that are impacting the way that we think about things. And I think it’s important to recognize that we can change those thought processes. Our brains are very plastic, or have a lot of plasticity until much later in our lives.

Whenever Questian reminds me that our brains have a lot of plasticity, I’m always like, so you’re telling me you really can teach an old dog new tricks? 

I was like, you can! 

I’m pretty excited about that!

That’s right. I believe that. 

Yeah. But to do that, you have to have a plan, right? Like one of the things that I think that frustrates me when people talk about like, what can we do to support women, lots of the feedback that we get is very vague. It’s very like, “Oh, well we have to change hiring practices, right?” Like, yes, we have to change hiring practices, but how do we do that? “Well, we have to change how we promote individuals.” Okay, yes, we have to do that, but how do we do that? And I love what Questian talks about, she’s like, “Okay, we need to be intentional about all of these decisions we’re making. We have to make sure we have representation in leadership roles. We have so many ways of thinking that we need to unlearn, but we’re not going to do that if we don’t get men to buy in.” Because it’s not enough to have mentors. 

Yeah. That’s right. 

I mean, this is amazing. I am truly looking forward to this and we’ve teased some of what’s going to be going on on this, obviously, and topics and guests occasionally, or sometimes in conversations and sitting around the coffee shop, discussing things type of atmosphere. But let’s get into some, you said, you know, in this Google Sheet you had a list of topics. Let’s kind of get into the topics that you’re looking to address on the podcast. 

Yeah, I think one of the most interesting ones is probably one of our, it’s going to be one of our earlier topics. Initially, what we were like, “Oh, maybe we should call the podcast this,” and it was z, because I think as women, we have a tendency to continually say yes to everything. So taking a step back and then starting with no and coming up with reasons why you need to say yes rather than the other way around. So that’s one we’re very excited about. 

Yeah, definitely. That was the initial text conversation that we saved to that Google Doc and then we realized naming the podcast Start with No just sounded so negative and so we—even though conceptually it’s a very positive thing, because then you’re being very intentional about saying yes to all of the things that you want to say yes to, if you start with no. So it’s a very positive concept, but it’s a very negative name. So I think She Counts is a much—

Oh, I love the name!

You love the name Start with No?.

No, I love She Counts. 

Me too. I’m going to make a plug for Bridging the Gap here because one of the topics we’re going to come back to time and time again in the podcast is vulnerability as a strength, which was the panel that I put together for last year’s Bridging the Gap. Questian and I are both going to be speaking at this year’s Bridging the Gap, which I am so excited about—that’s coming up here in July. And if you haven’t—is early bird pricing still going on maybe?

May 31st, early bird pricing ends. So we still have some time. 

Alright. Get on it. Get on it. I’m going to be presenting with Al-Nesha and Dawn Brolin on reasonable compensation. I’m also going to be talking about collaborating—effective collaboration—between bookkeepers and tax pros, which of course is what Ask a CPA, my community, is all about. Questian, what are you going to be talking about? 

I’m going to be talking about building resilience. So the title is Bounce Back and Build Forward, and it’s resilience strategies for thriving. And it’s actually a panel with myself, and then Shirley is going to moderate, and Lynette will be—I don’t know if I’m going to say her name right, I don’t know her last name. I’ve never said it before. 

Oss Connell.

Yes. So Lynette Oss Connell is going to be a panelist as well as Will Lopez. 

That’s a powerhouse! You know, I think that’s a great group of people. 

We’ll all have some stories to share, and so we’re going to share our stories and we’re going to talk about how building resilience can help, you know, personally, but also in firms and professionally and how you can do that. So I’m very excited about this topic. All of us are really excited and it’s near to all of our hearts. 

And Bridging the Gap is just a killer conference and it’s going to be amazing to all be there together in person. And of course, Randy, you know, you cannot have a podcast about women in any workplace without bringing up #MeToo. 

Oh yeah. Right.

We all have horror stories and that surprises not just men like you were saying earlier, but many women, as Questian was saying earlier, they think they’re the only one. I mean, that’s why it became a movement, right? It literally has happened to everyone. So #MeToo is definitely going to be one of our topics.

Yes. It needs to be. Yep. 

And Questian’s got a topic that is near and dear to her heart.

Yeah, we want to talk about mentorship in the industry. I was having a conversation with someone that I’ve been mentoring and is a dear friend of mine—and before I share that conversation, I will say that, you know, Nancy has been a mentor for me, and the amount of mentorship that she has done for me has really inspired me to kind of give that back as well to other women. 

Thank you, Questian. 

Yeah, of course. I’m very grateful. So mentorship is important to both of us. And I was also recently talking to somebody that I’ve kind of been mentoring, and she made a very insightful comment. She said to me, “We see in each other what we fail to see in ourselves,” and I just thought that was very profound because when women are having these conversations with each other, we tend to be, I don’t know if it’s being humble or if it can be imposter syndrome or lack of self-confidence, but we’re hard on ourselves. And when you have those relationships and that mentorship dynamic, you see in each other often what you don’t see in yourselves. And so I think it’s really important to have those relationships because we really build one another up and help each other highlight our strengths. 

Yep. And community. And part of that, just knowing other people are out there and, and what they’re doing and what they’ve been through and how they’ve solved whatever situation that they’re dealing with. Community is, I think such a big part of what helps this profession. And we all got to hang out together at plenty of places, and I always enjoy that. 

Yes. We really do have a great community. We really do. 

We’re so lucky, and it’s going to be even bigger and even stronger once this podcast reaches people who don’t have that community, they haven’t had the opportunities that we have had to connect with each other at these various conferences and events like Bridging the Gap. I’m excited to pull them into our bubble and bring them into the community and have them experience the benefits of what it means when we all support each other and we’re all looking out for each other’s best interests. 

Yeah, that sounds great. Alright. Before we wrap things up, we have to give some data. When’s this launching? Where’s it launching? 

Yeah, we’re shooting for mid-May, so just keep your eyes peeled on our LinkedIn profiles. I’m on LinkedIn at Nancy-McClelland-CPA. And Questian?

I think it’s Questian-Telka-EA. But I mean, my name’s pretty unique, so I’m pretty sure if you search it, you can find it.

It’s like the word “question,” but with an “A-N” instead of an “O-N.” Also I have a regular MSN column and I will definitely be talking about this. So if you follow my MSN column and of course on Earmark. If you are not already using Earmark for earning CPE for listening to podcasts. Get over there and, and sign up because they’re amazing and they’re going to be doing some promo as well. If you have any questions or you’re interested in becoming a sponsor, please email me at SheCounts@thedancingaccountant.com, or you can reach out to Questian.

Yeah, you can reach out to me—not Questian—it’s She Counts. That is not the email address. It’s, SheCounts@reqoncilefinancials.com. And that’s R-E-Q-O-N-C-I-L-E. We like to do plays on words around here.

Nice. And we will put those in the show notes too. So we should have the correct spelling and links and everything in the show notes. And I am super excited to see this go and, and to listen to it. And it’ll definitely be on my playlist and I’m excited to learn as much as I can to see if I can do my part to be an advocate and ally to support and promote the conference and women in the profession. 

We are very excited about the podcast. Thank you so much for bringing us onto The Unique CPA to announce it. This is our big launch announcement, Randy, this is it!

Believe me. I’m honored. This is, I’m like, wow, this is pretty cool. We’ve got breaking news here that we’re sharing today. So very exciting. 

So I want to ask one last question, Nancy, you can chime in. And, ’cause we do this, even though this is a big announcement podcast, I’d have to do this every podcast, ’cause I just love hearing what people do when they’re not working. And so I don’t know, Nancy, if you want to answer first and then Questian can, but you know, when you’re not promoting She Counts, you’re not promoting moving forward in the profession, you’re not doing your work inside your businesses, what do you do for fun? What’s your outside the work passions? Nancy, you want to go again? 

Obviously, given that my company’s name is literally “The Dancing Accountant,” I’m guessing your listeners can, can guess that I love to dance. I specifically love to dance to 1960s, go-go music. So think Nancy Sinatra, “These Boots Are Made for Walkin’.” That’s my favorite thing to do. I also love museums. I will go to literally any museum. I’m there and if you’re also a museum person and we’re at a conference together, ping me and let’s do it. 

Nice. Questian?

I have to follow that up and say, I also love to dance, but to a different style of music. Which anybody who knows me well knows that I do plenty of dancing. 

What’s your favorite style of music for dancing? 

Electronic dance music. 

Yeah. I had a feeling.

How did you know? And you know, and traveling with friends to see shows, but also just travel in general. And in fact, on Friday I’m taking my son to Paris. 

Nice.

We’re very excited about that. 

First time?

First time for that, yeah, both of our first times. We’re going to experience it first for both of us. He’s 14, so we’re both really excited. We’re going to gain 10 pounds while we’re there. 

Hey, Randy, what kind of music do you dance to? 

Zero?

Come on! I know that’s not true!

I don’t dance. I honestly, I have a mental block with dancing, and I want to get past it, but it can’t be in the crowd, so  it has to be in a small area first where I can get more comfortable. I’m pretty confident in most everything I do—dancing is not something—I feel very self-conscious when I’m dancing.

Okay.  We’re going to work on that. I’ve got something for you that is going to be a ton of fun that I’m going to, that we’re going to do at Bridging the Gap. I’ve got some ideas. 

Well, I am three weeks into knee replacement surgery right now, so I won’t be dancing for a while, but 

Oh, you’ve been hiking like crazy. 

I have been hiking, which is insane. I shouldn’t have recovered this fast from surgery, but I’m super fortunate that it’s going much faster than anybody could have expected. 

That’s amazing! 

Yeah. 

That’s wonderful. I’m so glad. 

Yep! Alright, well thanks again, both of you for being on. I look forward to seeing you both, I’m sure, before Bridging the Gap somewhere out in the real world.

Yes. We’ll be at Scaling New Heights, so let’s, we’ll see you in June and well, and Randy, I will see you next month as we celebrate our birthdays together in Chicago. 

Oh, that’s right. But not on my birthday, ’cause I’m camping that day, and I am hosting an event from the campsite, I just got asked, for Financial Cents, actually, we just gave Financial Cents a plug. 

Oh that sounds fun!

They’re doing a post-tax season—

I am going to be performing at Financial Cents’—not just performing, I’m going to be teaching people to dance—at the Financial Cents event on May 2nd, right?

Yeah, that’s the day. That’s the day.

Yeah!  I will be there as well. I’m going to be teaching people how to do a couple of dances to kind of shake off the tax season, you know, get your joints moving and, and celebrate our freedom. So yeah, I’ll see you there, Randy. 

Well, I will learn to dance online. I’ll be at the campsite doing it with just Kathy watching. 

Nobody will be able to see, it’ll be perfect.

Alright. Any final thoughts before we close it up? It’s been a lot of fun. 

Thank you so much for having us a nd for giving us a platform to share this project that, you know, means a lot to both of us. Really appreciate it, we’re very excited. 

Absolutely. You are the most nice and fun person that I know. 

That’s our motto, “nice and fun.” 

Nice and fun. 

Just don’t ask him to dance. 

That’s not fun! Eventually, maybe, I don’t know, at 62, can that happen? I’ll see. 

One day. One day. We’ll get there. 

Alright, well, thank you both for being here.

Thank you, Randy!

Thank you!