In episode 4 of our Money Unmasked series, Jonathan sits down with financial empowerment coach and educator rita zhang, founder of Community Roots Financials, to talk about money as something we feel in our bodies, hearts, and spirits—not just in our budgets and spreadsheets.

rita works with low‑income, immigrant, and communities of color, and she’s less interested in “perfect” financial literacy than in what it means for people to feel powerful, seen, and self‑determined in their financial lives. Together, she and Jonathan explore how stress, guilt, and anxiety around money are often coping responses to systems that were never designed with us in mind—and how slowing down to actually feel those emotions can become a deeply liberatory practice.

They get into:

• How rita went from racial and immigration justice organizing to financial empowerment coaching
• Why she thinks of her work less as “finance” and more as holding space for people’s wisdom to emerge
• The quiet courage it takes for working‑class and first‑gen folks to name what they truly want—not just what they need to survive
• How grind culture and capitalism convince us we’re “not doing enough,” even when we’re doing everything
• The idea of class straddlers: being the “bridge” generation between low‑income roots and a different material reality
• What it means to see yourself as one drop in the ocean and the whole ocean when it comes to healing, money, and lineage

If you’ve ever felt guilty for wanting more rest, more joy, or more “non‑essential” spending—or if you’ve felt behind because you don’t speak the language of traditional finance—this conversation offers a gentler, more honest way to think about money, power, and healing.

rita closes with an invitation rooted in self‑compassion: meet yourself exactly where you are, take one next step that feels possible, and let that be enough.

Connect with rita zhang / Community Roots Financials:

• Website: https://www.communityrootsfinancials.com/
• Community Roots Financials on Linkedin
• Follow on Instagram: @communityrootsfinancials

Resources Mentioned in the Show (If you purchase any of the books below I get a small commission):

• Rest is Resistance: A Manifesto by Tricia Hersey
• Learn more about “Class Straddlers”

🎧Listen to Previous Episode: Redefining a "Good Life" at 30 (with Dr. Tiona Sykes)

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Credits:

Produced & Edited: Jonathan Dumas

Produced & Additional Editing: Reggie Hall

Socials & Community: Myron Bobyrk-Ozaki

Email: HighlyVisiblePodcast@gmail.com

In episode 3 of our Money Unmasked series, Jonathan sits down with licensed marriage and family therapist Dr. Tiona Sykes to unpack what happens when money, hustle culture, and our sense of worth all get tangled together.

Tiona shares how growing up with the message that “nothing in life is free” shaped her belief that safety only comes from working multiple jobs and constantly grinding. Now 30 and in a season of employment transition, she reflects on what happens when that grind stops, the anxiety that surfaces, and how easy it is to feel like you’re failing even when your life looks “good” from the outside.

Together, Jonathan and Dr. Sykes explore:

• How family stories (“you have to earn everything”) and hustle culture form our earliest money scripts
• The pressure to always be doing more, making more, and optimizing more—and how that erodes joy
• The guilt of wanting more when you were raised to “just be grateful” and not ask for too much
• What travel, community, and non‑U.S. cultures have taught them about money, happiness, and consumption
• The quiet grief and anxiety that show up around bills, debt, and time, even when the numbers technically “work”
• How to start redefining a “good life” at 30 in a way that honors your values, nervous system, and relationships—not just your bank account

If you’ve ever looked at your life on paper and thought, “I should feel more secure than this,” or wondered what you’re actually chasing when you chase more money, this conversation will feel like exhaling with a friend who gets it.

At the end, Jonathan and Tiona invite you to name your own story around enoughness and success:

• When you think about money right now, what emotions come up first?
• What would a “good life” at this stage actually look like for you?

Connect with Dr. Tiona Sykes:

• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tiona-sykeslmft/

Resources Mentioned in the Show (If you purchase any of the books below I get a small commission):

• Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel
• Here is the Emotions/Feelings Wheel

🎧Listen to Previous Episode: Building Wealth That Actually Feels Good (with Reni Eniola aka xoReni)

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Credits:

Produced & Edited: Jonathan Dumas

Produced & Additional Editing: Reggie Hall

Socials & Community: Myron Bobyrk-Ozaki

Email: HighlyVisiblePodcast@gmail.com

Welcome to Highly Visible, A Little Misunderstood—where we explore life's most complex conversations with curiosity, vulnerability, and zero pressure to perform.

In this season premiere, host Jonathan Dumas invites you into an intimate exploration of money that goes far beyond budgeting and financial literacy. What are we really pursuing when we pursue money? Is it freedom, safety, status, or something deeper?

This season—Money Unmasked—explores the tension between needing money and not wanting money to define who we are. Through personal stories, reflections on childhood lessons, and four intentional lenses (Identity, Relationships, Values, and Society), Jonathan examines how money shapes our fears, our relationships, and our sense of worth.

In this episode, you'll hear:

• Jonathan's reframing of poverty and enoughness through his brother Reggie's wisdom: "We aren't broke—we just don't have money right now."
• The unintended lessons about money he inherited from his mother's generosity
• Why money is spiritual, emotional, and deeply connected to our unconscious fears
• The moral tension of success: "If we make it, how do we refuse to forget the systems that kept others out?"
• An invitation to share your own relationship with money

This is not a season of solutions. It's a season of questions—the kind you ask at your kitchen table late at night with people you trust. If you've ever felt conflicted about wanting more while fearing what that means about you, this season is for you.

Complete the sentence in the comments: "Money represents ___" or "When I think about money, I feel ___"

Your responses may appear anonymously in the season finale as we reflect on what shifted together.

Timestamps 0:00 — Introduction, Team Updates & Welcome to Myron Bobrick Ozaki 1:30 — What This Season Is (And Isn't) 1:43 — The Guiding Question: What Are We Really Pursuing? 2:46 — Reggie's Wisdom: "We Aren't Broke, We Just Don't Have Money Right Now" 3:40 — Inherited Lessons: What His Mom Taught About Money 5:37 — Money Is Emotional, Not Neutral 11:13 — Four Lenses: Identity, Relationships, Values, Society 11:42 — The Big Questions Holding the Season 13:05 — Audience Prompt: "Money Represents " or "When I Think of Money, I Feel " 15:06 — Closing Question & Invitation

📬 Stay Connected: 📺 Join us on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@HighlyVisiblePod 📬Get updates, behind-the-scenes content, and first access to the upcoming newsletter: https://heyjonathandumas.com/hvlmpod 👉🏾 Buy me Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/highlyvisiblepod 🔗 All links → https://linktr.ee/highlyvisiblepod 📲 Instagram & TikTok: @highlyvisiblepod

Production: Produced & Edited: Jonathan Dumas Produced & Additional Editing: Reggie Hall Socials & Community: Myron Bobyrk-Ozaki Email: HighlyVisiblePodcast@gmail.com

What if joy isn’t a destination but something already living inside you? In this heartfelt and deeply grounding conversation, Jonathan sits down with tech leader, DEIB advocate, and proud mom Tamara Wall to explore joy through the lens of motherhood, legacy, and healing.

This is one of the conversations that never made it out during the Joy season—so bringing it to you now feels especially meaningful.

Tamara opens up about: • Motherhood as both healing ground and harvest • Breaking cycles and creating a different future for her children • Embracing Black joy as resistance • Finding joy even when grief or isolation try to take the lead • Teaching her kids that joy isn’t earned—it’s deserved

Jonathan reflects on his own upbringing, the legacy of joy passed down through his family, and the power of small moments that stay with us. There’s even a special moment featuring a voicemail from Jonathan’s mom that captures the heart of the entire episode: joy, love, and the quiet reminders that carry us forward.

If you’ve ever struggled to hold joy in a heavy season… If you’re a parent trying to raise kids with intention… If you’re healing your inner child… Or if you’ve simply forgotten that joy belongs to you— this conversation will meet you right where you are.

Joy is your birthright. Let this episode remind you of that.

💬 Join the Conversation! Finish the sentence: “Joy is…” Drop a comment or send a voice note → https://form.smartsuite.com/sszxz4mn/sxwLOAg7ur

🤝🏾 Connect with Tamara Wall • LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/tamarawall/ • Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/theerealtam

📚 Resources & Links Get Erased: What American Patriarchy Has Hidden from Us by Anna Malaika Tubbs → https://bookshop.org/a/79820/9781250876690

Rest is Resistance by Tricia Hersey → https://bookshop.org/a/79820/9780316365215

📬 Stay Connected:

Join us on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@HighlyVisiblePod

Get updates, behind-the-scenes content, and first access to the upcoming newsletter: https://highlyvisiblepod.ck.page/684e1e911f

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All links → https://linktr.ee/highlyvisiblepod

🎛️ Production:

Produced & Edited by: Jonathan Dumas (@highlyvisiblepod)

Co-produced & Additional Editing by: Reggie Hall

Email: HighlyVisiblePodcast@gmail.com

📺 HELP US HIT OUR SEPTEMBER SUB GOAL ON YOUTUBE → https://linktr.ee/highlyvisiblepod

What is joy really—and how do we keep returning to it, even when life feels heavy?

In this season finale of Highly Visible & A Little Misunderstood, Jonathan Dumas reflects on a whole season of On Joy—pulling together the most honest takeaways, tender moments, and practical tools from every guest. No fluff. No toxic positivity. Just real-life ways to practice joy in the middle of struggle, work, community, and everyday life.

We revisit conversations with Brandon Howard on joy in the body, Amani Roberts on creativity as muscle, Abe Medoff on somatics, Mimi Gonzalez on grief and creativity, Jennice Chewlin on joy as strategy at work, Ashmi Patel on joy guilt, Tiffany LeNoir on belonging, Louis Byrd on solution-oriented peace, and Shauntelle Carnegie on “joy-stacking” when life feels heavy.

Jonathan also shares his own confession—how he accidentally turned joy into a KPI—and what it took to re-learn joy as a practice, not a performance.

✨ What you’ll take away:

• The body-first question that helps joy stop hiding
• Why joy ≠ happiness (and how to tell the difference)
• Simple micro-practices to return to joy at home, at work, and in community
• A reframe: joy and struggle can coexist without guilt

If you’re new here—start with these fan favorites:

• Tiffany: Quitting Wasn’t the Risk–Staying Was → https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/real-talk-with-dumas-podcast/id1501526441?i=1000718924815
• Abe: The Hidden Practice That Makes Joy Sustainable → https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/real-talk-with-dumas-podcast/id1501526441?i=1000721049878

We revisit conversations with:

• Brandon Howard → Ep 91 | What If Joy Has Nothing to Do With the Scale?
• Ashmi Patel → Ep 92 | Joy Without Guilt: Unlearning Perfectionism & Generational Pressure
• Amani Roberts → Ep 93 | Fighting Fear, Doubt & Worry—And Creating Anyway
• Mimi Gonzalez, @griefsense → Ep 94 | Grief Isn’t the End—It’s the Remix
• Louis Byrd → Ep 97 | Finding Joy in the Mess and Fixing Problems That Shouldn’t Exist
• Shauntelle Carnegie → Ep 98 | “What If You’re Not Stuck—Just Scared?”

Jennice Chewlin → Ep 99 | Joy at Work Isn’t a Perk—It’s a Strategy

💬 Join the Conversation What’s one small way joy has found you this season? Send a voice note → https://form.smartsuite.com/sszxz4mn/sxwLOAg7ur

🚨 Help us hit our YouTube sub goal (125 by end of September)! Tap the Linktree and subscribe on YouTube → https://linktr.ee/highlyvisiblepod

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Follow us for more: 📸 Instagram & TikTok: @HighlyVisiblePod 🎙️ All platforms: https://linktr.ee/highlyvisiblepod

🎛️ Production Credits

• Produced & Edited by: Jonathan Dumas
• Co-Produced & Additional Editing: Reggie Hall
• Contact: HighlyVisiblePodcast@gmail.com

📺 HELP US HIT OUR SUB GOAL BY SUBSCRIBING TO OUR YOUTUBE PAGE!

Joy isn’t a perk you earn at the end of your to-do list—it’s a practice you build in the middle of real life.

In this episode of Highly Visible & A Little Misunderstood, Jonathan sits down with Jennice Chewlin—Latina mom, workplace wellbeing strategist, and founder of Chewlin Group—to unpack why joy at work is not “toxic positivity,” but a strategy for connection, trust, and sustainable impact.

We get into: how to stop confusing joy with happiness, why “design for joy, not just efficiency” changes meetings and morale, and what happens when leaders start small (think: human openers, meaningful celebrations, and collaborative “show & tell” lunches). Jennice shares the story of her dad biking across the border to med school—a masterclass in how struggle and joy can coexist—and we talk “mudita” (the joy we feel for someone else’s win), sport-as-reset (soccer/basketball), and how joy fuels collective healing and liberation without ignoring pain.

If you’re a people leader, culture-builder, or just a burnt-out human trying to feel human again at work, this one’s for you.

💬 Join the Conversation 📝 Finish this: “Joy at work looks like ______.” Keep it concrete (who, where, when). Bonus points if you share the song you’ll play to kick it off. Drop a voice note if that’s easier → https://form.smartsuite.com/sszxz4mn/sxwLOAg7ur

🤝🏾 Connect with Jennice Chewlin

• LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennicechewlin
• Website → https://www.chewlingroup.com/
• Email → Jennice@chewlingroup.com

📚 Resources & Links

• Get Your Copy of The Lightmaker’s Manifesto
• Rest is Resistance by Tricia Hersey

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Follow us for more: 📸 Instagram & TikTok: @HighlyVisiblePod 🎙️ All platforms: https://linktr.ee/highlyvisiblepod

🎛️ Production Credits

• Produced & Edited by: Jonathan Dumas
• Co-Produced & Additional Editing: Reggie Hall
• Contact: HighlyVisiblePodcast@gmail.com

📺 HELP US HIT OUR SUB GOAL BY SUBSCRIBING TO OUR YOUTUBE PAGE!

What if you’re not stuck—just scared?

In this episode of Highly Visible & A Little Misunderstood, I sit down with Shauntelle Carnegie—multi-creative, employee experience strategist, and founder of Black Girl Season—to talk about the role of joy when life feels heavy.

Shauntelle opens up about navigating grief, breaking out of old narratives, and discovering that sometimes we’re not stuck at all—we’re just afraid to move. Together, we explore how humor, levity, and the small daily practices of care can create space for joy, even in the hardest seasons.

We ask: ✨ What if joy isn’t linear—but layered, like survival itself? ✨ How do we find joy without guilt when life feels like too much? ✨ And how can humor become a form of healing?

This conversation is tender, real, and a reminder that joy isn’t just a fleeting feeling—it’s a practice that sustains us.

🤝🏾 Connect with Shauntelle Carnegie

• Connect with Shauntelle on LinkedIn
• Looking for a supportive community of Black women? Check out Black Girl Season on LinkedIn

📚 Resources & Links

• Check out Spill
• See where your favorite apples rank on Apple Rankings

Follow us for more: 📸 Instagram & TikTok: @HighlyVisiblePod 🎙️ All platforms: https://linktr.ee/highlyvisiblepod

🎛️ Production Credits Produced & Edited by: Jonathan Dumas Co-Produced & Additional Editing: Reggie Hall Contact: HighlyVisiblePodcast@gmail.com