Katalina (00:00.642)
Hello and welcome to Career Path. I am your host, Catalina Dawson. This podcast was created to explore the industry through the eyes of somebody who is very new to the arena, myself, by seeking the mentorship and expertise of industry veterans, my guests. We will cover a variety of different topics within this podcast, some very industry specific and other more broad explorations of how to grow, level up and build your own career.

Today in particular, we have a very special topic about how empowering women is empowering everyone. And I have a very special guest here to discuss that with me, the amazing Teresa Dodson. Now she has a number of different roles. She is the Senior Vice President of Relief.app, the CEO and founder of Greenbacks Consulting, and the founder of the Women of Debt Relief, which I'm really excited to discuss with you today.

Theresa, would you like to introduce yourself a little bit and tell us about how you got to where you are today within the industry?

Teresa Dodson (00:57.785)
Catalina, thank you so much. And thank you for having me. This is a very exciting podcast that you're doing and I'm very appreciative to be a part of it. Well, yes, I wear a lot of hats. And my background really came out of the debt settlement space. So over 20 years ago, I got into the debt settlement space. And during this time in my career ran about four different

Katalina (01:01.596)
My pleasure.

Katalina (01:05.378)
Thank you.

Katalina (01:11.69)
Yeah.

Teresa Dodson (01:25.937)
built and ran four different debt settlement companies. And out of that, my consulting firm was born. And I started consulting not only with the debt settlement industry, but also started consulting with collection agencies and debt buyers as well on how to work better with those types of consumers in those types of programs. And then during this whole timeframe of my career,

Katalina (01:28.578)
Mm-hmm.

Katalina (01:40.27)
Cool.

Katalina (01:46.019)
Mm-hmm.

Teresa Dodson (01:49.593)
One of the things that was very noticeable to me was, you know, the financial services industry is very male dominated. And you don't see a heavy amount of women, especially when I started, that are in the industry. And so during my career, I would mentor a lot of these women because it's a very interesting industry to be in when it's very male dominated and there's not a lot of women in it. You have to navigate a certain way through that. And...

Katalina (01:56.84)
Yes. Oh yes.

Katalina (02:03.906)
Mm-hmm.

Katalina (02:14.537)
Mm-hmm.

Katalina (02:18.67)
Absolutely.

Teresa Dodson (02:19.721)
So about three years ago, I decided, you know what? I want to put together a nonprofit, an organization called Women in Debt Relief, and make it very all-inclusive with women that are not only in debt settlement, but in the collection space, credit counseling, any financial services industry, period, because all of them are very male-dominated. There's been a lot of expansion during my time in the space, meaning a lot more women that have come into it, but it's still only about 30%.

Katalina (02:34.307)
Mm-hmm.

Katalina (02:47.362)
Mm-hmm.

Teresa Dodson (02:50.257)
and I'd say about 10% of them are maybe in executive management. So we still got a long way to go. Um, but I wanted to put together something where we can really support each other, not only professionally, but personally, as we navigate through those waters.

Katalina (02:50.664)
Oh, yeah.

Katalina (02:56.694)
Yes.

Katalina (03:05.262)
Absolutely. And when we discussed this before, you talked a little bit about how the men are really involved in the women of debt relief, that it is not exclusive, that having them as part of the conversation is extremely important, which is why empowering women is empowering everyone.

Teresa Dodson (03:25.209)
100%. I had been exposed to other organizations throughout my career that really helped support women and a lot of them were really great. But one of the things that I saw that was missing was the other side of that equation being the men not being part of the conversation. How do we ever expect that we're going to be able to forge ahead, break down some barriers, create better communication if they're not part of the conversation?

Katalina (03:41.942)
Mm-hmm.

Teresa Dodson (03:54.513)
Um, you know, we're, and you know, there's so many men out there that I've been surrounded with in my career that have been extremely supportive. Um, one of my mentors was, you know, a male and I learned so much. Yeah. And I've learned so much.

Katalina (03:54.794)
Absolutely.

Katalina (04:03.094)
Mm-hmm.

Katalina (04:07.39)
My mentors are males right now too. I've got Adam Parks, Mark Naiman, they're incredible. This podcast wouldn't even exist without Adam Parks, a man who is helping empower women because it is empowering everyone. It's about bringing us all up and working on all of us having our pursuing excellence in our careers.

Teresa Dodson (04:14.406)
Yes.

Teresa Dodson (04:31.881)
100%. And

Katalina (04:43.397)
Mm-hmm.

Katalina (04:58.935)
Mm-hmm.

Teresa Dodson (05:01.489)
you know, and how we communicate and how we approach things. And that's why I've learned so much from men in my career on, wow, I need to approach it like they do, you know? And it was very empowering because there's certain things, you know, I always give this example and anybody that's listened to me before, they probably, I'm like a broken record, but it's the easiest one for everybody to understand. You know, you've got a promotion that's available.

Katalina (05:02.93)
Yes.

Katalina (05:13.296)
Yeah.

Teresa Dodson (05:27.685)
and you've got a male and a female that are qualified to go for that promotion. The woman is going to sit there and say, I need to know 100% of how to do that job that I'm trying to step into before I can even apply to it. The man is like, yeah, I know about 50% of it. I'll figure it out when I get there. And they go for it. And that is exactly how the mindset is so different, but how you can learn from that. And then also they can.

Katalina (05:28.087)
Mm-hmm.

Katalina (05:40.586)
Absolutely, yes.

Katalina (05:48.82)
Yeah.

Katalina (05:55.051)
Mm-hmm.

Teresa Dodson (05:56.033)
much from the way that we approach things. I think women are just in business, tend to be definitely a lot more intuitive, a lot more in touch with let's say the people around them. And I think they tend to be really good at really helping people evolve and teaching, because we're nurturers by trade, you know, and I'm not the most nurturing person in the world, I swear. But I mean, not all women are that way. But we just tend to

Katalina (06:07.79)
Mm-hmm.

Katalina (06:13.899)
Mm-hmm.

Katalina (06:22.188)
Yeah.

Teresa Dodson (06:23.213)
Okay, let's take a little bit more time on how to develop and work with this person. And we also have an ability to see very quickly, I think, in my experience, skill sets that are appropriate for the right position. So there's a lot we can learn from each other. And that's why I wanted you to be very inclusive of everybody being part of that conversation, even though it's called women of death relief.

Katalina (06:35.394)
Mmm.

Katalina (06:45.518)
Absolutely, I love that so much. And that's what we want Career Path to be as well. We do wanna empower women here and most of my guests are women so far, but it is about everyone. Everybody should be included and we invite everyone to participate. Now, I myself just became a member of the You Women of Debrilife. I'm very excited about that. Thank you, Theresa, for having such a great platform. And I would love to hear from you.

What would you recommend as somebody who is a new member? What should I do first? What are some of the resources or opportunities you would recommend I start tapping into?

Teresa Dodson (07:21.673)
Well, I think there's a couple of different things. So when you become a member of Women in Debt Relief, we have a webinar series, right? And we have quarterly all-member updates. And these are exclusive to, a lot of these things are exclusive to members only. And so when you're part of those meetings, like the membership update, we just had one last week. And we had numerous, and everybody's on camera.

Katalina (07:29.632)
Yes.

Katalina (07:37.57)
Mm-hmm.

Teresa Dodson (07:48.325)
Everybody's on, you get to know all of these great women that are part of the organization. And so that's, and you get to be able to figure out what it is they do, networking opportunities, but right out of the gate, if you just joined today, go on the website and check out who is a member, because we at least have the corporate memberships, which are company memberships, and you can see what companies are a part of the organization. Attending the webinars, making sure that you're attending the events.

Katalina (07:52.6)
Mm-hmm.

Katalina (08:10.552)
Mm-hmm.

Teresa Dodson (08:19.021)
We are right now putting together a brand new website that we're planning on launching in February, where it's gonna have a basically a member portal. So you're gonna be able to see, yeah, we're really excited about it because we wanted to make sure that we had a member only portal to where you have access to all the women that are a part of Women of Debt Relief. You need to see, you could see their title, their skill set, their background, and contact information so you can all network together.

Katalina (08:28.383)
Oh, exciting!

Katalina (08:41.356)
Mmm.

Teresa Dodson (08:47.925)
Um, a lot of the women, yeah. And a lot of the women that we've been able to help, like there's certain women, you know, they have a change in position. Maybe they get a layoff or, you know, they've restructured the company, you know, we're able to help each other land somewhere else. Or for instance, we all share as a group, Hey, I'm looking for, you know, a customer service manager, something like that. You know, do you guys, do you guys know anybody good?

Katalina (08:48.198)
That is incredible.

Katalina (08:57.381)
Mm.

Katalina (09:09.762)
Yes.

Mm-hmm.

Teresa Dodson (09:12.837)
All these great women in the network have been able to help each other out and they help each other fill that position. And so it's just really understanding who's in the group, really being sure you're participating in all the opportunities that are being given as far as events and webinars and meetings and just taking advantage of that.

Katalina (09:22.68)
Mm-hmm.

Katalina (09:32.95)
I'm super excited for that. Thank you. I am very excited to see in February how that all works, how the new website looks. Your website now looks incredible. So I'm excited to see what the next level of that is gonna be. So I have a couple of questions for you. First off, as a leader, how would you say is the best way to go about empowering your team?

Teresa Dodson (09:57.253)
The best way that I like to go about empowering my team is really, you know, that's, I need to understand what their skill set is, right? I need to understand what drives them. Take the time, take a minute to really understand the person you're talking to or the people you're talking to. Everybody has got a, something that drives them that could be different than the other person next to them.

Katalina (10:07.488)
Mmm.

Katalina (10:14.827)
Mm-hmm.

Teresa Dodson (10:22.217)
So really understanding and just getting to know the people that you're working with, I think is extremely important. That's step one. Understanding what their goals are. I think the worst way to go about empowering people is as a leader, is putting your goals on them. If that's not their goal, they're never gonna buy into yours. So you need to understand what drives them, what are their goals for themselves? And if they don't have any and they get caught off guard,

Katalina (10:22.387)
Absolutely.

Katalina (10:27.042)
Mm-hmm.

Katalina (10:40.714)
Mm.

Katalina (10:45.204)
Yes.

Teresa Dodson (10:51.529)
help them with that. Just say you need a goal, even if it's like a quarterly goal or an annual goal, whatever it is. So really help start from that, from a personal level. Then does that fit with what I'm trying to accomplish and what we're trying to accomplish together? That's where I think you should start. And I think that's where you need to understand to make sure you're aligned. Because no matter how much you're trying to achieve, let's say B, whatever that is,

Katalina (10:53.162)
Mm-hmm.

Katalina (11:10.28)
Mm-hmm.

Katalina (11:21.404)
Mm-hmm.

Teresa Dodson (11:21.673)
If your team isn't aligned with you and you haven't taken the time to kind of work through that and make them part of that discovery process, part of that goal setting process, you're never going to get there. It's going to be too bumpy or it's just going to be a mess trying to

Katalina (11:36.494)
That's awesome. I love the way you discuss going into who people are as a person because I've only ever seen that turn out amazing for leaders by actually understanding their team. And I know that there's a saying that there are three primary types of motivation. And I think they are prestige process and wealth, whether that's monetary wealth or like a wealth of knowledge. So understanding what drives each person, you can get an entirely

different performance out of somebody, depending on what is in front of them. And so that's very interesting. And would you say it's the same between empowering a team and empowering peers, or is there a different way that you would approach that?

Teresa Dodson (12:22.225)
I think it's approaching it both the same way, is highly effective. You know, I mean, and you just used a term that I like to use a lot, you know, drivers. You know, I'm thinking, you know, what drives that person? What is your driver? I mean, some people monetary value is their driver. They don't care about everything in between, just give me the money. But what I found is very, very interesting in my career, that's 90% of the time, not the case. Most of the time,

Katalina (12:32.342)
your motivation.

Katalina (12:38.148)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Katalina (12:48.258)
Yeah.

Teresa Dodson (12:49.225)
People's drivers are, they wanna feel accepted. They wanna feel part of something and they want the appreciation. That's the driver. And I mean, that's a very human thing. I mean, we all want to feel like we've accomplished something that's worthwhile and that we're a part of a group that's very accepting of that. And so, yeah, monetary is absolutely a key one. I like that. But that's kind of like the thing that, yeah, that's a goal. We want that.

Katalina (12:57.139)
Absolutely.

Katalina (13:07.207)
Mm-hmm.

Katalina (13:14.498)
Ha ha ha.

Teresa Dodson (13:18.865)
But I want all of this stuff more and we'll get there. I mean, we'll get the monetary reward if we have all of this in between. So you just, you have to really, I think, put a lot more focus on that to get the monetary reward.

Katalina (13:25.327)
Mm-hmm.

Katalina (13:33.774)
Absolutely. And that is kind of funny to be like, oh, we're not worried about the monetary reward within the receivables industry. But it is it is true. And it's the human nature of us that we all want to be part of this community, which is why it's great that we have things like the women of debt relief to be a part of that community to help each other and have that support system. So it's incredible to have that. I also am curious to see

How would you define empowerment? Because there's different ways people can look at it. Do you have a way that you would define it?

Teresa Dodson (14:09.449)
I think the best way for me to define it. I think you have to define what, there's some basics, right? But you have to figure out how to define that best for yourself, right? And again, that's knowing thyself again, knowing what your drivers are. Maybe, you know, I can feel, somebody can perceive me feeling empowered because I was able to obtain that goal and get that money. Okay, but did that make me feel empowered? Maybe not, maybe not.

Katalina (14:16.482)
Mm-hmm.

Mmm.

Katalina (14:32.726)
Mm-hmm. Yes, okay.

Teresa Dodson (14:38.793)
So I think it's really tapping into what makes you feel empowered. And like for me personally, what makes me feel empowered is helping others. Helping others makes me feel empowered. The teaching, knowledge, those kinds of things, just like at the end of the day, that's what gets me going. That's what I love. That's what, like you could tell the feeling. It's a feeling that you get. Like when you've done that for somebody or you've hit, that's what empowers you. That's what fuels you.

Katalina (14:48.883)
Absolutely.

Katalina (14:59.492)
Mm-hmm.

Teresa Dodson (15:05.349)
which I think can be interchanged, same thing, what fuels you, what empowers you, that's where you need to figure out, that's the stuff that makes you happy. Because that's empowerment, what makes you happy? If at the end of the day, you've achieved everything you're supposed to on paper and you still feel meh about it, or you don't feel great, well, you're not very empowered, are you?

Katalina (15:21.934)
Mm-hmm.

Teresa Dodson (15:30.313)
So what really makes you feel empowered? And that's understanding what really drives you.

Katalina (15:30.634)
Absolutely.

Katalina (15:36.802)
So it sounds like from everything you said, the cornerstones of empowerment are knowing yourself, knowing your team, your community, the people around you, focusing on whatever those things are that make you or your team happy and focusing on that involvement and the community, making sure everybody is involved, making sure that everybody is participating, right? All of those together creates an empowered.

community, an empowered system. That's what I'm.

Teresa Dodson (16:07.517)
And if I agree with you, yes, and I think you hit the nail on the head. I think that absolutely is important. And what's another little tidbit that you'll get out of that process is you'll be able to identify the people in your team or the people around you that are not part of that solution, right? Not everybody's gonna be on the ride with you. It's okay, not everybody is gonna fit. And so what I think when you approach it from this, from the way that I like to approach it,

Katalina (16:11.032)
Okay, good.

Katalina (16:18.187)
Mm-hmm.

Katalina (16:27.135)
Oh.

Katalina (16:31.626)
Yeah.

Katalina (16:37.784)
Mm-hmm.

Teresa Dodson (16:37.809)
Um, you'll identify very quickly the people that don't fit and you got to be able to cut and run because you don't want people that are on your team or people that you're trying to, you know, you're all trying to succeed in a goal together are, and you're really focused on the company being successful, whatever those plans may be, but you'll be able to identify by identifying, you know, what are their drivers, what are their skillsets, what are their goals? You'll be able to find really quickly. Wow. These don't really fit what we're trying to do here.

and you've got to be strong enough to go, okay, great person, nothing personal, you don't fit for this. And I think that's very difficult sometimes for a lot of people to do. It's not that the person did anything wrong, they're just not a good fit and that's okay because you'll spend a lot of time, if you don't identify that very quickly, you're gonna waste a lot of time, I should say.

Katalina (17:08.023)
Mm-hmm.

Katalina (17:15.426)
Gotcha, yeah.

Teresa Dodson (17:31.985)
trying to achieve goals together as a team when you may have one or two people on that team that are kind of roadblocking everybody else.

Katalina (17:39.306)
Mm-hmm. That reminds me of the quote that says, nothing spoils a good team better than a bad apple. That whole like the bad apple spoils the bunch. If somebody's not motivated, not empowering others, not being a team player, having them in that community kind of pulls everybody down. So that is the antithesis, I think, of empowerment as having a bit of a Debbie Downer perhaps in that sort of a situation.

Teresa Dodson (18:06.397)
Absolutely. And again, I go back to women are really, really good at identifying this because we tend to be, again, we're very intuitive, but we go ahead, even though we're in business, we leave with our feelings as well. We leave with our gut instincts and we're not afraid to go, hey, who are you? Let's get to know each other. So, we feel very comfortable with those conversations. So I think we're really good at identifying that stuff. It's-

Katalina (18:12.908)
Mmm.

Katalina (18:16.231)
intuitive.

Katalina (18:23.478)
Very true. Yeah.

Katalina (18:28.616)
Mm-hmm.

Teresa Dodson (18:35.645)
pretty awesome.

Katalina (18:37.222)
Absolutely. Well, Teresa, that is all the time we have for today. I want to thank you so much for joining me today for sharing your experience, your insights, and for also sharing about the women of debt relief. I myself am really excited about being a new member and getting involved and seeing those opportunities. To anyone listening, if you are also interested, we will be dropping some of those links here so that you can check it out as well, learn a little bit more about it, and maybe you can join and be a member.

I would love to see you within that community when the new website is up in February. Also, if you have any questions, comments, or topics that you would like to see us discuss, please drop them in the comments. We will do our best to respond to all of them. Thank you everyone for joining us today, and I look forward to seeing you again soon in our next episode.

Teresa Dodson (19:26.86)
Thank you so much.

Katalina (19:29.322)
Thank you, Theresa. You have a great rest of your day. Thanks.

Teresa Dodson (19:32.051)
You too.