The Wealth Within Her Podcast
Redefining Freedom: When Independence Stops Being the Goal with Paola Masperi
In this episode of The Wealth Within Her podcast , host Riikka Olli speaks with Paola, a serial entrepreneur and creative who has built businesses across charity, fashion, sustainability and technology, and is now exploring a new chapter around linguistics, bilingual parenting and slow motherhood. What happens when a woman who has always valued financial independence becomes financially dependent on her partner? Paola speaks openly about stepping back from work after becoming a mother and finding herself in a position of temporary financial dependence. For someone who had built businesses, created her own income and associated independence with financial self sufficiency, this challenged some deeply held assumptions about money, value, freedom and what it means to be independent. Rather than seeing financial dependence simply as something negative, Paola began to question whether financial independence is always the same as freedom. She reflects on how having someone else financially support her created space to choose how she wanted to spend her time, what she wanted to prioritise and what she wanted her next chapter to look like. Paola also shares the story of her own reinvention, from leaving a corporate career in London and using a substantial payout to establish a charity in Malawi, to building Mayamiko, a fashion brand whose profits supported that charity, and later moving into sustainability and technology. She talks about how her relationship with money and success has evolved, including the tension between financial success, growth and staying true to her values. We also explore the pressure to appear consistent in our careers and why changing direction does not necessarily mean failure. Paola shares what she has learned about slowing down, letting go of the need to chase growth for growth’s sake, recognising time as one of our most valuable resources, and creating the space to discover what might come next. If you enjoy listening to this podcast, please like, share and follow for future episodes of The Wealth Within Her podcast. It ensures you don't miss future episodes and helps us to reach a wider audience. And if the conversation resonated, you can go deeper through our workshops and programmes available at https://www.thewealthwithinher.com/ Applications are open for The NEXT 10, our three month private group coaching programme for women ready to design their next decade across money, wealth, career and wellbeing. Find out more: https://www.thewealthwithinher.com/next-10 Want to know more about Paola? Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mayamikodesigned Mayamiko: https://www.mayamiko.org/ Madeby: https://www.instagram.com/madeby.earth Sing it Like Noon: https://sowingtales.substack.com/p/sing-it-like-nonno LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paolamasperi/ To follow Catrine, Riikka and The Wealth Within Her: Website: https://www.thewealthwithinher.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thewealthwithinher/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-wealth-within-her/
