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In this episode, I Want Her Shoes host Anna speaks with Asha Elias, who is author, columnist, mother, and self-described “reluctant socialite.” 

The discussion centres on writing, motherhood, wellness, and life in Miami.

Asha’s Path to Writing

Asha grew up in Boca Raton and moved to Miami in 2001 to attend the University of Miami. The city’s diversity and “anything goes” energy encouraged her to pursue creative work. Years later, while serving as vice-president of fundraising for her child’s PTA, she began the draft that became Pink Glass Houses. Freelance columns for Cosmopolitan and the Miami New Times followed, giving her regular outlets for short-form commentary.

In Pink Glass Houses PTA fundraiser protagonist mirrors Asha’s own volunteer role. The book was thought as a broader portrait of Miami parent culture rather than a direct exposé. 

The Namaste Club satirises the yoga and wellness scene while addressing mid-life sexuality, divorce, and micro-dosing, delivering a mixture of laughter and serious questions to think about. Written with fewer reservations than her debut; editors supported the explicit materia.

Motherhood and Motivation

Asha states that becoming a mother was the catalyst for pursuing fiction: “Writing was always my passion. But I don’t think I truly pursued it until I had someone that I wanted to be a good role model for” she said. Modelling commitment to personal goals became part of parenting.

Miami was also a great inspiration. The city appears in her work almost as a character. The city’s climate and cultural mix shape both story events and wardrobe choices. Asha notes that local parents may arrive at school events in crop-tops and boots because “It’s hot … and we want to look cute”. She sees confidence, rather than shock value, in these choices.

Style Conversation

Although she gravitates toward neutral patterns and materials, Asha keeps statement pieces for impact: a patterned open coat with shearling collar and metallic Gucci heels purchased ten years ago. Shoes, she says, allow playful colour without changing an outfit’s overall tone.

The I Want Her Shoes podcast positions clothing as a deliberate decision, not an after-thought. In this episode Anna interviews Sarah Dunn, CFO at Benyan Ridge Capital Management, about finance careers, volunteer work, and personal style.

Connecticut roots and first roles

A high-school aptitude test pointed Dunn toward accounting. She majored in the subject, joined PwC in New York, and audited global retail clients such as Colgate-Palmolive and Weight Watchers.

“Financial statements tell the story of a business” she comments. 

In 2012 she relocated for warmer weather and family proximity, taking an SEC-reporting role at Ryder. “I feel like New York is a good place to be really young or really rich” she comments. 

Crisis leadership

While controller at a web-services firm she stepped in for a departing CFO during a federal operational lawsuit, liaising with the board and later becoming SVP.

“That was the first time I really had to step up, run the company, hold myself accountable to the board” she shares. Dunn also serves on the boards of Girls Inc Miami and SoBe Cats Spay-Neuter, coordinating fund-raisers and adoption events.

“That stuff makes me happier than anything that could happen at any job” she comments.

Volunteer networks also helped her build local connections after moving.

Style as Professional Signal

Relocation influenced wardrobe choices: New York monochrome shifted to Miami colour, while heels remained a constant. Increasing seniority allowed more personal expression.

“As I’ve progressed, it’s gone from what I think I need to wear to more what I want to wear” she says.

Demystifying the CFO Seat

Dunn emphasises that chief-finance work extends well past spreadsheets:

• HR oversight
• Operations and treasury management
• Strategic planning
• Legal coordination

“A CFO wears a lot of hats… It’s an HR role, an operations role, a treasury role, a strategy role” she says. She also notes the shortage of women in senior finance despite female-majority accounting programmes.

Key Takeaways

The conversation shows that financial insight is narrative work – numbers track decisions over time. Another insight is that community service broadens professional perspective and local networks.

For this episode, Anna Anisin invited Katherine Double – CEO and founder of Engage, a marketing and public-affairs firm that serves highly regulated sectors like law, finance, government, non-profits and higher education. 

Double leads strategy that combines policy understanding, data and storytelling.

Miami roots and beginnings

Born in Miami Beach, Double is a second-generation resident. She has “watched the city grow and transform” and credits its dynamism for shaping her outlook and network.

Double started Engage just before the birth of her third child. At the time, Facebook marketing was still free to use, and organisations needed “comprehensive marketing” that connected channels to measurable outcomes.

Visibility through style

Work often places her in rooms dominated by men in dark suits. She chooses colour and distinctive pieces to remain visible: “When I show up as myself everybody in the room pays more attention.”. Her approach is to be remembered rather than to blend in.

A period inside another agency helped her test work-life balance. She realised she preferred running her own company. She returned to Engage full-time and committed to long-term learning around business operations.

Metrics and milestones

Goal orientation can obscure completed achievements. Coaches remind her, “You said you were going to do this and you did.” She now pauses to mark milestones, even a short break or personal reward, to acknowledge progress.

Katherine Double expects artificial intelligence to streamline production work, yet “there will be a higher value placed on really thoughtful relationship-based marketing.” Activities such as community meetings, journalist outreach and public affairs rely on individual trust that automated text cannot replicate.

Fashion as a tool of confidence

A structured blazer is her preferred confidence item. She pairs jackets with sneakers when client schedules or injury make heels impractical.

Double inherited vintage Chanel pumps from a former supervisor who could no longer wear heels. The supervisor said, “You’re kind of taking my shoes and go walk in my shoes next.” Soon after, Double assumed her role, making the gift symbolic of professional transition.

Conclusion

Double’s experience shows that intentional appearance, data discipline and relationship capital can coexist in regulated industries. Her practice illustrates that visible personal style does not conflict with measured business outcomes.

For this interview, Anna Anisin invited consultant Virginia Leard Rojo, who explains why traditional models of agency and client cooperation struggle, how brands can rebuild their marketing ecosystems, and what today’s leaders should demand from partners. 

Family-based beginnings

Virginia grew up in Miami and learned marketing while working for her mother’s baby-proofing company, which served celebrity clients such as Madonna. By high school she ran the firm’s loyalty programme and email outreach. After graduation she joined New York agencies, moved in-house on the brand side, and eventually opened her own consultancy.

But this traditional model is apparently collapsing.

Why Legacy Agency Structures Fail Today

“Client budgets have just been slashed dramatically so every dollar needs to work so much harder” says Virginia.

Longstanding fee models depend on large teams and extended timelines, but many brands now require faster results with lean resourcing. At the same time, some companies have outsourced so much strategic work that they no longer hold critical brand knowledge internally.

Building a Modern Ecosystem

Virginia’s first step is an audit: do internal teams fully understand the brand, objectives and audience? If not, that gap must be fixed before adding partners. Industry titles now merge marketing, growth and commercial accountability. Leaders face “much higher emphasis on financial pressure and commercial pressure” as she says. 

Personal Style as Strategic Signal

Early in her corporate career Virginia chose neutral outfits to “blend in,” but feedback about her height in heels reduced confidence. As an entrepreneur she now uses colour red, echoing her surname Rojo—to project authority.

“If I’m dressing to make myself smaller, then clients view me as smaller and less confident” she says.

Conclusion

Today’s marketing leaders operate under cost pressure, rapid technological change and shifting organisational charts. Virginia’s story illustrates that professional presence, whether in agency selection or wardrobe choices, signals confidence that clients and teams recognise.

In this episode, Anna Anisin decided to invite Chef Nicole Votano, a guest known from the first episode. “Episode 1 is still the number-one downloaded episode—about 500 downloads so far!”

Nicole’s second visit was also an opportunity to talk again about fashion, style, and the role they play in a successful woman’s life.

Louis Vuitton Cafe

Anna and her guest started with their trip to the freshly opened Louis Vuitton Café atop the brand’s Fifth Avenue flagship in New York.

“We literally had the whole place to ourselves,” they recall, elaborating on how sophisticated the level of service was there, as well as how it delivers the brand’s promise of luxury.

Between sips of their coffee, they wander the multi-floor emporium, with each level representing a decade in the brand’s history. These include:

• 1900s steamer trunks re-imagined as coffee tables
• A pool table upholstered in monogram canvas
• Oversized acetate sunglasses that instantly join Anna’s wish list

Swim Week: Miami’s Summer Opener

Back in Miami, the calendar flips to Swim Week, the city’s unofficial “season starter.”

“Swim Week kind of kicks off the season of summer here in Miami,” they said in the podcast. Anna, together with Nicole, shared their remarks on trends in beach fashion visible this year in Miami.

• High-shine futurism: liquid metallic one-pieces, holographic sarongs, chrome visor shades
• Wild nostalgia: ’90s animal prints and macro-fringe that swishes like seagrass
• Mesh 2.0: laser-cut fabrics engineered for tan-through wear, blurring beachwear and skincare science

Miami’s fashion week is also an economic barometer: hotel bookings spike, beach clubs launch new menus, and emerging Latin-American designers secure global press.

Power Dressing & Body Politics

The podcast also featured a talk about how fashion becomes modern armor.

“We’re dressing business-like to lean into our power: I’m going to wear the same thing as you—and look better doing it.”

After a decade of #MeToo reckonings, women are reclaiming traditional “authority silhouettes”—broad shoulders, pressed trousers—without sacrificing sensuality.

The vibe is not just corporate; it’s boardroom-to-bar, leveraging color (bubble-gum-pink pantsuits), statement ties, and sculpted shoulders to broadcast confidence.

Fast Fashion Meets Tariffs

Anna and Nicole also talked about how tariffs are impacting the fashion market and industry.

“Prices are up about 20–25 % even at Zara. It has to be the tariffs,” they say.

Post-2024 trade policies have nudged fast-fashion giants to relocate production to Spain, Portugal, and South America. Shipping fuel surcharges and European labor costs explain the sticker shock.

Anna notes thicker linings, recycled-cotton tags, and sturdier hardware, and points out that higher margins can finance sustainability upgrades.

Nicole shared her rule of thumb: one needs to invest in timeless tailoring at luxury houses, but grab zeitgeist pieces at high-street brands that won’t outlive the trend cycle.

Conclusion

Nicole proved to be not only an expert in fashion and luxury dining, but also an alluring storyteller.

Rhonda Singer remembers the moment she walked onto a Goldman Sachs trading floor wearing a pair of rainbow Valentino heels. The shoes broke an unspoken dress code of navy suits and dark skirts. But this is only one fact of many from her story.

Colleagues stared, deals continued, and a lesson formed: style can sit beside skill without apology.

The beginnings 

Singer grew up in Newton, Massachusetts, graduated from Penn, and planned on law school. A dare led her to apply for an internship at Goldman. She deferred law school, found energy in capital markets, and stayed. Posts at Alliance Bernstein and J.P. Morgan Private Bank followed. 

Over three decades she helped families move wealth through mergers, divorces, births, and deaths. She also trademarked “Financially Blonde,” signaling that personal image and market insight can share one stage.

Facing Life Shifts

When clients face change, Singer maps four lists: assets, income, spending, goals. She asks what to keep, what to adjust, what to drop, and what new line to add. The exercise forces clarity before lawyers, brokers, or courts enter the scene. “Change can be a great time for reflection and re-underwriting your choices” she says. She reminds clients that one choice, like selling a house, buying a policy, or pausing work can reset a decade of hard and unforgiving work.

Clothes as Strategy

Singer treats dress as a signal to clients and peers. Black ruled her New York years; white jeans and cowboy boots fit her Miami base now. On Zoom she focuses on jackets and jewelry visible in frame. The right outfit, she says, “changes posture and voice.” No spreadsheet does that.

She also says, that the fashion can also be seen as an investment. A Birkin bag can show 14 percent annual rise, yet Singer still advises caution. Buy pieces you will use; view jewelry as portable bullion. Understand resale markets before chasing a wait-list. Most wardrobes serve mood, not yield. “Other than the Birkin, I wouldn’t buy pieces for investment; I’d rather see people buy jewelry” she comments. 

Work, Home, and the Code in Between

Singer once flew to London seventeen times in one year. During the pandemic she stayed home with adult children and saw a model for balance: remote calls, fewer flights, more daylight tasks. She is “bullish” on women in finance because leave policies, hybrid teams, and data tools now support longer careers. AI handles research and portfolio screens; human advisers keep the trust.

The rainbow heels came from a Milan trip after client meetings with Italian retailers. They rest in her closet next to a small matching bag, worn rarely but seen daily. Objects can store memory better than cloud files.