1976: Why Women's Sports Might Makes Us All Richer with Tess Waresmith

Summary

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So Money with Farnoosh Torabi

Episode 1976: Why Women’s Sports Might Make Us All Richer

Guest: Tess Waresmith
Date: April 29, 2026

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Episode Overview

This episode features investing educator and former athlete Tess Waresmith in a lively conversation with Farnoosh Torabi about the burgeoning economics of women’s sports and how this sector could fuel greater financial empowerment and wealth for women across industries. They unpack the ripple effects of increased investment in women’s sports, the challenges of accessing youth athletics, and why the current moment is a historic opportunity to support women, not just as athletes but as leaders and wealth builders.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Women’s Sports: A Rare Area of Positive Momentum

• Tess sets the stage: Despite many areas where women’s progress feels stalled or reversed, women’s sports is “one area where there’s a lot of good news, incredible momentum.”
• The current surge in visibility, funding, and professional opportunities in women’s sports isn’t just about athletes—it's a conduit for elevated female leadership, sponsorships, and broader economic empowerment.

2. The Eileen Gu Controversy & Money Decisions in Sports (06:39–10:18)

• Background: Eileen Gu, a freestyle skier with U.S. and Chinese heritage, chose to compete for China in the Olympics, unlocking millions in earnings but attracting backlash.
• Tess’s take:
  • “She made this choice that was incredibly smart financially. No one should be punished for that.” (09:21 — Tess Waresmith)
  • The criticism often had less to do with Olympic rules and more to do with discomfort over a young woman benefiting greatly and publicly from her choices.
  • "China pays their athletes way better than the United States […] Olympic athletes competing for the US are making less than $15,000 a year, when you medal as an American you make less than 30 grand a year and then it's taxed." (08:05 — Tess Waresmith)
  • The broader point: Many athletes train in one country and compete for another—Gu’s decision is both typical and, notably, strategic, reflecting the underfunding of women in U.S. sports.

3. The Costs & Accessibility Crisis in Youth Sports (10:18–14:57)

• Farnoosh’s perspective as a parent: The rising costs and logistical challenges of youth sports can be overwhelming, even for families not in elite or "travel" leagues.
• Tess on the stakes:
  • "The link between sports as a child and success professionally are undeniable. Stats like 94% of women in C-suite roles played sports in high school or college." (12:22 — Tess Waresmith)
  • "The costs are up 46% since 2019 to 2025—faster than inflation." (13:18 — Tess Waresmith)
  • On average, families spend $1,500 per year, per child, per primary sport—a number that likely underestimates true expenses.
  • This pricing-out effect risks deepening inequalities in who gets to “build leadership skills that translate to later financial and professional success.”

4. The Professional Women’s Sports Boom (14:57–21:18)

• A transformative moment:
  • Professional women’s sports are growing at an “absolutely insane” rate.
  • Recent CBA negotiations (e.g., WNBA) have drastically increased player salaries and media coverage.
    • "The salary cap for the average WNBA team before this year […] was $1.5 million. It is now $7 million in one year." (17:43 — Tess Waresmith)
  • Social media has “democratized attention,” giving female athletes direct access to audiences and brand partnerships.
  • Visibility increases investment—negating the flawed logic that women’s sports don’t “deserve” funding due to lower viewership rates.
  • “It would be like opening a restaurant, not telling anyone it existed, and then being like ‘oh, no one showed up.’” (20:07 — Tess Waresmith)
  • US Women’s Soccer signed a $240M media deal, 40x their previous contract.

5. How Parents Can Support Daughters Without Breaking the Bank (24:27–28:16)

• Exposure and role models matter:
  • Seek out and attend professional women’s sporting events.
  • “Getting your kids exposure to these leagues is incredibly powerful […] There are millions of young girls following athletes like Alona Mar, having a more positive body image because they see this mirror we never had before.” (25:09–25:52 — Tess Waresmith)
• Creative approaches:
  • Nonprofit sports programs and scholarships can help offset costs.
  • Coaching (if possible) as a way for parents to connect and lower barriers to access.
  • Not every kid needs elite sports, but all benefit from new role models and industry awareness.
  • “There are so many ways in […] the more that we can tune in and invest, even if it’s just buying merch, that’s going to help.” (27:03 — Tess Waresmith)

6. The Ripple Effect: Closing the Gender Pay Gap & Broad Social Wealth (28:16–31:58)

• Women’s sports as economic engine:
  • Sports' new wealth “is not just about athletes getting paid more, it’s about women in leadership, executive ranks, media, sponsorships, women connecting with other brands and businesses.”
  • This creates “a way that we can start to close the gender pay gap in a meaningful way.” (29:05 — Tess Waresmith)
  • Investments and visibility in women’s sports have potential to “make all women richer in a moment where there’s a lot of negative news.”

7. Tess’s Own Unconventional Journey (31:58–36:49)

• Springboard diving to showbiz:
  • Tess attended college on a diving scholarship, then joined a cruise ship aquatic show, saving money and learning about investing.
  • “I was able to save a lot of money while working on the cruise ship because I didn’t have any living expenses, and that’s how I started to invest in real estate and the stock market.” (32:38 — Tess Waresmith)
• This serendipitous intersection of athletics and financial education underpins her drive to teach women about wealth building.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the Eileen Gu debate:

  • “If you’re in this woman’s shoes and you have the opportunity to compete for a country that you deeply care about… she made this choice that was incredibly smart financially. No one should be punished for that.” (09:21 — Tess Waresmith)
  • “If you polled people, they would never compete for the US if someone was like, you’re going to make tens of millions of more dollars if you compete for this other country.” (09:57 — Tess Waresmith)

• On investment and media attention:

  • “It would be like opening a restaurant, not telling anyone it existed, and then being like, ‘oh, no one showed up.’” (20:07 — Tess Waresmith)

• On the transformative potential:

  • “Investing in women’s sports, whether it's by actual money or just time and visibility […] has the potential to make all women richer in a moment where there’s a lot of negative news.” (30:00 — Tess Waresmith)

• Farnoosh’s take:

  • “There’s sports, being involved in sports as an athlete, as a player, as a kid, and then there’s also just like appreciating and understanding how the game works—not the game on the field, but the game ten thousand feet above. That industry—I find fascinating.” (27:42 — Farnoosh Torabi)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 03:00 – Positive momentum in women’s sports
• 06:39–10:18 – Eileen Gu’s decision, broader implications for athlete earnings
• 10:18–14:57 – The soaring costs and inaccessibility of youth sports
• 14:57–21:18 – The boom in professional women’s sports, media deals, investment
• 24:27–28:16 – How parents can nurture sports dreams and financial stability
• 28:16–31:58 – Women’s sports as a vector for broader gender equity
• 31:58–36:49 – Tess’s personal journey from athlete to financial educator

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Episode Tone

The discussion is energetic, forward-looking, and pragmatic—recognizing the obstacles faced by women and girls in sports, but focusing on how present momentum can create new pathways to wealth and leadership not just for athletes, but for all women. The storytelling is empathetic and informed, with Farnoosh and Tess swapping personal anecdotes, sharp analysis, and actionable insights.

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Major Takeaway

“Where the attention goes, the money follows—and right now, the attention is finally turning towards women’s sports.”
— Farnoosh Torabi (37:25)

Supporting women’s sports—by watching, attending, or investing even modest attention—can help drive change that benefits all women, financially and beyond.

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Transcript

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[Farnoosh Torabi]

so money episode nineteen seventy six why women's sports might make us all

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richer you're listening to so money with award winning money guru farnoosh karabi each day get a thirty minute dose of financial inspiration from the world's top business

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minds authors influencers and from farnoosh yourself

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looking for ways to save on gas or double your double coupons sorry you're in the wrong place seeking profound ways to live a richer happier life welcome to so money

[Tess Warsmith]

there's a lot of feeling that women are moving backwards and there's a lot of things you could say about that are very true and this is one area where there's a lot of good news incredible momentum and so as a feminist and somebody wants to make sure that i continue to have my rights i want to see any way women can make more money and if you really think about it if this continues to move in the meteoric direction that it is professional women's sports it's not just about athletes getting paid more it's about women in leadership it's about executive ranks of sports it's media it's sponsorships it's women connecting with c suite women women in sports connecting with women in other brands and businesses like this is really something that could more broadly impact it welcome to so

[Farnoosh Torabi]

money everybody i'm farnoosh tarabi you know we don't talk about sports a lot on this show if ever but today we are because this is really a story about money right now women's sports

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are having a moment investment is pouring

[Farnoosh Torabi]

in media deals are growing and athletes are finally starting to see bigger paychecks but this isn't just about what's happening at the professional level this story is also about what it takes to even

[Podcast Host (Ad Presenter)]

get in the game you youth sports

[Farnoosh Torabi]

are getting more expensive access is shrinking and yet the research shows that girls

[Podcast Host (Ad Presenter)]

especially who play sports are more likely to become leaders earn more and build

[Farnoosh Torabi]

wealth over time so the big question for us today is what does this moment mean for women and our financial future today we're digging into the economics of women's sports the controversy around athletes like eileen gu making bold financial moves

[Podcast Host (Ad Presenter)]

and why this could be one of the most important and overlooked wealth stories right now now my guest is tess warsmith she's an investing educator and former athlete herself who's been connecting the dots

[Farnoosh Torabi]

between sports opportunity and financial power let's

[Podcast Host (Ad Presenter)]

get into it

[Farnoosh Torabi]

tess we smith welcome back to sew money thank you so

[Tess Warsmith]

much for having me back i love being on this podcast we always have such awesome conversations we do and today

[Farnoosh Torabi]

we're going to pivot a little bit normally we talk about investing when you're on you're an investing expert you've helped so many women build wealth and learn how to build wealth and this is kind of an adjacent topic we're talking about sports and women and how there's some happy news in this arena you have an athletic background you grew up in sports and as you've been sort of looking at how to continue this conversation around women and wealth you've been looking at this world of sports and you kind of like started around the olympics to kind of identify some ways to have these conversations about wealth looking at athletes eileen gu for example right she's a just a phenom but also somebody who represents what it means to you know stand in your power in your financial power as a female athlete there's other things going on too in the world of sports and i you're going to tell us about it that's really exciting i think for girls as well as well as women athletes but let's start with eileen gu because you actually did a post about her and the decisions that she was making as an athlete and kind of controversial for some but i think your pov was the right pov in my my opinion thanks and and it went viral but tell us a little bit about you know her move right she decided to play for china made millions doing it but it was controversial why yeah so

[Tess Warsmith]

eileen gu is a freestyle skier she has competed in the past for the united states but she has direct chinese heritage and so in this olympics she was competing for china and a lot of people criticized that decision some people criticized the viability like whether it was fair against olympic rules but regardless that's not really why people were upset right people were upset because they felt like she was american betraying the us and competing for china when really she has this deep rich connection and heritage to her chinese chinese heritage and i also think that she was making a lot of money she was incredibly successful she was standing in her power she was doing interviews and saying exactly what she thought about politics and the world now i don't think we should be asking athletes in the first place to answer for politics right they are athletes they are incredible people they don't need to be politicians too but of course we're in this moment where politics is infused in everything but a lot of people were really angry at her and her comments and i think a lot of it has to do that she's successful that she made a choice that she is making a lot of money and the point that i made is that regardless of how you feel about which country she chooses to compete for really important to note that china pays their athletes way better than the united states and the amount of brand deals and sponsorships she has gotten far surpassed what she likely would have gotten in the united states there are olympic athletes competing for the us that are making less than fifteen grand a year when you medal as an american you make less than thirty grand a year and then it's taxed so there's this big money conversation around her decision but also at the end of the day really important to understand that athletes train in different countries all the time so when that post went viral the amount of comments that were like she uses american resources she trains in the us she should compete for the us she has dual citizenship and lots of athletes train in other countries and then end up competing for the country that they want to represent so i just thought it was interesting and when i really thought about it i felt like it was controversial because she was a strong woman that was really successful financially and otherwise twenty

[Farnoosh Torabi]

three million dollars reportedly in in one year yeah and i think if she was a male athlete would we be so concerned so concerned with how much she raked in as though we were as though there was some responsibility that she had to the united states as far as how much she she should

[Tess Warsmith]

have in her bank account yeah absolutely ridiculous everyone was so mad that she's not competing for the us and calling her a traitor if you think so little of her are you glad that she's not representing the us like you can't have it both ways it was like super frustrating to me i had to eventually like turn off the comments and stop looking because the point i was trying to make is like if you're in this woman's shoes and you have the opportunity to compete for a country that you deeply care about i don't care what their politics are of course china is very controversial in many ways but at the end of the day this is her heritage this is a part of who she is and she made this choice that was incredibly smart financially no one should be punished for that and if you polled polled people they would never compete for the us if someone was like you're going to make tens of millions of more dollars if you compete for this other country that also be okay for her to say yes if that was the only reason all right so let's let's

[Farnoosh Torabi]

break this down a little bit the economics of women's sports so i have two kids who play soccer and we are hardly in it like i hear so many other families are you know with travel sports and you know i'm i'm on a lot of these like facebook groups where you know at the high school level parents say you know my my son just started high school football but unbeknownst to us like we need to get him tr training outside of practice so that he can learn football and actually play these games because the coaches aren't actually teaching them how to play football like what so there are all these layers of expenses that parents now have to be accountable for not to mention you know all of the expenses for travel the uniforms et cetera and that's like just so that they can play this isn't because they're exceptional because they're on their way to getting scholarships for college and playing pro so let's start at like kind of that level you know that is it worth it for parents to be paying all this money and then like there's the other issue which is that i've seen this too where because of the schedule of sports too you're missing out on a lot of other things travel family time dinners around the dinner table with your family spring break you know you can't go on vacation you're going to lacrosse camp or whatever it is and and those are all decisions they're happy with making but we're not making those decisions as a family we've decided and maybe it's cause my kids don't push hard enough and i'm not i'm not an athletic parent but like i just don't understand how we got to this point as a as a nation

[Tess Warsmith]

yeah and what's tricky now is it does matter especially for women and for girls the stats and the link between sports as a child and success professionally are undeniable there's stats like ninety four percent of women in c suite roles played sports in high school or college obviously a lot of incredibly important career skills you learn during sports teamwork resilience leadership under pressure all of these skills that are incredibly important for being successful in the workplace and so the link between not necessarily even competitive sports although there is a strong link between competitive sports and success at the highest levels of business but even just having access to these sports is becoming incredibly expensive the research is saying if you want your daughter most of my research focuses on women so basically the research is like if you want your daughter to be successful you need to get them on a team but then at the same time the costs are up forty six percent since twenty nineteen to twenty twenty five the cost to put your kid in sports is up forty six percent faster than inflation and so the challenge now is how do we reconcile the fact that you need access and on average families are spending one thousand five hundred dollars a year per kid per sport per primary sport that's not even including all the other sports and honestly that number seems very low to me when you consider like all like maybe that's the coaching i was trying to find a study on that that really included all the variables because you have to consider like the coaching the time the uniforms the travel the gas like it is very expensive and access is a problem so if kids if all kids don't have equal access to sports it is going to affect them later in life and not just for like you said those scholarship athletes this is an incredibly important opportunity to build those leadership skills so that's one of the things i'm most most concerned about is how much money families are spending and who can afford to spend that money because it is going to impact you later on in life and this is documented in so many ways so

[Farnoosh Torabi]

what i'm hearing is sports are important for a host of reasons you know leadership you know i mean look not everybody wants to to be aspire to a c suite office or a corporate job for that matter but leadership is important i mean having a brush with leadership and teamwork and frankly just getting off the couch and getting off a screen exercise exercise moving your body physical activity i get that you don't have to be in a team sports setting though to get that right you can just go out and you know shoot some hoops in your backyard and save the fifteen hundred dollars but i get that so that's important you know getting out let's say a team sport a recreational something but it's getting more and more expensive so access to that is is harder and harder so but then

[Tess Warsmith]

what what do we do yeah so then i think one of the most important things that i do want to cover is what's happening in women's sports professionally and hopefully how that can link back to what we can do for kids so right now there's an access problem for sure it's getting more expensive but we in this incredible moment and this is where i get to share like good news in the middle of just like the worst news cycle that's constantly ongoing in the us is that women's sports right now is having an incredible amount of growth professionally and i think that there's an opportunity for that to really create more visibility and highlight the importance of making sure there are programs that are accessible that are funded for all kids not just women but i think it's really really important to recognize that and also of course women do end up donating more than men there's more of a focus on community and social connection and what we're seeing right now is this really cool transformation where tv time is changing dramatically in terms of like who we are seeing on tv and so i wrote a piece on substack last week about this and what i was thinking through is like when i was a kid i was a serious athlete i was a springboard diver and i had female springboard divers that i looked up to but i only watched men on tv i grew up in boston i watched the patriots the bruins the red sox i never saw women athletes on tv except for every four years in the olympic cycle and now this is changing in a dramatic way really starting with like the wmba that has just had just astronomical growth and they just actually signed a massive collective bargaining agreement which is increasing not just the salaries of the players the league is expanding there's way more media deals and so now the share the percentage of athletes that we're seeing on tv is going to be much higher we're going to start to see more of women's sports and so you might be like okay well but how does that like give kids access right like that's a big leap but when you really think about it first of all it's not just the wnba the amount of investment in women's soccer has increased dramatically i could like litter off stats around that for days there's new professional leagues for women in volleyball and three on three there's all kinds of stuff happening in this world and that's going to create new organizations and new positions and it's going to create new c suites new marketing sales all of these organizations that are focused on getting women visible and in power and i do think that that matters because when you're you're like when i was thirteen i was watching tom brady i didn't have a mirror of women in their power negotiating deals and being really visible and if that changes which it already is in like the most meteoric growth possible is happening right now in some of these professional leagues for women we're going to start to see that and then there's going to be more investment in that and all the time you see these athletes funding these programs for kids and so i think that that is really this opportunity and like i can't even begin to explain the growth like some of the growth as far as like like the salary cap for example for the average wnba team before this year before twenty twenty six was one point five million that's like how much the team can spend on salaries it is now seven million in one year and that's supposed to increase dramatically over the next several years of this agreement that's just year one wow

[Farnoosh Torabi]

i remember years ago before the pandemic i remember covering the women's soccer league and they were negotiating their pay arguing that like look we have as many if not more people attending our games we won you know our i think it was their world cup do you remember that and yeah they were they yeah and i think they got pretty far in their negotiations but it made so much news and it was kind of like the first time you saw this collective bargaining and here fast forward and to hear this is like we've made a lot of progress it feels like it's been slow but now it's like in rapid succession yeah it's been

[Tess Warsmith]

really slow and that's because the logic was like exactly what you said like oh oh well you know people said oh well less people are interested in women's sports the attendance is lower it doesn't drive the same revenues so women shouldn't make as much money which is an absolutely ridiculous argument because media coverage in sports always matters because investment dollars will follow that so when women's sports for like three decades had barely any visibility and then all of a sudden social media started to democratize attention this is one of the good things about social media is now we're getting access to the players directly and they're sharing more about what they' they're gaining more followers and more viewership and that is turning into brand deals and money in their pockets and interest in the sport now all of a sudden there's investment and the sports have grown dramatically super fast the best metaphor i can think about is up until now a lot of professional women's sports have not been shown on tv and that is only because of a choice right it would be like like be like opening a restaurant not telling anyone it existed and then being like oh no one showed up like this was a failed restaurant right like that's absurd and that's what's been happening so everyone that says oh well like women's sports don't make as much money it's like well you have to invest in them so they've been underfunded this entire time and now as soon as the funding has started the growth is absolutely insane like the statistics in terms of like increase in salary and brand deals i think the women's soccer team just signed a four year media rights deal worth like two hundred forty million which is forty times more than their previous contract forty times more these are like huge numbers talk about an investment like i hope that there is some fund that we can invest in as women to support this growth because this is really where we should be putting our money it's just been underfunded this entire time wow this episode

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[Farnoosh Torabi]

so so i want to go back to parents listening to support their kids especially their daughters in sports recognizing that you know it may take time for this trickle down effect that you're talking about currently how to support their kids without overspending or burning out financially and also just energetically because it's a lot any advice i mean i

[Tess Warsmith]

think one thing is that if you are a parent that has been somebody that watches male sports i really suggest that you look into are there any wnba teams professional women's soccer leagues getting your kids exposure to these leagues is incredibly powerful i told a story the other day when i was speaking in that i never pursued being my dream job was to be an espn reporter that's what i wanted and i never pursued that dream and i don't really know and i didn't really know why until now and when i really thought about it i was like why wouldn't i do that i was an athlete i was very confident being an athlete allowed me to pursue business and investing in a more confident way i think when i really look back on my life and my financial independence and the career and financial choices i've made i think i have more confidence because of sports but one thing i didn't see was a mirror there were very few women reporters and there were zero professional women i was watching in sports and i think that's so powerful so so one thing i would say is if we can show and give our kids exposure to the fact that there is more happening than just men's sports is gonna help them dream bigger and see the mirror like alona mar is another amazing athlete she's a rugby player if you don't follow her online highly suggest you do she's incredible and i think she's valuable because she's an athletic strong some would say bigger woman which i think is a ridiculous thing to say she's just a strong woman but there are are millions and millions of young girls following her having a more positive body image because they see this mirror now that we've never had before so i think that that's one way i think as far as supporting your kids financially and finding activities that are going to work for them there are a lot of really great non profit programs that create access to sports there are scholarships as well depending on where you are a lot of schools do have programs if you are privileged enough to have the time so many parents are like coach themselves and that can be such a great opportunity to connect with the community and bring your kids into sports but at the end of the day like maybe your kid isn't a sports person that's okay too like not every kid has to compete or be in sports seriously to be successful as an adult but i do think the exposure and seeing what is happening right now is incredibly powerful because maybe they don't want to do that but maybe they want to manage or like learn about what are the other careers in sports right like there's just very few areas where we get to see that mirror and that's changing right now and so the more that we can tune in and the more that we can invest even if it's just like buying merch that's going to help this become a more equal equal opportunity for for men and women yeah i mean double

[Farnoosh Torabi]

click on that too because i think like there's sports being involved in sports as an athlete as a player as a kid and then there's also just like appreciating the you know and understanding how the game works not the game on the field but the game that ten thousand feet above right like the industry i find it fascinating like how the nfl works i still don't know yeah there's so many ang there's so many ways in i guess is my point yeah it's kind of like your point is like get in get involved get in get engaged yeah like there's

[Tess Warsmith]

there's obviously like in the the greater zeitgeist of what's happening like there's a lot of feeling that women are moving backwards and there's a lot of things you could say about that that are very true and you know there's a lot of movements towards trad wife people talking about trad wives we're losing rights as women like there's so many crappy things happening in terms of like equity in the world right now and this is one area where there's a lot of good news incredible momentum and so as a feminist and somebody wants to make sure that i continue to have my rights i want to see any way women can make more money and if you really think about it if if this continues to move in the meteoric direction that it is professional women's sports it's not just about athletes getting paid more it's about women in leadership it's about executive ranks of sports it's media it's sponsorships it's women connecting with like like c suite women women in sports connecting with women in other brands and businesses like this is really something that could more broadly impact it and then when you have women in leadership studies show that that doesn't stay contained in terms of pay like dare i say is this a way that we can start to close the gender pay gap in a meaningful way and i i don't mean to like over get over excited about this but i think when you really look at the numbers and i'm not gonna if you wanna learn all the numbers i'll share my substack link and you can read all the articles i've written about this but there's just so much good happening in this world now that i think it's something we should all pay attention to because i really believe that investing in women's sports whether it's by actual money or just like time and visibility or attention has the potential to make all women richer in a moment where there's a lot of negative news and a lot of women feel like we're moving

[Farnoosh Torabi]

backwards i'm glad we're having this conversation you know i never talk about really sports on so money and i'm so happy i'm doing it with a woman

[Tess Warsmith]

yeah thank you i'm so happy to be talking about it too we were before we hopped on talking about our social media feeds and it's very easy to see the same negative news and i don't mean to of course minimize some of the really important things that we all need to be paying attention to and advocating for especially as women but i do think this is a moment that not enough people are paying attention to and when you look at the potential increase in money and visibility and access it's just really exciting to see this and it's not just isolated to the wnba and i'm really excited and i hope to see more opportunities for non athletes to get involved too and to invest in teams that are owned by women and i just think it's so important that we highlight some of the good things happening and some of the amazing women that are making this happen and like i said before like i grew up just watching all men and that didn't even seem weird to me until until recently when i started diving into this world like that's a problem right like even if subconsciously or even if i really believed and i think i've always been very lucky to grow up in a more liberal part of the country to really believe that i did have opportunities to grow and succeed and i have succeeded in my career and financially and otherwise but i was still missing a pretty big mirror when it comes to what we're watching and what we're paying attention to and so so the more we can have money flow towards women's sports i do think that there is an opportunity for it to make such a big impact in a moment when we really desperately need it tell us about your

[Farnoosh Torabi]

own sports life and journey and i want you to definitely talk about how you worked on a cruise ship doing was it like acrobatics or something give

[Tess Warsmith]

us a lowdown sure so i started my main sport was a springboard and platform diver i did that from the time i was eight years old through college i was very privileged i was able to get a full athletic scholarship to school which was great because there was no way i was going to be able to afford that and then after i graduated i graduated in two thousand nine and could not find a job and i ended up getting a call from my old diving coach and he said hey they're looking for division one ncaa and olympic trial level divers for this aquatic show on a cruise ship to which i immediately said that's ridiculous i have a business degree now i'm a big deal like i'm not going to do that and then two months later when i couldn't find a job i called him back and said sure i'll do whatever that is and so i ended up working and living on a cruise ship for three years and i did aerial acrobatics high diving kind of like cirque maybe like cirque b and i did that for three years and honestly it changed my life because i was able to save a lot of money while working on the cruise ship because i didn't have any living expenses and that's how i started to invest in real estate and the stock market and why now i'm so passionate about financial education and love teaching women how to invest because i was very lucky to have this strange course of events that ended up allowing me to have the resources to start investing at an early age so that's kind of how i ended up talking about sports and money on the internet and being so passionate about making sure that women understand how to have agency over

[Farnoosh Torabi]

their money wow three years on a cruise ship yeah how did you how did you avoid getting like crazy sick i mean really like how did you avoid the plague on a cruise ship

[Tess Warsmith]

for three years are you referring to the poop cruise documentary on netflix yes

[Farnoosh Torabi]

yes i guess i never watched it

[Tess Warsmith]

but sure yes that it's disturbing i don't recommend watching it to be honest it's a little bit too distressing honestly the cleaning protocol i worked for royal caribbean and in many ways it was a great company and the cleaning protocols on that ship were incredibly detailed the amount of cleaning and turnover the way that things were handled if there was anything off right away they were very serious about containing and making sure everything was clean so it wasn't as bad as probably a lot of horror stories that you hear but i as an adult i don't i've actually never been on a cruise that i wasn't working and i i don't really plan to i think there are other ways i'd

[Farnoosh Torabi]

prefer to travel so this is like the mister money mustache way of of life where he's like why pay for a cruise when you can work on a cruise and make money experiencing leisure while also earning at the same time right like he he his philosophy is like most humans would rather spend their time making an impact and getting kind of their hands dirty rather than just like arriving somewhere and being served while it's fun sure i mean everybody would like to go and go to a restaurant and go on a cruise but not all the time you know maybe not everybody would like that to go and work i don't know what would you say like would you like to just like sit on a cruise for three years or like maybe work on a cruise for three years i don't

[Tess Warsmith]

know tb day well it's tough because i had a unique job where i didn't have to work that much so a little bit of both yeah so as a performer i had a little bit more freedom in terms of my time i was able to get off in the ports of call where much of the staff the the ship i worked on was huge farnouche it was six thousand five hundred guests two thousand crew it was a massive ship and a lot of the crew was not able to get off in the ports of calm because they had to work crazy hours so i will say for anyone thinking to work on a cruise ship look into it it can be fun however depending on the career you choose it can be incredibly hard work and very long hours so i honestly am very grateful for the time because i also started reading investment books that some random guy on the ship gave me like like there was like a lot of perfect things had to line up for me to end up learning about the basics of investing and starting very early but most people don't have

[Farnoosh Torabi]

that well it all started with sports bringing us back to the theme of the episode it all started with sports it did tess ware smith thank you so much and thank you for bringing this topic to light i wouldn't really have known to dive into this topic if you hadn't really brought it to my doorstep so thank you so much

[Tess Warsmith]

yeah thank you so much for having me i i hope it inspires some people to get involved even if it's just paying attention and and hitting like on some wnba post it all all these little bits mattered and i think if you if you're looking for some good news in your feed this is a trend that is continuing to move in the right direction for women thank

[Farnoosh Torabi]

you thanks so much to tess wearsmith for joining us and if there's one takeaway here it's this where the attention

[Podcast Host (Ad Presenter)]

goes the money follows and right now the attention is finally turning towards women's

[Farnoosh Torabi]

sports thanks for listening everybody i'll see you back here on friday for askfarnouche and i hope your day is so money

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