Mary Holland Nader: From Wall Street Analyst to Reality TV Fame — Why She Left Corporate America, Found Her Voice & Built Her Own Fintech Startup

0:03In case you missed it, you're allowed to be hot, smart, and rich. So let's get into it.

0:14Mary Holland Nader. Hello. Are you ready to get a hot smirk, Rich? Let's do it. Born ready. I am so excited that you're here. This is your first solo podcast. It's a big deal. How does it feel? Honestly, I don't even think my sisters know I'm doing this right now because that's so me. I don't tell them anything. So hey, y 'all. I'm on my own podcast. They're going to freak out. Do you have to get a lot of permission for things? So typically that's what's kind of expected, honestly, because we just tell each other everything. But I beat to my own drum, which causes some issues sometimes. They're like, where have you been?

0:50Are you going to move to LA? Are you going to do this? Because everyone just tells each other everything. And I was in corporate America for so long. I just like always beat to my own drum. So usually the other girls get permission, but not me. And do you think that you'll get your hand slapped? um honestly no because it doesn't affect like nothing they can't slap my hand if it doesn't affect me do you know what I mean okay they can't get me in trouble if I'm not if I don't care well that was one of the most interesting things about the show is that like you guys will really go after each other what are the actual repercussions of things or is it just like sweeping under the rug you know what we fight I mean you have a sister yeah like you get it we fight 10 times a day and we will call each other a bitch and all the ugliest things.

1:31But if someone else crosses us, then it's game over. So like by the end of the day, it's all swept under the rug. Honestly, like we have said some pretty mean things to each other. I'm the sensitive, nice one. Like I don't get offended. You can kind of see in the show, I just like let them talk, but I also don't bark at them as much as they bark at me. Okay. But to answer your question, it sweeps under the rug. Like at the end of the day, we're sisters and sisters fight like cats and dogs. But if If anyone crosses your sister, it's game over. Game over. Yeah. Okay. But do you feel like you have to do everything with your sisters now, like business endeavors and like things you're passionate about?

2:06We're definitely closer or I feel closer to them than I was, mostly because I was in corporate America. So I just didn't see them all day. And honestly, like we take advantage of the sister unit and the sister brand, but then we're all individually pursuing our own thing. I'm starting my own business because I already had a plan for that beforehand. And the sisters are so supportive of that. And if they individually started their own brands, we'd all be so supportive. But right now, I feel like for them especially, and because we just had our moment with the show, which is so crazy, we're taking advantage of being together and doing things together.

2:43So a lot of our jobs naturally are together, and we're starting to find our individual footing. Do you think that will change if your entrepreneurial pursuit becomes the most successful? I don't think there's a ton of competitiveness between us because of course they're all investing in my business so if my business wins they win if my brand wins the Nader sisters win like any business and any entrepreneur you're tied to your brand and if you have a family then you're kind of tied to your family like before this business I was tied to Brooks Nader yeah you know what I mean like I was her little sister and the show has given me my own voice this podcast my own voice Hello.

3:22But I feel like if I succeed, she succeeds. And likewise, not that we're being selfish about it, of course, but we're all cheering each other on no matter what. And a little healthy competition is always, you know, between family. Who would you say you are the most competitive with or have been traditionally? Again, I am not competitive with them. It's just I'm a competitive person, but not with them because I do such different things. I feel like she's going to kill me. Grace Ann is probably the most competitive with me. Just because like we went to college together. We're the closest in age.

3:54She was also really smart growing up. She was like valedictorian. Exactly. She was on the captain of the cheer team, right? Yes, exactly. She was a high achiever. She was very much a high achiever. Yeah, valedictorian, went to Georgia. We were at school together. We like dated in the same boyfriend group. You know, we kind of like ran in the same circles at Georgia. So naturally, she was a little bit competitive with me. Since we've grown into our own, which I'm so grateful for the show because before, and we'll talk about, I felt like I had to kind of like mold to the sister brand. And now that the show has shown my differences and like I've gotten to be myself on the show and everyone's like, oh, you're the finance girl and that's okay.

4:31And people even enjoy the money talk that I've been like posting more about it and like being more myself. And I'm realizing it's okay to be different from them. So I feel like there's less competition now, but if I had to choose with anyone, it would probably be Gracie Ann because you know Brooks and Sarah Jane are like two peas in a pod. And they're like the oldest and the youngest which is so interesting. It's so odd. Yeah. And we didn't get that close with – we got our sister back when she got divorced. We really did. So you were not close with her when she was married? We were absolutely.

4:58Probably closer than most sisters but she was still married. He had a hold on her more than we did almost. Can I be honest? I didn't even know that Brooks was married. Not many people did. When she was married – she was a baby. Yeah. Like she had no idea when she got married. And that's what we were all trained to do almost, which is why I was kind of anti-marriage for a while. Are you anti-marriage still? Not because of who I'm dating. Just because he is not anti-marriage. If he didn't want to get married, I wouldn't ever ask. I would never expect a wedding. Will you ever change your last name from Nader?

5:30Probably not. Oh my God, that is so crazy. I know. Well, I would have to if I wanted. If you're going to be a lady. If I'm going to be a lady, I would have to change my name. Okay. You are known as the nice, smart, kind one on the show. Is that a lot of pressure? Flattered. But honestly, no, because I'm not faking it. I'm not pretending to be someone I'm not on the show. I will say, though, within the first 30 minutes of meeting you, you are way more high energy than they put on the show. Yes. Well, let me tell you, Maggie, on the show, I was scared shitless. I was literally terrified to even speak at some points because, again, I was in such a corporate world trying to be this perfect mold of a human in corporate America.

6:10And then they were like, right, you can't film a reality show here. Like you got to leave. Oh, so they were like, you have to leave. Well, it was like, I either do the show or I keep my job. It was kind of like one or the other. And of course the show would have loved to film my Wall Street days, but they were like, you can't, but you can film your exit. I saw it. By the way, it was like you walking out. It was like, no, literally not even walking. Like no one else could be in it. They, but the fact that they let me use the name Deutsche Bank was amazing. Like they were so supportive approval for all of that oh yeah the head honcho of the bank had to sign up over in germany and be like this is okay but they were so supportive of me when i was there which is amazing but anyways point being i made that huge life transition at like 25 years old yeah kind of out of the blue we were kind of like all right we're doing the show that we filmed a pilot for like a year and a half ago the pilot was a year and a half before the show came out no not this pilot.

7:04We filmed a different thing. So like two years ago, we were approached and we were like, you guys need a show. We filmed it, the pilot. We were all in different stages. Serjan couldn't even drink. I was 24, analyst program at a huge international bank, obviously getting the shit beat out of me, like working all the time. Brooks was married. We were all in completely different spots. And so we filmed it. We kind of waited. We're waiting for the call. And basically two years later after Brooks was on Dancing with the Stars. Like she was kind of the moment over the summer. Hulu was like, right, let's do it.

7:38Let's get things rolling. I mean, it was all reality, like truly reality. But again, it was kind of like, all right, quit your job. What are you doing now? Was that a mandate? Like you have to quit your job to be on the show? Deutsche Bank was like, you can't film a reality show here. So I was like, OK, I guess I have to quit this whole life I planned out for myself. My whole life had been work to get to Wall Street. I'm this Southern pretty girl on Wall Street. I need to prove myself even harder. Didn't know I could be hot, smart and rich at that time. But now we know. But on the street, I was just kind of like studying extra hard for every meeting, over preparing, imposter syndrome to the max, worked for five years to get a great reputation amongst my colleagues of being smart.

8:20And then I was going to quit to go do this reality show, I was like, oh my gosh, am I going to throw all of this away that I worked for? So it was like kind of an identity crisis almost, but I was also alone in it because I talked to my dad a lot about it, but like my sisters never had that. And they were like, why wouldn't you do a reality show? And of course, looking back, thank God I did. It's proven financially much more beneficial for me, but I was kind of alone in that transition because I was like so lost and confused by the way on the pay thing like I didn't even know how to advocate for myself because from Louisiana I was like told that I was lucky to be on Wall Street even my dad bless him love him has been so supportive but he was like don't quit your Wall Street you got there like how did you even get there I my dream was to work on Wall Street you know like you feel so lucky to be there I feel so lucky and like they're gonna find me out if I speak up about getting paid more or if I speak up about anything that's happening there, like they're going to find out that I'm not supposed to be here because I was the only non-Ivy analyst.

9:21I was like the only model times banker. I was so secret about where I was going, so secret about my Instagram and everything. So you were living like two separate lives. Total Hannah Montana. And did you ever feel like they were just in total conflict with each other? When you're early 20s, coming from my rife age of 27. Girl, I'm 33. No, and I'm getting wiser with my age. So I'm very grateful to be 27. But when I was in the right age of 22, fresh out of college, I had more energy than I even knew what to do with. So did they conflict with each other? Yes. When I was like rolling into the office, super exhausted from like being out at an event until 2am.

10:01But I discovered then that I couldn't drink and perform in both. So from then, I still don't drink that often compared to my sisters because I have to be so high performing in the business world. And I still feel like I have to prove myself in this new tech world that I'm entering, which I love your advice. I'm like, what am I doing here? I learned very quickly that I had to be smart about going out to these events and influencer stuff. And if it was making me money, then I would go, not that I was getting paid to go to anything, But I'm so glad that I didn't sleep during those first few years because it built the reputation in both industries that I'm using now to propel this business.

10:40Do you feel like you attract different types of fans from the show than your sisters? Who's coming up to you and being like, I love you from the show. Like, is that a very different archetype of person that's going up to Grace Ann or Sarah? Yeah. I mean, of course, Sarah Jane has captured the LGBTQ community. She's so brave. so brave I'm so freaking proud of her so she has a lot an overwhelming amount of support and just like people being like you helped me realize and come out which is so special totally different but similarly I'm having girls being like I never thought I could quit my corporate job or like entering well the micro retirement thing is kind of like a funny I hope that no one's like quitting just because of that but people are dming me just being like inspiring in terms of the corporate side of things.

11:27So I feel like I am, I guess you could say a bit more relatable compared to my sisters who were top models in New York City from the get. And I'm kind of in that transition. But I'm so grateful that I had a fire lit under my ass because I don't know if I ever would have quit. And being on the other side, I remember it very vividly. The moment I realized I needed to quit eventually, it was on my goals list before I knew the show was being picked up because I was offered a modeling job. I think it was like 3K for the day, which is amazing money. I was like, oh my God, that can pay a month rent in New York.

12:03But I had a big meeting with like my manager the next day. And I was like, oh, he's like getting on. He's being let on that I'm splitting my time too much. Like I can't do it. I did the math and I was making under$300 a day. I was making like 140 grand a year or something, like an analyst salary. Thought it was like amazing. All the lies you tell yourself to stay in a corporate job, steady paycheck, health care. I was like, oh, it's coming in every two weeks. I was making like$215 a day or something. And I had to turn down this modeling job that was like$3 ,000. And I was like, right, I have to quit.

12:36But even after that, I didn't quit until I was forced to because of the steadiness of it. I thought like, I'm so lucky to be here. Like there's no way I'll ever have this good of a gig. Did you really want to be working on Wall Street? or was it more like you were good at school and your parents really wanted that for you? I mean, who really wants to? I think that I did. Like my dream growing up was like sales and trading floor. Yeah. Like I looked at that and I was like, oh my God. I look back at my inbox of like cool DMs to people and I'm like, I wanted that job so bad. Yeah. No, honestly, I think in the moment I was so grateful that I was there and I'd worked my entire college career to get there and we didn't come from any money.

13:15So I think that I told myself I was really excited to be there and happy, but that wasn't my dream job at the end of the day. I heard a stat that like a high schooler graduating from high school knows only of seven jobs that are possible, two of which their parents hold. And then when you graduate college, the average college student only knows of 11 jobs. And I'm like, and there's 122 industries that one can work in. So obviously, financier is one of those jobs. And I was like, I'll study finance because it means I'll make money. And that's what a lot lot of people do. Did money motivate you when you were young?

13:50Yes, because we had none. And that's what a lot of what I'm trying to build with Mary and Pip is this behavioral mindset and going back to the roots of your kind of like financial DNA. Because we had such a scarcity mindset. We grew up with literally nothing. And my dad worked for a nonprofit for the first half of my life and then realized he needed to make more money. So he took his Series 7 and CFP and became a financial advisor. So I saw that that got us out of poverty and into lower middle class. And then he worked his way up and has built his book since. So literally, that's why I studied finance, because I was like, that is guaranteed to give me stability.

14:29With Brooks, she very much has main character energy. Even looking at like your home videos as a child, she has main character energy. Totally. What have been the pros and the cons of having a sister like Brooks? Pros and the cons. Oh, gosh. This could get me in trouble. Pros, she always speaks out for me. And I was always a little bit shyer than her. So she encouraged me to be confident and just will speak on behalf of me and speak for me, even with this business. She'll be like, before I had anything for it, it was an idea. She would tell people, oh, there's a lot of great people, but like, you better invest.

15:07Even before I was looking for investors, like she is just speaking out on my behalf all the time. And her confidence is magnetic. Yeah. Like if you've met her, then you know that she is just like lights up a room entirely and encourages us to be confident in that way. Cons, maybe that she sometimes expects me to just carry that energy, even though I'm a different person entirely. And she understands that we're different, but sometimes she carries the team so much and I feel like I need to kind of keep up. but there's really no cons like that having that confident of a sister and having her be the trailblazer that she is have paved the way for all of us to create our own lanes and dreams yeah exactly when she first started making money did that motivate you to go off and do your own thing too oh yeah oh yeah I mean I remember it took a minute for her to start making money but I remember her shameless, like she waited in line at Sports Illustrated for hours and hours with like thousands of people and she made it.

16:13So she made us believe in ourselves in a way that I don't think we would have if we didn't have an older sister like that. When did you realize that looks would both help and hurt your career in finance? Wonderful question. Honestly, I think upon arrival, like I didn't think it would help or hurt when I was in high school, but college at the business school. When I arrived and I started to notice pretty privilege, not only in the office, but in the city of New York, like you can just get things done for you. And I realized very quickly, this can be an asset or I can use it to hurt myself. Or liability.

16:51Or liability. Yeah. I feel like it's all about the narrative you tell yourself with pretty privilege. Like I can see this in myself when I first arrived at DB. Sounds so dumb to say now and might get shit for it, but I was like, oh, I'm like a pretty young girl coming into Wall Street and like, I'm being treated differently. And it's like, come on, you're American. Didn't have to deal with any visa things. I'm white. I'm from a privileged background, no matter how little money we had. Like I realized very quickly, especially being in New York, which I'm grateful of the bubble I grew up in. And yes, pretty privileged made me sometimes feel imposter syndrome because I wasn't a man or wasn't from an Ivy League school or modeled.

17:32but at the end of the day, like I'm so lucky to be pretty and have the background that I do and be as privileged as I am. I'm going to use it to my advantage as anyone should use any of their assets to their advantage. So I think that the narrative I told myself at the beginning of being like, I have to work extra hard to be taken seriously is like kind of BS because I should be so grateful. And it got me in rooms and in conversations that I otherwise wouldn't. And I I'm still in this entrepreneur journey trying to take advantage of it more than I am. And I think the most dangerous part of Pretty Privilege or how we're viewing it is me sitting back and being more coy, I guess, than I should be or more dumb acting.

18:17I feel like I act ditzy when I shouldn't in some situations. Okay. You're meeting with business people now because of the show. Yes. What's your persona that you're taking on in that meeting? so it totally depends on who I'm talking to if I'm talking to an investor then I'm buttoned up but still flirty I'm a flirty person and all of the nader sisters are flirty people like well I see videos on tiktok all the time of girls wanting to create content and they work in private equity or banking and they are literally told they will be fired if they post a video again 100 which is why I think both of what we're doing is so important to show women it's like you don't have to choose you can be both what is something you learned about power working in finance the power you have in an office is so different than the power you have outside of an office and you should treat it differently you should never confuse the two yes I was like a multi-hyphenate I had different types of power in different areas but like when I got to work I like submitted to whoever my manager was and got the work done I never thought I was too cool no matter how many followers I had not that I was like blowing up while I was at TV but But I think it's easy to get confused in either arena.

19:25Like, oh, I work at a bank outside of work or being in work and making money outside of the bank. And I think because I was very careful about separating those two, that's why Deutsche Bank was so supportive. Because when I was at work, like I was there to work and get my shit done and I didn't get on my phone. I posted videos, but not about work, if that makes sense. Do you think it's possible for women to climb the corporate ladder while being 100 % authentically themselves? No. Hopefully that changes. Like, I really hope that changes. And it depends on what corporate ladder you're talking about.

20:01If you're working for the hot, smart, rich empire, you can 100 % be yourself. If you're working for a woman-led team or a woman-led company, like Bumble, for example, I'm sure you can be 100 % authentically yourself. Yeah. My company, you will show up and wear whatever you want and have your Series 7 and 66 and be doing finance stuff. But in corporate America, I think you have to – I also think that's fine. Yeah. I think that it's so important to be yourself but also with my generation especially. Did you just call us different generations? I'm just kidding. With our – I just really love you. With our generation?

20:41But are we the same generation? I think we are. Gen Z? No, babe, I'm a millennial. I'm like just made the cut. Like I'm a 90s baby. Are you? Okay, I'm 92. But like, so like we're 90s. Yeah, okay. So we can be the same decade. Our generation. With our gen. And let's just, we'll just say gen alpha. Gen alpha. Let's just say gen alpha. I feel like this self authenticity is like awesome that it's being so prized, but it's also important to work. Yeah. Honestly. And like, you can't just like do whatever you want and succeed always. And it's wonderful if you can, if you can create an empire by yourself.

21:17But when I was at DV, sometimes I had to do things I didn't want to do. I had to work when I didn't want to work. I had to say yes to do things that I didn't want to do. And like, that's okay. And that taught me how to work for someone and taught me discipline in a way that I think a lot of people are like, I'm just going to work for myself forever and ever and ever. And that's amazing. but sometimes you learn valuable skills and doing what you don't want to do that you otherwise wouldn't. So I think that like, it's okay if you can't a hundred percent be yourself at work. For sure. At least for a little while.

21:47I agree. I think there's seasons of your life. And like in my twenties, I wanted to work really hard and like grind it out and meet people and have connections. And now I have an unfair advantage where I have like such amazing people on the show and people are like, how do you do that? And I'm like, I grinded it out for like 11 years, not like all in corporate America, but like corporate startup VC. There's a lot of skills that I think you learn, but I do feel like there's pressure for young women to like build a personal brand right out of school and like have everything figured out. And I also think there's something so nice about like doing a nine to five, clocking in, clocking out, and then going and living your life and finding out your hobbies outside of work.

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23:13This is why we partner with Recharge and why they're giving the HSR community 90 days free, helping brands test, learn, and grow their subscription business with zero risk. To claim this incredible offer of 90 days free, click the link in the show notes. What version of yourself do you feel like you stepped into as soon as you were out of the floor of DB on a day-to-day basis? 100 % my creative self. Like I, and to your point, when I was at DB was clocking in, but when I clocked out, I would go on Instagram and be like, Like everyone has a company. Everyone has a following. Everyone has this. I need to like start working on something in after hours.

23:55And I would be so exhausted after work trying to come up with like a business plan with chat, like literally every single day. You're like obsessed with chat. Obsessed with chat. Like obsessed with all of them. You have a nickname for chat. No, literally. Obsessed with chat. Chat, my girl. But like I would literally be putting in work after hours that was pointless work. Scrolling, comparing myself, calling it like research, you know, doing all the things because I was comparing myself. And I will say even during the time when I could just clock in, clock out and forget about work entirely, I like had that nagging feeling in the back of my head of I'm not doing enough.

24:33You still have that? No, because now I have so much creative energy. Like I can wake up. I struggle with time management, not being in corporate America. And I'm sure you felt that. Do you get anxious when you're not behind your computer from nine to five? It was a transition. I'm not as anxious anymore, but especially in like startup mode, I do feel like the culture is very much never stop working and stay up all night. And if you're not, you're not going to succeed. I literally just wrote a sub stack about hustle culture and how it's very dangerous to your productivity, honestly. Like if you work all the time, you cannot be productive.

25:11So I struggled. It's a constant battle with like my mindfulness, my presence and like trying to stay on top of that because it's very easy. And especially because like my sisters are going to Paris and they're like, this is a really important thing for the sister brand. Like we need to go to fashion week and do all this stuff. And I'm like, is that more important? Or is like LA tech week more important? I don't know. Cause my startup has different priorities, obviously than the sister modeling brands. But to your point, I can be so much more creative. And I like didn't give myself enough grace when I was at corporate America of how even if you're sitting at your desk passing time, just staring blankly at your email, you're still exerting so much energy throughout the day.

25:52And like I would finish work and be beating myself up for not being creative or not having ideas or not feeling like socializing. And now I have so much energy. That's amazing. It means that you're doing the right thing. Yes. Yes. Do you ever feel like the show will have a negative impact of what people will perceive you as because the sister brand is very like modeling, drinking, partying, living life, like slapping each other. Like how do you think that that perception of you will impact you as like the finance tech entrepreneur, Mary? I thought about that a lot. Like when I was first starting Mary and Pip and it's a personal finance app is what it is.