Episode 007
Peggy Fisher
How do you transition from a 25-year corporate career to starting your own venture? In this episode of Women’s Million Dollar Conversations, Alice Tang sits down with Peggy Fisher, former VP of Marketing and Strategy in the dental industry turned Functional Nutritionist.
Peggy pulls back the curtain on how she accumulated a million dollars through disciplined saving, strategic mortgage decisions, and maximizing employer benefits. She shares how that financial foundation gave her the “courage to pull the trigger” and pursue her passion for helping others heal through food.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
-The specific financial choices (like 15-year mortgages) that accelerate equity.
-How to handle the “imposter syndrome” of rising through the ranks without a degree.
-Why the biggest failures are the risks you didn’t take.
-The “Dirty Dozen” vs. “Clean 15”: Practical tips for health and longevity.
"Confidently set those goals, write them down, take some risks, and keep going."
[00:00:00] Welcome to women’s million dollar conversations with Alice Tang, where we share stories from successful business women who have saved, earn or sold over a million dollars and discuss how they build their success and insights to help you achieve your goals. Now let’s join the conversation.
[00:00:20] Alice Tang: I’d like to welcome Peggy as a guest of women’s million dollar conversation. Welcome Peggy.
[00:00:27] Peggy Fisher: Thanks Alice. It’s great to see you and it’s great to be here.
So I’m looking forward to our conversation.
[00:00:34] Alice Tang: Awesome. So Peggy, would you tell us a little bit about you, your past and what you’re doing now?
[00:00:40] Peggy Fisher: Yeah, absolutely. So I’m Peggy Fisher. I have about 25 years of experience as a vice president of marketing and strategy, as well as a director of global marketing in two of the two of the largest dental equipment companies. And so I [00:01:00] did that for 25 years, had a very successful career, but about three years ago, I decided to change gears. I retired, I guess if you call it that, but it’s not really, it’s just recreating another chapter. And I went back to school and just finished my master’s in nutrition and functional medicine.
And so I’m now starting a new venture that I’m really passionate about called Mindfully Nourished. And as a functional nutritionist I’m looking to help those with a lot of our chronic diseases today, that our medical system has forgotten a little bit or they look to pharmaceuticals rather than just some simple nutrition and lifestyle changes that can help things like diabetes and prevention of some of our chronic things like Alzheimer’s and anything from arthritis to just so many autoimmune diseases that are popping up today.
So it’s just something I’ve been [00:02:00] passionate about. And once you learn about some of the underlying things, it’s hard not to share and help other people with this information. So that’s really what I’m starting on just recently.
[00:02:11] Alice Tang: You know Peggy, the last time when we have a little coffee, you share with me the dirty 15 fruits and vegetable.
And I took to the heart because I truly believe we are what we eat.
[00:02:26] Peggy Fisher: Yes.
[00:02:27] Alice Tang: And prevention is better than cure. If we can prevent it.
[00:02:31] Peggy Fisher: Yes. Prevention is so much better than cure. And I think what people realize we see such a huge increase in these diseases and we can get to retirement age, but if we can’t enjoy it, then it’s really not what we all envisioned or dreamed it would be. And yet if we take care of ourselves and eat well and live a healthy lifestyle we can prevent so many of these things like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s and all [00:03:00] these chronic diseases that are just very debilitating.
And yes, I shared with you, Alice, the environmental working group has a list called the clean 15 and also the dirty dozen. And it’s the dirty dozen produce that has the most pesticide residue on it. Those are the things that we should buy organic. And then the clean 15 are the things that we can buy conventionally raised because they really don’t have pesticide residues.
Or if they do, we’re peeling it off and we’re not eating it. So yeah, little things like that are just amazing and can help us.
[00:03:35] Alice Tang: Wonderful, Peggy. So, we are here to talk about a million dollar conversation to empower our next generation. So I’m gonna take a segue here to talk about your million dollars.
I know before we started recording, we talk about which route we going, whether it’s save a million made a million dollar of income or revenue or strike a million dollar deal you have decided let’s talk about accumulation and saving. [00:04:00]
[00:04:00] Peggy Fisher: Yes.
[00:04:00] Alice Tang: The first question for you is how long does it take for you to get there?
[00:04:07] Peggy Fisher: How long does it take? That’s always very personal, but I think the path can be very similar. It’s doing things like making choices to maximize the retirement contribution to your IRA so that you can get the maximum matching from your employer, if you’re working. It’s doing things, like for us personally, we didn’t always have brand new cars and instead , we would buy, something that was a couple years used or we would look at our home and say, can we do a 15 year mortgage instead of a 40 year mortgage?
And it would stretch us a little bit on the payment, but what it would help us with increasing our equity. And so all of those things add up and just little by little you get there. And then I think as my children are grow, were grown and I wasn’t paying for college, et cetera. Then we could really maximize our retirement [00:05:00] contributions.
[00:05:01] Alice Tang: I’m gonna paraphrase and just give it back to you to make sure that we understand here. So let’s see first is grab all the money that your employer put on the table for you.
[00:05:12] Peggy Fisher: Yes. Yes.
[00:05:12] Alice Tang: So if there’s a percent or 6%, whatever that is, do what you can, because just by doing that, you almost double your money.
[00:05:22] Peggy Fisher: Yes.
[00:05:23] Alice Tang: So that’s one. The second that I heard is life is full of obligation, especially we love our children. We want them to have the best and raising children is not inexpensive. So we do what we can to save for retirement, but when they can be on their own, you’re no longer, as responsible for them.
We always as a, as a dad and a mom, but if they’re not, as financially required for us to participate in their journey, then you maximize your contribution to your own retirement plan. Through the company. So you got to save more and you [00:06:00] got to save some taxes. And then the third thing I heard was be very conscious about your purchase and owning decision.
So the purchase decision, the car unless we are talking about antique, very expensive, very unique car. The car value is going down, depreciating. So you and your husband make the decision that, we choose not to own new cars will buy used cars as functional. It costs less so that we have more budget to do other important things.
Finally is about a home. You said, if you compare to a 40 year, pay off my mortgage, I’m going to stretch myself and take it to a 15 year. If I can. It seems very hard or sometimes undoable because life happens. But if we continue, what I think what you’re implying is you can accelerate the equity growth over a shorter period of time.
[00:06:57] Peggy Fisher: Yes.
[00:06:58] Alice Tang: I’m gonna pause and see [00:07:00] if I got it all right.
[00:07:01] Peggy Fisher: You got it perfectly right. Alice. And even if we weren’t always able to get to a 15 year mortgage, it’s okay can we pay extra on our mortgage? Even if we have a, the standard term, it’s just adding up that equity and it’s amazing how much that makes a difference as well.
[00:07:17] Alice Tang: Awesome. Awesome. Let’s go back to the original question about how long. Does it take for you?
Give us some idea because that will go into a statistics when we collect enough information, we know how long on average does it take a woman.
[00:07:31] Peggy Fisher: Right.
[00:07:32] Alice Tang: Who’s our guest.
[00:07:33] Peggy Fisher: You know, I would say it probably took about 25 years. It wasn’t easy when you’re raising children and Yeah it took a long time.
So it wasn’t an overnight. For me, it was a lot of hard work and putting money away.
[00:07:49] Alice Tang: The fruit is sweeter. When you know that your sweat, every drip of sweat comes.
[00:07:54] Peggy Fisher: You’re absolutely right. You don’t take it for granted, but then once you get there, [00:08:00] you kind of question. Ooh, maybe I need to raise that goal a little bit higher and you keep going, because you question.
Oh, is that enough? and then you keep going and you keep going and you…
[00:08:13] Alice Tang: Very good. You actually have answered the next question. How does it make you feel? You said, can I, can I do better now that I hit my goal, I reset the new goal.
[00:08:22] Peggy Fisher: It’s just like you said, Alice it’s like, once you set any goal and you get there you say, I think it’s time to set another goal. And you keep going and it’s amazing how quickly then you’re able to just use that as a foundation and keep growing.
[00:08:39] Alice Tang: Awesome. Awesome. And of course, finally, we heard retirement just now. Congratulations. Finally that a goal, keep doing it and making sure that you hit it and now you are doing what you just described to us, nutritionist.
Okay. So I’m gonna take a pause here and just ask what’s the value of money for you. Now, some people say [00:09:00] that I really want to help the world to be better. That’s one value, many people who have children or grandchildren and believe that, I really want to provide to them, but some people say that I just find security and freedom because it’s a choice.
I have a lot of choices when I have it. So what is it for you?
[00:09:18] Peggy Fisher: I think for me, it’s a lot of those things wrapped in one, but just what I was able to do, the freedom, to leave my job, follow a passion that I’ve had for many years, go back to school, which some would think was, is crazy. But to follow that passion, because I believe in helping others and wanting to share this information it’s it allowed me to do that and I would not have been able to do that had I not had some financial freedom. I think that’s what it is for me. And then along the way, I am getting time to enjoy my grandchildren and which is the icing on the cake.
[00:09:57] Alice Tang: We can’t believe you have grandchildren. You look as [00:10:00] young as I am.
[00:10:04] Peggy Fisher: Well the secret is the nutrition, right?
[00:10:07] Alice Tang: Yeah, I try too.
So, another question from another direction on your road to success, 25 years working for global companies, two of the largest, what is the biggest bias you have faced and you overcome it. I know something like is about gender. We always talk about it, but there are other types of bias. So I just want to be a little bit more open instead of just staying, oh, because I’m a woman.
[00:10:37] Peggy Fisher: Yes. So I think for me, gender was a big issue to overcome because I was always the only woman in the room of men, dental equipment business was very male dominated.
And I think the other one for me is that I didn’t have even my Bachelor’s degree at the time that I, rose through the ranks and was given the [00:11:00] responsibility of director and vice president at the two largest companies. And, so I felt like I constantly had to prove myself and maybe that’s what made me work a little bit harder.
But just that feeling that I always had to prove myself. And I do remember talking to a career counselor at one point and she told me, “Hey, you need to take that sign off your back. That says, I don’t have a degree because look at the wealth of experience you have and look at all the things that you’ve done.”
And that was really good advice. I tried to pay attention to it, but, it’s not always that easy.
[00:11:36] Alice Tang: Well, whether we are in a male dominated industry or not, I happen to be in one too, just like you, but different industry. The financial industry is the same. There is only 13% of female advisors. Still, I mean, how many years have financial services been over to the public.
So I was sharing with one of my youngest team member yesterday, debriefing of the call with a couple clients. [00:12:00] And we were talking about confidence. I told her exactly what you just said, but in a different way. She was saying, I’m learning, I may not know everything, but she knew everything.
[00:12:12] Peggy Fisher: Yes.
[00:12:12] Alice Tang: Okay. But the fact that she’s not confident.
[00:12:15] Peggy Fisher: Yeah.
[00:12:15] Alice Tang: So I shared with her that I actually, until about 10, 15 years ago, I wasn’t confident.
[00:12:22] Peggy Fisher: I think that’s the biggest thing we, as women lack is confidence. And it’s so huge and we know more than we give ourselves credit for.
And it’s that confidence piece and how do we help bring that to others? So I think it’s fabulous that you are mentoring your younger colleague and helping her understand that she has what she needs and helping her with that confidence because, there aren’t enough women role models out there for us to see what it’s like.
I mean, they’re beginning to be. There are now more so than you and when you and I first started out and [00:13:00] that’s what we all need, is to see what’s possible. And that gives us confidence.
[00:13:04] Alice Tang: You just name it. And the whole reason for me to start doing this, what we call a side hustle of recording this important conversation is to give a chance for every person who saw the video. Not everybody can relate to me. Not everybody can relate to you, but there will be someone they can relate to. And the fact that, it shocked me, 90% of American has not hit a million. And we call ourselves the wealthiest country or one of the top wealthiest country in the world.
And we laughed about, the million dollars is not going to do it a lot, just like it 25 years ago, or even 10 years ago for us. So why can’t more of us get there? So that’s the reason, is to create role model borrowing what you said, so that somebody see what’s possible.
[00:13:54] Peggy Fisher: Yes.
[00:13:54] Alice Tang: Peggy can do it.
Peggy has that journey. Peggy took 25 years to get [00:14:00] there and create that freedom. So she can channel to all her energy to, her passion that she has been thinking about, doing a lot of research about on food and nutrition, not marketing job of the dental.
[00:14:16] Peggy Fisher: And clearly I was passionate about marketing and what I was doing for so many years, because I don’t think you can truly be good at something and do well at something unless you’re passionate about it.
But I think it’s okay for your passions to change and to wanna change directions and to do something different. At some point in your life. So yeah, it’s okay to do that.
[00:14:37] Alice Tang: Absolutely. We are a woman. We can change our mind, even if you are not a woman, you can change your mind.
[00:14:43] Peggy Fisher: It’s perfectly, and I think I’ve even seen research on that, but our parents used to have a single career and they used to do that for all their lives. And it’s really more and more common for people to change careers and reinvent themselves and change their line of works today.
And I think it’s, I [00:15:00] think it’s great.
[00:15:01] Alice Tang: Awesome. You might have answered the next question, but I just want to restate it for the obvious what are your number one advice for somebody who’s watching this video who want to aspire to a Peggy to get to that million dollars? What is your number one advice?
[00:15:17] Peggy Fisher: That’s a great question. And I think we’ve talked a little bit about it, but I’m gonna try and say it more succinctly is confidently set a goal and go after it. Take some risks, have some confidence set those goals, write ’em down and just keep going for it.
[00:15:41] Alice Tang: So on the road to success, we also have talked about, of course there is not a straight line, like.
[00:15:48] Peggy Fisher: Yes, not a straight line.
[00:15:49] Alice Tang: There is hurdle. There is sometimes, you feel that, I cannot do this. I cannot do this when life becomes so hard or your professional,
[00:16:00] your career becomes so hard at the point when you say I really want to quit, what has kept you going?
[00:16:09] Peggy Fisher: Competitive spirit, fear of failure, maybe.
And that’s not a bad thing. It’s just pride, grit. All of those things, I don’t feel like I’ve failed because in, in looking back, I don’t feel like I’ve failed because I haven’t achieved things. I feel like my biggest failures are the things that I haven’t tried. The risks I haven’t taken.
[00:16:35] Alice Tang: Wow. That creates a lot of goosebumps in my body. So it’s almost like one of those things, so when people say at the end of your life, you are on your dying bed, you got an hour. What goes through your mind and usually is the things that you haven’t done.
[00:16:53] Peggy Fisher: Yes.
Yeah. Of course. Or that you were afraid to try or are those things that you think, gosh, I should have, I [00:17:00] thought about that and I never actually reached out and pulled the trigger and did that.
And so it’s those things that, it’s amazing because I look at what I’ve tried to do. and We don’t fail because we don’t quit. We don’t quit until we’ve achieved it. So why why do we not think we can achieve things or not take risks? Because we can, if we just put ourselves out there.
[00:17:27] Alice Tang: Yeah, I remember, a quote from Winston churchill says success is not final. Fall is not fail. It’s the courage to get back up and keep going.
[00:17:37] Peggy Fisher: Absolutely. Yep.
[00:17:40] Alice Tang: Very good. Very good. What is one thing that you would do differently, Peggy, if you were to start over?
[00:17:47] Peggy Fisher: Wow.
Maybe I would just say what we were talking about. Take more risks. And I think it’s also so important to surround ourselves with people that give us energy and people that are our [00:18:00] supporters and to find our own tribe. I love the book you just recently gave me the Wolf pack, right? Just, ah, that was so fabulous.
And, but I think when we take risks and when we surround ourself with positive people that are our supporters, They can lift us up in those tough times and we can do the same. And and that also is a good feeling, when we can reach out and help others, there’s more to life than our own power and money, it’s that fulfillment of helping others that also is important.
[00:18:36] Alice Tang: Yes. Yes. I love that book. What you just described is when she wins. We win.
[00:18:42] Peggy Fisher: Yes. Yes.
[00:18:44] Alice Tang: I think truly if we celebrate somebody’s success with a whole heart, actually we elevate ourselves too.
[00:18:51] Peggy Fisher: Absolutely.
[00:18:52] Alice Tang: It’s possible for her raising children, having a very demanded job and doing all this. She can do it.
[00:18:59] Peggy Fisher: Yes. When [00:19:00] we are successful, we open and when we share our stories, we open those doors for everybody and we let everybody see what’s possible.
[00:19:10] Alice Tang: Let everybody see. What’s possible. Very good. Last question.
[00:19:14] Peggy Fisher: Yeah.
[00:19:15] Alice Tang: What is one very good advice or one piece of very bad advice that made the biggest impact in your life?
[00:19:23] Peggy Fisher: Oh, wow. And that’s a tough one. One thing that sticks with me is I recall going to a book signing of an author and her name was Jen Sincero and the name of her book is if I can say this on here, you are a badass every day. It’s self affirmation and she talks about knowing where you wanna go. And writing it down and having setting goals. And I think even before I heard it from her it’s just setting goals and writing them down and knowing where, what your direction was.
But I love the [00:20:00] analogy she used. She said, it’s like a lot of us know what we don’t wanna do or where we don’t wanna have happen, but it’s kinda like getting in a taxi cab and telling the taxi driver when he asks where you wanna go saying I don’t wanna go downtown today. Maybe I’ll go to the airport, but I’m not quite sure. If you know where to go, you’re gonna get there a lot. And you can say I think I’m gonna go to the convention center. I’m gonna go here. You’re gonna get there a lot quicker.
And it’s amazing when you become clear on your goals and you can write them down and you open yourself up and you tell others, it’s amazing how quickly you can get there.
It’s amazing. What doors will open up for you when you’re clear about where you wanna go.
[00:20:47] Alice Tang: I think a few things here, but for one thing, I, sometimes I’m talking about me.
[00:20:52] Peggy Fisher: Yeah.
[00:20:52] Alice Tang: I’m not courageous enough to want that. And I gave myself excuses of reason [00:21:00] why I don’t want that. So I call ’em limiting beliefs.
[00:21:02] Peggy Fisher: Yeah.
[00:21:03] Alice Tang: Which I recently have written a lot about.
[00:21:06] Peggy Fisher: Yes.
[00:21:07] Alice Tang: I don’t wanna peak because I know when I step into this next step, a lot of things and people might be impacted I’m worrying about their response, and the impact to them. So what I’m trying to say is I ended up living a life that is for everybody.
[00:21:30] Peggy Fisher: Yes.
[00:21:31] Alice Tang: So I think is about time to live a life for me.
[00:21:34] Peggy Fisher: Trying to please others instead of really being authentic to yourself.
And it doesn’t mean you have to do everything right away.
I remember when I was raising my kids and I wanted to go back to school, but I had a full time job. I had two kids. I have a husband. It was just too much for me. And so I had somebody, or I think it was the same career counselor who said, you know what, maybe at this point in your life, maybe the [00:22:00] thing to do is to put away that money so that, when your kids get to a certain point, you’re better able to go back to school and achieve that goal. So maybe that’s how you still find your path and make that path to what you’re achieving, but you’re not doing it right now. And so it really can be about doing it in different ways, or still working towards your goal, even though you are not actively doing it right now. You’re setting a path for a future time.
[00:22:33] Alice Tang: Very good.
That ends our conversation really well. Know, where you want to go, but you don’t need to take action right away. Be confident. Set a goal, go after it, take some risks. If you fail is not a failure. As long as you adjust the course.
[00:22:53] Peggy Fisher: And what you said abolish those self-limiting beliefs, right?
Set those aside.
[00:22:59] Alice Tang: Yes. [00:23:00] Yes. Yes. Thank you very much, my friend Peggy Fisher, you are awesome as usual.
[00:23:05] Peggy Fisher: Oh, thanks so much, Alice. Great being here with you.
[00:23:09] Alice Tang: Thank you.
Peggy Fisher, of Mindfully Nourished, helps people transform their health and lives by addressing the root cause of health conditions through the healing power of food.
With a lifelong interest in health and wellness, Peggy was troubled to see the increasing frequency of chronic diseases, particularly when conditions like Alzheimer’s, cancer, cardiovascular disease, and Parkinson’s began affecting family and close friends.
After a successful executive-level career in marketing, sales, and strategic planning for the two largest dental equipment manufacturers in North America, she followed her passion for nutrition by pursuing a Master’s in Human Nutrition and Functional Medicine. The Functional Medicine focus of the program taught her to understand and respect the body as an interconnected system, while addressing the underlying causes of dysfunction through a personalized approach. Seeing how dietary changes were able to resolve long-standing health conditions for family and friends has made her a firm believer in the power of food. Peggy understands that the food we eat affects our physical and emotional well-being.
Peggy provides personalized nutrition consultation, lunch and learn presentations, as well as speaking to audiences large and small on nutrition and wellness, including how to incorporate healthy cooking and lifestyle changes into busy schedules. She enjoys food, cooking, hiking, gardening, learning, and helping others discover the transformative power of food to achieve their personal health goals!