Tiger Sisters - How to Keep Learning as an Adult: Build Your Own Curriculum & Become a Student Again

Episode Date: September 21, 2026

Thank you to Granola for sponsoring this video. Try it for free at https://www.granola.ai/tigersisters Check out our matcha brand, Sisters Matcha at ⁠https://www.sistersmatcha.com⁠ Sign up for our newsletter here: https://tigersisters.substack.com/ Graduating from school doesn’t mean graduating from learning. As we continue our Back-to-School series, we’re exploring why learning should be a lifelong pursuit, and how to intentionally keep growing, experimenting, and following your curiosity well into adulthood.Tune in for lessons on:✅ How to build your own “adult curriculum” around what you actually want to learn✅ Why being a beginner (and being bad at something again) is good for you✅ The difference between learning for your career and learning purely for curiosity✅ How adult classes, retreats, and conferences can expand the way you think✅ Why it’s okay to quit something when it no longer serves you✅ How we’re bringing continuous learning into our own livesWhether you want to take an art history class, learn a new skill, revisit an old hobby, or explore something completely outside your comfort zone, consider this episode your reminder (and blueprint!) for becoming a lifelong student. Timestamps:00:00: Cold Open01:55: You don’t need to be in school to be a student again03:53: Learning for work vs learning for the sake of curiosity 06:08: Why learning through adulthood is good for brain health07:38: Developing the skill of being a beginner again10:24: Mini-exercise: build your own learning curriculum11:23: Who, what, where, when and why (applied to learning) 12:12: Our upcoming wellness retreat (retreats for continued learning)16:27: Why changing your environment helps you learn18:53: Learning through classes and personal training22:45: Cherie’s acting class journey24:48: “Free-maxing” your education27:14: Community college classes and student perks29:30: Why we love conferences31:45: What we learned at the Milken Global Conference33:05: Being in the room when it happens (Rahm Emanuel’s debate)36:14: Mini exercise: What would you learn just for fun?39:24: Revisiting skills you used to be good at42:35: How to become a lifelong student43:15: Closing thoughts✨ New episodes every Monday | Shorts all week ✨💌 Want to partner with us? Sponsorships: [e-mail] trust us?▫️ Cherie Brooke Luo — 100M+ views demystifying tech, finance & MBAs▫️ Jean Luo — ex-Goldman Sachs, ex-Snapchat exec, 50+ AI patents, startup investor▫️ Together: 4 Ivy League degrees • built billion-dollar products • two startups — decoded for youWhat you’ll get (and keep):▫️ 🚀 Ivy League cheat sheets — no $250K tuition▫️ Personal finance playbooks (salary, investing, negotiation)▫️ Networking scripts behind $100M+ deals & job offers▫️ Real conversations with CEOs, operators & investors▫️ Mindset resets — clarity without the pricey coach▫️ Systems for career, money, and long-term growth💛 LET’S CONNECT~ CHERIE ~Instagram — /cherie.brookeTikTok — /cherie.brookeSubstack — cherieluo.substack.comLinkedIn — /cherie-luo~ JEAN ~Instagram — /jeanluo_LinkedIn — /jeanluo👉 Hit Subscribe & tap the 🔔, then leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review on Spotify & Apple Podcasts. It takes 10 seconds and makes a massive difference in helping new people discover Tiger Sisters.🛍️ Items:🍵 Sisters Matcha — http://www.sistersmatcha.com🌀 Everything else — https://amzn.to/3z0dx5b 

Okay, when I sell my business, I want the best tax and investment advice. I want to help my kids, and I want to give back to the community. Ooh, then it's the vacation of a lifetime. I wonder if my out of office has a forever setting. An IG Private Wealth advisor creates the clarity you need with plans that harmonize your business, your family, and your dreams. Get financial advice that puts you at the center. Find your advisor at IG Private Wealth.com.

Continuous education helps you develop the skill of being bad at things again. Well, shout out to all the perfectionists out there. This is hard. There's always more to learn. There's always more to explore. There's always more to be curious about. And you can be open to that. And you can actually, even in adulthood, dedicate your time and energy to that.

What do I want to learn? How do I want to learn? Where do I want to learn? So you mean who, where, when, why? Kind of. Oh, I want to get my PhD. I just think it would be fun and, like, the opportunity to be a student again and go really, really deep into one topic. Yeah.

Like, that's like a dream. What a luxury. Equine therapy. Equine therapy, I can't wait. I love horses, guys. I don't talk about this enough on the podcast. I'm Cherie. I'm Gene.

And we're the Tiger Sisters. We are your Wall Street and Silicon Valley Big Sisters. And we're a top 10 business podcast bringing late night sister talk. meets boardroom strategy. Hi, Tiger fam. It's officially back to school season. And today, we're going to talk about how to be a continuous learner, even if you're not in school and even if you're not a student anymore.

So growing up, most people have a very linear understanding of education. You go to elementary school, you go to middle school, high school, maybe college, maybe grad school. And then, and then what? You're just done learning for the rest of your life? Something we've been thinking about lately is why you should never stop being a student. It's about adopting a mindset of always being a student and operationalizing your own learning, which means figuring out specific ways to bring it back into your life.

So today, we are going to be talking through all the ways that Shuri and I operationalize keeping learning in your life even after you've graduated, whether it's conferences, retreats, apps, museums, reading, classes, and much more. The point is, you don't need to be in school to be a student again. But you can attend Tiger Sisters University. So let's get into it. I'm so excited to dive into this episode all about learning because I think it's pretty clear. Jeannie and I are pretty big fans of learning, whether it's inside the classroom, which we've done a ton of,

and also outside of the classroom. Yeah. And I mean, I've said this before, but I am like, oh, I want to get my PhD. I just think it would be fun. And like the opportunity to be a student again and go really, really deep into. one topic. Yeah. Like that's like a dream. What a luxury. Yeah. I mean, Gene and I love learning. We love being students. And I think if you are a student right now listening to this, you got it good. Like I know it feels stressful right now because you probably have midterms and exams and all these like office

hours with professors. But like for me, when I undergrad was stressful, but grad school, it's just like, you can go into a classroom. You have a syllabus. You have a planned out like structure of what you're going to learn when. Of course, the assignments are like, kind of annoying, but like obviously you're learning through them. But it's like amazing because you have this structure in the classroom. Yeah. I mean, and I would say in that way, your own continuous learning in some ways can be even better than the structured learning because when you're in college, when you're in high school, it feels really high stakes. Yeah. And you're under a lot of pressure to get good grades. But when you're creating your

own curriculum as an adult, there isn't necessarily that pressure. And you could just pursue what you like for the joy of learning, for the joy of just continuing to develop yourself. Yeah. But in that same vein, I would say it's also harder when you're out of school because you're missing that structure, right? Like you're not given the timeline and the midterm to do. So it's really up to you to hold yourself accountable and to give yourself permission to create the structure yourself and be very intentional about it. And so I think it's important to label what we've just talked about, which is that there are two modes of learning. There's one, which is kind of learning for work and to advance your career versus there's learning just for the sake of curiosity

and improving your mind, I guess. Yeah. And I think it's okay to have seasons of one versus the other. And if you have a lot of time, maybe doing both at the same time. But as you're balancing competing priorities in your life, whether it's your work or family or other obligations you have, it's okay to lean more into the upskilling work professional learning at some points or just dive in completely into the curiosity type of learning. Yeah. And I wanted to add one thing, which is that since you are not in school and you're not learning necessarily for a degree, it is also okay to quit your learning. You know what I mean? Like it's okay to take on something and try it out and try it on and when you're tired of it or you feel like you've exhausted it exhausted it or like met the

level that you want to go to you can just kind of leave it be and move on to something else yeah i mean there's i mean there's so much to talk about there because like i feel like when i try to learn something i go so hard at it and sometimes i make it so prescriptive that like i take the fun out of it i can share something that i quit uh what did you quit so back when i worked in finance and i thought I was going to be a finance girlie for the rest of my life. Like it'd already taken like series seven, series 63 like blah, blah, blah. But it was the thing to get a CFA. And so I bought all the CFA books and I think it was literally a thousand dollars. It's very, very expensive. You actually never told me this before. Yeah, because she was like 13. But I bought all the CFA books and it's very

serious. It's a series of I think three honestly guys I don't remember. But it's like three tests. You have to study your butt off. Yeah. To do it. And I was just like, I just thought it was the path. Like I thought it was the thing to do. So I was like, okay, I'm going to get my CFA because I'm in finance. But then I ended up quitting it. And look at you, have never looked back. I've never looked back.

I've never looked back. And if you needed any more convincing that learning is good for your brain, there is an article on healthy aging and longevity from Harvard Med School that says learning throughout adulthood with mentally stimulating activities can sharpen your thinking. and support brain health as we age, which is a no-brainer. I think it makes a ton of sense. And the advice in the article is that you should choose subjects that you're actually curious about, rather only learning things you should learn, which I think if you had this article back when you were studying for your CFA,

which is certified financial accounting? Or what does CFA even stand for? I guess. I literally don't even remember. I don't even know what she's studying for. I blocked it from my mind. She don't even know. I don't even know what happened to those books. books, like if I sold them to someone or just, I think I just put it out of my mind.

Maybe it's in her garage at some point. Jean has a lot of stuff. Excuse her. A lot of old books. But yeah, I love that. So it's being able to choose what you want to learn, rather feeling like the pressure of like, I should be doing this, which I think I have a lot of hobbies, which I think we'll get into.

Gene and I are going to bring personal examples into this episode of how we bring continuous learning into our lives, specifically conferences. retreats that we're all going to share with you. So really excited to dive into some examples. And also, hopefully our stories will inspire some thinking and reflection within you of figuring out how you can also bring continuous learning into your lives. Okay. So the last thing I'm going to touch on before we get into our really quick mini exercise is that continuous education helps you develop the skill of being bad at things again, which sounds like such an oxymoron. Well, shout out to all the perfectionists out there.

This is hard. Yeah. But it really gives you the opportunity, which I feel like in adulthood, sometimes you just don't even have that opportunity anymore to be a beginner again. Right? To be new at something, to be bad at something for the first time. But starting and learning something new by definition puts you in that state. I mean, it's a very humbling and it can be a very, like, vulnerable thing to be a beginner and then to be a bad beginner. You know, like you're starting out something completely new that probably like tickles a part of your brain that's like never been used before.

Like, for example, like if I started playing softball or baseball, like I'm not good at. Yes. You have plans? I hand coordination. Not great. I just remember in high school, we had curriculum in our PE class of baseball. And the way I could not hit a ball. Really?

And like my gym teacher was like. No, but you're good at tennis. I'm good at tennis. But like the. The precision of baseball or softball. I agree. I just remember the PE teacher being like, Sheree, you're going to stand here and keep hitting swinging until you hit a ball, which I thought was very kind.

I wasn't embarrassed because I was like so determined. But everyone was watching. I was like literally up there for like three minutes, which is a long time to be swinging a bat. But I just remember this in high school. Mr. K? No. I think Mr.

D was his name. But he was just like, Shari, you're going to be, you're going to do this. Like I think he was like trying to instill confidence in me. But I'm like, I cannot. do this. Boy, that is so funny. I was just swinging for like an obscene amount of time where everyone was just like, come on hit the ball. But anyways, that was very humbling. And I think in the spirit of being a beginner and specifically a bad beginner, it was just necessary. Guys, I don't know why that story was so funny to me. I'm sure. I think the mental image. Remember when you were

playing European handball? Yeah, twisted my ankle. Well, sprained my ankle pretty badly. I was in a boot for like four months. It was horrible. That was also in high school. Point is, I'm not very good at sports, but I give it my all. She really does. Okay, so next step, we have a mini exercise to get your juices flowing and start thinking about how you can bring continuous learning into your life. Yeah. So I am calling this actually a pre-mini exercise, L-O-L. I've introduced a new section pre-mini exercise. This is kind of our way to help you build your own enrichment curriculum for yourself before we get into telling you all the things that we do because we don't want to like bias you right so here's some time for you to think about it by yourself first okay so mentally

pick from the following four areas of expansion one is what is one subject that you want to learn it could be investing art history nutrition anything really two is what is one skill you would want to practice so maybe it is improving your cooking your Spanish acting strength training three, who is one teacher you would want to learn from, aside from us? Is it an author? Is it a professional or a professor? Is it an expert, a mentor, creator, someone who you would put on your personal learning board of directors? And then finally, what is one room you would want to put yourself in? Whether it's a class, a conference, a workshop, or a club, which is, you know, somewhere you'll encounter people outside of your regular bubble. I like all these questions because it forces

you to think kind of like in different learning modalities. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's like, okay, what do I want to learn, how do I want to learn, where do I want to learn, who do I want to learn? So you mean who, where, when, why? Kind of. So you mean the basics of writing a composition? I guess so.

It kind of spans all of those. I think it is. It is, yeah, what subject, what skill, which teacher? and where. Yeah. And with this many exercise, treat it like a brainstorm list. Like don't give yourself any pressure of like, oh my God, I have to master all of these things within the next like three months. No, like take a breath. This is just you being creative and just putting all of your ideas down. Okay, so now let's move into the tactical ways that we are building our own curriculum for learning. So the first one I want to talk about, I'm really excited about because it is upcoming.

Yes. So we are, we're just like bubbling over with excitement for it. do you want to introduce? Yeah, so Gene and I are going to our first ever wellness retreat. And wellness retreat doesn't even cover it because all the programming and like the itinerary looks incredible, which we'll go into. But I'm really excited for this getaway. It really is focused on wellness. And it seems like there's going to be around 40 people there who are also like minded that they want to take the time away from their very busy schedules to be like, okay, let me take a step back and bring wellness practices into my life. So as part of this weekend retreat,

Jean and I are like pushing ourselves because we're doing things we've never done before. There's also a component of learning from experts at this retreat that I cannot wait for. So there's going to be an expert there on longevity, Frank Lipman, Dr. Frank Lipman. There's going to be a session with the CEO of Hoffman Institute, which is all about giving you the vocabulary

to talk about emotions and feelings within yourself and also interpersonal, interrelational discussions. So I can't wait for that. And also on the itinerary, there's things like equine therapy. Equine therapy, I can't wait. I love horses, guys. Like, this is hanging out with- I don't talk about this enough on the podcast.

She's actually a horse lover, a horse girl. I love horse. I'm such a horse girl. But she's also allergic to. Only dirty horses. Oh. She did have an allergic reaction once on a horseback ride. Oh, my God.

In Cuba. I got hives all over my neck. Everyone was like, are you okay? So I was like, I'm in heaven. But I was like dying. So there's going to be equine therapy. There's going to be like a drum circle. There's going to be stargazing.

This like itinerary, I think really just pushes us to do things that we've never done before. And I think in that vein, it feels like a really holistic way to do continuous learning, especially in a new environment. Yeah. So this wellness retreat, which is called rewell by. Rob Report is going to be in the Arizona desert, which I've never been, I don't think I've ever been to Arizona. Have I been? No, I don't remember. Have you been? Yeah. Oh, Camp Snowball? Yeah, I've been to Arizona quite a few times. Oh, I went to a leadership summit when I was in high school twice, two summers in a row in Tucson, Arizona. Called Camp Snowball. Called Camp Snowball. Oh, so you've been to Tucson.

Yeah. Okay, I don't think I've ever been to Tucson. It's going to be hot. Yeah. It's going to be very hot. Yeah. So one thing I'm really excited about for this retreat is the type of learning it is. It's not career-oriented learning, right? It's learning from these experts on all these areas on how to almost better manage yourself and better manage your emotions, better manage your health, your mental health. And I think that that's something that I'm really learning as I'm getting older, that it's important to also invest in these areas of self-development. Yeah, I don't think it's like as obvious of like take this public speaking course or take this course in learning how to incorporate AI into your workflow. But this is more like holistic learning. I like I truly believe

that if I like learn more about myself, about longevity, about how to sleep better, like it will have a profound effect on the way that I live my life and also do my work as well. Yeah. And I want to see what equine therapy will do. Truly. My therapist says that equine therapy will be very good for me. And I'm like, what do you mean? He's like, you just have to find out. Okay, no, there's so there's all these studies. I think, I don't know if they're, you know, clinical studies, but there are studies that horses, because they are such a large organism, they can sense your heartbeat and your state of being,

even from, like, farther away. And then it helps you because they're bigger. I think, like, you can sync to them and you can sync to each other. I don't know. This is not, this part is not scientifically researched, but it is. This is vibes. Like, courses have vibes. This part is vibes. But I think that the vibes, it might unlock something.

Yeah. I mean, they also say, like, I don't know if it has to do the size of an animal, but also, like, elephants are, like, really smart and also in tune with, like, human emotions. So next elephant therapy? Elephant therapy. Okay, moving on. I think there's something to be said about changing your environment and going to a new place to learn. Yes. Because sometimes we can really be.

stuck in our day-to-day routine, which I love routine. Don't get me wrong, but like bringing yourself out of that every now and then and really being able to experience something in person, I think is really beautiful. Yeah. And in this retreat, we're going to be learning by doing. We're going to be attending the sessions. We're going to be engaging in the drum circle and also meeting other people who are like-minded. And I think learning by doing is also a very specific modality that I love. Hmm, she loves the modalities. Well, speaking of learning by doing, that takes us to our next section, which is basically learning through classes, like classes of any kind. Quick pause, Tiger Fam.

We've been using granola lately, and it's been an absolute game changer. Granola is an AI-powered notepad that helps you stay present during your meetings, and you can look at all the notes and transcriptions after the meeting ends. It's actually so useful, and you can use it for so many instances. but the one that actually me and my girlfriends were talking about this weekend is that you can actually use it for interviews. Wait, that's so true because an interview is one of those instances where you actually need to be so present. Right. So with granola, you can actually still take notes in the interview like you normally would if you want to. But granola is securely transcribing the entire meeting in the background and it turns it into these really useful notes when the meeting is over. And for an interview, I love that you come away with transcription and notes.

But you're not sacrificing the need to be fully engaged the entire time. Yeah, that's my favorite part too, because in the meeting or in the interview, you can be curious, you can ask better follow up questions, you can actually follow their line of thinking and dig into it more. And so it's actually just your normal meeting, but with superpowers. Yeah, I've just been in meetings where, like, I'm talking to someone and I'm, like, typing at the same time. And I'm, like, kind of like, half listening, half typing. And so I think with Grinola, because you have the transcription, you don't have to. to be doing so many things at the same time. So if meetings are eating up your day, granola is a

no-brainer. You can try it totally free. Just head to granola.a.a.coma slash tiger sisters to get your time back. Try it for free at granola.coma.i slash tiger sisters. Thanks guys. Now back to the show. So, Shari, what are some ways that you've been learning through classes or tutorials or anything like that? Yeah, I think Jean and I have really been more intentional about bringing this like format into our lives. And maybe in ways that are not super intuitive. Like when you think about class, you think about sitting down in a classroom and there's a teacher. But one example I'd love to give is personal training. I think this is one form of learning that Jean and I have been doing where we have a...

In case you guys can't tell. Yeah, can you guys tell? Turn on your video. Yeah, turn on your video. Turn on your video and take a look. the studio. We look great. But we've been doing personal training sessions in tandem with the both of us and one trainer.

And it's been really like, I actually don't think it's exaggerating to say it's life-changing. I really do feel like it's life-changing. I've never had a personal trainer before this in my mind before I was like, it's so expensive. Like I could just go to the gym and do things myself. I can, you know, learn through like YouTube videos. But I feel like with personal training and also with weightlifting, which I'm not very familiar. you're with. I've learned by myself, but like I've never actually had any formal training in weightlifting and I think doing it correctly so you don't hurt yourself is something that's very

important to me and Jean. And also just like looking good with weight training is like, this is something I'm so excited to invest in. Yeah. And so we have a personal trainer. We've been going once a week. We've tried to bump it up to twice a week, which we just started doing that. So you guys will see that in the next episode. Exactly. You'll see the results of that in the next episode. But I really love this because it keeps us on a schedule for weight training, which I find very difficult. Like, I think it's really hard to get to the gym. I think there's some people who are like, they can go every day. They have that internal motivation.

I am not one of those people. I need to like pull myself to the gym. I'm very comfortable on a couch. After I work out, I'm very happy that I did. But I think I really lack that motivation to go sometimes. So having a trainer who creates the exercises so you don't have to think of it. about it, I think is a way to make it easier for us to do this type of class. Okay. When I sell my business, I want the best tax and investment advice. I want to help my

kids, and I want to give back to the community. Ooh, then it's the vacation of a lifetime. I wonder if my out of office has a forever setting. An IG private wealth advisor creates the clarity you need with plans that harmonize your business, your family, and your dreams. Get financial advice that puts you at the center. Find your advisor at IDprivatewealth.com. Yeah, I think in many cases, self-directed learning is really important and beautiful and wonderful to invest in. But I will say that having the personal trainer has been also huge for me because prior to working with our trainer, I never ever even entered the weight room. She never lifted a weight. No, I lifted, but I would only go to this other section where they had some weights, but it was like near the, you know,

bar or near the Pilates room. But I never went to the actual weight room where all the like muscular people were and like pumping iron. It's kind of scary. It's intimidating. It's super intimate. At least it was for me. I was really, really intimidated because first of all, you don't want to hurt yourself. And second of all, I don't really know what I'm doing in there. So I just never went in there. And now I'm occupying like literally physically occupying a whole new space wow let's take up that space girl think that space I think previously like you would do um like lighter weights you're comfortable doing like five 10 pounds 15 but like now jean is like hip thrusting like 210 215 15 so like that is crazy going from and also doing it safely whoever is watching I can probably hip thrust you

but I'm very proud to say I think doing it safely too because she didn't start at 210 or 215. You work your way up and we have a personal trainer who's directing us to do it in a safe way. We keep saying safe because like obviously we don't want to hurt ourselves and injury, especially at this age, it's like hard to come back from. I know a lot of friends who injure themselves doing weights. So waitlifting. Anyway, that's one example. That's one example. Okay, another example I'll bring up for self-directed learning. I am taking acting classes. It's all about her guys. It's all about her. I mean, you. You can share your learning next.

But I am taking acting classes. And I'm exploring this facet of my life. Am I acting right now? Is she not acting? Am she acting? She's only done two classes. I've only done, well, technically I've only done one consultation and then another free audit. And Jean and I are actually signed up for another free audit consultation next week.

So I think get ready guys get ready we're gonna up level ready for me after me post one consultation I don't know what I Okay so for acting the goal there is to see if what can I learn and what can I take away from This new realm and also curriculum of acting Can it make me better at podcasting? That's a question I have Will it translate can it translate and the second thing I have is like we're in Hollywood baby I kind of want to try out acting, right? Like, it seems like the perfect time. And maybe I'll like it, question mark. That's something I need to figure out. And maybe I'll be good at it, question mark. Or maybe I'll be

complete shit at it. And that's okay too, because like we said, learning, it's okay to be a bad beginner at things. I also think it's good because in a way, by taking these classes, we're manifesting the things that would be coming after the classes, right? It's like you're kind of getting ready for the next stage of where you hope to be, right? Like if we want to be in commercials or in whatever. A Christopher Nolan film. Sorry. Am I, am I? She aims high. Am I girl bossing too close to the sun right now? I'm just going to put it out there. She said Christopher Nolan. She said his name. Say his name three times though. You never know who's watching Christopher Nolan, Christopher Nolan, Christopher Your Sisters podcast.

But I think also something here is two points. One, I am looking at all the free things out there. And I have not exhausted the free things yet because I still need to do YouTube deep dives and figure out like what information can I glean from the internet that is out there and is for free. Because these acting classes are expensive. Yeah. And I'm like, I need to figure out an alternative.

And that's why we're doing all these free audits. Yes. I think that's actually a really good point. is that what Cherie naturally does is she does a lot of research. We need to be free maxing. In this economy? In this economy, we need be free maxing. And I don't think that's taking advantage of free things, but I think it's being able to find them and use them.

Yeah. Because they're offered. Like there's these free audits for all these different studios, and I want to go to all of them to figure out which one's the right studio for me. And maybe I'll pick up different things and different methodologies from different teachers. The second thing for the acting class, which I just started, is I'm trying to figure out a way to incorporate it weekly to have momentum. Another weekly thing. I think it's kind of hard to take one thing once a month to build a habit or a class. I think it can be done if it's like a structured curriculum.

But because I'm on the hook for myself, like I'm trying to do something weekly, whether it's a class or like a sit down, watch YouTube and learn like for. for an hour a week, but like I kind of want to maintain that habit and curriculum myself. I've already asked Cherie to bake bread weekly because she's baked bread two weeks in a row and it's so, so good. Bake bread meaning like literally like use flour and water and yeast and create a love. I've asked her to get that bread both figuratively and literally at this point. Jean's point is that I have a lot of hobbies and a lot of continuous learning that I'm doing. So it's it's...

She's homesteading. So I need a priority. in my life. She's also gardening. She's, yeah. There's a lot. Well, so, Gene, what is one class or way that you are bringing continuous learning into your life? One thing that I've invested in in the past is tennis lessons. And I guess I'm not taking them right now, but I will say it's also okay to have different seasons of continuous learning because I was doing those tennis lessons when I had a little bit more of a more flexible schedule than now. And so that was like the right time in my life. to do it. The other thing I'll bring up that I think is a really cool idea is a friend of mine has been

taking community college courses at, I think, Santa Monica Community College. And she took one about art history. Love that. I think it was actually her and her husband did it together. And she doesn't have an art history background that wasn't her major in college. But it's just something that she wanted to learn more and get to be more proficient in. And so she did that. I think it's fabulous. You can sign up for community college classes. Or I think if you do a little bit of extra research, figure out the professor who is teaching the class and email them and ask them to audit. That is a way you can get in faux free. Free maxing.

I've heard of people doing that. However, if you do enroll in the class and pay money for the class, supposedly you get a student email. Yes. And a student ID. And you can go far and free max with a student ID. You can get into a lot of things. You can get that student discount for Amazon Prime. You can get this is not sponsored.

Lots of it. You can also get student discount for the icon and Epic SkiPass, which is thousands of dollars, and you can save hundreds of dollars if you have a student ID. You know someone who did that? Yes, I do. An adult? Yes, I do. With their community college classes? Yeah.

With their higher education. Oh. Hot tip. Hot tip, hot tip. Free matching. Although that's not free, but, you know, it's saving money. Yeah. You can get into a lot of museums for a discounted rate with student IDs.

Anyways, there's many pros of being a student again and also formally being a student again. Hey, Tiger fam, take five seconds to subscribe to the Tiger Sisters podcast. When you subscribe, you are notified every single time a new episode drops. And if you're listening on Spotify or Apple Podcasts, please rate us five stars and leave a comment about this podcast because it really helps people discover our content and it helps us to continue to make the show for you. If you're listening to this on Spotify right now, take this opportunity to turn on the video. Thanks. Now back to the show. So we talked about retreats, we talked about classes and now we're going to talk about conferences. Gene and I are huge fans of

conferences for many reasons. I think it's a very easy way to tap into continuous learning. Usually conferences are like one day, I mean, there can be half day conferences, but like one day, two day, three day conferences. There are sit down sessions where you're literally looking through the itinerary, finding a panel or a discussion conversation that you're interested in. And you go in, I always have my notebook taking notes on those panel discussions. But I think there's also a lot of informal learning as well that happens at conferences that we love where you're meeting people, you're networking, and you never know who you're going to meet at a conference really, where it can spark the next big unlock for your career.

So right now we're kind of talking about like professional career conferences, but obviously there's many types of conferences where you can meet people who kind of help you up level. I think that that is such a good example of the concept of actually being in the room, right? There's something very, is it intangible or is it literally tangible? about being in that physical space where other people are. And everyone is there to kind of give and get energy. Right? Like it's something that you opt into.

Nobody, for the most part, you don't have to be at a conference. Yeah. So you are choosing to go there. You're choosing to spend your time, your money, your energy to be in that space with other people. So they are, it's a unique opportunity where for the most part, other people are open to meeting you and vice versa. Yeah. And we have a really great conversation with Matt Abrams, who was on our podcast, specifically talked about conferences. It's, and figuring out how to network and how to talk to people, because it can be awkward, especially if you go by yourself to a conference. You're like,

I feel so alone and there's like a hundred people next to me. How do I go up to someone? Yeah. So check out that episode with Matt Abraham. Yes. Who is the professor of communications at Stanford. Yeah. So I think that's a really great way to ease into conferences. So one of One example of a conference that we went to earlier this year that was very fruitful was the Milken Institute conference back in May in Beverly Hills, which is a gathering of kind of like political, finance, culture, philanthropy, just kind of like thought leaders across all of those industries. And it was the first time going for both of us. I would say the learning there. I wasn't really sure what I was going to get out of that conference. I was like, okay, I'll attend these few panels and that'll be great.

But I really wanted to bring up one conversation that blew my mind. And this was kind of like unexpected. So Gene and I went to a conversation between Rahm Emanuel and former governor of Virginia, Glenn Yonkin. And we had Rahm Emanuel on our podcast several months ago. And as you know, he has a reputation for being a pretty feisty debater. And this stage was, it was kind of electric. I don't know have any other word to describe it.

But these two politicians really got into it in front of us. It was what I would like to call a live debate between Rahm Emanuel and Glenn Yonking. And it was fascinating. They were talking about education. They were talking about policy. They're talking about like global economic policy as well, which honestly, I am not a policy person. I think I have much to learn there.

So hearing two experts in policy kind of go at it. I was like, it felt what I would imagine like a. presidential debate to be like, you know? It had that kind of vibe. Yeah. It was actually really fun. See, this is such a good example of being in the room where it happens because they were like slanging barbs at each other. Like they were getting Glenn Yonkin or former governor, Glenn Yonkin. We should probably give them, we should probably say their former governor Glenn Yonkin was all red in the face. Yeah. He was like super, super ruddy. And then Rom was like getting all like worked up. Yeah. I mean, it was just like, you had your time. Let me have my time.

I was like, oh my God. This felt like a real political debate. It was electric, I would say. And also, I would say because it wasn't, because it was in a smaller format, I think they were saying things that they wouldn't normally say on TV, for example, or in something that is sort of like more prepared. I liked it because it felt very candid. And in the spirit of continuous learning, it was definitely something I had never seen before. So I thought that was really special to go to a panel like this at a conference and be like, whoa. I had some takeaways that I was like taking notes on like about policy, but also just seeing the environment of this type of debate between politicians really opened my eyes to like, wow, this is a sector that I don't really understand.

Yes. And it actually made me more interested in the sector. I will be honest. Yeah. It made me more curious about it, maybe more excited. It made me. want to learn more and maybe get involved in some way. Yeah. I think that's a great outcome from going to a conference. Yeah. Being like, let me dive into this more. Or you're being exposed to new topics,

areas that you're like, I didn't know this about this. Yeah. It was good. It was good. And it was not what we expected from that conference at all. Like I thought it was mostly going to be focused on finance and philanthropy, which we did go to some of those talks as well. But this was a nice surprise.

Yeah. So I would highly recommend going to a new environment, like we said, going to a conference. I think conferences usually have an air of excitement around them because it's kind of buzzing. You're like with people who are open to conversation generally and you will be exposed to a ton of new ideas. Hey guys. It came to my attention that some of you don't know, we have a matcha brand. What? A macho brand?

Yes. Some of my friends were talking to me, like, wait, you guys have a matcha brand, and it's called Sister's Mata. Gene and I started it in October 2024. And it's something that means a lot to us because I lived and worked on the farm where we source the matcha from. This Macha brand is our baby, and we are so passionate about it. And we really love everything that has gone into it. There's just so much love and passion that goes into our company, and we want to share it with you guys. We source from a small family farm just an hour and a half.

outside of Kyoto called wazuka is the name of the town and it's absolutely incredible we've visited the farm we've worked on the farm and we're so excited to bring it to you so you can find out more at sisters macha dot com that's sisters macha dot com all righty now back to the show okay tiger fam so we want to wrap up with a mini exercise after we've given you our own personal examples we want you to think through some of these questions for self-reflection so the first one is If you could take one class right now purely for fun, what would it be? Ceramics. Really?

I love ceramics so much. Okay. Cool. That's what I did in high school. Yeah. When you finish your APs and you have basically one month free, you can do a self-directed study. And I did a self-directed study in ceramics and watercolor. It was like one of my happiest times because I would just spend all day with the clay.

Okay. Okay. Yeah. But it was wonderful. Yeah. Okay. For me... Wait, where are we supposed

to answer these questions? I don't know. You answered them, so I'm going to answer them. But I really liked how your friend Sam took an art history class. Yeah. I would love to take an art history class. I took two semesters in college, but that did not really... Same.

It fed the fire in me, but I need more. I need more, more, more, more art history. I want to know everything. I want to know everything. I want to do more architecture. Oh, my God. God. I would love to learn more architecture. Okay, you know what? If we change the question a little bit to also be what would you want to be an intern in? Oh, I would love to be an intern at Sotheby's or Christie's.

Especially the Hong Kong ones. Oh. Or the Asian ones. Specializing in Asian art. Wouldn't that be amazing? Yeah. You would learn so much. And like, I mean, that's kind of always been my like side dream to be like an art girlie. be Charlotte from Second of the City to have your own art gallery. Yes. That's so chic. Oh, thanks. Okay, I like that. So if you could take one college class right now, what would it be just for fun?

And if you can be an intern in anything just for fun, what would that be? Oh, my gosh. My answer? Because I'm into acting right now. Sorry, that's not what actors do. But I would love to work on set. Oh. Or I'd love to be the intern for Christopher Nolan.

Wow, she said his name four times now. Or I'd love to be an intern on set, like a directing intern. Yeah, yeah. Just to be around and absorb everything that's going on. So for The Odyssey, maybe a Greta Gerwig, your fellow. Yes, Barnard alum. A fellow Barnard alum. Greta.

Greta, call her. Well, I was going to say for The Odyssey, Christopher Nolan, who's the director, he had Travis Scott, like, come in or Travis Scott came in. Who was also an actor? Who was also an actor in the movie. But he came in and, like, shadowed him, like, from the wee hours in the morning for, like, all day. So he can absorb the movie set and everything that went on. I'm just like, what one in one experience.

Yeah, I think that would be really cool. Oh, my God. I would die. I agree. Okay. Let me give you one last question. Is there anything you were once considered good at that you realize you need to relearn or revisit? Oh, shit.

Okay, for me, since she asked, the viola. Oh, that's so sweet. I used to be really good at viola, guys. I was the first chair of the Metropolitan Youth Orchestra, the New York Metropolitan Youth Orchestra. In high school? In high school. Yeah.

Yeah. And I used to perform all over the world. Yeah. That's so beautiful. But now I'm like terrified of revisiting it, honestly, honestly, because I feel like I can't even read music anymore. I don't know if I would even know how to read music anymore. I don't know if I could even play anything anymore. That's okay.

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That's the whole point. Oh, my God, I want to hug you. It's okay to be a bad beginner. I know. Begin again. I know. That's really tough. Well, like shed all the expectations you have of yourself.

It was when you were like Frickin' 1617, like you can revisit it. I love that. I know, but it is really scary because I used to be really good. Yeah. And now I think I would just be terrible. That's okay. You can be terrible.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. You can be terrible. Okay, for me. I don't know, I think maybe something around the like the arts as well. What about soccer? No. I played soccer when I was in. referencing them when I played soccer in kindergarten and threw up. That was really traumatizing. I told you, I want to be good at sports. I give it my all, even in kindergarten. And I threw up. I threw up. She threw up. And it was the one time where mom was like, okay, you don't have to play anymore. Right. She like withdrew you from the team. She's like, you gave it. You're all. Honey, I understand. See, I'm like not good at sports, but I give it my, I'm very determined. I would say I would love to revisit singing.

Yeah. Oh, because I was in women's choir and also in chorus all throughout middle school, high school. I stopped obviously in college. But I think that could be fun to take some voice lessons. Her singing has gotten better over the years. It has, right? It has. Yeah, your ear is more attuned. Yes. And my singing has gotten worse because I haven't exercised it as much. Yeah. True. Her thing has gotten worse, guys. But it used to be much better than yours because I have like a higher level of musicality. Totally, totally. It's kind of a reverse. She was always the better singer for most of our life. And within the last like three years, somehow I've become a better singer than her. Because I kind of stopped singing. Yeah.

And you start singing more. She stops singing. I don't know why, but that sounds like such a depressing line. She stopped singing and she stopped singing. The fan. No. We won't. We won't start out.

We won't start out. We won't start out. But I hope these many exercise questions help the thoughts kind of just percolate in you so you can figure out what you want to start learning again or perhaps revisiting. So I think one takeaway is that in this world of ours, there's always more to learn, there's always more to explore, there's always more to be curious about. And you can be open to that. And you can actually even in adulthood, dedicate your time and energy to that.

I love it. I think there's always more to learn. I think that's also the mindset that Gene and I apply to our lives, our daily lives and our professional lives. There's always ways to learn and grow. And in our day-to-day, it's just figuring out ways you can be more intentional about it. So going through these many exercises, really reflecting and thinking through what am I curious about, how do I stoke that curiosity?

And how do I really tamp down on like what should I learn and being like very too prescriptive about it? but like figure out what you're curious in. All right, and Tiger Fam, please remember to follow or subscribe wherever you're getting this podcast. It really helps people discover Tiger Sisters and helps our podcast grow. Also, we have a newsletter, the Tiger Sisters newsletter, which you can find in the description below. Thanks so much and we'll see you next time. Bye!