SJBiz_WomenToWatch_0221_V2FINAL.qxp_Layout 1 2 / 19 / 21 3 : 11 PM Page 5 Women toWatch Tamara Kukainis Merodie A . Hancock President , Thomas Edison Senior Partner and President , State University Schwartz Financial Associates Hancock is a nationally recog - Kukainis has been a certified finan - nized leader in innovative and cial planner since 1987 and she professional education pro - took over the reins at Schwartz Fi - grams for non - traditional stu - nancial Associates a decade later dents . She has dedicated her after previously working in corpo - rate banking and cash manage - career to serving a multitude of ment . During her tenure , she has underrepresented populations had a direct hand in successfully ex - and advises regularly at the panding the practice in offering cus - state , national and international tomized financial planning solutions levels . for a wide variety of clients . What is your proudest accomplishment ? How did you first get into your profession ? I am most proud of the fact that I brought my A game to both my profession and being a mother . I completed my I was working in corporate banking for six years when my father Ph.D . as a working parent with a spouse who was fre - approached me with the opportunity to join him in his practice quently deployed . I will never forget a professor who told and eventually take over . There were no job share or flex - time me I needed to choose between being a mommy and opportunities for women at the time in my industry , and we being a professional . This scenario is not unique to me . were starting our family . So , I took a chance ( and a big pay cut ) Any working mother knows the challenges . and joined him and never looked back . What do you love about your industry ? What do you want your legacy to be ? It is the perfect combination for me of analytics , problem I am focused on expanding educational opportunities for solving and personal assistance . While our industry is focused adults and underrepresented populations . These are the on growing wealth and asset protection , there is a huge hard - working people who use their degrees to change element of helping individuals , families and businesses realize their lives . I suppose you could say I hope my legacy is their dreams and overcome obstacles . That is something that having opened the door for our graduates to create their energizes me and gives me enormous satisfaction . own legacies . What do you want your legacy to be ? I worked and loved hard . I always did my best to improve the lives of my family , friends and clients . And that I did so with Rebecca Ting honesty . Senior Vice President , NAI Mertz Ting has over 25 years of corpo - rate real estate experience . She has Sandi Rapp represented various institutional Co - Founder , Time To Flourish owners and has been responsible As managing and operating for asset management , leasing and partner of a women - owned busi - sales of millions of square feet of ness , Rapp spends much of her mid - rise , one - story office , retail and time leading other organizations flex projects . Over the past few through operational and financial years Ting has produced transac - transformations . She accomplishes tions in leasing and sales valuing in this through building and main - excess of $ 100 million . taining high - performing teams and executing strategy in alignment What is your proudest accomplishment ? with financial and operational Working in a male - dominated industry and being a working goals . mom demanded a balancing of priorities . It has led me down a path to realize the importance of family and how important How did you first get into your profession ? it is to have balance in our lives . I am most proud , not only of Whether it was building puzzles as a kid or turning around a what I was able to achieve in business but in keeping and struggling business , I have always enjoyed solving problems . maintaining the balance in work and the lives of my family . Early in my career , I worked my way up from an entry - level role to become president of that $ 140 million company . If you could meet any woman in the world , past , present or future , who would it be ? What is your personal motto ? Mother Teresa . I would have liked to meet and share her spirit The quote , “ It’s not the size of the dog in the fight ; it’s the of humbleness and desire to help others with so little . She size of the fight in the dog ” has always resonated with me . was someone who had very little in worldly possessions but I truly believe in the power of resilience , perseverance and did so much to help so many . heart to overcome adversities and obstacles in all aspects of our lives . 28 | SOUTH JERSEY BIZ | VOLUME 11 ISSUE 2 | SouthJerseyBiz.net 28 | SOUTH JERSEY BIZ | VOLUME 11 ISSUE 2 | SouthJerseyBiz.net