Meet the Team
Sarah Tolson Kim, CFP®, Founder
Sarah Tolson Kim, CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ Practitioner, is passionate about helping women create custom wealth-building plans tailored to their goals and lifestyles. As a second generation financial planner, Sarah carries on her family's mission of providing trusted personal financial advice for her clients.
Sarah has a Bachelor of Science in Business from the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University. She joined her family’s firm in 2006 after several years in a successful retail merchandising career with Target Corporation and Abercrombie & Fitch.
Having served on the Board of Directors for the Junior League of the Oakland-East Bay and the Financial Women of San Francisco, Sarah participates in philanthropic work regularly. She is also actively involved in the the highly regarded peer advisory group the WPO: Women Presidents Organization and ProVisors.
In addition to financial consulting, Sarah is an entertaining and captivating public speaker; and she is currently writing a book about financial planning for women with young families. She was a featured presenter at the 2012 Women In Leadership Conference at the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley, the 2013 YMCA Young Women & Money Conference, and the 2015 East Bay Women's Conference. In her spare time, Sarah enjoys playing golf, cooking, and traveling with her husband and two young childen.
Email: skim@financialguide.com
Phone: (925) 736-3024
Leslie J. Pettinelli, CLTC
Successfully guiding clients since 2011, Leslie Pettinelli is known for her keen ability and intuitive approach to helping people build wealth, especially empowering women. Her vision for the future is focused on making financial success less intimidating, more engaging and enjoyable (even fun!), and certainly more accessible.
As a second-generation financial advisor, her proactive guidance and dedication quickly earns Leslie the trust and loyalty of her clients. They often turn to her for advice on more than financial, but life decisions, seeking her opinion and guidance. Strong relationships are the foundation for Leslie’s success, both professionally and personally.
Her love for the ocean (and travel!) led her to the Dominican Republic where she met her wonderful husband, Alejandro, and their adventures now include their little one, James. As a native of the Bay area, you can often find Leslie enjoying the outdoors walking or spending time swimming at the Bay Club.
In addition to building trust and relationships, Leslie helps clients with a range of financial needs. This includes understanding insurance, employee benefits, company equity such as restricted stock units, options, and employee stock purchase plans. She also assists clients with comprehensive financial planning, wealth management, and disability, life, and long-term care insurance solutions.
While establishing herself as a respected and trusted advisor in the industry, Leslie has had the privilege of speaking about retirement and financial wellness topics at various reputable companies. To name a few, GM, Peet’s Coffee, Disney, Franklin Templeton, Twitter, and The Federal Reserve Bank. Her experience has given countless audience members and clients alike valuable awareness of the importance of investing and saving for retirement.
She understands that beyond trust, actually liking one's advisor is crucial. Research shows that clients who trust and like their advisor tend to have more positive interactions, look forward to meetings, and build lasting relationships…which can be key when working towards one’s financial goals.
Email: lpettinelli@financialguide.com
Phone: (925) 979-2321
Carmen C. Goldsmith, CFP®, ChFEBC
Carmen Goldsmith believes that knowledge is the key to a successful financial future. Her background, experience and commitment to providing clients with the resources they need to make financial decisions, can help make their financial future as successful as they need it to be. Carmen prides herself in getting to know each client so that she can understand their individual needs and what matters most to them. This helps her recommend products and strategies designed to meet their current needs, and more importantly, their future needs.
Carmen began her career at Merrill Lynch in 2000 and shortly after joined MassMutual in 2002. She earned her CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ Certification in 2007. She is fluent in Chinese (Cantonese) and conversational Italian.
Carmen loves to cook, read and travel. When Carmen is not working, she is usually at a Giants baseball game or hiking with her Australian Shepherd, Daisy, at Tilden Park in Berkeley.
Email: ccgoldsmith@financialguide.com
Phone: (415) 743-1002
Karin M. Burk, CLTC
Karin Burk joined the financial services industry in 2002 starting as an agent in La Jolla, California. There she enjoyed working with members of the military, professional athletes, physicians, and small business owners.
Balancing business, family, and military life has inspired Karin to focus on helping individuals and families protect their assets and master wealth accumulation. As a military spouse, she is familiar with the challenges of multitasking a career and being a mom, moving frequently, deployments, learning new languages and cultures, all while managing family finance.
Karin was a Division 1 student- athlete competing on an all-women’s Track & Field team at San Diego State University. There she obtained two BA degrees while also studying in Hawaii, Spain, Costa Rica, and Mexico. Post grad, she completed the Executive Business Program for Certified Financial Planning. Her passion for travel and staying active launched her into running races and a circuit of international triathlons.
Born and raised in San Francisco, California life has come full circle: she and her family have moved back home to the Bay Area where she joined Girls Just Gotta Have Funds in 2021.
Karin currently resides in Sonoma where she is thoroughly enjoying wine country life. If not travelling with her husband and two small children, you can find them all fishing the Napa River, crabbing in Bodega Bay, golfing, or cycling.
Email: kburk@financialguide.com
Phone: (415) 727-4608
Ahna Azevedo
Ahna Azevedo is a Financial Planner and is passionate about helping young professionals and families plan for their financial future. She has 15 years of experience in corporate finance and accounting. Whether their goals include preparing for milestone life events like retirement or sending children to college, Ahna strives to offer a superior level of attention and insight.
Ahna has a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration with an emphasis in Management. Ahna had a 12-year career at OpenTable where she had the opportunity to be an Accountant, Team Lead, Supervisor, and Manager. Earlier in her career, she worked for KPMG LLC focusing on audit and advisory engagement management. Additionally, she has held positions in retail and mortgage banking in the Bay Area.
Ahna grew up in the East Bay and currently resides in San Francisco. In her spare time, Ahna enjoys traveling, cooking, and spending time with her family and pets.
Email: aazevedo@financialguide.com
Phone: (925) 489-1486
Norma Ontiveros
Norma is the Director of Operations and joined the Girls Just Gotta Have Funds Team in 2021. She leverages over a decade of experience in Operations, Hospitality, and Training and Development. Throughout her career, she has been highly involved in creating solutions to help optimize the client experience.
She previously worked as a Regional Operations Director. She began her career as a Disney Cast Member at Disneyland Park and helped to open Disney's California Adventure Park in 2001. In 2019, Norma transitioned to Financial Services focusing primarily on the life insurance business and now supports every facet of the operation including insurance, financial planning, and investments.
Norma is passionate about helping others, enjoys traveling, spending time with her family, and loves dining out and trying new food.
Email: nontiveros@financialguide.com
Phone: (925) 393-0339
Tami Westfall
Tami Westfall excels as the New Business and Marketing Manager and has been with us since 2018. Tami’s primary responsibility is assisting our clients in implementing their chosen financial strategies and guiding them through the new business process. She is an excellent party planner as well helping to coordinate our client events including the annual Valentine's Tea Party, Summer Bocce Ball Tournament, and Nordstrom Holiday Party.
Tami is thrilled to be part of a female-led team of exceptional advisors dedicated to helping clients achieve their financial goals. She takes great pride in the firm’s planning approach and values how clients are treated like family.
A Cal State East Bay graduate, Tami enjoys music, devotedly following the Dodgers, and plotting her next trip to Disneyland, where she counts Big Thunder Railroad as her favorite attraction!
Email: twestfall@financialguide.com
Phone: (925) 979-2375