Level the Field, Change the Future

A conversation with Melyssa Jaskiewicz, Founder & Executive Director of Leveling the Fields

Listen to Episode 63

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Every so often a conversation on the Your Financial Maven^® Podcast wanders somewhere I don’t expect — and this was one of them. On paper, my guest Melyssa Jaskiewicz and I come from different worlds: she spent nearly two decades as a sales and sports-technology executive, and I’ve spent more than thirty years in accounting. But the moment we started talking, it was clear we were circling the same truth. Confidence, leadership, and the belief that you’re worth something doesn't begin with a paycheck. They begin much earlier — and for a lot of girls, they can begin on a playing field.

What Is Money, Anyway?

I like to open with a deceptively simple question: "What is Money?" Melyssa’s answer has stuck with me. After years of personal-growth work, she’d let go of the idea that money is either evil or everything, and landed somewhere far healthier — money brings comfort and security, and it’s meant to move.

“You have to view money like a river. You have to let it in and out.”

She was honest that she once held on too tightly and missed out on opportunities because she was afraid to spend. It’s a mindset I see all the time in my own work, and it’s exactly why financial confidence matters every bit as much as financial knowledge.

The Statistic That Started It All

Melyssa’s road to founding Leveling the Fields began on a flight home from a 2024 conference — one featuring, for the first time in its history, an all-female panel. She picked up a speaker’s book and hit a number she couldn’t shake: only about 24% of C-suite executives are women, and 94% of them played sports.

As she kept pulling the thread, more data followed — girls who play sports are more likely to graduate high school and go on to college, among other lasting benefits. Which led to the obvious question: if sports do all of this, why aren’t more girls playing? The answer came down to three barriers — cost, options, and access. She landed from that flight knowing exactly what came next, left her corporate career, and went all in.

“You really can’t see yourself in something that doesn’t exist.”

Removing the Barriers

Leveling the Fields exists to knock those three barriers down. Its flagship program, EmpowerPlay, brings multi-sport programming and leadership development directly into elementary schools — so girls don’t have to find their way to the field; the field comes to them. Sessions run twice a week, two hours at a time: roughly 80 minutes of sport instruction and 30 minutes with an empowerment journal.

That journal is where a lot of the magic happens. One exercise asks each girl to point to someone else in the circle and say something kind — a small act that teaches them to look for the good in others and to lift each other up. Melyssa told me about a girl at one of their camps who wanted nothing to do with the program at first. Her coach never forced it, just kept gently inviting her. By week six or seven, that same girl wasn’t only participating — she was volunteering to lead the drills.

Now that we talked about what Leveling the Fields does, I wanted to delve into the business side of a Nonprofit as well as tying it back to Understanding your Money.

A Nonprofit Is Still a Business

As a CPA who once spent six and a half years running a nonprofit myself, I appreciated how clear-eyed Melyssa is about the business side of the work. There’s a stubborn myth that everyone in the nonprofit world should work for free — and she’s having none of it.

“Good people deserve to get paid good rates, period.”

She framed it in terms anyone can picture: buy an $8 coffee and most of that money funds the corporation; give to a mission like hers and most of it goes to the girls. Her monthly giving program — the “Ground Crew,” starting at $15 a month — is named for the people building the organization from the ground up. Her point, and mine: judge a nonprofit by its impact, not by a single line item.

From the Playing Field to a Paycheck

Here’s where it all connects back to money. So many women, Melyssa pointed out, simply won’t negotiate their salary. But a girl who learns she can try a hard thing, lead a drill, and be valued for it grows into a woman far more likely to walk into her boss’s office and say she’s worth more. We talked about the small, hard skills that build that muscle — not apologizing for what you need, and learning to say a simple “thank you” when someone compliments you instead of shrinking from it.

It’s the same confidence that lets a woman take the reins of her own financial life. I see the flip side often: a spouse or partner handles everything, and when that person is suddenly gone, she’s left not knowing where to start. Building that confidence early is how we change that story.

Kindness, Curiosity, and Filling Your Own Cup

Melyssa keeps kindness at the root of everything Leveling the Fields does — she’ll thank the server who refills her water all seventeen times, and she says hi to strangers on a bike ride whether or not they say it back. A few lines from our conversation have stayed with me. On taking honest ownership of your life: "Whatever you’re not changing, you’re choosing.”

And on the reality of building something big without running yourself into the ground — a message I push hard with the women in my own field: “You can’t pour from an empty cup.”

The Real Takeaway

As I told my listeners, this episode wasn’t strictly about money. But it was about everything money sits on top of: confidence, leadership, resilience, and self-worth. When we teach those things early — and when we make sure girls actually get the chance to build them — we’re not just leveling one field. We’re leveling all of them. Or, as Melyssa would put it: "When more girls play, more women lead." And yes, the two of us are already scheming about bringing financial literacy into those empowerment journals. Stay tuned.

Where to Find Leveling the Fields

Website:  levelingthefields.org

Instagram, TikTok & YouTube:  @levelingthefields

Support the mission:  Join the Ground Crew monthly giving program (from $15/month)

This podcast is for educational, informational, and entertainment purposes only and is not a substitute for advice from your CPA, tax, or financial professional. 

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