In this concise 6‑questions‑in‑7‑minutes interview, Professor Pete Alexander talks with Kelly Paxton, a Certified Fraud Examiner and self‑described "pink‑collar crime" specialist. Kelly explains her role investigating garden‑variety embezzlement, shares a humorous anecdote about a thief named Monica Moneymaker who stole over $500,000, and emphasizes the importance of making fraud topics memorable through humor and hashtags. She advises companies to focus on a strong "tone at the top" and create psychological safety so employees feel comfortable reporting concerns. Kelly also recommends "surprise and delight" tactics for employees—randomly checking smaller transactions to keep staff alert and reinforce internal controls. When asked for a guest referral, she suggests a reformed embezzler, Tom Hughes, to provide a unique perspective. Kelly recounts her first job as a runner on the Chicago Board of Trade, describing the fast‑paced, high‑stakes environment that sparked her interest in decision‑making and fraud dynamics. The episode closes with her contact information: LinkedIn (Kelly Paxton), website pinkcollarcrime.com, and Twitter @PDX_CFE.
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This is Professor Pete Alexander with the Winning at Business and Life podcast, where business leaders share their insights. It is 6 questions in 7 minutes because successful business leaders are busy and rarely have more time to spare. So let's get to it. Question number 1: In a few sentences, please tell me who you are and what you do.
I'm Kelly Paxton. I am a certified fraud examiner, private investigator, but I am most known as the pink collar crime expert, which is garden variety embezzlement investigator.
Well, Kelly, it's an absolute pleasure to have you on the show. Question number 2: What is something that makes you smile and/or laugh about working in your industry?
Um, fraud humor. I am known as the fraud hashtag queen also, and I use a lot of hashtags, and one of them Fraud is a depressing subject. However, if we can make it fun, people will remember it. As a matter of fact, I had a woman who I just highlighted, her name was Monica Moneymaker. It should have been Monica Moneytaker 'cause she stole over $500,000. So I try to make it fun because it is so serious.
Wow, her real last name was Moneymaker?
Yes.
I'll be darned, that is a great story. Question number 3, I have a fictitious book with all the answers Business. What chapter would you think most companies should read?
Tone at the Top. I want businesses to have a good tone at the top and to have psychological safety for their employees because #TipsFindFraud. If people don't feel comfortable going to management about a problem, well, they're not going to find out.
I think that's really great. And then the longer that that progresses without them finding out, the bigger the problem, I assume. Am I right? Absolutely. Yep, yep, that's a great suggestion. Question number 4: other than the generic work harder, have a great attitude, and care for customers, what advice or insight would you give to other business leaders?
Um, surprise and delight. And I mean that not as customer service, I mean it surprise and delight your employees. So if you always look at checks at over $5,000, put Pull one for 1,000. So they know you're on your toes and you are paying attention to it. So I like to say surprise and delight your employees.
I like that too, because you're right. If they think that, you know, employees are not going to be dumb. So if they think that there's a pattern of only things that you look at, those are the ones that they'll be careful with, but the other ones they might be taking more risk with.
Absolutely.
Yeah, yeah, that's great, great advice. Thank you. Question number 5: What other business leader like yourself would you like to acknowledge and invite to be on my podcast?
So I thought hard about this, and I think you should have a reformed fraudster on your podcast, someone who has committed embezzlement and has, you know, paid their debt to society and now speaks about it. And that would be Tom Hughes. So, um, again, pink-collar crime is about position, not gender. So a man can be a pink-collar criminal, and Tom Hughes does a great job talking about his experiences.
Oh, I'd be very interested in interviewing him. Thank you for that referral. And our final question, question number 6: please tell me about your first job.
My first job was at the Chicago Board of Trade, and I was a runner in the agricultural trading room. And I got paid very, very little. I think it was like minimum wage, maybe a little bit more. And it was fascinating to me because people from all over the world came. And at the heart of it was people making decisions. They're making trading decisions. It's commodities. So kind of like stocks. Very, very fast-paced, huge investments that could go one way or another. And to see how people responded was fascinating to me.
I love that too. And it must have been so fast-paced, you know, everything that we see, like, about the exchanges, there's always just a lot of commotion going on. Was that what you experienced as well?
Oh, absolutely. And, you know, you would see when there was 1 minute left to the trading day and just a frenzy. And it was funny, the runners— they're called runners— You know, it would be, oh, it's my turn to get that last order in. It was just absolute, you know, adrenaline.
Oh, I can imagine. So it sounds like it's the truth for, uh, for what we see on TV and in the movies.
Absolutely.
So Kelly, thank you so much for being on the show. How could people find you?
The easiest place is LinkedIn. I'm Kelly Paxton on LinkedIn. My website is pinkcollarcrime.com, and I am on Twitter at PDX C-F-E. So I tweet regularly, but LinkedIn is kind of my home base.
Perfect. This is Professor Pete Alexander with the Winning at Business and Life podcast. Thanks for listening.
