Hilary RosenHilary Rosen is a founding partner and President of OurChart.com. If you’re a fan of The L Word (Showtime’s prime time lesbian drama) then you already understand the concept behind Alice’s chart and the connections women make.

If not, then hurry and click over to OurChart.com. The Chart (a fabulous feature launching next month) will be an interactive, online social network for lesbians and friends. The site is not only a destination for making connections but a portal where you keep up on all the drama of The L Word.

I asked Hilary to get personal about money, making connections and to mull over some financial aspects of our much loved leading ladies on the show.

1. Helena is our favorite trust fund darling on The L Word and we post about her often at Queercents. Do you have the inside scoop about how she plans to cope with her money problems this season?
Scoops are absolutely out of the question, you’ll have to keep watching! It is safe to say though, that Ilene Chaiken has enriched Helena’s penniless life this year though I am not sure it is the same way that Peggy Peabody intended.

2. What is your most significant memory about money?
My father was an insurance agent. But we never filed claims when anything happened. I remember feeling uninsured.

3. What is your worst habit around finances?
I am an infrequent shopper but I splurge when I do. And I probably reach for the check too often rather than let people be empowered by splitting.

4. Once launched, The Chart will provide lesbians with a social networking tool. Is the intent of the network purely social or is it possible that these connections could help women improve careers and ultimately, the size of their bank account?
The Chart The Chart will make connections of any kind. The social network will be running by mid February 07. Our users will decide what their connection is based upon. I think lesbian lives are often much more integrated with careers than the old days where we kept our work separate because of the closet. Now we succeed when we share and find ways to support each other. My career has definitely been helped by being a lesbian and I make it a point to connect with other women on that basis.

5. What is the most significant lesson you hope to teach your twins about money someday?
It’s hard to teach young kids who grow up in such privilege how lucky they are. I hope I am teaching them that though they need to do pursue work they love, great pride comes with financial independence. And they have an obligation to participate in the kind of world they want to live in which means being generous personally and financially. And pay for home care when I’m old… don’t put me in a home.

6. I see that you are still providing colorful commentary on politics. Is there a price attached to activism?
A price? No. Isn’t there a higher price to not being involved?

7. It seemed that problems began when Bette and Tina experienced a shift in the financial dynamic of their partnership. What role does money play in relationships?
That financial dynamic is pretty common. Sometimes up, sometimes down. Any couple who says they have no money issues between them are lying.

8. My partner and I are spending an obscene amount of money trying to get pregnant. As a lesbian mother, what advice would you give couples trying to manage expenses associated with the baby-making and / or adoption process?
We adopted privately. At the time it seemed really expensive, but it ultimately it was pretty much a fixed cost rather than an open-ended process of medical interventions. No one wants to think of money and having a baby in the same sentence. I guess the most important thing is that no matter how convinced you are that there is only one acceptable way for you to have a baby, in the end, you will love and parent exactly the same way. So be flexible.

9. Which is more important: how much you make or how you spend it?
How you spend it. There has got to be some purpose in your life. Money is only one means to that end.

10. Does money buy happiness?
No. No. No.

More about Hilary Rosen
Hilary Rosen, President of OurChart.com, is a political commentator on television, in print and on-line as well as a consultant specializing in the entertainment, media and technology industries. For 17 years she was at the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), including 8 years as Chairman and CEO.

She was a regular in Entertainment Weekly’s “Annual Power List of the 101 Most Influential People in Entertainment” and The Hollywood Reporter’s “Power 50”, and was named as one of 10 “Ladies who Launch Entertainment Trends” by The New York Post. Her commentary appears regularly on MSNBC.com and in The Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, Wired, Billboard, Variety and The Huffington Post.

Rosen is a well-known expert on Congress and worked for Sen. Dianne Feinstein and Senator Bill Bradley. She has also been a proud political activist frequently honored over the years for her work on behalf LGBT and arts issues. She has twins, Anna and Jacob, who run her absolutely ragged. Fortunately, they’re really cute.

Read other Queercents interviews in the Ten Money Questions archive.