Getting Rich Together

Jaksot

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  Teaching Kids About Philanthropy, How Family Giving Circles Turn Kids Into Participants Not Spectators 15.09.2026 1t 1min

  Most wealthy families protect their kids from money conversations. Amy Dornbusch decided to do the opposite. Amy Dornbusch, founder of AtlasDaughters, joins host Syama Bunten on Getting Rich Together to talk about teaching kids about philanthropy through real experience instead of theory. Before she built a model for family philanthropy trips, she ran a restaurant and catering business in Brooklyn, spent a decade running a Napa vineyard, and launched and ran an investment fund through her family office. That path is why she trusts children with more than most parents think they can handle. Amy explains how a statistic she read, that eighty percent of the time you will ever spend with your kids happens before they turn ten, changed the direction of her career. She describes the inner workings of a family giving circle, where children get a real vote in where money goes, not just a seat at the table. She also shares the story of her six-year-old daughter teaching an entire school assembly about solar power after a trip to Zimbabwe, proof that raising philanthropic children starts earlier than most parents assume. This conversation makes a case for next-generation wealth education built on participation rather than protection. If you have ever wondered how to start teaching kids about philanthropy, press play and hear the shift Amy made when she decided to bring her kids into the family's philanthropy. Amy will be speaking at the Wealth Catalyst Summit in San Francisco on October 16. If her story moved you, register at wealthcatalyst.com and hear the rest of it in person.   Episode Breakdown: 00:00 Amy Dornbusch's Path From Restaurants to Philanthropy 02:36 Growing Up in Silicon Valley During the Boom 04:37 Selling Scrunchies and Learning Independence in Singapore 08:20 Choosing Boarding School and Finding Her People 16:42 Two Internships, Two Very Different Leadership Styles 19:29 Moving to New York With No Job Lined Up 27:12 Building a Restaurant, Catering Business, and Venue 36:06 Family Office, a Napa Vineyard, and Cancer Research Auction 47:57 Teaching Kids About Philanthropy Through AtlasDaughters 53:24 A Trip to Zimbabwe and What She Learned Find more from Syama Bunten: Your money story may be shaping your financial life more than you realize. After hundreds of conversations with women at all stages of their financial lives, Syama distilled the questions that helped her understand her own patterns into The Money Story Reset, a free guide featuring five guided reflections and personal stories from her journey.   Download The Money Story Reset and begin uncovering the beliefs behind your financial decisions: https://wealthcatalyst.com/reset/ Apply For Your Seat @ The 4th Wealth Catalyst Summit | San Francisco, October 16: https://wealthcatalyst.com/sf2026/ Register to Attend a Salon Near You: https://wealthcatalyst.com/salons/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/syama.co/ Join Syama's Substack: https://thewealthcatalystwithsyama.substack.com/ Website: https://wealthcatalyst.com/ Big Delta Capital: https://www.bigdeltacapital.com/ Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm  
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  Women's Business Center Resources, Corinne Goble on What Support Founders May Miss 08.09.2026 1t 13min

  Most women running a business already know how to hustle. What they do not always know is how to find business resources sitting right in front of them, and that gap can cost years of struggle. On this episode of Getting Rich Together, host Syama Bunten talks with Corinne Goble, CEO of the Association of Women's Business Centers, about business resources most founders never hear about even after building a company of their own. Corinne grew up around her mother's trucking business, then came back as a young adult to rebuild its books after an embezzlement hit the company. She explains how her own boss blocked her transfer to a dream government affairs job in Washington DC, and how that refusal became the reason she found the organization she now leads. Corinne also traces what it took to step in and help rebuild her mother's trucking business from the inside, learning firsthand what it means to grow, and eventually exit, a family company. She walks through the first thing she did after taking over an organization with no staff and a scattered membership list, and why that single decision rebuilt trust faster than any strategic plan could. Listen for her take on women entrepreneur mentorship programs and what financial independence for women entrepreneurs looks like once the right people show up. Wealth Catalyst is where women go to take it further. Freedom Tour salons are gathering women in 32 cities this year, and the Wealth Catalyst Summit is a full day event in San Francisco this October 16. Find your city at wealthcatalyst.com.   Episode Breakdown: 00:00 Growing Up Inside a Motorcycle Club Family 02:29 Her Mother's Hostile Takeover of the Trucking Business 10:54 High School, College Choices, and Student Loan Lessons 20:24 Turning a Paperwork Mess Into a Profitable Business 25:56 Alabama, Credit Unions, and How Deposits Build Wealth 32:20 Launching an Agency and Landing the Kia Motors Job 40:24 Pausing Personal Wealth to Support Family 49:00 The Rejected Job That Redirected Her Career 54:20 Rebuilding Trust One Phone Call at a Time 1:03:22 The Hope to Women Summit and What's Next   Find more from Syama Bunten: Your money story may be shaping your financial life more than you realize. After hundreds of conversations with women at all stages of their financial lives, Syama distilled the questions that helped her understand her own patterns into The Money Story Reset, a free guide featuring five guided reflections and personal stories from her journey. Download The Money Story Reset and begin uncovering the beliefs behind your financial decisions: https://wealthcatalyst.com/reset/   Apply For Your Seat @ The 4th Wealth Catalyst Summit | San Francisco, October 16: https://wealthcatalyst.com/sf2026/ Register to Attend a Salon Near You: https://wealthcatalyst.com/salons/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/syama.co/ Join Syama's Substack: https://thewealthcatalystwithsyama.substack.com/ Website: https://wealthcatalyst.com/ Big Delta Capital: https://www.bigdeltacapital.com/ Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm  
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  Trust Leads to Transactions: Syama Bunten's Vision for Wealth Catalyst 01.09.2026 1t 31min

  In this special birthday episode, Emily Scott turns the microphone around and interviews Syama Bunten, founder of Wealth Catalyst and host of Getting Rich Together. Syama shares the story behind building a podcast and community rooted in women's capital agency, trust, and the belief that every woman is closer to her greatness than she may realize. She reflects on the milestones so far, including 140 podcast episodes, getting over 2,000 five-stars on Spotify, three Wealth Catalyst Summits, salon rooms across the country, and thousands of introductions between women who needed to know one another. They also talk about what does not show up in the numbers: redefining success beyond a traditional P&L, learning that generosity requires reciprocity, the woman Syama leans on, and why she is no longer interested in convincing anyone that this work matters. This is a conversation about building something without a clear blueprint, standing in your greatness while remaining curious, and listening to the wiser self who says: you are just getting started.   Episode Breakdown: 00:00 Emily Scott Takes Over as Interviewer for Syama's Birthday 02:41 The Origin Story of Getting Rich Together and Its Launch 07:20 Episode Numbers, Downloads, and Building a Women's Financial Empowerment Community 10:42 Inside Wealth Catalyst, the Summits, and the Freedom Tour Salons 15:48 Who Actually Shows Up in the Room and Why 21:54 Surprises, Resonance, and the Magic of the Salon Tour 29:20 Self-Worth, Identity, And Redefining Success 42:52 The Next Leg, Mini Summits and New Markets 1:05:27 Time Management, Boundaries, and Working Without Burnout 1:10:05 A Heartbreak That Reshaped How Syama Leads 1:14:25 Mentors, Chosen Family, and Leaning on Trusted Women   Find more from Syama Bunten: Your money story may be shaping your financial life more than you realize. After hundreds of conversations with women at all stages of their financial lives, Syama distilled the questions that helped her understand her own patterns into The Money Story Reset, a free guide featuring five guided reflections and personal stories from her journey. Download The Money Story Reset and begin uncovering the beliefs behind your financial decisions: https://wealthcatalyst.com/reset/ Apply For Your Seat @ The 4th Wealth Catalyst Summit | San Francisco, October 16: https://wealthcatalyst.com/sf2026/ Register to Attend a Salon Near You: https://wealthcatalyst.com/salons/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/syama.co/ Join Syama's Substack: https://thewealthcatalystwithsyama.substack.com/ Website: https://wealthcatalyst.com/ Big Delta Capital: https://www.bigdeltacapital.com/   Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm  
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  How to Start Angel Investing, Cheryl Kellond on Her First $1,500 Check 25.08.2026 1t 3min

  Cheryl Kellond made her first angel investment in an at-home fertility startup and watched it get written off to zero. She still says it was worth it, and she built Play Money to make sure more women get the chance to find out for themselves how to start angel investing. Cheryl is the founder and CEO of Play Money and a serial entrepreneur who has raised more than $20 million in venture capital and led nearly a billion dollars in product revenue. On Getting Rich Together, host Syama Bunten asks Cheryl about the founder who went silent after taking her money, and how that experience shaped an angel investing platform for beginners instead of scaring her off the space entirely. Cheryl breaks down why startup investing for women has long relied on fragmented deal flow, individual outreach, and warm introductions, and why she built Play Money to make angel investing work more like scrolling than fundraising. She also runs the math on an idea that became a major aha moment for her. If just 20 percent of accredited investors invested $10,000 a year, she says they could move $30 billion in capital and replicate the entire early-stage startup funding ecosystem. Cheryl also shares how to start angel investing with a check the size of a weekend trip, and why communication between founders and their investors matters long after the check is written. Find a salon near you or grab a seat at the Wealth Catalyst Summit in San Francisco on October 16 at wealthcatalyst.com    Episode Breakdown: 00:00 Meet Cheryl Kellond 02:13 Shy Childhood, Fairfield County, and Early Rebellion 07:39 Single Motherhood, Night Shifts, and University of Chicago 11:14 The MIT Sloan Admissions Story 12:03 Blogging, Building HTML Sites, and the AOL Sale 19:22 California, Marriage, and the Move to Colorado 22:01 Chaos, Growth, and a Career at Yahoo 27:17 The Boardroom Moment That Changed Everything 28:32 Launching a Startup and Learning It the Hard Way 45:50 Her First Angel Investment and What Went Wrong 49:05 How to Start Angel Investing Through Play Money 56:35 The Math Behind Moving Billions in Capital 1:00:46 Fun Money, Costa Rica, and a Final Ask   Find more from Syama Bunten: Your money story may be shaping your financial life more than you realize. After hundreds of conversations with women at all stages of their financial lives, Syama distilled the questions that helped her understand her own patterns into The Money Story Reset, a free guide featuring five guided reflections and personal stories from her journey. Download The Money Story Reset and begin uncovering the beliefs behind your financial decisions.   Attend a Salon near you: wealthcatalyst.com/salons Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/syama.co/ Join Syama's Substack: https://thewealthcatalystwithsyama.substack.com/ Website: https://wealthcatalyst.com Download Syama's Free Resources: https://wealthcatalyst.com/resources Wealth Catalyst Summit: https://wealthcatalyst.com/summits Speaking: https://syamabunten.com Big Delta Capital: www.bigdeltacapital.com Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm  
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  Grace Belangia on Angel Investing, LP Funds, and Building Wealth Outside Silicon Valley 18.08.2026 46min

  Grace Belangia didn't build her startup ecosystem in Silicon Valley. She built it in Augusta, Georgia, a city with medical, military, and energy communities but no established tech community. On Getting Rich Together, host Syama Bunten talks with the cofounder and executive board member of Make Startups about her path from writing angel checks on her own to becoming an LP in a VC fund. Grace traces her money instincts back to her mother, an immigrant who taught her that saving and investing are two different things. That lesson followed her into a research role at a private equity firm in her twenties, where she saw firsthand how the investment world worked and started learning how capital actually moves. She talks through how she learned to angel invest through Pipeline Angels, what it took to learn the space through a six-month investing cohort, and why she eventually expanded from direct angel investing into funds run by managers she trusts. She also explains economic mobility through entrepreneurship and the philosophy she calls reserve and deploy. If angel investing for women feels out of reach, or you're curious about what it takes to become an LP in a venture capital fund, this conversation lays out the real path Grace took. Press play, then find a salon near you or grab a seat at the Wealth Catalyst Summit in San Francisco on October 16 at wealthcatalyst.com.   Episode Breakdown: 00:00 Grace Belangia's Childhood in LA and Palo Alto 05:12 High School Years and Early Community Building 07:43 College, Political Science, and Career Uncertainty 10:49 Learning Finance Inside a Private Equity Research Desk 14:44 Marriage, the Navy, and the Move to Georgia 20:10 Founding a Startup Ecosystem in Augusta 23:07 Learning to Angel Invest Through Pipeline Angels 29:20 How Grace Became an LP in a VC Fund 33:39 Reserve and Deploy, Grace's Investing Philosophy 38:04 Economic Mobility, Legacy, and Building the Bridge   Find more from Syama Bunten: Your money story may be shaping your financial life more than you realize. After hundreds of conversations with women at all stages of their financial lives, Syama distilled the questions that helped her understand her own patterns into The Money Story Reset, a free guide featuring five guided reflections and personal stories from her journey. Download The Money Story Reset and begin uncovering the beliefs behind your financial decisions.   Attend a Salon near you: wealthcatalyst.com/salons Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/syama.co/ Join Syama's Substack: https://thewealthcatalystwithsyama.substack.com/ Website: https://wealthcatalyst.com Download Syama's Free Resources: https://wealthcatalyst.com/resources Wealth Catalyst Summit: https://wealthcatalyst.com/summits Speaking: https://syamabunten.com Big Delta Capital: www.bigdeltacapital.com Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm  
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  The Tombstone Story Behind Jenna Nicholas' Spirituality and Impact Investing Career 11.08.2026 48min

  Jenna Nicholas learned that work is a form of worship before she ever managed anyone's money. On this episode of Getting Rich Together, she joins host Syama Bunten to discuss how spirituality and impact investing became part of the same practice rather than two separate parts of her life.   Jenna is a leading impact investor, the founder of Impact Experience, runs a fund with Lightpost Capital, and is the author of the new book Enlightened Bottom Line. She grew up in London as part of the Bahá'í community, where service, spirituality, and work were closely connected. That upbringing set her on a path toward socially responsible investing before she had the language to describe it.   Jenna tells Syama about the summer she spent in Kinshasa as a child and the joy she noticed there that she had not seen back home. She also reflects about the three years she lived in a mentor's basement apartment, an experience she now considers her real graduate school. That mentor, Wayne Silby, later faced a question at a Buddhist retreat about what his tombstone might say. His answer pushed him to reconsider the legacy he wanted to leave and helped turn the Calvert Funds into a pioneer of socially responsible investing.   Jenna shares how social entrepreneurship pulled her away from a human rights law track and toward building Impact Experience. She explains how purpose-driven businesses can align profit, values, and social impact without treating them as competing priorities.This is a strong entry point into impact investing for women ready to put real money behind their values, and a reminder that spirituality and impact investing do not have to exist in separate conversations. Press play, then find a salon at wealthcatalyst.com/salons or join the Wealth Catalyst Summit in San Francisco this October 16.   Episode Breakdown: 00:00 Blending Spirituality, Business, and Impact Investing 01:49 Growing Up in London's Baha'i Community 03:20 A Life Changing Summer in Kinshasa 07:14 Stanford and the Social Entrepreneurship Awakening 10:24 Three Years Living in a Mentor's Basement 15:47 Shifting Foundation Capital Away From Fossil Fuels 19:11 Investing Personally Through Lightpost Capital 26:49 Building a Values Based Investment Portfolio 31:39 The HEAL Framework and Devoted Health 34:44 The Tombstone Story Behind Values Based Investing 41:34 Unlocking Capital for Overlooked Founders and Funds     Find more from Syama Bunten: Your money story may be shaping your financial life more than you realize. After hundreds of conversations with women at all stages of their financial lives, Syama distilled the questions that helped her understand her own patterns into The Money Story Reset, a free guide featuring five guided reflections and personal stories from her journey. Download The Money Story Reset and begin uncovering the beliefs behind your financial decisions.   Attend a Salon near you: wealthcatalyst.com/salons Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/syama.co/ Join Syama's Substack: https://thewealthcatalystwithsyama.substack.com/ Website: https://wealthcatalyst.com Download Syama's Free Resources: https://wealthcatalyst.com/resources Wealth Catalyst Summit: https://wealthcatalyst.com/summits Speaking: https://syamabunten.com Big Delta Capital: www.bigdeltacapital.com         Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm
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  Retiring at 50 and Building Financial Literacy for Women of Color 04.08.2026 53min

  No one explained a 401(k) to Anita Battle. She had to ask a coworker, copy what the coworker did, and hope it worked out. In this conversation with host Syama Bunten on Getting Rich Together, human-centered leadership expert and board director Anita Battle talks about financial literacy for women of color and what gets lost when families never talk about money. Anita grew up in Oakland wanting to be a lawyer, then became a teacher instead. She later became the first woman of color in national sales at a major telecom company, learned golf because that is where deals happened, and saved her commissions while colleagues bought boats. Her path into financial literacy for women of color started with basic 401(k) advice for beginners and grew into hard-won money lessons for first-generation professionals with no family blueprint to follow. Anita also describes becoming her mother's caregiver. She explains how to prepare financially for caregiving long before it becomes urgent, and she offers guidance on trusts versus wills in estate planning, especially for homeowners in California. She also covers taking early retirement for women in corporate America, something she pulled off herself at 50. Financial literacy for women of color has to be visible to spread. If you never see anyone who looks like you, the bridge stays broken. Wealth Catalyst exists to build that bridge. Find a salon at wealthcatalyst.com/salons or join the Wealth Catalyst Summit in San Francisco on October 16.   Episode Breakdown: 00:00 Growing Up in Oakland and Early Money Lessons 03:49 Choosing Law, Then Choosing Teaching Instead 05:56 A Full-Ride Scholarship to Loyola Marymount 15:23 Breaking Into Telecom at GTE 17:41 Learning About 401(k)s as a First-Gen Professional 23:40 First Woman of Color in National Sales 29:21 Taking Early Retirement at 50 33:35 Becoming Her Parents' Full Time Caregiver 40:18 Pensions, Stock Vesting, and Retirement Surprises 48:16 Travel, Theater, and Giving Back Through Mentorship Find more from Syama Bunten: Your money story may be shaping your financial life more than you realize. After hundreds of conversations with women at all stages of their financial lives, Syama distilled the questions that helped her understand her own patterns into The Money Story Reset, a free guide featuring five guided reflections and personal stories from her journey. Download The Money Story Reset and begin uncovering the beliefs behind your financial decisions.   Attend a Salon near you: wealthcatalyst.com/salons Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/syama.co/ Join Syama's Substack: https://thewealthcatalystwithsyama.substack.com/ Website: https://wealthcatalyst.com Download Syama's Free Resources: https://wealthcatalyst.com/resources Wealth Catalyst Summit: https://wealthcatalyst.com/summits Speaking: https://syamabunten.com Big Delta Capital: www.bigdeltacapital.com Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm  
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  Angel Investing for Women, Building Wealth from Scratch, and Backing the Founders VC Overlooks With Lisha Bell 28.07.2026 54min

  Writing your first angel check is an act of conviction. For Lisha Bell it was also an act of defiance. She had spent 20 years as a Black woman in tech, rarely working alongside other Black people or women, watching founders who looked like her get passed over. VC wasn't going to fix it. So she decided to write her own checks. And she wants more women to do the same. Lisha grew up working the cash register at her dad's gas station in South Central LA, counting nickels and dimes, watching money move through a community in real time. She understood early that money was a tool and a need. When her family lost everything, that lesson got sharper. She got to the Bay Area, maxed out her 401k from her very first paycheck, and bought a house in Oakland at 24. Not because someone told her to. Because she was afraid of being poor and she wasn't going to wait for anyone else to sort it out. In this conversation with host Syama Bunten, Lisha talks about what it actually looks like to become an angel investor when you built everything yourself, why she did it with a community of women instead of alone, and what it means to deploy capital into founders nobody else was betting on. Lisha built the room she needed when nobody else would. Syama is doing the same thing at Wealth Catalyst, salons and summits where women speak candidly about money, risk, and the choices that shape a life. If you want to be part of that room,join us at the Wealth Catalyst Summit, a full-day event in San Francisco this October 16, 2026, or find a Freedom Tour salon happening near you.   Episode Breakdown: 00:00 Introduction to Lisha Bell and Women's Financial Power 02:31 Childhood Money Lessons from a Family Gas Station 06:58 Growing Up Between Worlds and Shaping Her Identity 13:14 Early Wealth Building Through Saving and Homeownership 22:51 Why She Chose an MBA to Increase Earning Power 26:48 Startup Culture, Career Risk, and Becoming a Mother 30:20 Angel Investing for Women and Writing the First Check 40:32 Why Emerging Fund Managers Matter in Venture Capital 44:56 Capital Preservation and Investing With Purpose 52:40 Access to Capital for Women and Building an Equitable Future Connect with Lisha Bell: Facebook: Follow Lisha on Facebook  X: Follow Lisha on X  LinkedIn: Connect with Lisha on LinkedIn Instagram: Follow Lisha on Instagram Youtube: Watch the Sisters with Ventures Podcast Find more from Syama Bunten: Attend a Salon near you: wealthcatalyst.com/salons Instagram: Follow Syama on Instagram Join Syama's Substack: Join Syama's Substack Website: Visit the Wealth Catalyst website Download Syama's Free Resources: Download Syama's Free Resources Learn About Wealth Catalyst Summit Events: Wealth Catalyst Summit Website: Visit Syama's website Big Delta Capital: Visit the Big Delta Capital website Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm  
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  She Raised Money Inside the 0.34%: Venture Capital Funding for Black Women Founders 21.07.2026 51min

  Only 0.34% of venture capital goes to Black women. Dr. Liz Clayborne, founder and CEO of NasaClip, raised money inside that number. On Getting Rich Together, she tells host Syama Bunten what venture capital funding for black women founders actually requires. This physician entrepreneur's startup story starts in the ER, where Liz kept seeing patients mismanage nosebleeds and come in with something a simple device could fix at home. She was six months pregnant and appearing on national television as a frontline doctor when the pandemic hit in 2020. She delivered her daughter that May, then built NasaClip during an accelerator program while on her maternity leave. Her divorce followed about two years later, and she took a steep pay cut to keep the company alive. Some of her early checks came from physician colleagues who had never made an angel investment before. She had to explain risk, payout, and timeline from scratch, and what she learned from those conversations reshaped how she thinks about angel investing for women and how limited startup funding for women of color really is. It also explains why venture capital funding for black women founders barely moves. Liz also gets specific about the diamond ring she bought herself and why it became a daily reminder to keep loving herself through a hard year. She shares a question her seven year old daughter asked her, one that says everything about what female founder fundraising can build for the next generation. That is the room Wealth Catalyst keeps building. Find a Freedom Tour salon at wealthcatalyst.com/salons or join the Wealth Catalyst Summit, a full day event in San Francisco this October, at wealthcatalyst.com.   Episode Breakdown: 00:00 Two Numbers Behind the Venture Capital Gap 02:12 Growing Up Biracial in Denver With Four Sisters 07:34 Kicking on an All-Male Football Team 10:47 Choosing Medicine and a Non-Traditional Pre-Med Path 12:18 Family Legacy From Emancipation to Duke 15:03 Paying Her Own Way Through Medical School 21:53 Six-Figure Debt and Becoming an Attending 24:43 Marriage, Money Pressure, and Being the Breadwinner 28:39 Divorce and Founding NasaClip Inside a Pandemic 31:33 Building the Band-Aid for Nosebleeds 39:04 Her Daughter's Question About Boys and Doctors 40:25 Fundraising Inside the Venture Capital Gap 44:41 The Legacy She Wants to Leave Her Daughters 47:38 A Ring, a Wish, and a Call to Action   Connect with Dr. Liz Clayborne: Visit the NasaClip website Connect with Dr. Liz on LinkedIn   Find more from Syama Bunten: Attend a Salon near you: wealthcatalyst.com/salons Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/syama.co/ Join Syama's Substack: https://thewealthcatalystwithsyama.substack.com/ Website: https://wealthcatalyst.com Download Syama's Free Resources: https://wealthcatalyst.com/resources Wealth Catalyst Summit: https://wealthcatalyst.com/summits Speaking: https://syamabunten.com Big Delta Capital: www.bigdeltacapital.com Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm  
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  Nell 3D on How a Subtraction Mindset Builds Wealth That Lasts 14.07.2026 1t 2min

  Most people think wealth grows by adding more hustle, more assets, and more ambition. Nell Derick Debevoise Dewey, known to many as Nell 3D, built her career on the opposite bet. A subtraction mindset for building wealth is the idea behind her Substack, Subtract to Succeed, and in this conversation with Syama Bunten, she explains why the approach works. Nell's money story began with a single childhood memory that held two worlds at once. One moment, she was having lunch at her great-grandfather's Fifth Avenue apartment. Later that same day, she was driving north to a Vermont campfire and tofu hot dogs with her mother's off-grid best friend. The split stayed with her through a decade of frontline humanitarian work in places like the West Bank, an executive MBA, and a marriage where she and her husband kept his wealth and her own distinct. The two chose access over ownership at almost every turn. She calls the trap catching so many people chrematistics, money chased for its own sake, and names the pursuit a kind of disease worth subtracting from a life. What emerges from that critique is her own redefinition of wealth and success, where legacy is measured in intellectual and social capital rather than a number in an account. A subtraction mindset for building wealth means asking what to release before asking what to add. The same clarity is what Wealth Catalyst is built on. Find a Freedom Tour salon near you at wealthcatalyst.com/salons or join the Wealth Catalyst Summit on October 16 at wealthcatalyst.com    Episode Breakdown: 00:00 Getting Rich Through Subtraction, Not Addition 02:27 Growing Up Between Two Very Different Worlds 07:38 Family Values, Moving Schools, and Economic Shifts 12:36 Starting a Party Planning Business at Eleven 17:00 First Splurges and Working Abroad in Tokyo 19:42 Harvard, Education Advocacy, and Refugee Camp Work 26:58 Financial Faith and Building Her Own Company 36:09 Marriage, Wealth, and Access Versus Ownership 39:49 Chrematistics and the Trouble With Venture Capital 47:13 Stewardship, Legacy, and Intellectual Capital   Connect with Nell Derick Debevoise Dewey: Follow Subtract to Succeed on Substack Connect with Nell on LinkedIn   Find more from Syama Bunten: Attend a Salon near you: wealthcatalyst.com/salons Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/syama.co/ Join Syama's Substack: https://thewealthcatalystwithsyama.substack.com/ Website: https://wealthcatalyst.com Download Syama's Free Resources: https://wealthcatalyst.com/resources Wealth Catalyst Summit: https://wealthcatalyst.com/summits Speaking: https://syamabunten.com Big Delta Capital: www.bigdeltacapital.com Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm  
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  How to Pay Yourself as a Business Owner, with Andrea Liebross 07.07.2026 1t 5min

  Andrea Liebross was the least-paid person in her own business for years. Then she got deliberate about changing that. In this conversation with host Syama Bunten, Andrea gets into how to pay yourself as a business owner and why so many women wait too long to start. She grew up watching her father run his own CPA firm, where money was a subject reserved for adults. He talked business with clients one way and money with his own kids another, and that gap taught her early that finances could stay private inside a family that talked about everything else. Andrea didn't launch her coaching business until her forties. She left a 1099 role bound by rules she didn't like and bet on herself, funding the leap with a zero-interest credit card and a self-imposed deadline for her first client. That story of starting a business in your 40s runs alongside her belief that identity precedes strategy. Clarity comes from deciding who you are first, not from gathering more information. It took Andrea three years to get deliberate about paying herself a real salary instead of whatever was left over. She walks through how to pay yourself as a business owner in practical terms, why betting on yourself in business rarely feels secure, the Colin Powell 40/70 decision rule, and what she has learned about family owned business finances getting tangled with feelings.   Find a Freedom Tour Salon near you at wealthcatalyst.com/salons/ or join us at the Wealth Catalyst Summit in San Francisco this October at wealthcatalyst.com    Episode Breakdown: 00:00 Andrea Liebross Joins Getting Rich Together 02:53 A Childhood CPA Household and Quarter Collectors 11:37 Dartmouth, Career Purpose, and Money Silence 19:24 Trauma and Grit in New York Advertising 24:20 Tutoring the Bass Family and Marriage Finances 35:28 Moving to Indiana and Asking for Benefits 40:59 Quitting the 1099 Role to Bet on Herself 46:57 Funding a Business Launch on a Credit Card 51:15 How to Pay Yourself as a Business Owner 55:05 Family-Owned Business Finances and Identity Precedes Strategy   Find more from Syama Bunten: Attend a Salon near you: wealthcatalyst.com/salons Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/syama.co/ Join Syama's Substack: https://thewealthcatalystwithsyama.substack.com/ Website: https://wealthcatalyst.com Download Syama's Free Resources: https://wealthcatalyst.com/resources Wealth Catalyst Summit: https://wealthcatalyst.com/summits Speaking: https://syamabunten.com Big Delta Capital: www.bigdeltacapital.com Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm  
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  Women and Wealth Building: How Heather Kernahan Went From Dodging a Debt Collector to Buying a Business 30.06.2026 1t 5min

  Women and wealth building look different when you stop climbing the ladder and start buying the building. For Heather, it started with a paper route in small-town Nova Scotia, a mom who modeled resilience, and a belief that working hard was the only way out. Syama Bunten sits down with Heather Kernahan, CEO of the Content Bureau and author of Unstuckable, for a Getting Rich Together conversation about building wealth as a woman in the corporate world and beyond. Heather shares the unfiltered story of student loan debt, stock options she did not fully understand, and the mindset shift that changed how she showed up at work. She gets into negotiating salary and equity as a woman, what the path from corporate career to CEO genuinely cost her, and how she eventually became a limited partner in a venture capital fund focused on female and minority founders. Venture capital investing for women, female entrepreneurship, and business acquisition are not topics most personal finance conversations touch, and Heather makes each one feel within reach. She also opens up about the personal decisions that made her ambitions possible, and what it meant to personally finance her first acquisition. Financial independence for women does not follow one path, and this conversation proves it. If this conversation moved you, keep going. Join Syama and the community at the Wealth Catalyst Summit, a full-day event in San Francisco this October. Find your city and claim your seat at wealthcatalyst.com. This is a story about financial independence, women and wealth building, and the courage it takes to bet on yourself.   Episode Breakdown: 00:00 Women and Wealth Building With Heather Kernahan 02:11 Growing Up Without Financial Safety Nets 09:53 The Exchange Program That Changed Everything 18:19 How a PR Certificate Launched Her Career 22:06 Student Loan Debt and the Wake-Up Call That Forced Her to Get Serious 28:03 The Performance Review That Rewired Her Professionally 36:01 Pursuing an MBA While Working Full-Time With Two Kids 43:30 Stock Options, RSUs, and Learning to Negotiate Equity in Tech 49:54 What to Do With a Big Financial Win 51:58 Becoming a Limited Partner in a Venture Capital Fund 55:14 Acquiring Her First Business and Betting on Herself 1:00:07 Legacy, Longevity, and What She Is Building Next Find more from Syama Bunten: Attend a Salon near you: wealthcatalyst.com/salons Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/syama.co/ Join Syama's Substack: https://thewealthcatalystwithsyama.substack.com/ Website: https://wealthcatalyst.com Download Syama's Free Resources: https://wealthcatalyst.com/resources Wealth Catalyst Summit: https://wealthcatalyst.com/summits Speaking: https://syamabunten.com Big Delta Capital: www.bigdeltacapital.com Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm  
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  How to Build Wealth as a Woman When You Are Starting From Zero With Alicia Umpierre 23.06.2026 43min

  Women and money is a conversation most people only have in private, if at all. Alicia Umpierre is a patent attorney with a Ph.D. in chemistry. She built her career with no family blueprint and no financial network to draw from. On Getting Rich Together, host Syama Bunten draws out the story behind the credentials. What emerges is the women and money conversation you know but rarely hear spoken out loud. Alicia grew up in Southern California not thinking about finances. No one around her had a Ph.D. She didn't even know what one was until college. Without mentors, she says she might still be testing wastewater in a lab in Ontario, California. People told her what was possible before she knew to ask. Her patent attorney career path didn't come from a plan. She followed what felt right. She left behind what didn't. A career change to law came from recognizing a dead end, not a vision. She passed the patent bar in two months, went back to school for her J.D. while raising a toddler, then had her second son during law school, and built a career most people don't even know exists. What Alicia is still working on is teaching kids about money the way she wishes she'd been taught. Her own financial goals now center on a question many women know well: how do you build wealth as a woman when you know what you have, but don't have a trusted network to help you decide what to do next? She watched her immigrant father work without rest his whole life. She doesn't want to do the same. Syama built Wealth Catalyst because women and money deserved a better conversation. If you're ready to be in the room where that conversation happens in person, the Freedom Tour salons are gathering women across 32 cities this year, and the Wealth Catalyst Summit comes to San Francisco this October. Save your seat at wealthcatalyst.com.   Episode Breakdown: 00:00 Women and Money: Alicia Umpierre on Building Wealth Without a Roadmap 02:12 Growing Up Middle Class With No Financial Role Models 04:01 Why Math and Chemistry Became Her Foundation 06:24 Working Through College and the Value of Hard Work 09:17 How Mentorship Changed Everything 13:21 FromPh.D. to Patent Attorney Career Path 16:49 Passing the Patent Bar and Landing the Job 18:28 Going Back to Law School in Her Thirties 21:57 Building Financial Goals as a Couple 24:46 Teaching Kids About Money and Work Ethic 27:57 Retirement, Nest Eggs, and Investing Honestly 33:41 Why Trusting a Financial Advisor Is So Hard 38:46 On Implicit Bias and the Power of Mentorship Find more from Syama Bunten: Attend a Salon near you: wealthcatalyst.com/salons Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/syama.co/ Join Syama's Substack: https://thewealthcatalystwithsyama.substack.com/ Website: https://wealthcatalyst.com Download Syama's Free Resources: https://wealthcatalyst.com/resources Wealth Catalyst Summit: https://wealthcatalyst.com/summits Speaking: https://syamabunten.com Big Delta Capital: www.bigdeltacapital.com Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm  
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  Impact Investing for Women Proves Values-Based Investing Is Not Charity | Lucy Rogers 16.06.2026 53min

  Impact investing for women does not have to mean choosing between profit and purpose. Lucy Rogers built a global network connecting more than 3,000 family offices, investors, and founders by asking one simple question in every room she entered about what that person actually needed. On Getting Rich Together, host Syama Bunten sits down with Lucy to explore how that instinct became the foundation for a new model of values-based investing that is quietly outperforming expectations. Lucy's path was anything but conventional. She was expelled from two schools, dropped out of college at 17 to travel solo through Thailand, Australia, and New Zealand, and left university a second time to chase work experience instead of a degree. She bought her first flat at 24 through sheer discipline and eventually built a career spanning creative direction, entertainment, and capital. None of it followed a straight line, and that turned out to be exactly the point. The conversation gets into what family office investing looks like from the inside, how Lucy positions impact investments to skeptical investors without ever leading with the impact angle, and why the most oversubscribed deals in her network are increasingly backed by women in venture. Lucy shares the story of an investor who said he wanted nothing to do with climate, and how she got him to fund a climate company anyway. For anyone thinking seriously about impact investing for women and wealth building, this episode changes what it means to put capital behind values. The return data is catching up to the conviction. Lucy Rogers is proof that when you build from alignment, the numbers tend to follow. If this conversation sparked something, the next step is a room of your own. Join Syama and the Wealth Catalyst community at the Freedom Tour salons happening in 32 cities across the country, or at the Wealth Catalyst Summit in San Francisco this October. Find your seat at wealthcatalyst.com.   Episode Breakdown: 00:00 Meet Lucy Rogers, Entrepreneur, Investor, and Family Office Connector 02:32 Early Entrepreneurial Instincts and the First Lessons About Money 04:43 Getting Expelled Twice and What It Taught Her About Reading People 07:37 Dropping Out, Traveling Alone, and Finding a Creative Path Forward 10:42 Buying Her First Flat at 24 Through Extreme Discipline and Saving 13:18 Why She Built Financial Independence From a Place of Feeling Unsafe 15:08 From Advertising to Music Videos and the Power of Following Intuition 20:12 Going Freelance, Starting a Company, and Building Real Wealth in Entertainment 30:45 Finding Alignment Through Values-Based Investing and Impact-Driven Work 33:31 How Just Us Was Built to Replace Transactional Networking With Human Connection 38:15 Impact Investing for Women and Why the Market Still Confuses It With Charity 40:38 Converting a Skeptical Investor Into an Impact Deal Without Leading With Impact 41:56 Building Infrastructure for Legacy Through the Aspen Institute Partnership 45:32 How Intuition Drives Her Investment Decisions Alongside Rigorous Due Diligence 48:49 The Philosophy Behind Her Work and Why Safety Is at the Core of Everything Find more from Syama Bunten: Attend a Salon near you: wealthcatalyst.com/salons Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/syama.co/ Join Syama's Substack: https://thewealthcatalystwithsyama.substack.com/ Website: https://wealthcatalyst.com Download Syama's Free Resources: https://wealthcatalyst.com/resources Wealth Catalyst Summit: https://wealthcatalyst.com/summits Speaking: https://syamabunten.com Big Delta Capital: www.bigdeltacapital.com Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm
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  Trauma Recovery for High Achievers: What the Numbers Can't Fix | Annie Wright 09.06.2026 50min

  Annie sold a multi-million-dollar therapy center at 43. On paper, that kind of success should make a person feel safe. But money does not automatically rewrite what the body learned first. Host Syama Bunten sits down with Annie Wright, a licensed psychotherapist and executive coach specializing in trauma recovery for high achievers, for a conversation about what financial success can and cannot fix. For Annie, psychological healing and financial healing have never been separate work. Her childhood financial trauma shaped more than her beliefs about money. It shaped what safety, success, and self-worth felt like. Annie grew up between old-money privilege and real financial instability, watching money appear, disappear, and come with secrecy, shame, and survival. That early relational trauma and money mindset followed her into adulthood, even as she became the first in her family to build the kind of security she once imagined from a distance. This is a conversation about breaking the poverty cycle, first generation wealth building, and the emotional cost of becoming the person no one in your family knew how to model. Annie is honest about ambition as a survival strategy, the nervous system that still braces for everything to disappear, and why the numbers on paper do not always match the feeling of safety inside. Now, her work sits at the intersection of women and financial healing, with books, courses, and education designed to help more women move from survival into lives that feel secure, self-directed, and fully lived. Her 2026 book Decade of Decisions is part of that next chapter. If Annie's story speaks to you, keep going. The Wealth Catalyst Freedom Tour is bringing intimate money conversations to women in 32 cities this year. The Wealth Catalyst Summit lands in San Francisco this October for a full day built around what comes next. Find your city at wealthcatalyst.com.   Episode Breakdown: 00:00 Meet Annie Wright: Psychotherapist, Executive Coach, and Exited Entrepreneur 02:28 Growing Up Between Poverty and Old Money on the Coast of Maine 06:28 How Childhood Financial Trauma Shapes the Way Kids Survive 07:54 Getting a Full Ride to Brown and the Drive Behind It 11:25 The Peace Corps, a Breaking Point, and the Start of Healing 15:24 Burning Through Savings and Finding a Career Path at Esalen 17:43 Graduate School Debt, Minimum Wage Internships, and Financial Fear 23:45 Budgeting From Zero and the Financial Sobriety Journey 28:23 Launching a Therapy Center on Mat Leave and Betting on Herself 30:49 Being the Primary Earner and Making the Stay-at-Home Partner Decision 34:52 Knowing When to Sell and the Exit That Changed Everything 38:22 Trauma Recovery for High Achievers and the Mission Behind the Work 41:46 What Comes Next: Books, Courses, and Scaling the Impact 47:27 How to Find Annie Wright and What She Needs From You   Connect with Annie Wright: Visit Annie's website Subscribe to Annie's Substack   Find more from Syama Bunten: Attend a Salon near you: wealthcatalyst.com/salons Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/syama.co/ Join Syama's Substack: https://thewealthcatalystwithsyama.substack.com/ Website: https://wealthcatalyst.com Download Syama's Free Resources: https://wealthcatalyst.com/resources Wealth Catalyst Summit: https://wealthcatalyst.com/summits Speaking: https://syamabunten.com Big Delta Capital: www.bigdeltacapital.com Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm
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  Alix Lebec on Impact Investing and How $1 Million in Philanthropy Can Unlock $50 Million in Private Capital 02.06.2026 1t 2min

  What if your money could fund the future you actually want to live in? That is the question Alix Lebec has spent her career trying to answer. On Getting Rich Together, host Syama Bunten sits down with Alix, founder of Lebec, a firm built to mainstream innovative finance and put more capital to work on some of the world's biggest problems. Alix grew up between France, South Korea, and China before finishing high school in Dallas, Texas. That global upbringing shaped everything about how she sees money, risk, and opportunity. She built her career inside global development, philanthropy, and asset management before launching Lebec during the height of the pandemic to bridge the gap between traditional finance and meaningful change. The conversation gets into the real mechanics of innovative finance strategies, including how blended finance can turn $1 million in philanthropy into $50 million in private investment capital that would otherwise sit on the sidelines. Alix breaks down why women in impact investing are not choosing between returns and values, and why that false choice has kept too many people out of the room for too long. Lebec operates across three pillars. The first is strategic advisory. The second is a boutique investment manager that builds diversified portfolios of private market funds across sectors like water, oceans, and deforestation. The third is narrative change through commercial film and storytelling, where innovative finance structures put capital directly in the hands of social entrepreneurs. Alix is also raising a $1 million seed round to scale the vision. This episode is for any woman who has ever wondered whether her money can do more. Impact investing for women is no longer a niche conversation. It is becoming one of the most important conversations in finance. And if you are ready to take it further, join Syama and the Wealth Catalyst community at the Freedom Tour salons happening in cities across the country, or at the Wealth Catalyst Summit on October 16 in San Francisco. Find your seat at wealthcatalyst.com.   Episode Breakdown: 00:00 Welcome to Getting Rich Together 02:48 Growing Up Across Three Continents 20:01 From Documentary Filmmaking to the World Bank 26:15 Money, Salary Negotiations, and Early Financial Lessons 30:36 Fieldwork in Bangkok and the Shift Toward Social Entrepreneurship 40:25 Joining the Clinton Global Initiative and Discovering Impact Investing for Women 43:42 The "Bleeding Heart" Mindset and the Real Cost of Mission-Driven Work 45:40 Why the Scarcity Mindset in Impact Work Has to Go 50:29 Building Lebec and the Case for Innovative Finance 59:23 How Alix Spends Her Money and What She Is Building Next   Connect with Alix Lebec: Visit the Lebec website   Find more from Syama Bunten: Attend a Salon near you: wealthcatalyst.com/salons Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/syama.co/ Join Syama's Substack: https://thewealthcatalystwithsyama.substack.com/ Website: https://wealthcatalyst.com Download Syama's Free Resources: https://wealthcatalyst.com/resources Wealth Catalyst Summit: https://wealthcatalyst.com/summits Speaking: https://syamabunten.com Big Delta Capital: www.bigdeltacapital.com Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm
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  How to Build Wealth from Poverty Twyla Garrett's Road from Welfare to Real Estate Developer 26.05.2026 1t 5min

  Generational wealth building for women starts long before the first investment, the first business, or the first paycheck. It starts with the decision to believe your life can look different from the one you inherited. On Getting Rich Together, host Syama Bunten sits down with Twyla Garrett, a serial entrepreneur, real estate developer, and founder of the Garrett Foundation, whose story is one of the most compelling examples of how to build wealth from poverty you will ever hear. Twyla grew up in Cleveland's inner city, was removed from her home at 14, spent time in juvenile homes, and relied on welfare and food stamps during college. She left with a financial acumen that would eventually carry her to seven figures within a year of walking away from a government job. Twyla does not skip the hard parts. From doing taxes and bookkeeping as a teenager to buying her first home at 26 with just $4,000 and shaky credit, to transforming a derelict Cleveland train station into the city's largest jazz supper club, Twyla's path is a masterclass in how to scale a business from nothing. Women entrepreneurs and real estate intersect throughout her journey in ways that feel practical and urgent, not abstract. But the conversation goes further than personal success. Twyla is now channeling everything she has built into a model for affordable homeownership in the inner city, one that replaces Section 8 dependency with actual ownership. People take care of what they own. A $200,000 condo with a $900 monthly mortgage costs less than what Section 8 currently pays for a two-bedroom rental. That gap is where generational wealth building for women and for entire communities becomes possible. If you have ever wondered whether your starting point disqualifies you, this episode is a reminder that your starting point does not have to define what you build next. And if you are ready to keep going, Wealth Catalyst is where women take it further. Join us at the Wealth Catalyst Summit, a full-day event in San Francisco this October 16, 2026, or find a Freedom Tour salon happening near you. Women are gathering in 32 cities this year for intimate, honest conversations about money, risk, and what they are building. Find your city and claim your seat at wealthcatalyst.com.   Episode Breakdown: 00:00 Getting Rich Together With Syama Bunten and Twyla Garrett 02:29 Growing Up in Poverty in Cleveland's Inner City 08:39 How Twyla Turned Childhood Trauma Into a Success Mindset 18:56 Learning to Manage Money From Scratch and Building the Foundation for Generational Wealth Building for Women 29:40 Buying Her First Home at 26 With $4,000 and Bad Credit 33:04 Why She Left Her Government Job to Build a Business From Nothing 47:11 The Cleveland Train Station That Made Millions and Changed Lives 50:49 Affordable Homeownership vs. Affordable Housing and Why the Difference Matters 55:10 The Garrett Foundation's Vision for Inner City Communities 1:02:09 How to Connect With Twyla Garrett and the Impact League   Connect with Twyla Garrett: Website: https://www.twylagarrett.com/  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fedbizlady/  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/twyla-garrett8016/    Find more from Syama Bunten: Attend a Salon near you: wealthcatalyst.com/salons Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/syama.co/ Join Syama's Substack: https://thewealthcatalystwithsyama.substack.com/ Website: https://wealthcatalyst.com Download Syama's Free Resources: https://wealthcatalyst.com/resources Wealth Catalyst Summit: https://wealthcatalyst.com/summits Speaking: https://syamabunten.com Big Delta Capital: www.bigdeltacapital.com Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm
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  Women Raising Capital and the Funding Model Built for Them with Melissa Wallace 19.05.2026 48min

  The system was not built for women raising capital, so Melissa Wallace built a new way forward. Melissa is the founder of Fierce Foundry, the first femtech venture studio in the United States. Long before she was reshaping how female founder funding works, she was sorting babysitting money into labeled envelopes and selling handmade greeting cards door-to-door with her dad's old briefcase. The instinct to build was always there, even before she had the language for it. With host Syama Bunten, Melissa shares the personal story behind the mission. She talks about a marriage in her twenties that ended with her ex-husband emptying her bank accounts after she asked for space, and a divorce process where she was willing to give up everything just to walk away clean. She shares how she went on to build a marketing agency, learned to lead instead of carrying every task herself, and kept seeing the same funding gap show up for women in health tech. Investors wanted proof of customers. Founders needed help getting customers. Too many had no early capital to make either happen. That loop is what Fierce Foundry was built to break. As a venture studio for women, it acts as a co-founder from day one, not a short-term program with a graduation date. It brings early capital, skilled operators, and support from idea through exit. This conversation offers a clearer path for any founder trying to understand how to raise pre-seed funding without relying on the usual gatekeepers. Women raising capital in femtech startups should not have to prove they belong before they even get started. Melissa is building the infrastructure to help more women build, fund, and scale what the world has been missing. If this conversation moved you, keep it going. Find a Wealth Catalyst Freedom Tour salon near you, or claim your seat at the Wealth Catalyst Summit in San Francisco on October 16, 2026.   Episode Breakdown: 00:00 Meet Melissa Wallace, Founder of Fierce Foundry 02:59 Growing Up With Money: What Her Father Taught Her Without Saying a Word 05:54 Her First Business at Age 10 and the Pricing Lesson That Stuck 09:19 The Exchange Year in Brazil That Changed How She Saw the World 16:40 Early Career, a Bad Marriage, and the Cost of Conformity 18:55 Losing Everything in a Divorce and Choosing Freedom Over Financial Security 23:45 From Employee to Entrepreneur: The Pattern She Finally Broke 29:50 Building a Marketing Agency and Learning to Step Back From the Work 35:04 Women Raising Capital: Why Less Than 2% of VC Funding Goes to Female Founders 38:00 How the Fierce Foundry Venture Studio Model Works From Idea to Exit Find more from Syama Bunten: Attend a Salon near you: wealthcatalyst.com/salons Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/syama.co/ Join Syama's Substack: https://thewealthcatalystwithsyama.substack.com/ Website: https://wealthcatalyst.com Download Syama's Free Resources: https://wealthcatalyst.com/resources Wealth Catalyst Summit: https://wealthcatalyst.com/summits Speaking: https://syamabunten.com Big Delta Capital: www.bigdeltacapital.com Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm
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  The Mindset That Helped Her Rebuild After Two Devastating Financial Losses | Kristin Thomas 12.05.2026 49min

  Most women never get an honest blueprint for building wealth because the women around them were never allowed to talk about it either. Kristin Thomas grew up inside that silence. With inherited wealth on one side of her family and a grandfather who built everything from nothing on the other, she absorbed two completely opposite relationships to money and was taught to openly discuss neither. What she learned instead was how to read a room, adapt fast, and connect with anyone. Those skills mattered more than she expected when it came to women and money. Her real financial education started the hard way. A fraudulent stockbroker targeted her recently divorced mother and wiped out the family savings. Financial fraud protection was not something anyone had prepared her for. So she prepared herself, buying every real estate book she could find and knocking on foreclosure doors in her early twenties. Women investing in real estate was not a common conversation then. She was doing it anyway. By 30, she owned 15 investment properties. Then 2008 hit. Financial loss and recovery became her whole reality. She rebuilt in luxury real estate and spent years at work that left her feeling empty. The pandemic forced her to stop. That pause became Marble Collective, a platform preserving the stories of inspiring women. Women entrepreneurship, for Kristin, turned out to be about legacy more than revenue. She is raising two sons differently, teaching kids about money with the transparency she never received. Women and money passes through generations. That is exactly the point. Wealth Catalyst Summit in New York on May 14 is where this conversation continues. Built for women ready to stop being quiet about money and start building something real. Find your seat at wealthcatalyst.com.   Episode Breakdown: 00:00 Women and Money: Why We Need to Talk About It Differently 02:44 Growing Up Between Inherited Wealth and a Self-Made Legacy 09:56 How Losing Her Entire Inheritance to Financial Fraud Changed Everything 14:39 The Foreclosure Strategy That Launched Her Real Estate Career 22:12 Losing a 15-Property Portfolio in 2008 and How She Rebuilt 29:32 Building a Family and Teaching Kids About Money Intentionally 33:46 How the Pandemic Sparked the Idea for Marble Collective 42:17 Preserving Women's Stories and Building a Legacy That Lasts   Find more from Kristin Thomas: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kristinthomas_/  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristin-thomas-1092a01b  Website: https://www.marblecollective.com  Find more from Syama Bunten: Attend a Salon near you: wealthcatalyst.com/salons Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/syama.co/ Join Syama's Substack: https://thewealthcatalystwithsyama.substack.com/ Website: https://wealthcatalyst.com Download Syama's Free Resources: https://wealthcatalyst.com/resources Wealth Catalyst Summit: https://wealthcatalyst.com/summits Speaking: https://syamabunten.com Big Delta Capital: www.bigdeltacapital.com     Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm
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  Women's Sports Investing: Where the Smart Money Is Moving Before It's Too Late | Lorine Pendleton 05.05.2026 43min

  Women's sports investing is one of the biggest opportunities in the market right now, and Lorine Pendleton has been calling it for years.  Host Syama Bunten sits down with Lorine Pendleton, founder of 125 Ventures, a venture capital fund at the intersection of sports, media, entertainment, and technology. She grew up in Harlem, earned her degree at Brown, went to law school at night while working in entertainment, and eventually negotiated the very first hip hop arena tour at a time when promoters refused to book rap artists in large venues.  Building wealth as a woman, she learned early, starts with the basics. Her father came from nothing, bought six multifamily homes, and talked about money openly at the dinner table. That foundation shaped everything that followed. Save consistently. Live below your means. Understand equity.  Her entry into angel investing for women came through a CNN segment that stopped her cold. She learned that less than 1% of venture funding reached Black founders and less than 2% reached women. She found Pipeline Angels, wrote her first check, and never looked back. The Rising America funds she co-raised went on to become some of Portfolia's best performers, with investments like Canela Media returning 50x.  What sets Lorine apart is her view of women's sports growth as a structural opportunity, not a social cause. The attendance numbers, media rights deals, and a 400% WNBA salary increase backed by a Nobel Prize-winning economist make the case plainly. Startup equity explained through her lens means understanding where value lives before everyone else catches on.  If this conversation has you thinking bigger about where to put your money and your attention, join us at the Wealth Catalyst Summit in New York on May 14. Lorine will be on stage, and this is exactly the kind of conversation that will continue there.   Episode Breakdown: 00:00 Introduction to Lorine Pendleton and 125 Ventures 03:03 Growing Up in Harlem: Early Money Lessons and Financial Foundations 11:30 Choosing Passion Over Pay: Breaking Into Entertainment Law 13:00 Negotiating the First Hip Hop Arena Tour 20:13 Understanding Startup Equity and Early Tech Exits 25:54 The CNN Moment That Sparked Her Angel Investing Journey 32:00 Why Women's Sports Is the Biggest Investment Opportunity Right Now 34:58 The Technology Infrastructure Behind Women's Sports Growth 39:03 WNBA Salaries, Valuations, and the Data That Proves the Opportunity 41:39 How to Connect with Lorine Pendleton and 125 Ventures Find more from Syama Bunten: Attend a Salon near you: wealthcatalyst.com/salons Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/syama.co/ Join Syama's Substack: https://thewealthcatalystwithsyama.substack.com/ Website: https://wealthcatalyst.com Download Syama's Free Resources: https://wealthcatalyst.com/resources Wealth Catalyst Summit: https://wealthcatalyst.com/summits Speaking: https://syamabunten.com Big Delta Capital: www.bigdeltacapital.com Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm