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Most venture capital was never built with women in mind. Naseem Sayani got tired of waiting for the system to change, so she decided to help change where the money goes. In this conversation with host Syama Bunten on Getting Rich Together, Naseem shares her journey into venture capital for female founders and what it takes to move more funding toward overlooked businesses. Before co-founding Emmeline Ventures, she built her career in consulting and digital innovation at firms including Booz & Company and Boston Consulting Group. Growing up in a traditional South Asian household in Los Angeles, she was taught to prioritize education, save money, and prepare for marriage. But she had different plans for her future. Naseem shares how she went from implementing major business decisions to wanting a seat at the table where those decisions were made. That ambition led her to business school and eventually into venture investing. She explains how watching female founders struggle to raise capital pushed her to start angel investing in women-led companies and later leave her consulting career to write bigger checks. She also discusses the lack of women in investment decision-making roles, how women's health investing has evolved since 2019, and why bringing more women into venture capital matters. And she explains why the differences in how male and female founders experience fundraising need to be discussed more openly. Listen now to hear how Naseem turned her experience in consulting into a mission to fund more female founders, why individual angel investments weren't enough for her, and what she believes needs to change to get more capital into women's hands.   Episode Breakdown: 00:00 Why Venture Capital Wasn't Built for Women 02:55 Growing Up in a Gendered Immigrant Household 07:58 Wanting to Be an ER Doctor Like Clooney 10:20 Choosing Campus Life Over the Marriage Track 16:52 Starting a Career Amid 9/11, Enron, and Acquisitions 23:26 Financing an MBA and a Paid Sabbatical 32:05 Building a Product Studio Inside Booz and BCG 39:08 Watching the Gender Gap in Startup Funding 43:07 Leaving a Partner Track to Go Full Venture 51:23 Building a Legacy for Female Founder Funding   Connect with Naseem Sayani: Listen to The Capital Flex podcast   Find more from Syama Bunten: 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 Speaking: https://syamabunten.com Big Delta Capital: www.bigdeltacapital.com Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm

You can have the will, the trust, and the estate plan and still not know what to do first when your spouse dies. Samina Bari learned that in 2023, when her husband died suddenly in an accident. Her financial advisor sent her a PDF checklist. She ended up typing Social Security questions into Google. On Getting Rich Together, host Syama Bunten talks with Samina, Founder and CEO of Farewell. Samina spent the last decade of her operating career focused on biotech M&A, advising CEOs and boards on investor strategy and positioning. She explains where estate planning for women falls short and why a checklist of steps after the death of a spouse rarely helps someone navigate the first days of grief. She explains the questions she needed answered in those early days and why she struggled to find a clear path forward. Her story shows how financial independence for women can start with small, deliberate decisions. She bought a condo at 21 with a lowball offer and refused to budge. She took a significant pay cut to get inside Pfizer and shares what she weighed before saying "yes". She also makes the case that the great wealth transfer needs better infrastructure to help families move assets with more clarity, especially as more inherited wealth passes to women. Press play to understand what comes after the estate plan and why preparing for the administrative side of loss matters before you ever need it. Then keep the conversation going at the Wealth Catalyst Summit, a full-day event. Claim your seat at wealthcatalyst.com.     Episode Breakdown: 00:00 When an Estate Plan Leaves You Without Answers 02:55 Rejecting Expectations and Choosing Independence 06:44 Night Shifts, Kiplinger's, and a Condo at 21 13:52 Samina Bari's 20-Year Plan From Hospital to Lipitor 19:13 Salary Negotiation and Knowing When to Walk Away 28:30 Building an Advisor Team, Wills, and Trusts Early 31:44 Tesla Stock and a First Angel Check 36:13 Sudden Loss and Writing Don't Call Me Widow 43:41 What to Do First When Your Spouse Dies 50:26 Why the Great Wealth Transfer Needs a System Connect with Samina Bari: Visit the Farewell website: https://withfarewell.com/  Visit Samina's website: https://saminabari.com/    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/ 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

Every 18 years, the same money story repeats. First comes a speculative gold rush, then a reckoning. Astrologer Ophira Edut traced that pattern from Jamestown to the 2008 crash, and she says we have entered another corrective cycle. If you have ever wondered what financial astrology and market cycles could reveal about your own money choices, this conversation is for you. On Getting Rich Together, host Syama Bunten sits down with Ophira Edut, a bestselling author, astrologer, and one half of The AstroTwins and co-founder of Astrostyle.com. Ophira grew up in an immigrant family in Detroit where she and her twin sister earned their own spending money through dog walking, babysitting, calligraphy, and other entrepreneurial projects. She sold her first business, HUES magazine, at 26 and later built a thriving astrology business with her sister without a single outside investor. Her path makes a real case for astrology for entrepreneurs. Ophira explains what the North Node in Aquarius 2026 shift could mean for AI, crypto, and the economy through March 2028. She shares a Kabbalah lesson that shaped the way she thinks about desire, abundance, and money, and why she treats money as energy you attract so you can share it. Listen for the spotlight and lighthouse question she wants every woman to ask herself right now. Press play to hear how Ophira reads financial astrology and market cycles, and what it could mean for your next move. Then take the conversation further at a Freedom Tour salon near you or at the Wealth Catalyst Summit in San Francisco this October 16.   Episode Breakdown: 00:00 Meet Ophira Edut of The AstroTwins 03:00 Detroit Roots, Painted Jeans, and Teenage Hustles 14:02 A Sassy Contest, Hues Magazine, and First Exit 24:04 Gloria Steinem, Ms., and Landing Teen People 31:40 Losing the Cash Cow and Launching Astrostyle 36:12 Never Late Horoscopes and Learning Financial Forecasting 46:59 How Ophira Thinks About Investing Her Capital 52:40 Financial Astrology and Market Cycles Through 2028 1:02:38 Money as Energy and the Lighthouse Question 1:07:52 Legacy, Lifelong Learning, and Where to Find Ophira 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/ 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

Wealth Catalyst is where women go to take the conversation further, and Leah Solivan's journey from building TaskRabbit to backing the next generation of founders fits that mission perfectly. Two percent. Leah says that's the share of women who receive venture capital funding for their businesses. After spending years raising money as a founder, she now sits on the other side of the table, investing in companies and working to expand who gets access to capital. Host Syama Bunten talks with Leah Solivan, founder of TaskRabbit and Managing Director of Precedent.vc, about the TaskRabbit founder story that started with a $27,000 pension and eventually led to an acquisition by IKEA. Leah shares how she went from knowing almost nothing about venture capital to learning how to pitch investors and raise money for her company. An email to the CEO of Zipcar became a pivotal connection, opening the door to mentorship, warm introductions, and some of TaskRabbit's first angel investors. Those early relationships shaped how Leah thinks about investing today. For anyone interested in angel investing for beginners or wondering how to become an angel investor, she shares the story behind the first check she wrote into someone else's company and why backing founders became the natural next chapter after TaskRabbit. Listen to hear how she chose IKEA over two other offers, how she built a career in venture after the acquisition, and what she is teaching her own kids about money. Join the Wealth Catalyst Summit, a full-day event in San Francisco this October 16, and claim your seat at wealthcatalyst.com.   Episode Breakdown: 00:00 Leah Solivan's early entrepreneurial spark in Massachusetts 06:19 Choosing a college for its ballet program 09:34 Landing an engineering job during the dot com bust 11:14 Using an IBM pension to fund TaskRabbit 17:03 The Cold Email That Led to Her First Angel Investors 19:22 Learning How to Pitch Investors 25:04 How to become an angel investor herself 28:44 Choosing IKEA over two other acquisition offers 35:05 Launching Precedent VC and Breaking Precedent 42:29 Why venture capital still fails women founders 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

Angel investing can feel like it takes a spare million dollars and access that most of us never get. Emma Malina challenges that assumption, and this episode shows how women can start angel investing with a check as small as five thousand dollars. Emma Malina is an active investor and the host of Matcha and Money, a Santa Barbara gathering built to get women talking honestly about capital. On Getting Rich Together, host Syama Bunten traces Emma's path from teenage DJ to New York real estate broker to investor. As a teenager, Emma walked into a bank with fifty pounds from a DJ gig and opened a pension plan despite being told she was too young. That same instinct shaped her real estate career, including a 1031 exchange that helped move her from a Brooklyn walk-up to a 3,600-square-foot house on an acre in Santa Barbara. She also shares her first steps into equity crowdfunding for beginners and pre-IPO investing for beginners, the family estate crisis that pushed her toward Matcha and Money, and a clear answer for anyone wondering how to become an angel investor with little money. Her larger case is that women have real power in how they use their money, and that becoming thoughtful owners, investors, and stewards of capital gives them a greater voice in shaping the future. Listen for the full story and a real starting point if you have been waiting to write your first check.   Episode Breakdown: 00:00 A Teenage DJ Opens Her First Pension 04:35 Growing Up Between Santa Barbara and London 08:20 First Jobs, Club Culture, and Early Money 20:49 The Bus Stop Ad That Started It All 29:04 Restaurants, Real Estate, and Building Instincts 37:38 Retirement Accounts and Her First Apartment 44:31 Leaving New York and Starting Over 49:45 How Women Can Start Angel Investing 51:42 Her Mother's Estate and a Hard Lesson 56:37 Building Matcha and Money From Her Living Room   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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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