Introduction: Barbara Stewart

Barbara Stewart is a Chartered Financial Analyst with 28 years in the investment management industry, five years as a foreign currency trader and then two decades as a portfolio manager investing on behalf of high net worth entrepreneurs.

Ten years ago Barbara saw a need to challenge outdated financial industry stereotypes and share positive messages about women and money.

Today, Barbara is recognised worldwide as one of the leading researchers in women and finance.

Her Rich Thinking® global research papers quote smart women from all ages, professions and industry.

Barbara is a keynote speaker for CFA Societies, banks and stock exchanges around the world, and conducts interview driven research for financial institutions in Canada and globally.

Key topics we cover in the podcast (31mins)

• Why is the world waking up to women investors now?

• What does the financial services industry need to do differently in order to engage more women?

• Why are women 'risk aware' as opposed to 'risk averse'?

• How do women invest differently to men?

• Why online investing can make it easy for women to invest.

• How can more women engage around their money & investing?

Connect with Barbara here. Read Barbara’s research here. Connect with Barbara on Twitter here.

Introduction: Sarah Turner, CEO & Co-Founder at Angel Academe

Sarah is a technologist, entrepreneur and angel investor. In 2014 she co-founded the fast-growing and award-winning angel network, Angel Academe. 

Their mission is to introduce more women to angel investing and to invest in women founded and co-founded technology startups with high growth potential.

Investments include: Provenance, which uses the blockchain to provide supply chain transparency; Raremark which uses AI to help patients with rare diseases make informed choices about treatment; and Fiskl, a fintech for micro-businesses. 

Sarah is also on the board of the UK Business Angels Association.

Key topics we cover in the podcast (28mins)

• What sparked the idea to start an angel network aimed at women?

• Why do we need angel networks aimed at women, like Angel Academe? 

• What makes Angel Academe a unique proposition in the market?

• What is an angel investor?

• How do you become an angel investor? 

• What is the criteria & where do you start?

• What is the process for investing in a start-up and what does an angel investor have to do?

• At a very high level, how does the maths work?

• What is Sarah excited about in the world of investing?

• How do we encourage more women to become angel investors?

Connect with Sarah here and here. Connect with Angel Academe

Introduction: Anna Sofat, Founder/wealth Advisor, Addidi & The Progeny Group

Anna is the founder of Addidi, a financial services boutique for women.  Anna sold the business to the Progeny Group who are spearheading a move to bring all your wealth, tax and legal advisers into one room.

Prior to founding Addidi, Anna was the managing director at Fiona Price & Partners, the first business set up specifically to provide financial advice for women by women. She graduated from Hull University and has a Masters from the London School of Economics. She is a chartered financial planner, won Unbiased’s financial adviser award in 2014, and was ranked No 1 female adviser by Financial Adviser in 2015.  

Anna was also awarded the Woman IFA of the year in 2019. Away from work, she is married and a mother of two girls. She has served as councillor on Rochester City Council, her local parish council and was a non-executive director for the social enterprise, Fair Finance from its inception in 2005 to 2014.

Key topics we cover in the podcast (33mins)

• How are you 'the voice of women's wealth'?

• What was your experience of money and investing growing up?

• Why do we need the wealth management industry to change and how does the industry need to change?

• How does Addidi/the Progeny Group differ in the market?

• What do financial planners do and how can working with one help make a difference to your financial future?

• How can women invest for social impact?

• What are you excited about in the world of investing in 2020?

• How do women become more engaged around their money & investing?

  Connect with Anna here and here. And you can connect to Addidi and the Progeny Group.

Introduction: Veronica Mihai Das, Partner at Bloomwater Capital

Veronica is one of the founding partners at Bloomwater Capital, a hedge fund based in the British Virgin Islands that employs quantitative algorithmic trading strategies for traditional and cryptocurrency markets.

With over 15 years experience in management consulting for enterprise programmes in non-for-profit organisations, private corporations and the public sector in the UK and Europe, Veronica now concentrates her skills and knowledge in the blockchain space. She has invested in blockchain and women-led start-ups and has owned an enterprise grade cryptocurrency mining farm. She believes in inclusion, diversity and gender equity in the blockchain space, technology and beyond and works to build a future world that her children will thrive in. 

Bloomwater Capital offers the opportunity for professional investors to diversify their portfolio whilst adhering to traditional business principles of regulation, transparency and trust. 

Key topics we cover in the podcast (60mins)-recorded 21 March & 10 May 2020

• Why are you interested in blockchain and the crypto market? 

• As a founder & investor in the blockchain and crypto industry, why did you decide to build a start-up in this industry?

• For those of us who are new to the space: can you explain what the blockchain is?

• How would you describe the crypto landscape or marketplace in the UK & globally?

• Investors such Warren Buffet criticise cryptocurrencies and warn against investing in them. Why is that? And could Warren Buffet be wrong?

• For women who are new to crypto but want to invest, what is the best way to get started today?

• In order to become long term investors, how can women think about investing in crypto or digital assets?

• For women who want to take more risk and engage much more around their money and investing what would you advise?

Additional interview about bitcoin halving which took place May 11, 2020:

• What is Bitcoin halving?

• Why is it important and how should we think about it?

Connect with Veronica here and here. And you can connect with Bloomwater Capital here.

Introduction: Gail Wong, General Partner at Her Capital

Gail Wong is the General Partner for Her Capital: a venture capital fund with a laser focus on female founders. They believe in the strength, drive and potential of female entrepreneurs across Southeast Asia, the world’s largest emerging market.

Gail is also a certified coach enabling abundance for women; a SheEO activator and gender-lens investor.

She describes herself as a whole-brained multi-hyphenate who defies easy definition: she is an investor, coach, a cappella performer, yogi, empath, global citizen.

We cover the following topics in the podcast:

• How do you raise a venture capital fund?

• Why have you decided to focus on female entrepreneurs?

• How has Covid-19 impacted the fundraising and entrepreneurial landscape in South East Asia?

• Is there a difference in how men and women invest?

• What are you excited about in the world of investing in 2020?

• How do you personally invest your money?

• What advice do you have for women who want to start investing in startups?

• And what would you say to women who want to engage much more around their money and investing?

Connect with Gail Wong and Her Capital here.

Introduction: Lauren Winfield, Founder & CEO of Signum city

Lauren Winfield is the founder and CEO of Signum City, a mobile app that illuminates the power of money through gamifying the stock market. 

She aims to democratise investing and financial literacy, especially for Gen Z. After watching herself and her peers struggle to find their footing financially, she knows firsthand the perils and power of money. She graduated from Belmont University with a BBA in Music Business and International Business and completed a thesis on the trend of Social Capitalism. 

With over 10 years of immersing herself in SMBs in Austin, TX, Lauren is passionate about pushing Signum City forward with her strategic leadership and keen skills in Operations and Marketing. She completed the SputnikATX accelerator program for Signum City in 2019, and she's excited to continue to illuminate the power of money for the next generation.

We cover the following topics in the podcast:

• How would you describe the market for women investors today?

• What are some of the challenges women face in becoming more engaged and frequent investors?

• How does learning and investing within a community help?

• How can technology help women and Gen Z invest?

• Why is mental health key to investing well?

• How did you become a long term investor?

• Do you have any tips for female founders running a start-up at this time?

You can connect with Lauren and Signum City here.

Introduction: Julia Elliott Brown, CEO & Founder at Enter the arena

Julia Elliott Brown, CEO and Founder of Enter The Arena, is the UK's leading fundraising and growth advisor working exclusively with women entrepreneurs.

With 20+ years commercial experience developing, building and funding high-growth start-ups, including the award-winning online shoe design brand Upper Street, and internet pioneer UpMyStreet.com, Julia's mission and passion is to bring her wealth of expertise to support women entrepreneurs on their own journeys to raising finance and scaling their businesses.

Alongside her coaching and advisory work, Julia mentors female founders at Natwest Entrepreneurial Spark and Virgin Startup. She is a judge at the Great British Entrepreneur Awards and also hosts the ground-breaking podcast Fundraising Stories with Women Entrepreneurs.

We cover the following topics in the podcast:

• What were some of biggest lessons from running your start-up and raising capital?

• How would you describe the landscape for female entrepreneurs raising capital-what are some of the challenges and how can female entrepreneurs overcome them?

• How has this changed for female entrepreneurs since the pandemic?

• What's your view on the Future Fund?

• What are some of the way female entrepreneurs can raise funding today?

• Have you noticed any differences how women and men invest in start-ups? And how might female entrepreneurs apply that in how they raise funding?

• What are you excited about in the world of investing in 2020 and beyond?

• What would you advise women who want to engage more around money and investing-but don't have time?

You can connect with Julia here and here.

Introduction: Shelley kuipers, co-founder at the51

Shelley Kuipers is building the world she wants to live in. As an activist in business, entrepreneurship and investment, she is hell bent on defeating the status quo one project at a time, and replacing it with options that are more equitable, feminist and ecologically sustainable; revolutionary options that drive greater value for both business and consumer.

Shelley is a co-founder of IOVIA and Adventure Capital. She previously founded crowd-sourcing company, Chaordix and was a founding member of Stormworks. She is also co-founder of financial feminist platform, The51 and sustainable direct to consumer clothing brand Harris Kuipers, all in addition to championing the entrepreneurs she has chosen to invest in.

Shelley loves to travel for business and adventure but also questions the sustainability of it all - in fact she knows it isn't. When on a break Shelley finds herself revelling in nature with family and friends in Canada.

We cover the following topics in this podcast interview:

• How you got started on the journey as an investor and why you have decided to focus on the female market?

• What trends are you seeing now with regards to female wealth and women investing?

• Why do you think women tend to be more interested in investing for social good or impact?

• We know that women's wealth is on the rise: how do you think we can encourage more women to invest?

• What would you say to female founders who are raising capital right now?

• What advice would you have for women who want to engage much more around their money & investing but are short on time and/or money right now?

You can connect with Shelley here and here.

Introduction: Vicki Saunders, Founder at Sheeo

Vicki Saunders is an entrepreneur, award-winning mentor, advisor to the next generation of change makers and leading advocate for entrepreneurship as a way of creating positive transformation in the world.

Vicki is Founder of #radical generosity and SheEO, a global community of radically generous women supporting women-led Ventures working on the World’s To Do List. Vicki has co-founded and run ventures in Europe, Toronto and Silicon Valley and taken a company public on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

Vicki was named one of the 100 most influential leaders of 2015 from “EBW – Empowering A Billion Women”. In 2001, Vicki was selected as a Global Leader for Tomorrow by the World Economic Forum.

We cover the following in our conversation:

• What does radical generosity mean to you and why is it important?

• Why should women invest; why is it important? And why should women fund female founders?

• Why do we need to build new systems for change?

• How can gifting empower the female founder and the activator?

• What are you excited about in the world of investing?

• What advice do you have for female founders raising during the pandemic?

• And how can women become activators?

You can connect with Vicki here and here.

Introduction: Katie Donovan, Systemic Bias Pay Leader & Pay Equity Expert

Katie Donovan is one of the leading pay-equity experts and advocates in the US. 

She innovated and authored the widely praised and quickly adopted restrictions on the common question of salary history in hiring and compensation decisions. In doing so, she proved the processes are biased. Katie's innovation has led to 34 laws and executive orders within four years to be passed on the state and local levels.  

And more importantly for women to earn starting salaries that are 8% higher and Black job changes to earn starting salaries that are 13% higher where such restrictions exist.

Since 2011, Katie has been consulting with individuals on negotiating their pay and on changing the processes within their organisations through her firm Equal Pay Negotiations.

Katie has spoken and conducted workshops on equal pay, salary negotiations, and unintended biases in hiring at hundreds of venues including Harvard Business School, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the NASDAQ. She is a sought-after commentator on pay equity and women in business including the BBC and CNN.

We cover the following in our conversation:

• What are some of the challenges or difficulties women and minorities face when it comes to negotiating a fair salary or a fair package?

• Systemic bias: what is it and how is this holding women back?

• What are the implications for women and their net worth?

• What is negotiation and why is it important?

• How can women prepare for a salary package negotiation?

• What are the key steps they need to take to be ready?

• If you experience discrimination or unconscious bias when you're negotiating your salary or package-what can you do?

• What is the gender equity gap and what can women do to close it? What can employers do and who is getting this right?

You can connect with Katie here and here.

Introduction: Matthew Stafford,co-founder of 9Others & Dot Matrix Group

Matthew Stafford has worked with startups since 2010 and is the co-founder of 9others, a global entrepreneurs network, and Dot Matrix Group, an angel investment syndicate.

9others was established in 2011 and is now a global network of 4,000+ entrepreneurs in 45+ cities who meet over dinner to help each other solve the challenges of business and life. Established in 2016 Dot Matrix Group is an angel syndicate that invests in seed stage technology startups in the UK.

Matthew is a patient investor and typically gets to know and contributes to entrepreneurs over many months and even years before investing.

Before all that, Matthew worked in technology for RBS, The Bank of New York and others, studied Computer Science at Durham University and has an MBA from Imperial College Business School.

We cover the following in our conversation:

• How did you get started as an angel investor?

• What is an angel syndicate?

• What's the criteria and process for an angel investor joining?

• How do you decide what startups to invest in?

• How do we get more women and underrepresented groups more involved in angel investing?

• What do you say to people who assume that because startup investing is risky, they shouldn't go anywhere near it?

You can connect with Matthew here and here.

Introduction: Tina Weeks,Founder of Serenity Financial

Tina Weeks is the founder of Serenity Financial Planning, a unique financial planning company that aims to deliver Financial Life Planning to as many people as possible in the UK.

Tina has been a financial adviser since 1996 and specialises in Financial Life Planning. This is a new technique that encourages and inspires clients to identify what is most important to them and what they really want to do in their life. She then works with them over the long term to ensure they have enough money to do it and are confident about their financial planning.

She advises her clients on pensions, investments, insurance, estate planning and every other aspect of their financial planning. In addition, Tina will help clients get a clearer understanding of their relationship with money and teach them tools to better manage their finances on a day to day basis.

We cover the following in our conversation:

• Can you think back to a pivotal moment or experience growing up, which has had a profound impact on your relationship with money?

• What's your view on the global & UK economy right now and the fact that there is a stock market/economy disconnect?

• Can you explain what you do and how it differs from financial advice?

• You work with female clients, do you see any differences in how women choose to manage and invest their money compared to men?

• The gender pension gap: how should women think about their pension to ensure they have saved enough for retirement?

• What do you think needs to change in the financial services industry to be more inclusive of women?

• A lot of people are feeling very uneasy about their money. Women in particular have been hard hit during the pandemic ie reduced hours, job loss as they struggle with more childcare and homeschooling responsibilities. What would your advice be to women who are feeling very uncertain about their money right now?

• What would you advise women who are keen to engage around their money and investing, but are short on time?

You can connect with Tina here and here.

Introduction: Eva Pascoe, Founder, Director of ecommerce at the retail practice & angel investor

Eva Pascoe is a digital leader who has pioneered the Internet, e-payments, e-commerce fashion solutions and e-CRM.

Eva co-founded the world's first Internet cafe in 1994.  And she developed fashion web shops for (including) Topshop, Topman, Dorothy Perkins, Racing Green and Burton.

After a successful Crowdcube fundraising campaign in January 2017, Eva joined Bluebella as a non-executive director, overseeing the brand's digital acquisition and international ecommerce strategy.

Since 2013 her ecommerce consultancy The Retail Practice has been advising the largest pan-European lingerie brand Hunkemoller.

In her role as Charity Trustee for Trading Group, Eva has also advised one of the largest UK military charities, Help4Heroes, supporting the charity team since 2013 in their online trading activities on digital acquisition, CRM and transition to new e-commerce platform.

She has recently co-authored  digital retail policy papers on Re-imagining The High Street and a new policy for West End of London in her “Surf and Turf” contribution to a recent  publication commissioned by the Centre for London and New West End Company.

She regularly speaks at key retail industry events run by the Retail Institute and runs a weekly digital innovations blog The Retail Bytes.

Eva is also an active angel investor with a focus on female founders.

We cover the following in our conversation:

• Can you talk to us about the time you set up the world's first internet cafe?

• How has being an entrepreneur shaped how you choose to invest in early stage businesses?

• How do you decide what startup businesses to invest in?

• What are some of the differences in what women and men choose to invest in and how they invest?

• What role do networks play in how you invest?

• What are you excited about in terms of investing in 2021?

• What advice do you have for women who want to engage much more around their money and invest?

You can connect with Eva here and here.

Introduction: Heather Ettinger, Founder & CEO of Luma Wealth Advisors (US)

As a champion for women and girls for over 30 years, Heather Ettinger is widely recognised for her unique experience and dedication to helping women build their financial acumen and wealth, culminating in the founding of Luma Wealth Advisors in 2017. 

She specialises in helping clients and their families create strategic financial plans to guide them through life transitions, such as the loss of a spouse, divorce and job changes and to align their resources around family values and impact in their communities.

Heather has a bestselling book entitled, Lumination: Shining a Light on A Woman’s Journey to Financial Wellness and she has co-authored two research studies about women and wealth.

Heather has been featured in many publications including The Wall Street Journal, Barron’s, and Bloomberg.

She has served on numerous non-profit and private company boards across a wide range of industries including technology, financial services and healthcare.

Heather considers raising her three children with her husband, Jeff to be her greatest and most rewarding accomplishment. 

Her favourite activities include playing ice hockey, skiing and hiking.

We cover the following in our conversation:

• What is financial wellness?

• What role do emotions play in how we manage our money?

• How do we move from the 'fear zone' to the 'confidence zone'?

• ESG & impact investing.

• Why invest in female-led start-ups?

• How does the financial services industry need to change?

• What will the world look like in 2075 when women own the majority of private wealth globally (& women make the majority investing decisions?)

You can connect to Heather here and here.

Introduction: Katrine Marçal, award-winning author, journalist and keynote speaker

Katrine Marçal is an award-winning author, journalist and keynote speaker. Her first book ‘Who Cooked Adam Smith’s Dinner’ has been translated into more than 20 languages and was hailed by Margaret Atwood as ‘a smart, funny, readable book on economics, money and women’.

It was named one of The Guardian’s Books of the Year in 2015.

Katrine works for Dagens Nyheter, the largest broadsheet newspaper in Sweden and she was one of only a handful of European journalists to get an exclusive interview with Michelle Obama before the publication of the Former First Lady’s memoir Becoming in 2018.

In her role as a financial journalist Katrine has interviewed many of the world’s most respected economic thinkers like Nouriel Roubini, Nassim Taleb and Yanis Varoufakis.

Her book “Mother of Invention: How Good Ideas Get Ignored In An Economy Build For Men” became a bestseller in Sweden in 2020 and will be published in English in 2021.

We cover the following in our conversation:

• What is feminist economics?

• How has modern economics failed us and what needs to change?

• How do we value women's work?

• Women's innovation and why it has been largely ignored?

• Why investing in women and the female market will drive innovation.

You can connect with Katrine here and here.

Introduction: Cindy gallop, Founder & CEO MakeLoveNotPOrn (MLNP)

Cindy Gallop is the founder and CEO of MakeLoveNotPorn launched at TED 2009 – ‘Pro-sex. Pro-porn. Pro-knowing the difference’.

In 2013 she turned MakeLoveNotPorn into the world’s first user-generated, human-curated social sex video-sharing platform, socialising and normalising sex in order to make it easier to talk about, to promote consent, communication, good sexual values and good sexual behaviour. MakeLoveNotPorn is spearheading the Social Sex Revolution (the revolutionary part isn’t the sex, but the social). Given the challenges Cindy has faced finding investors, she is raising the world’s first dedicated sextech fund, All the Sky Holdings.

She speaks at conferences globally and consults, describing her approach as ‘I like to blow shit up. I am the Michael Bay of business.’

We cover the following in our conversation:

• Cindy talks to us about MakeLoveNotPorn and the journey she's been on as a female founder in an entirely new category.

• We talk about why the next big thing in tech is disrupting sex.

• Why founders from underrepresented groups are uniquely able to design and build safe spaces on the web.

• Cindy's experience in fundraising for her startup.

• What she looks for in her investors.

• Why we need more women to back female and underrepresented founders.

• And Cindy talks to us about her vision for creating and launching her $200 million sextech fund.

You can connect with Cindy here and here.

Introduction: Vicky pryce, Chief economic advisor

Vicky Pryce is Chief Economic Adviser and a board member at the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR).

She was previously Senior Managing Director at FTI Consulting, Director General for Economics at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) and Joint Head of the UK Government Economic Service. Before that she was Partner at the accounting and consulting firm KPMG after senior economic positions in banking and the oil sector. 

She has held a number of academic posts and is a Fellow and Council member of the UK Academy of Social Sciences, a Fellow of the Society of Professional Economists and a Companion of the British Academy of Management. She was until recently on the Council of the Institute for Fiscal Studies and is a member of the Advisory Board of the central banking think-tank OMFIF and of the Economic Advisory Group of the British Chambers of Commerce. 

She is also a Patron of the charities Pro-Bono Economics and Working Chance. Her books include: “Greekonomics: The Euro crisis and Why Politicians Don't Get It”; “It's the Economy, Stupid- Economics for Voters”, with Ross and Urwin; “Redesigning Manufacturing”, with Nielsen and Beverland”; and “Why Women Need Quotas”. 

Her latest book, “Women vs Capitalism”, was published by Hurst in November 2019.. She is a frequent contributor to media broadcasts and debates on the economy and on the economic rationale for gender equality. She is co-founder of GoodCorporation, a company set up to advise on corporate social responsibility, is a Freeman and Liveryman of the City of London, was the first female Master of the Worshipful Company of Management Consultants and has been sitting on the City’s Members Diversity Working Party.

We cover the following in our conversation:

• What does the field of economics help us to understand?

• Why can't women 'have it all' in a free-market economy?

• What is the fallout of the pandemic on women? How is Brexit in the UK adding to this negative and detrimental impact on women?

• According to research, an estimated 22% of employed women in the United Kingdom could find their jobs displaced by automation by 2030. What needs to happen to ensure that these women don't get left behind?

• What role do you see female entrepreneurs play in driving more growth, prosperity and innovation in our economy in the UK, US and globally?

• We are in the midst of a massive transfer to wealth globally to women. What impact will this have on the world we live in?

• What needs to change to ensure we reverse these negative trends on women and accelerate change for the better?

• If we had more women sitting at the table, for example, making decisions in government, how much more likely is it that we would see change happen a lot more quickly?

• What message do you have for government and policy-makers out there in order to help correct the market failure and gender inequalities we have talked about?

• And what would you say to women, right now, who are having to deal with so much and are simply not getting the support they need? What should they think about?

You can connect with Vicky here.

Introduction: Julia Angeles, Portfolio Manager, Baillie Gifford

Julia Angeles joined Baillie Gifford in 2008 and is the portfolio manager of the health innovation strategy.

Prior to Baillie Gifford, Julia worked as a management consultant for McKinsey & co. advising firms in Denmark, Russia, and Hungary. Since joining Baillie Gifford, Julia has worked on a number of regional and global investment strategies. Julia has a passion for the transformation taking place in healthcare, and it was this passion which led to the establishment of the strategy.

She believes that over the next 10 years, healthcare systems around the world will experience a monumental change and we will witness a move away from reactive medicine to a world where prevention and cure will become an integral part of healthcare driven by technology.

Julia is also a member of the international growth portfolio construction group.

Julia obtained a PhD in economics from the university of Aarhus in Denmark and speaks fluent, Russian and Danish.

We cover the following in our conversation:

• How do you define biotech and healthcare?

• How are we on the cusp of a revolution in healthcare?

• Moderna Inc: investing in the biotech firm which developed the first COVID-19 vaccine.

• How do you think about the companies you invest in and what is the key criteria you use?

• Why do you identify disruptive businesses in the healthcare sector and why is this important?

• Being part of an all-female team, how might your approach in how you invest differ (to say an all-male team of fund managers in the same industry)?

• As more women lead investment funds and drive investing decisions at the institutional level, how do you think this will shape the market on a global scale? '

• The nature of asymmetry is such that investment returns are driven by a few big winners...The main constraint to us appreciating that potential is our imagination': can you elaborate what you mean by that?

• What would you advise women who want to become investors?

  You can connect with Julia here.