Getting Rich Together

Syama Bunten
  • 4.8 (46)
  • Investing
  • Updated Weekly

By 2030, women are projected to inherit more than $30 trillion in wealth. That's power and possibility—but here's the catch: women still earn just 85 cents on the dollar, and we don't get a 15% discount when we shop. Financial literacy and confidence haven't kept up with the times. That's where Getting Rich Together comes in. I'm Syama Bunten. After my divorce, I wrote to fifty women asking to talk about money. Ninety-five percent said no. But the few who said yes changed everything. They became my wealth expanders—showing me new ways to think about money, power, and what's possible.

They were, in essence, my personal wealth catalysts -- something we can all be for each other as we unlock the wisdom inside. This podcast brings those conversations and that catalyst to you. Each week, you'll meet women across industries and backgrounds—investors, founders, leaders, and creatives—who are redefining wealth on their own terms. Their stories are here to expand your vision, unlock your wisdom, fuel your confidence, create a wealth catalyst in your own life, and remind you that wealth isn't built alone. It's built together.

  1. 1h ago

    How to Start Angel Investing, Cheryl Kellond on Her First $1,500 Check

    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

  2. Aug 18

    Grace Belangia on Angel Investing, LP Funds, and Building Wealth Outside Silicon Valley

    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

  3. Aug 11

    The Tombstone Story Behind Jenna Nicholas' Spirituality and Impact Investing Career

    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

  4. Aug 4

    Retiring at 50 and Building Financial Literacy for Women of Color

    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

  5. Jul 28

    Angel Investing for Women, Building Wealth from Scratch, and Backing the Founders VC Overlooks With Lisha Bell

    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

  6. Jul 21

    She Raised Money Inside the 0.34%: Venture Capital Funding for Black Women Founders

    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

  7. Jul 14

    Nell 3D on How a Subtraction Mindset Builds Wealth That Lasts

    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

  8. Jul 7

    How to Pay Yourself as a Business Owner, with Andrea Liebross

    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

See All (139)

4.8
out of 5
46 Ratings

About

By 2030, women are projected to inherit more than $30 trillion in wealth. That's power and possibility—but here's the catch: women still earn just 85 cents on the dollar, and we don't get a 15% discount when we shop. Financial literacy and confidence haven't kept up with the times. That's where Getting Rich Together comes in. I'm Syama Bunten. After my divorce, I wrote to fifty women asking to talk about money. Ninety-five percent said no. But the few who said yes changed everything. They became my wealth expanders—showing me new ways to think about money, power, and what's possible.

They were, in essence, my personal wealth catalysts -- something we can all be for each other as we unlock the wisdom inside. This podcast brings those conversations and that catalyst to you. Each week, you'll meet women across industries and backgrounds—investors, founders, leaders, and creatives—who are redefining wealth on their own terms. Their stories are here to expand your vision, unlock your wisdom, fuel your confidence, create a wealth catalyst in your own life, and remind you that wealth isn't built alone. It's built together.

Information

  • Creator
    Syama Bunten
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2026
  • Episodes
    139
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2024
  • Show Website
    Getting Rich Together