Money Memories

Reem Kassis is an award-winning Palestinian writer whose work focuses on the intersection of food, history, and politics. Her cookbook, “The Arabesque Table,” has received rave reviews and was listed on the New York Times' Best Cookbooks of 2021. Reem talks about how she was able to overcome cultural taboos around money talks, and why she is teaching her daughters the importance of self-worth. Reem Kassis's website: https://www.reemkassis.com/

Stefanie O'Connell Rodriguez is a personal finance writer and host of the Real Simple podcast "Money Confidential." She describes how her upbringing as a child of immigrant parents influenced her attitude around frugality, and made her realize that the common discourse around money didn't speak to her experience. Plus, we talk about why the common recommendation for emergency fund savings might not be enough for you.

Chris Ramos is a personal finance aficionado. Chris received his undergraduate degree from Virginia Tech University, and proceeded to work in government for several years before deciding to pursue an MBA. He was admitted to the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth, and faced a conundrum: attend a prestigious school and take on debt, or forgo the opportunity to avoid the expense? We talk about how his mom taught him the most important lessons about credit, how to leverage the power of smart balance transfers, and the risks and rewards of taking on student loans.

Miguel Fernandez is the founder of Capchase, a fintech platform that provides financing for software-as-a-service ("SaaS") companies. Miguel shares some of the biggest mistakes he made as a startup founder, and how those lessons helped Capchase raise almost $1 billion in financing. He also shares how growing up in Spain influenced his views on risk aversion, and who he is supporting in this World Cup.

Did you know that 13% of US drivers are uninsured? This week's guest, Murray Macdonald, is on a mission to change that. Murray is the co-founder of the insurtech company Just Insure, which aims to provide affordable coverage using advanced data analytics. Murray grew up in South Africa, and talks about how witnessing extreme income disparities influenced his belief in the importance of equal access.

Jake Blum is not only an esteemed host of his own podcast, called Quakers and Makers, he's also a financial planner with Northwestern Mutual. Jake shares what his keys to financial wellness are, and his journey from investment banking on Wall Street to running his own business.

Elizabeth a recent college graduate and creator of the platform MyTwoCentsFinance. While she was a full-time student, Elizabeth saved more than $20,000 that helped her achieve her goal of living in Spain after graduation. She shares her strategies for financial planning, and why setting ambitious "stretch" goals is an important step in this process.

Shay Bloch is a serial entrepreneur from Tel Aviv, Israel. Currently, he is the CEO of Jobox.ai, which is a platform that connects individuals freelance home services professionals. Shay shares what his biggest financial obstacle was as CEO, the toughest decisions he has had to make, and why sometimes, even money isn't enough to solve your problems.

Pinaman Owusu-Banahene is the founder and CEO of Adjoaa, an online fashion marketplace that highlights African designers. A graduate of the London School of Economics, Pinaman spent her childhood between Ghana and New Zealand. Although she initially began her career in public policy, she has since pivoted into the world of entrepreneurship, where she leverages her global perspective to connect customers with some of the most exciting designers in the world. She shares how her grandparents instilled their values on money management, and why "make it work" applies to more than just fashion.

According to the Wall Street Journal, housing affordability in the United States is at its lowest level since 1989. Prospective buyers are stuck on the sidelines, worrying about whether to pull the trigger or continue waiting on the sidelines. For many, the American Dream of home ownership has turned into the American Nightmare. Dave Rich is a real estate expert, who shares his perspective and tips on his blog Coinsnculture. He shares why he is still optimistic about real estate long-term, and strategies for saving up for a down payment.

As a new college graduate living in New York City, Aja Evans thought she had made it. She quickly realized, however, that the weekly bottomless brunches add up. Eventually, she took control of her spending habits. Today, Aja is a licensed mental health counselor specializing in financial wellness. She shares how her personal journey informed her decision to offer this unique angle to her therapy practice.

Maria MacMullin is the Senior Director of Major Gifts for the Genesis Women's Shelter in Dallas, Texas. Maria has played a key role in securing over $70 million in philanthropic gifts for a wide number of organizations, and we talk about the importance of giving back in the personal finance journey. She is also the host of the Podcast on Crimes Against Women and the Genesis Podcast.

Oliver Tweddell's two greatest passions are sailing and investing. Tweddell has spent the majority of his life training to qualify for Australia's Olympic team. Although he just missed out on the Tokyo games, he pivoted into the world of investing and started Minted Millennials, an online financial literacy platform. We talk about how budgeting as an athlete can be a "feast to famine" cycle and the two financial misconceptions that annoy him the most.

Blockasset is an NFT platform and ecosystem that allows fans to buy tokens of their favorite athletes. Founders Ryan and Mike share how their humble roots inspired their entrepreneurial passion, and what's behind the NFT craze.

Celia Zhang has built an illustrious career as a performer and educator, having graduated with a bachelor's degree in violin performance from the Juilliard School in 2014 and subsequently receiving her master's degree from the Yale School of Music in 2016. She recently started a music school called Village Youth Conservatory. Celia's parents immigrated to the U.S. from China, and she talks about how they were able to budget and plan so that she and her siblings could pursue the extracurricular activities that they wanted. She also talks about financial planning as a small business owner and the time that she filmed a Nike commercial with Kyrie Irving.

Rebekah is a New York City-based student and blogger. She shares how her earliest money memory of choosing the lowest cereal as a child influenced her to think about the connection between money and health, and why it's important to reframe money mistakes into lessons.

Dr. Norma Reyes is a career mindset coach who helps successful Latinas overcome self-doubt and imposter syndrome while on their professional journeys. She is also the host of the "Manifest Your Career" podcast. We talk about how growing up in a non-traditional Mexican household shaped Dr. Reyes' independence around money, and the financial lessons she hopes to pass on to her children

Tosin Mills is the product and growth strategy manager at Microsoft. She received her bachelor's degree from the University of Pennsylvania, and an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management. Tosin shares how her experience of moving from Nigeria to the United States played an important role in her understanding of the value of money, and what her favorite money slogan is. Bonus: I found an NFT expert to answer your pressing questions about how this hot new fintech innovation actually works.

Rod Griffin is Senior Director of Public Education and Advocacy for Experian.He leads Experian's national consumer education programs and works with consumer advocates, financial educators, media and others to help consumers increase their ability to understand and manage their personal finances and protect themselves from fraud and identity theft.

This episode features Wemimo Abbey and Samir Goel, the co-founders of Esusu, a fintech platform that leverages data to bridge the racial wealth gap. Today, more than 7 million Americans are unbanked, and more than 20 million are credit invisible, meaning they lack credit history with one of the 3 credit reporting agencies. Esusu helps individuals build credit by allowing them to report their rent payments to these agencies. We talk about how Abbey and Samir's shared immigrant experiences had a profound effect on their understanding of wealth and equality, and the challenges of building a product that most VCs don't have first-hand experience with.

Mattias Tengblad is the Co-founder and CEO of Corite, a platform that allows artists and their fans to join forces. Corite allows people to invest in music they really love and get paid when it's streamed on Spotify and Apple Music. Mattias and his founders have explained that Corite is the first platform to “truly enable fans to invest in artists and be a part of the creative journey from the first mix to the creation of potential hit songs.” On this show, Mattias explains what NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, are, and the most important lesson he thinks all founders should know.

Jenn Uhen loves to talk about money as the Founder/Community Organizer of The Pledgettes. The Pledgettes is on a mission to abolish the gender wealth gap by facilitating money conversations with womxn through expert-led events and an engaged membership community. Jenn talks about her biggest money mistakes, why it's important to empower women to be more engaged in their financial choices, and how you can be more intentional with your spending.

Janesse Torres-Rodriguez is the creator and host of “Yo Quiero Dinero,” a platform dedicated to connecting diverse change makers who are sharing their personal finance stories and inspiring others to take their dinero to the next level. She is also the creator of a food blog called Delish D'Lites. In our conversation, we talk about not playing small and stepping up the opportunities you have created for yourself. We also share tips for talking about finances for those in relationships.

Daniela Pierre-Bravo is a New York City-based booking producer for MSNBC's “Morning Joe.” She is also the co-author, alongside Mika Brezinski, of the best-selling book “Earn It! Know Your Value and Grow Your Career, in Your 20s and Beyond.” Daniela grew up in Ohio, as the daughter of immigrants from Chile. She found out that she was undocumented shortly before beginning college. Daniela shares her remarkable story, including how she traveled overnight on a Greyhound from Ohio to New York for an interview with Bad Boy Entertainment.

A conversation with award-winning personal finance podcaster and author Jen Hemphill. Jen is the host of the "Her Dinero Matters Podcast," which focuses on the advancement of U.S. Latinas to minimize the gender wage gap while creating a healthy, confident conversation around money. She has been featured in publications such as Forbes, Clark Howard, USAA, Oprah Magazine and award-winning podcasts like SoMoney and Stacking Benjamins.

Kavya Ravikanti is a graduate of the University of Virginia, and one of the founders of Young, Not Broke, a personal finance community whose mission is to empower young people to manage their money through various content and events. Since launching the platform, she and her team have successfully expanded the platform to include a newsletter with thousands of subscribers. Tune in to this episode to learn how starting her own tutoring company while in high school helped ignite Kavya's passion for entrepreneurship, and why she believes it's never too early to start on your personal finance journey. https://www.youngnotbroke.co/ https://www.instagram.com/young_notbroke/?hl=en

Kim Bridges is the s the senior vice president and director of financial planning at BOK Financial. Kim shares how she found her way to personal finance after initially joining the marine corps, and how seeing her mother manage financially after divorce opened her eyes to the importance of financial empowerment for women.

Carter Malloy is the founder of the farming startup AcreTrader. AcreTrader is a farmland real estate investment company offering low minimum, passive farm investments.. Carter grew up in an Arkansas farming family and has had a lifelong passion for investing, agriculture, and conservation. Prior to founding AcreTrader, he was part of an equity investment firm and a managing director with an investment bank. Carter shares how his earliest money memory of his parents' bankruptcy affected him, and what he learned from that experience.

Everyday Finance Gal is on a mission to help people build generational wealth. She and her family immigrated to the United States from Armenia. Her earliest money memory was translating a rent increase to her parents. “That's when I first realized we didn't have money,” she recalls. This experience influenced her to become an expert saver. Eventually, she built generational wealth for her family by learning how to invest in ETFs and real estate. Today, she shares the money lessons she has learned on her Instagram platform – Everyday Finance Gal. She is also a single mom. Plus, this week's listener-submitted money memory shares lessons learned along a paper route.

Latasha Peterson is a blogger, side hustle coach and creator of Arts and Budgets, a blog dedicated to side hustles. In our conversation, Latasha describes why her relationship to debt was like being in an arranged marriage, and how her early memories of her parents' difficult relationship with money influenced her into adulthood. She shares how she was able to take control of her financial journey, and the lessons she hopes to impart on her young children.

Catherine Wright is on a mission to help make people more financially secure. She is passionate about developing innovative solutions to promote economic opportunities for underserved communities. We discuss how her earliest money money taught her the value of discipline, and why retirement and estate planning are crucial financial planning milestones. Catherine is a graduate of Georgetown University and MIT Sloan, and serves as a Sr. Innovation Manager at Commonwealth.

Today's guest is content creator Brandon from the IG account “Worth Life Balance.” After receiving an athletic scholarship, Brandon was initially set on a career in sports. However, he quickly realized that those opportunities were few and far between, and shifted into a career in finance. Brandon shares how his earliest money memories from a paper route taught him the importance of not spending money until you have it. We also discuss lessons that couples can incorporate into their financial planning, and why an investment in education can have the best ROI.

Karlie Kant lives for the applause, applause, applause. She is a Berlin-based drag queen with self-proclaimed “big visions…and an even bigger nose!” We discuss how Karlie defines success – both monetarily and artistically- as well as the unique “startup risks” that drag performers face. Pray we catch you tuning in to this epic episode!

Elsey Willock is the Founder and CEO of Tardi - a psychology backed financial wellness and investment platform. She is also the author of "Not Your Boyfriend's Investment Advice" - a weekly newsletter where she uses humor and storytelling to educate her readers about investing and finance. Prior to her work at Tardi and NYBIA, she worked for Goldman Sachs advising institutional clients and on Launch with GS - the firm's billion dollar commitment to investing in diverse entrepreneurs and investment managers. Not Your Boyfriends Investment Advice https://notyourboyfriends.substack.com/people/5267310-kelsey-willock

Marisol Pérez-Chow and Fernanda Cuadra are the founders of agovest.com, a platform aimed at reducing the gender wealth gap for women in Mexico. They met while pursuing their MBAs at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business

Amir Hemmat is the co-founder and CEO of Welcome Technologies. Welcome Tech is the “digital Ellis Island” and future global platform for immigration. It is currently focused on the U.S. Latinx community, the largest immigrant community in the world. Amir shares how his parents’ immigrant experience influenced his relationship with money, and how overcoming cancer shifted his perspectives. Bonus: with Memorial Day weekend around the corner, I asked you to share your vacation budgets in this week’s listener submissions.

A conversation with the founder and CEO of Payslip, Fidelma McGuirk. Payslip offers its customers real-time visibility and control of payroll processes, something unheard of in an industry that is typically siloed and non-customizable. Fidelma talks about how growing up in Ireland shaped her work ethic, and how she balances financial wellness with mental wellness.

Jonathan Verhaeghe, better known as "Joney Talks," is a Belgian personal finance content creator. After spending a year living in France on his company's dime, he realized that there was more that he could be doing with his money, but wasn't sure where to start. This prompted him to start documenting his personal finance journey, which he now shares via his podcast and blog. We talk about the differences Jon has observed between Europeans and Americans when it comes to money, and the irony of being a finance major who can do options math, but not budget.

Paris Grant is a student at Florida International University and host of the "Millennial to Millionaire" podcast, which is dedicated to spreading financial literacy to the millennial generation. Growing up, Paris was primarily raised by the women in his family. We talk about how this influenced his relationship to money, particularly around valuing your worth. He also shares his biggest money mistake: taking out a payday loan. This week’s listener submissions feature your responses to the question: what financial lessons do you wish you had learned when you were younger?

Austin Allison is the co-founder of the disruptive real estate startup Pacaso, which recently became the fastest company to ever reach unicorn status, or a $1 billion valuation. I recently featured Pacaso in a Forbes piece published on April 1st, where I highlighted the company’s unique value proposition, which centers around letting individuals own fractional shares of luxury second homes. Austin shares how buying his first home at the age of 17 sparked his passion for real estate, and the surprising start to his entrepreneurial journey (hint: it has to do with birds). Also, I asked you to take a walk down memory lane with me and share your first every job and salary. A few of your submissions are highlighted in the show.

An article in the Wall Street Journal this week spotlighted a company named SilviaTerra — they use satellite imagery and AI to run a marketplace that values every acre of forest for timber, carbon, wildlife habitat, and other types of natural capital. To Money Memories listeners, this might have seemed familiar! We spoke with one of SilviaTerra's founders, Max Nova, last summer. Here's a look back at our conversation about what lessons Max has learned from Mr. Money Moustache, and why he considers himself a risk-averse entrepreneur. (Find his work at silviaterra.com)

This episode features Wemimo Abbey and Samir Goel, the co-founders of Esusu, a fintech platform that leverages data to bridge the racial wealth gap. Today, more than 7 million Americans are unbanked, and more than 20 million are credit invisible, meaning they lack credit history with one of the 3 credit reporting agencies. Esusu helps individuals build credit by allowing them to report their rent payments to these agencies. We talk about how Abbey and Samir’s shared immigrant experiences had a profound effect on their understanding of wealth and equality, and the challenges of building a product that most VCs don’t have first hand experience with.

Everyday Finance Gal is a personal finance influencer who is on a mission to help individuals build generational wealth. She discusses what her earliest money memory of translating for her immigrant parents taught her, and how she learned to overcome scarcity mentality to master investing. Plus, this week's listener-submitted money memory shares lessons learned along a paper route.

Devon Melanson is a Canadian-based mortgage agent. When he's not busy helping people make their homeownership dreams come true, he runs an educational Instagram platform called @melansonmortgages. He shares how his parents instilled the importance of maintaining good credit early on, and how to practice good financial planning habits while working in a commission-based industry like real estate. Also, we feature a listener money memory submission that reminds us of the importance of always living below your means.

Rita Soledad is the founder and creator of the personal finance platform "Wealth Para Todos" and has been featured in Time's NextAdvisor series. She shares how growing up in the Latino community in southern California shaped her perspective, and how her debt payoff journey taught her to challenge her preconceived assumptions around money. Rita also discusses the emotional impact of poverty on our relationship to money, and why personal finance doesn't have to be hella pale, or hella male.

Diego Mannino is a renowned tattoo artist who is celebrated for his Japanese-style custom illustrations. He spent decades at the iconic Daredevil Tattoo in New York City before relocating back to his native LA. We talk about how working in a cash-based business taught him financial discipline, and one of his favorite celebrity clients.

Eryn Schultz is the founder of pHERsonal Finance Day, a platform which offers courses and content tailored to high-earning women. Eryn is a graduate of Georgetown University and Harvard Business School. She discusses what inspired her to plunge into entrepreneurship, and answers your questions about student loans.

Warren Gosling has learned that money is the key to unlocking more freedom and time. Warren graduated with a degree in Economics from the University of Manchester. He entered the banking industry on Barclays’ graduate scheme where he spent 4 years, before moving to PricewaterhouseCoopers’ risk management consulting practice. There, his project engagements included a number of high-profile finance firms, including Lehman Brothers, Citibank, RBS, UBS. He is now an independent contractor. Outside of work, Warren has a strong dedication to providing financial literacy and setting people up on their journey towards financial freedom - especially communities of color. We talk about how Warren’s Caribbean roots have shaped his mission to give back and the moment he realized that money does not necessarily make you happy while working in a high-paying, fast-paced industry.

Jules Costa is a true digital nomad. She was raised by Brazilian parents in Chicago, and kick started her career as a freelancer when her laptop died while traveling, forcing her to invent a creative solution to earn money for a replacement. Since then, she has launched a successful solo business as a copywriter, and shares her tips for other freelancers who are interested in pursuing financial independence through her Instagram platform, @julesontap.

Chris Browning is the host of the award-winning podcast “Popcorn Finance.” The show’s mission is to help people make sense of personal finance in less time than it takes to make a bag of popcorn. Chris has been featured in Yahoo Finance, Investopedia, and Nerdwallet. In this episode, Chris shares his biggest money mistakes and wins, and what he believes the keys to financial wellness are.

Katia Chesnok is the founder of personal finance blog and Instagram platform Economikat, where she educates millennials, Latinx, and BIPOC communities on all things money, and empowers them with wealth-building tips to earn more, negotiate, side hustle, budget, and invest. She paid off more than $38,000 of credit card debt in 18 months thanks to her side hustle, which later became a six-figure digital marketing business.