"This is genius!": money education, Orangetheory and klick moments with Mina Kim.

Welcome to this episode of The Conversation Lounge!

Join us as we sit down with the inspiring Mina Kim, a trailblazer in entrepreneurship, angel investing, and women's advocacy. With a rich background that spans Wall Street to the fitness industry, Mina shares her journey and insights on the critical connection between financial knowledge, independence, and societal equity.

In this episode, we dive into:

• Mina's fascinating career path, including her journey with Orangetheory Fitness and her transition into angel investing.
• The importance of closing the money education gap and how it impacts systemic inequities.
• Personal empowerment and navigating life's high-impact moments, including divorce.
• The evolving landscape of fitness and wellness, and how community plays a vital role in our health.
• The launch of Mina's podcast, The KlickLine, which aims to provide valuable financial advice and support for women navigating complex life transitions.

Mina also discusses her investment thesis focused on women and minority-led businesses, emphasizing the need for greater representation and support in the entrepreneurial space.

Tune in for a thought-provoking conversation filled with actionable insights and inspiration!

Don't forget to subscribe to The Conversation Lounge for more episodes featuring innovators and leaders shaping the future of business and culture.

Listen to The KlickLine Podcast: K-L-I-C-K-L-I-N-E on all major platforms!

#MinaKim #TheConversationLounge #WomenInBusiness #FinancialLiteracy #Entrepreneurship #Wellness #AngelInvesting #KlicklinePodcast

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:04

Welcome back to the Conversation Lounge, where we sit down with the innovators, leaders, and trailblazers who you may never have heard of, but are shaping what's next in business, culture, and beyond.

SPEAKER_01 0:15

We're thrilled to have Mina Kim join us today, is our guest. Mina is a friend and colleague, and it's just gonna be fun to dive in because she's had a super interesting and continues to have a super interesting career as an entrepreneur, an angel investor, and I'm adding women's advocate. We're gonna go into the work that she's doing now. And to me, it really is advocating for women, among others, really advocating for women and recognizing the tie between financial knowledge and independence and equity and advancement in society. So really excited. And as I've gotten to know Mina, also found out that, uh, or discovered, I should say, that we're both animal lovers. So if you ever meet her in real life, ask her about Pete. And you'll be wowed away. Thrilled, thrilled we're here. And she's joining us from LA. As I mentioned, she is an entrepreneur. We're gonna go into her background and also dig into a podcast that she launched in October called The Click Line. And you're gonna want to check it out. Very different, very just fun as well as helpful, concrete advice in a different way, nothing like what's currently out there. She's also the CEO of Dymex Ventures. So she's an angel investor, and she transitioned to Warnish Theory more on that, too, after being on Wall Street for 14 years with JP Morgan and with some really top hedge funds. So that's also part of her journey that we're gonna dig into. So today we're gonna explore several themes. And one of the themes you're gonna see throughout is what I call this money education gap. And until we fill that gap, until we close that gap, there will continue to be inequities, societal inequities, systemic inequities. This is a really interesting time to be looking at that, both because of a macroeconomic standpoint and also because of the great wealth transfer that is currently underway and will be roughly wrapping up by 2030 from baby boomers to younger generations. And women will also be benefiting significantly, and that's going to change the power dynamics in our society. We're going to explore also personal empowerment, and that's a lot of the work that Mina's doing now, and high impact moments in life, uh both the good, the bad, the ugly, and how one can take advantage of those with the right mindset and great advice from Mina to turn those into personal opportunities. We'll also talk about fitness, right? Orange theory was really a game changer in the fitness industry. And fast forward today, how fitness is shaping our culture around wellness and health, really driving change in ways that I think are really exciting from a healthcare perspective and Laura from a sports perspective. We're just seeing a melding that we haven't seen historically. Mina doesn't take a breather. She's also an investor and started her own angel fund, which invests in early stage founders, companies that are led by women and minority founders, then it have a broader impact, not just on you know the companies, but what does it look like systemically if we look for founders who have a different perspective, who are bringing new solutions to market? That's a really interesting area that crosses with Lorreen's work in a really meaningful way. So, with that, and I could go on and on and on, and she's a great person and great friend. So let's jump into segment one.

SPEAKER_00 3:54

Welcome to the Conversation Lounge, where we sit down with innovators, leaders, and trailblazers who you may never heard of, but are shaping what's next in business, culture, health, and beyond. I'm Lorreen Pendleton.

SPEAKER_01 4:06

I'm Delphine O'Rourke. You know, it's really likes to say we like to sort of go back to the origin story because so much of we found someone's art professionally, both professionally and personally, goes back to there's a moment and we're going to be talking about the click moment. But really, that origin story and also tracing it, I think there's an opportunity for audience to learn. For a long time, it was very popular. And it was sort of this considered the best way to have a career trajectory was linear. And I think that's now considered mostly sort of old-time thinking. And a story is a great example of that from you know what I'll call finance, wellness, divorce, sort of this full circle in what she's done. So as I said, she started her career in New York. She spent 14 years on Wall Street. And you experienced success on Wall Street and started at a time, and even now, when women and minority women didn't hold many, it's improving incrementally, but didn't hold many leadership or high profile roles in investing. So take us back. What sort of brought you, attracted you? Why did you pick finance as you started out your journey?

SPEAKER_02 5:16

Well, thank you. And thank you for that intro. Very honored to be here. Love being here with you guys. So thank you for that. You know, I think just growing up, I was always a little hustler, you know, knocking on neighbors' doors, trying to sell a piece of cake for like five dollars, but then I figured out I could sell the whole tray for 20 bucks. And then, you know, trying to wash people's cars and then mow their lawns, and then I started tutoring kids. And so I paid for my college by tutoring for all cash for high school and students around. So I've always had that kind of finance mentality mindset, and I think that has been a part of my DNA through college and looking for a job. There was no other option. I always knew I wanted to do that, and so, like you said, we always grow up thinking there's a linear career. And as you said that, I thought of a funny moment when I was in college where my mom was like, you know what you should do? You should get a job at the IRS. Oh, at the IRS, no. Yes, because it's a government job, and then you get a pension, and then you're set for life. And I was like, that is the worst idea I've ever heard. But that's the thinking, the linear thinking of like you stay in a stable job forever, you get a pension, now there's no pensions out there, and then that's you know how you live, and that's like our parents' generation of what your career path is. And so now when I'm also mentoring the younger generation, I have to admit, I don't like the one-year changing jobs thing. I don't think that's a good idea, guys. Try to stick to something for at least a couple of years to gain experience, and I think you need to be somewhere like at least four years to kind of get your handle around things. But yeah, life takes you in different directions. And so I've learned through my experience that you have to kind of go with the flow. And so, although my initial career or part of my career was in finance and on Wall Street, I always had a passion for health and wellness, and always had this kind of entrepreneurial part of my DNA, and I just happened to come across Orange Theory Fitness during a time where I was like, should I move to the West Coast? I wasn't sure. I've been in the polo vortex for 14 years, and Lorreen knows living in New York, so it's cold. And so there was that time, and I came across Orange Theory, and the funny thing is I had always done parts of that workout on my own, and I had bought a heart rate watch because my this thesis I was testing is because I hated cardio, so I was trying to test if we could still reach a heart rate level to burn calories, just lifting weights and just getting steps in, and so that's why I had this heart rate monitor watch originally, and when I saw the components of orange theory where you're wearing a heart rate monitor in this workout, I was like, this is genius. And at the time they were starting out, they didn't even have a location in New York or anywhere nearby. So I flew to Fort Lauderdale and met with the founder and that original team. Shout out to Ellen, and took a workout at their first studio, and I was like, This is freaking genius. I need to be a part of it. So although I haven't been in franchising before, I knew that it was such a special product, and at that time there was a lot of boutique gyms starting like Soul Cycle and Barries. There were smaller, especially in New York, where there's lots of these boutique gyms popping off. And so I saw a lot of opportunity there. So I took a chance, took a risk, and another reason why everyone listening is if you believe in something, take the risk. Calculate it, of course, but if you believe in something enough, then you should do it because there's only certain times in your life where there's gonna be an opportunity that you think is so special to be a part of, and you'll figure out a way. So I did that, and then I sold them to private equity in 2019. And like you said, it since then I've been investing in women and largely women in minority-owned startups, and that's how I've met the two of you through Portfolio. That has been super exciting. Meeting smart founders, meeting people who are doing things different is always exciting. And as a side passion project, uh I started advising high net worth and ultra-high net worth women who are going to do complex divorces and helping them navigate that as well as setting up their financial portfolios afterwards. And then I have a podcast that I started as well. So I have a few things going on, but it's been super fun and just shows that not every career is linear. And if you told me I'd be helping like divorcees, no one has that on their vision board. That's not like part of the master plan, but that has been like a hundred times more rewarding than anything else I've done in my life because you get to meet women where they're super vulnerable at a time where just everything is upside down, and you help them through this process overcoming complex questions, situations, and analyzing and reviewing things to help them make better decisions for their future, and then see them come out on the other side happy, successful, and then now dating a new partner. So it's like really cool to see that transformation and women stepping into their own power.

SPEAKER_01 11:25

Love it all. So, quick question on the last, you know, when you're talking about orange theory, it was very intentional. You flew down to Fort Lauderdale, you took a class, this is a genius, made the intentional decision to move out to California. We'll go more into the platform a little bit later. With the advising divorced women, was that a you said no, it's not really on people's dream boards, although maybe after this episode it will be. But how was that intentional? Did that come out of you advising a friend and then realized, wow, this is a gap that I can fill? I'm always really interested in that white space and how people and clearly you're looking for that white space. Where's the exercise? Where's the opportunity? How did that come about?

SPEAKER_02 12:04

Yeah, so you know, I'd help friends always advise them if they had questions on various topics, like finance topics or negotiation topics. And I had a friend in the bay who was like, Mina, you really need to help these women. I know so many women who could really use your help because a lot of them, and not all of them, were stay-at-home moms, some had very successful businesses themselves. But, you know, when you're in a relationship and it's so personal and it's so the dynamic is totally different, and you're making decisions that have a lot of emotion behind it. You need someone else, third party, who doesn't have a connection to the husband, to the friends that can come from a different point of view and be able to analyze what's going on and give you the let's keep it real, girlfriend talk, right? Yeah, yeah, and we all have girlfriends that we go to for advice, but let's also keep in mind it we have to take it with a grain of salt because it does come from some sort of skewed view, too, right? Like they know this person or they know all the history behind some situation, but I'm coming in with a fresh perspective and I don't care about all of the other interrelationship drama, let's say, right? And so I was like, sure, I'll help, but I'm not sure if I'm like, this is the right thing for me to do. I'll try to help and see how it goes. So that's literally how it started. I still to this day, I don't have a website or anything for it. I literally just get calls.

SPEAKER_01 13:55

They know, like the word is out, and it's a perfect segue. We're gonna hand it over to Laureen to talk about that, you know, let's get real, girl talk, the advice that people don't necessarily want to give you because they don't want to hurt your feelings or to your point, your bias. They like you, you know, and hearing that from a third person, somebody who's objective or is willing to look at a different perspective. And that's really important. So really excited to, and to our audience, again, we're gonna keep on plugging it because I think it's valuable for everyone. You know, I wish I had known all of this when I was 12, uh, among other things, you know, and that's another thing. We don't tell, especially girls, teach them enough about finance at a very early age. But Lorraine, clickline podcast.

SPEAKER_00 14:38

Yeah, yeah. So really interesting. I love your origin story and a big fan of Orange Theory Fitness. I have a friend who had the uh franchise license down in Texas, the greater Fort Worth, Dallas area. Uh, so was very familiar with Orange Theory Fitness. Okay, so let's get into your platform. You've built a groundbreaking platform. You have a podcast and a newsletter, and then you told us about this advisory services that you provide, this unbiased view that you help people, giving them advice, unbiased, you're not connected to them in that way. On your podcast, you sit down with top divorce lawyers, therapists, and financial experts to explore how major life transitions impact mental and financial well-being. You mentioned divorce. Obviously, that's a major transition, life transition for a lot of people. You said one of the major themes you explore real life moments when things finally click. So, what does that phrase mean for you and how does it guide your work with your audience and clients? And when do things finally click for you?

SPEAKER_02 15:42

Yeah, I think that people have multiple moments in their life and career where something finally clicks. One moment for me was when I took that orange theory class and it clicked. Like, okay, I need to be a part of it. Another moment when, as you ladies know, the stat that less than 2% of women founders get venture funding. So it clicked for me. How can I make a difference? I don't have Melinda Gates money, but whatever I do have, I am trying to invest in the change that I want to see, right? And so that's a moment it has clicked, and as same for when I was able to help my first client through her complex divorce and winning and coming out the other side, it clicked like, oh, I can do this, I can be helpful to someone, and that is super rewarding for me. And so I think it's interesting how you mentioned that we're not taught about money, Delphine, because I saw something recently when it said 70% of women wish they had learned about money earlier in their life. Yet only 15% of schools teach personal finance. So that's another reason why I wanted to do click line. It's for men and women, but traditionally women are not given the knowledge and the permission to be financially independent, right? And we're taught it's environmental, it could be cultural, how your family grew up, maybe trauma around money, or how your parents were with each other. But there is a deeper financial intimacy issue in our society that we need to start building and getting out of. And so that's one of the reasons why I wanted to do the platform so that women can be empowered by these high-powered attorneys who are the top of the top. Not everyone will have access to them. So to be able to hear advice and knowledge on a platform, I think is great, as well as therapists and these wealth managers and founders too. I think there's a lot of founders out there that aren't splashed across the popular top news pages because they're doing things behind the scenes that are doing innovative, smart things. Like, as you know, in women's health, there's a lot of great founders in that space, yet women's health also only gets 4% of research dollars, right? And so that's troubling too when we're 51% of the population. So that's the reason why I wanted to have a start a podcast, too, is to be able to disseminate information out to the broader audience. So hopefully it's helpful and people are listening.

SPEAKER_00 18:44

Yeah, I want to go back to this whole, you know, kind of the financial literacy, the awkwardness around talking about money, and it's just a loaded topic. And, you know, besides having a venture fun, I also chair Tiger 21, which is a peer group for ultra-high net worth individuals. On average, our members are worth about $150 million. A lot of them have gone through a transition. They had a wealth creation event. So, you know, they sold a company and now they're suddenly have this money, and maybe they didn't come from wealth. And okay, what do you do with this money? You've got financial advisors and people who, you know, now you have money, they want you to be a client. We have some people who've gone through divorce or they become a widow, and now maybe the husband was dealing with the finances, and now they have this money in this estate, and now they have to navigate it. And I think it's a real like just money and family and money carries so much of a weight and so so great what you're doing to provide this kind of information. And so let's talk about your podcast. And so, you know, why did you think launching a podcast that could be available to millions of people was so important?

SPEAKER_02 19:46

Yeah, because I think that there's a lot of misconceptions out there or being on social media. And um, I'll be first to admit I'm not a social media expert. I don't even know half the people that are like in the headlines, to be honest. Um I'm with you on that one. Yeah, I'm like literally like an idiot grandma sometimes. I'm like, who is this? But I think that it's important, especially for the younger generation who Gen Z is valuing money transparency and having these discussions. And I think it's important that they're armed with the right skill set and knowledge to be able to have these discussions and to talk about financial intimacy, especially in your relationships, early on to avoid having divorced issues down the road. I mean, but the statistics are staggering, right? With divorce over 50% and the second divorce being like over 70%. And a top topic in divorce is finance and financial issues in relationships. And so I think from the beginning, we need to have women advocate for themselves in every way, in your financial independence, financial intimacy in the relationship, for your woman's health, right? Your own health, you have to advocate for yourself and your career. And I think that those are all the topics that I'm trying to address is advocating for yourself because I tell people this all the time. No one cares about you. I mean, your parents love you, your kids love you, you know, your partner loves you, but no one cares about you more than you. So you have to stand up for yourself. And the first step is gaining knowledge on what to do, and it's no longer about deferring financial decisions to another person. Like you can't do that, it's not gonna work. And so that's why I wanted to start it to arm all generations, but really being Being able to affect change. And hopefully that will happen.

SPEAKER_00 22:04

So before we hand it over to Delphi and pass it back to her, you know, I think a lot of people are hesitant to dive into a topic, particularly like a personal topic, like say divorce, if they haven't gone through it themselves. And I understand you have not been divorced, launched a podcast, you have a newsletter, you're focusing on this topic, you're helping people. So what advice would you give to the audience, our listeners, particularly women, who tend to women hold back. Like if they don't know a topic, they're going to research it a lot, analysis, paralysis. Whereas, you know, again, these are generalizations, but men seem to kind of dive head first. So if they haven't had that lived experience, you know, what advice do you give to them? Because you obviously you're doing this and you haven't had a divorce yourself.

SPEAKER_02 22:46

Well, I think that it's important to have transparency no matter what, in anything, like in any relationship that you're having, right? And so even if you just want to live with someone forever and not be married on paper, there still has to be transparency. So I don't think you have to be divorced or have gone through it to understand the like importance and the ramifications of not having these important discussions, especially around financial intimacy, because it's all gonna come to light at one point. You wanna have your alignment of values in sync with whoever you're with, and that's the same in business too, right? You wanna be partners in business with people that you have an alignment with, and so it's not gonna be everyone, and it's not gonna be every topic that you're gonna be aligned, so it doesn't make sense. You wanna be thoughtful and really go into things with your eyes open. I want women to instead of blindly trusting to be going into situations with their eyes open and making smart decisions.

SPEAKER_00 24:03

Great. I like how you reference businesses. It can be a partnership and people go through business divorces and for sure. Okay, so I'm gonna pass it over to Delphi. She's gonna talk about the pivot to fitness entrepreneurship and the role of fitness in changing culture around health and wellness.

SPEAKER_01 24:19

Thank you, Larid. I'm going to pick up on a theme you just raised and weave it back into wellness. You don't have to have had a personal experience to think that something is valuable. Culturally, we still get stuck on that, both positively and negatively. I think negatively, when you know you brought up women's health before, which I'm very focused on, when I hear companies or investors say, well, I haven't had any experience with, let's say, PCOS. So this isn't really something I focus on. Whether it's women's health or issues around historically marginalized communities, whatever the topic is, or divorce, or you don't have to go through it to think that it is important. That's a very, in my mind, limited view of society and our social compact. So I think what you're doing around that, among other areas, but really around that piece saying this is important for everybody. Men, women, just education of women on and as early as possible on so you can just be knowledgeable, you know, and make informed decisions. And that's what you did is you was really, you know, going back to this orange theory, is that was a cultural shift. And I remember my first colleague who we were traveling, and um, and she said, I went to this class, this new thing, and you go, and then they put your name up on a board, and you're like competing against each other. Like it was really novel. It wasn't like, oh, fitness was new, obviously, but really taking a different approach to it. And I think as an entrepreneur, you've already had and seen the impact of health and fitness in its ability to change culture. And I wonder if there's been any connection between that experience with Orange Theory. You're like, wow, we're creating a community, we're creating a different way for people to engage and exercise. And now thinking, wow, I can ship the culture around finances and women's power dynamic at really important times in their lives.

SPEAKER_02 26:24

Yes, 200%. And I think that it's so interesting to see how fitness has even evolved over the last 10 years. And then wellness, I've been in a brand higher dose since 2019, and they do infrared sauna mats, LED face masks, and neck masks, and my mom is addicted to all of their products, and I will admit a lot of her wrinkles have disappeared wearing that red light mask. But seeing that wave, and now there's this wellness wave that is not going away, and now I'm sure you're seeing a lot of longevity topics, and now there's longevity for pets. I think there's an FDA cleared one for senior dogs, and so I think that's kind of where things are starting to move. We're gonna live longer and live healthier, knock on wood, and live more efficiently. And as you know, with AI coming into all aspects of our life, the only things that will be even more important in our lives, I believe, is gonna be community and collaboration and things like sporting events and concerts together and going to dinner with your friends and meeting new people while you're traveling. These are the only things that are gonna keep human contact continuing. And so it's important that we are taking charge of our lives from a health, finance perspective because now our money has to go even longer because we're gonna live longer.

SPEAKER_01 28:10

Exactly, right? Yeah, it needs to live longer, make sure it lasts, the quality of life, and we could speak for hours at nauseam, probably to both of you about reimbursement changes and how we're gonna be paid for more of our healthcare out of pocket. So I'd love to talk about, you know, going back to that, the current trend fitness, and what I find coming from the traditional healthcare environment that was sort of doing the hospital and health system, and then you had sort of fitness over here, and there was some merging, is that fitness is really willing to innovate, and part of it is because it's not as regulated, but really innovate and push the boundaries. So we're seeing, you know, Equinox had a menopause program, you know, across the board. We're seeing, okay, echelon does a cardiac program and trying to bring those together, then adding that social element. One that I thought was fascinating was Peloton just partnered with a hospital for special surgery in New York. So really, you know, reaching across the aisle and saying fitness, wellness, and health are not segregated silos. They have to come together. The people are demanding it, right? So it's a really interesting time. So you you talk about community. And, you know, there have been recent articles in the New York Times about these social saunas, about how they're not even focusing a lot of the new centers that are opening in New York, LA, across the world in the country, are focusing on almost like it's a gym that's like gym second, but community first. And since you've been in, I mean, both coasts and you're an investor and you mentioned infrared, and I smiled because I won't say exactly who, but somebody I may be related to through my husband, who's 89, who is also using all of the infrared with the masks and all the thing. And I was like, wow, you're selling to people in their late 80s, go you and go them. So what do you see as that future around the social, the community, and fitness and wellness? What's next?

SPEAKER_02 30:12

Yeah, I think it's just starting. And I think that, like you said, Equinox is building out more wellness into theirs. Lifetime is doing these huge wellness. There's lots of smaller boutique locations in LA and New York that do the sauna, and then also might have the hyperbaric chamber, and maybe they have acupuncture. And so I think this is all the wave that's going to happen. Not everyone will survive, but I think it will all come together like this, and having a community, the more that there's a community, the better it will be. For instance, this is kind of adjacent, but there's these like coffee raves happening in LA where they have a DJ like mid-morning, people go to get coffee. The younger generation isn't drinking as much. And so they have coffee and they have like a party outside, and it's all for coffee and music.

SPEAKER_01 31:13

Lauren, were you telling me about one in New York when it was like dancing at like 6 30 a.m. or something?

SPEAKER_00 31:18

Well, they have the coffee rage that's in the morning, and then they're all over the country. They have them in New York, and then they also have people who want to go out, like targeting women who want to go out with their girlfriends and their friends and hang out, and they do them, you know, like at six o'clock, six to eight. So like you can get your your dance in, it's not late, and then you can go home and you know, not be hungover and get up to work the next day. So to your point, this whole community, you know, this third space, particularly after COVID, people want to find community and find their people and be around people outside of just going to the office and home.

SPEAKER_02 31:52

Yeah, and there's these run clubs that are all over, but you know, it's what how are you like, oh, that's not so painful. But you know what? It's there has to be something for everyone, right? I'll yeah, I'll buy a coffee and wait at the end. But yeah, I think that's where a lot of things are going because people want to still meet people and not be stuck behind a screen. And so anything that brings people together will be, you know, anything that can combine these things like wellness and health and community and collaboration together, I think will do well.

SPEAKER_01 32:30

So now I'm wondering, you know, I'm like, does the aura ring track like your heartbeat when you're dancing? Like, is that the next? Yeah, that's the next piece of it. I know Lorreen's invested in the aura ring, and the data piece is, you know, we're seeing that across as a theme. Huge, right? How much does half an hour on the dance floor? Maybe that's the that's the new workout regime. So this is, I think, a great way to transition back to Lorene, talking about investment. You know, both of you have been investing as angel investors. Now Lorreen has her fun, but you didn't just invest as an angel investor. Of course, little hustler. I'm gonna quote that and go back to that. I love that you described yourself as a little hustler from the beginning, right? We need more women, little girls saying, I'm gonna be a little hustler, not I'm gonna be a princess and wait for a prince, but I'll hand it back over to you.

SPEAKER_00 33:20

Great. Okay, so you are the CEO of Dimex Ventures, which invests in women and minority-led businesses. So tell us about your investment thesis and why are you focused specifically on women andor minority-led founders.

SPEAKER_02 33:36

Yeah, and so it's my passion to be able to invest in the change that I want to see. And so, as you know, less than 2% of the women in minority-owned firms get funding, and women founders generate two times the revenue per dollar compared to male founders, yet still don't get enough of the allocation, right? And so I think that is one of the main reasons why I'm doing it. I'll tell you, once once I had my exit, I called a couple of my people in New York, ex like Wall Street guys, and I was like, hey, look, I'm trying to look for some women and minority-owned companies to invest in. Do you guys know of any? And they're like, Oh yeah, we're trying to look for that too, but um can't really find anyone good. And I was like, that can't be right. Not even no I knew the 2% statistic, but I didn't know the revenue statistic. And so I was like, this can't be right. So that that's how I started trying to research since my background wasn't in venture or angel investing, I didn't have an existing network of people to call. So I started researching and trying to find online who specializes in this, right? And so I happened to see like a LinkedIn post about portfolio, and so that's how I got involved with portfolio because it aligned perfectly with what I was looking for. That's the initial response I got when I was looking for these types of companies, and it just shows you how we're still at a disadvantage, right? And that's why I wanna really be able to focus on this. And I have to tell you, the women founders that I've met who are out here doing generating real income, like real revenues, they are powerhouses, and I think more people need to know about them.

SPEAKER_00 35:43

Your story is a parallel to my story. I started angel investing 12 years ago, didn't know how to get into it. I had heard the stat actually was about black founders, less than 1% went to black founders. And then when I did the research, I saw that less than 2% went to women. And I said, that can't be, you know, it was unbelievable. And I did research and came across pipeline angels and got into their program and started investing and now did two funds of portfolio and now my own fund. How do you think angel investing fits in with your broader thesis of increasing people's financial knowledge, confidence, and power, particularly women?

SPEAKER_02 36:17

If we are able to invest in women and have those women become successful, it will show other women that it's possible. And it will provide, you know, it's just like a compounding effect, right? Yeah. So we can't really make a difference unless we put our money to work until we get into leadership positions to effect change. And that's just point blank, that's just the way it is. Women make 83 cents on the dollar compared to men, and minority women are like 70 something cents to the dollar compared to men. But who are making their salary decisions? So we need to be in those positions to be able to change that. And women have an unfair burden. A lot of women are mothers and they're also working, but there's a lot of you know, invisible labor involved. They're spending over 30 hours a week planning and coordinating and doing these schedules for the home that they don't get paid for. And a lot of women have to juggle not only careers but home, and they're burning out and they have depression and anxiety. Something like 65% of working moms have that. So there's a ton of things that women have to deal with. And it also has to do with like elderly parents, right? Who is gonna take care of the elderly parents? I don't think my brother is gonna do it.

SPEAKER_00 37:55

I don't know. Yeah, usually the women who have to take care of it.

SPEAKER_02 37:58

On the women in the household, right? And that's an additional 30 hours per week coordinating office visits. You know, I have friends with parents who are sick right now, and they have spreadsheets of doctors they've gone to and appointment follow-ups and all of these things that are not accounted for. And so I feel like we need to invest in ourselves to make it better for healthcare and for opportunities and for our longevity.

SPEAKER_01 38:32

Let's invest in a company that helps people coordinate all of that. Because what you're saying, that you know, the 30 hours for parents, for doctors' appointments, that is such a huge burden. And I have yet to see a company, and I'm like, oh, solves that well. So if you're working on that, you know, reach out. Uh I do know one. Yeah, I know one too.

SPEAKER_00 38:53

Yeah, there's a couple of companies that are doing that. So my last question, and then I'll pass it back over to Delphine. You know, you were ahead of the game in terms of the trend with Orange Theory Fitness, right? And now you have a lot of these boutique gyms and, you know, the wearables and aura and all that. So what do you think looking out the next couple of years, what do you think are gonna be the industries or verticals that you think are gonna be interesting, that you think are gonna have opportunity?

SPEAKER_02 39:20

Yeah. So I feel like wellness, obviously, in every way, is going to be very popular and trending upwards. And I think longevity, obviously, is just starting on whatever that ends up being. I know they're working on lots of things. Um I mean, if you can prolong a dog's life for even like seven more years, that's equivalent to what, like 15-20 years of a human's life. And so if we're able to live to like 104, that's a totally different world than that we live in or that we have to plan for. And so, but I think the longevity is gonna be something that there's a lot of money being poured into it and a lot of focus. And I think that's gonna be super important on top of the things that I believe are community focused and creating community and collaboration.

SPEAKER_00 40:21

Great. So, Delphine, take it over.

SPEAKER_01 40:24

So we're gonna close with sort of our our signature conversational lounge wrap-up. And so these are a couple of rapid-fire questions that we asked our guests. So let's hit it. One belief that you hold about the future that you think most people would disagree with.

SPEAKER_02 40:42

I do think financial intimacy will be more of a topic you tackle in your relationships earlier on.

SPEAKER_01 40:52

Love it. I think there's so many things being a married person myself that you should sit down and say, What do you think about this? What do you think about that? But your love and you don't necessarily want to talk about financial intimacy or a lot of these other topics that can be emotional. One piece of advice for the next generation of investors and leaders.

SPEAKER_02 41:11

I think I always like to tell people to listen to your gut and what resonates with you, right? So something may not resonate with the person next to me, but it resonates with me because I have this experience or I've had this issue that I needed addressed that a founder might be solving. Usually that first instinct feeling is right.

SPEAKER_01 41:36

Yeah, go with your gut, trust your gut. Then even if you're particular for women, if even if someone's gaslighting you, whether it's your healthcare or other areas of life, like trust your gut. You know yourself better than anybody else does. One human quality that companies must prioritize in the next decade community. So, where can listeners find you?

SPEAKER_02 41:57

You can find us on all platforms: Spotify, Apple, anywhere you get your podcasts.

SPEAKER_01 42:03

Perfect. And we type in click line podcast. So be sure that she has seven fantastic episodes already out and great practical advice for everyone.

SPEAKER_02 42:13

And it's the click line with a K, not a C.

SPEAKER_01 42:16

Oh, good point. Yes. K L I C K L I N E click line. Okay. So, Lorraine, let's, you know, a couple closing thoughts of so many themes that we've touched on. And, you know, one of the themes that we talked about the connection between sports and wellness and financial power. That's one of the reasons we even started this podcast and came together to bring together our lived experience, our professional experience, your focus on sports and media and entertainment, and mine on healthcare. And they're different, they're different perspectives, yet they're all connected. Tell me about the themes that you know you've really heard and have resonated with you.

SPEAKER_00 42:54

Mina mentioned about taking risk. And if you believe in something, there's gonna be a couple of times in your life where it's gonna come at you and you're gonna have two roads. You can take the left side of the road or the right side of the road. It's a split in the road, and you have that happen a couple of times in your life. With her, she took the road in terms of orange theory fitness and went down and took a class. And that was her fork in the road. And she's had some other forks in the roads in her life investing when she heard that stat about less than 2% or 2% of VC Go's dollars goes to women, and she decided to learn about it and learn how to do this and how she can participate to change that. And then this divorce, helping women who are going through divorce and being their advisor. And so, you know, a friend said, you should do this, and she did it. And so she's had multiple splits in the road, and she took the right, I guess maybe some would say the road less traveled, but maybe it was traveled, but she took that risk.

SPEAKER_01 43:50

And that's a theme that we hear from a lot of our guests, a lot of our friends who come on and who have enjoyed success, however, you define success in their profession. Is that calculated risk? You don't want to be reckless, but really taking more risk and where that can lead you to. Another theme that I'm going to think a lot more about is so I spend a lot of time, as we do in healthcare, on access to care. How can everybody have access to the care they need? And Mina, you made a comment about one of the reasons you start this podcast is that not all women will have access to this level of divorce attorney or this level of, I mean, you're bringing in like the top of the top who are way out of reach for the vast majority of people to ever engage in and to have access to information. And we think about, okay, with the internet and everything, everybody has access to information, but not all information is, as we know, created equal. And when we think about the spread of data and the spread of TikTok and the spread of everything else, of course it has a rule, but somebody who can come and share their expertise and learned experience and is trusted and be able to share that not just with one woman who can afford to pay $2,000 an hour, but who can share insights with as many women as tap into your show? I think that's a really important concept and for all of us to think about. How do we have access to not just information, but strong, valuable information?

SPEAKER_00 45:23

I would say not just women, anyone about financial literacy and financial information. Typically, you know, I'm focused on investing in sports. One of the big things is name, image, likeness. Student athletes now can monetize their name image likeness. They can have revenue sharing with schools for ticketing, for merchandise, all of that, the media rights. And a lot of these students, a lot of them are maybe the first time, first generation going to college. They may not have that background. And there's been people who are having signed agreements and swindling them. And so, you know, I think there's going to be a real need. And if you overlap women athletes too, I think there's going to be some really amazing opportunities for people who are focused on helping these people with financial literacy, and they're going to be getting a lot of money. I had a dinner last night, and someone was saying a lacrosse team, a university division one, his two daughters are getting six figures now playing lacrosse. And these are like 18, 19-year-olds. Luckily, he's savvy and so he can guide his daughters, but there's a lot of people that don't have that. So I think there's going to be a real opportunity around that.

SPEAKER_01 46:30

And I'll add on to that just generally, in this sort of fear of AI, AI is going to take away everybody's jobs and AI is going to make everybody obsolete, which, you know, I don't agree with. Yes, we're all going to change, it's all going to shift. So AI can help us filter it. But this is going to be, let's see, the next 10 years is going to be, you know, the SMEs, the subject matter experts, trusted subject matter experts. So thank you, Mina, for being a trusted subject matter expert and for bringing those experts. I mean, podcasts, it's great democratization in access. Not everybody can go to a conference, not everybody can pay for an expert. And what you're doing is going to be incredibly and already is incredibly impactful. So thank you and thank you for joining us.

SPEAKER_02 47:14

Thank you so much for having me.

SPEAKER_00 47:16

Thanks for joining us today on the Conversation Lounge. Be sure to subscribe to our podcast so you never miss an episode. If this episode resonates with you, share with a friend. The Conversation Lounge is produced by Ron Pacero, an executive produced by Lorreen Pendleton and Delphine Owar.