Some women learn money in a classroom. Katie learned it in her dad's real estate office. On Getting Rich Together, host Syama Bunten talks with investor, advisor, and former commercial real estate finance executive Katie Dunn about angel investing for women and the path that led her there. Katie grew up around deals, properties, and practical lessons about ownership, then built a career financing major commercial real estate transactions before moving into startup investing and founder advisory work.

This episode is for anyone curious about women founders fundraising, a smarter startup fundraising strategy, and how to become an angel investor without pretending the process is simple. Katie's story makes angel investing for women feel concrete. She connects early money lessons to real estate investing for wealth building, then shows how that experience shaped the way she evaluates founders, opportunities, and risk.

What makes this conversation worth hearing is Katie's honesty about money and power. She is clear that angel investing for women is not just about access or confidence. It is also about ownership, decision-making, and making money without apology. Hearing how Katie built her edge over time makes angel investing for women feel more grounded, more doable, and much less intimidating.

Episode Breakdown:

00:00 From Commercial Real Estate to Angel Investing

02:45 Katie Dunn's Early Money Lessons and Real Estate Upbringing

16:31 Breaking Into Commercial Real Estate Finance After College

24:22 First Investments and Real Estate Investing for Wealth Building

30:37 How Katie Dunn Learned Angel Investing and Startup Deal Flow

40:11 Using AI and Founder Advisory to Improve Startup Fundraising Strategy

46:53 Why More Women Need to Invest and Close the Female Founder Funding Gap

Connect with Katie Dunn:

LinkedIn: Connect with Katie on LinkedIn

Instagram: Follow Katie on Instagram

Tiktok: Follow Katie on Tiktok

Website: Visit Katie's website

Find more from Syama Bunten:

Attend a Salon near you: wealthcatalyst.com/salons

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Website: Visit the Wealth Catalyst website

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Website: Visit Syama's website

Big Delta Capital: Visit the Big Delta Capital website

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Join your host Syama Bunten, as she talks with Abbe Large. Abbe built one of the most decorated careers in financial services — the only woman in MassMutual's history since 1851 to win both Freshman Five and Chairman's Club — but her road there started with nothing but grit. Growing up in a dysfunctional household, working her first job at 14, and putting herself through college while paying her own rent in New York City, Abbe learned early that if it was going to happen, it was up to her.

Now, after more than three decades of helping families protect what matters most, Abbe brings something most advisors can't — a lived understanding of what it actually feels like to be on the other side of the table. She's not selling a script. She's sharing a life.

This episode is packed with hard-won wisdom on financial planning, family legacy, raising money-smart kids, and why the spouse in the corner needs to be at the table.

Key Topics:

1. How early self-reliance can become your greatest professional asset

2. Why finding the right culture and people to surround yourself with matters as much as the work itself

3. How to talk about money at home — practical ways Abbe raised financially literate kids who now manage their own travel budgets and credit card points

4. The critical estate planning mistake that cost one widow hundreds of thousands of dollars — and how to make sure it doesn't happen to your family

5. Why listeners who have a spouse or partner need both people in the room during financial planning conversations — and what's at stake when they don't

6. What the accumulation, distribution, and preservation phases of wealth actually look like — and why most people only think about one of them

7. How to know if your existing financial plan is outdated, incomplete, or just plain wrong — and what to do about it

Connect with Abbe Large online:

Website: https://www.lenoxadvisors.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/abbeflarge/

Email: [email protected]

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

Join your host Syama Bunten as she talks with Wendy Wecksell. Wendy Wecksell has spent her career doing something most financial professionals won't touch — going beneath the numbers to explore the fear, guilt, love, and legacy that quietly drive every money decision we make. As the founder of Wecksell Partners and creator of the EQ of Wealth, Wendy works with ultra-high-net-worth women and families to transform their relationship with money from a source of conflict into a force for good.

But Wendy's path here wasn't linear. From inheriting money she didn't know how to manage, to spending to self-soothe, to nearly moving to Paris before watching it all fall apart overnight — her story is one of radical honesty, hard-won wisdom, and the slow, powerful work of building something that truly matters.

This episode is for anyone who has ever felt complicated about money — and wants to finally do something about it.

Key Topics:

1. How financial silence shapes adult money behavior
2. Why understanding your emotional triggers around money matters as much as the numbers themselves
3. How to recognize when you're spending to self-soothe — and what to do instead
4. What "Wealthy Time" is and how a simple weekly practice can transform your relationship with your finances
5. Why listeners who've inherited wealth or built it through a business face different emotional challenges — and how to navigate both
6. How Wendy's legacy magic framework can help anyone figure out their unique contribution at the intersection of personal, professional, and potential
7. What it looks like to move capital aligned with your values — and why doing so is one of the most powerful things wealth-holders can do

Connect with Wendy Wecksell online:

Website: https://www.wxlpartners.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wendy-wecksell-wxl-a47a735/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wendywecksell/

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

Join your host, Syama Bunten as she talks with India Gary-Martin, the former CTO & COO of international banking operations spanning 40 countries. India is also a trusted advisor to Fortune 100 CEOs and founders, and the visionary behind the Act Three Convening — a global gathering redefining what midlife means for women. But India's path from a Cincinnati living room learning blackjack with her stepfather to the executive floors of Morgan Stanley and JP Morgan wasn't planned — it emerged. And that emergence, she'll tell you, was the whole point.

In this conversation, India shares what 25 years in global financial services, building a beauty brand from scratch, and coaching some of the world's most senior leaders has taught her — and why the most powerful career move you'll ever make might be the one you accidentally stumble into.

Key Topics:

1. How to apply an abundance mindset to wealth-building
2. How to identify values-aligned mentors and sponsors even when they don't look like you
3. Why listeners who feel underpaid need to understand "total compensation" — and how one boss's correction changed India's entire financial trajectory
4. What it really feels like to bet everything on your own business — and what listeners can take away from India's near-bankruptcy experience
5. How to rebuild wealth and professional identity after a major financial setback
6. Why listeners in midlife are navigating more than career transitions — and what India's Act Three Convening offers as a solution
7. What it looks like to use your wealth intentionally — paying for college debt-free, building a home for aging parents, and investing in experiences over things

Connect with India Gary-Martin online:

Website: https://www.leadershipforexecs.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/indiagarymartin/

Act Three Convening: https://www.act3convening.com

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

Join host Syama Bunten as she sits down with Wendy Ryan a bestselling author, board advisor, angel investor, and creator of the Learn Lead Lift Framework®—a leadership blueprint trusted by executives and founders worldwide. Syama and Wendy explore how to align your capital with your personal values.

Featured in the documentary Show Her the Money for her trailblazing work championing women founders, Wendy has spent 30+ years at the crossroads of people, power, and capital.

Her journey from an HR generalist navigating Silicon Valley's dot-com boom to writing angel checks and building a legacy in girls' leadership education is one of the most quietly powerful stories you'll hear.

In this conversation, Wendy pulls back the curtain on the childhood money moments that shaped her financial identity, what it truly means to align your capital with your values, and why she believes democratizing access to capital is the greatest investment any of us can make.

Key Topics:

1. How early experiences with divorce, financial instability, and home loss wire your adult relationship with money
2. Why viewing money as a secondary currency—not the goal itself—is the mindset shift that creates lasting financial freedom
3. How to trust your gut when selling an investment and why harvesting gains at the right time beats chasing the next high
4. Navigating inheritance with grief, gratitude, and a clear-eyed vision for what becomes possible
5. Why writing your first angel check is less about expertise and more about learning to jump into the deep end
6. The case for investing in women founders—and why it's one of the highest-return moves you can make financially and for the world
7. How giving with purpose—through leadership gifts, institutions, and intentional capital—creates a legacy that outlives us all

Connect with Wendy Ryan online:

Website: https://www.learnleadlift.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wendyryankadabra/

Attend a Salon near you: wealthcatalyst.com/salons

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/syama.co/?hl=en

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

Join your host Syama Bunten as she sits down with Shelley Kuipers, a prolific investor, entrepreneur, and co-founder of The 51—a venture platform unlocking the economic potential of women across Canada.

From her unconventional upbringing as a forest ranger's daughter in Northern Alberta to becoming a tech industry pioneer in the late 80s, Shelley's journey is defined by calculated risk-taking and fierce independence.

After spending a decade treating someone else's company like her own, she learned a pivotal lesson: what would happen if she gave that same energy to herself? Since 1999, she's been exclusively a founder or co-founder, building ventures that challenge the status quo. Now, with The 51 growing from 75 women in her kitchen to 48,000 across Canada, Shelley is redefining who gets capital, who builds wealth, and what legacy truly means.

Key Topics:

1. Why working hard for someone else will always have a ceiling.
2. How to break into industries that weren't built for you.
3. What shifts in your relationship with money and legacy when you start thinking beyond yourself and toward future generations
4. Why the most powerful wealth-building opportunity isn't competing for a slice of the existing pie.
5. What it actually takes to build a movement from scratch.
6. How to stop underestimating your own qualifications and start showing up as the capital steward you already are.
7. Why passion projects hit differently once you have the skills, capital, and confidence to execute.

Website: https://www.the51.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shelleykuipers/

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

In this deeply personal and expansive conversation, Syama Bunten sits down with Sara Vetter, CEO of the Soul of Money Institute and longtime partner to author and activist Lynne Twist, to explore how our earliest experiences with money shape who we become—and how healing that relationship can unlock purpose, power, and profound impact.

Sara shares her journey from growing up in a wealthy but emotionally restrained family, through Silicon Valley affluence and personal collapse, to a spiritual awakening that redefined her life's work. Together, they unpack how silence around money, identity loss, illness, divorce, and reinvention ultimately led Sara to a soul-aligned relationship with wealth—one rooted in sufficiency, service, and embodiment.

This episode is a masterclass in money as a mirror, leadership through vulnerability, and what becomes possible when women reclaim both their financial agency and their aliveness.

Key Topics:

1. How growing up with wealth but never discussing money created a lifetime pattern of financial avoidance and dependence
2. The moment lupus, meningitis, and divorce became the catalyst for discovering spiritual awakening and authentic purpose
3. Why feeling like a fraud in the beginning of your transformation is part of becoming who you're meant to be
4. The power of showing up for yourself when no one else understands or supports your path of reinvention
5. How leading others through uncharted territory reveals your own hidden strength and authentic voice
6. Why bringing embodiment, pleasure, and play into serious wealth work creates sustainable transformation
7. Why protecting our planet is the ultimate wealth strategy—no planet, no us

Connect with Sara online:

• Website: https://soulofmoney.org

• Support the Amazon: https://pachamama.org

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

What does it really take to build wealth through discipline, strategy, and long-term thinking—while still creating meaningful impact?

In this episode, Syama Bunten sits down with third-generation entrepreneur, C-level executive, and angel investor Dawn Dobras, whose career spans fashion retail, creative industries, and board leadership.

Dawn shares how early lessons in financial literacy, competitive drive, and strategic planning shaped her rise from an entry-level role in fashion retail to investing in and mentoring female and diverse founders. This conversation isn't about flashy wins. It's about building financial security early, thinking like an operator, and using wealth as a tool to empower others and create lasting change.

Key Topics:

1. Chasing the entrepreneurial spirit from a very young age
2. Maxing out the 401k as early as possible
3. It's never too late to start investing and learning more about it
4. Being a conversation starter about investing among women peers
5. Owning your expertise and fully realizing your potential
6. Getting more savvy about the investments you make
7. Teaching kids to be productive and to always be moving forward every day
8. Creating a butterfly effect to help others harness their power for exponential change

Connect with Dawn online:

Website: https://www.capitalf.vc/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dawndobras

Instagram: @dawndboras

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

What does it really look like to build wealth—slowly, intuitively, and unapologetically on your own terms?

In this episode, Syama Bunten sits down with real estate investor, developer, and global entrepreneur Anne-Michelle Wands, whose life story spans single motherhood, salon ownership, real estate mastery, and ultimately building a legacy in Panama.

Anne-Michelle shares how she went from sleeping in a hallway with two young sons to owning multiple properties across the U.S., Hawaii, and Central America—by trusting herself, spotting gaps others missed, and choosing ownership again and again.

This conversation isn't about overnight success. It's about resilience, intuition, and designing a life where money supports freedom—not the other way around.

Key Topics:

1. Breaking the Silence Around Women & Money

2. Early Money Imprinting & Entrepreneurial Roots

3. Nonlinear Paths to Wealth (Motherhood, Survival & Reinvention)

4. From Employee to Owner: Building Businesses That Create Freedom

5. Real Estate as a Wealth Multiplier

6. Scaling from Local to Global Investing

7. Lessons From Risk, Failure & Resilience Abroad

8. Legacy Wealth & Purpose-Driven Investing

Website: https://www.passive-profit-partners.com/

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/cr8grtsuccess?originalSubdomain=pa

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

What if building wealth didn't mean starting from scratch—or doing it alone?

In this episode Syama sits down with investor, advisor, and mentor Jeanne Wang to explore a powerful (and still under-discussed) path to wealth: buying and operating existing businesses.

Jeanne shares her journey from growing up in a small Pennsylvania farm town, to Wharton, to decades in private equity—before intentionally shifting her focus toward supporting women as owners, operators, and investors. Together, Shama and Jeanne unpack the emotional, financial, and identity-level decisions that shape women's wealth journeys, especially mid-career.

This is a conversation about legacy, risk, confidence, and why women owning businesses isn't just good for returns—it's good for communities.

1. Why signing bonuses and performance guarantees matter more than base salary in your first negotiation
2. The power of choosing diverse experience and strong culture over the highest-paying job offer
3. How to evaluate career opportunities through the lens of working with highly motivated people
4. The critical difference between building a business from scratch and buying an established one
5. How to build wealth through alternative assets while maintaining a risk-averse mindset
6. The importance of financial literacy education and creating investment competitions with your family
7. Why legacy is measured by the number of women you help into ownership, not personal accolades

Website: https://www.villagesearchpartners.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeannewang1/

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