In this episode of Weird Finance, Paco talks to iO Tillett Wright about his childhood in New York, how growing up in the scarce environment and surrounded by poverty has shaped him, his journey to homeownership, how he cultivates abundance and inner peace in his life, and the importance of community-oriented work.

iO Tillett Wright (@iolovesyou) is an author, screenwriter, producer, and podcast creator. He has been a public speaker, photographer, journalist, artist, curator, and actor.

iO has exhibited and curated artworks in the US, Europe, and Japan. His writing and photos have been published in the NY Times, LA Times, Vogue, T Magazine, Lenny Letter, Interview Magazine, Oyster Magazine, Refinery29, etc. His words have been published by Knopf, Ecco, Editions Du Seuil, Il Saggiatore, Virago, Ecco, Penguin, and Suhrkamp Verlag.

He is the author of Darling Days: A Memoir (Ecco, 2016), host and producer of The Ballad of Billy Balls (Cadence 13, 2019), and Power Trip, (NY Magazine, 2021/2022), creator of the TED talk “50 Shades of Gay,” and founder and photographer behind the Self Evident Truths project. He also made “Self Evident Truths: 10,000 portraits of queer America” (Prestel, 2020), wrote “Oasis: Modern Desert Homes” (2020), and the forthcoming “First Home”, both from Clarkson Potter.

He occasionally sits on rocks holding bottles of cologne and feels like an ass about it.

This episode also features The Economic Outlook with financial astrologer Susan Gidel. Susan, our resident economic cosmonaut, does what many humans have done before us for thousands of years: she looks to the stars to understand our economic present and predict our financial futures. For more guidance from Susan, sign up for her Red Letter Trading Days newsletter.

A special thanks to the talented and generous Ramsey Yount for producing, editing, and sound designing this episode. 

Thank you to my friends, Samantha McVey and Anney Reese, the Stuff Mom Never Told You Podcast hosts, for lending us their voices for our special PSA.

The theme music was written and performed by Andrew Parker, Jenna Parker, and Paco de Leon.

Stay in touch and sign up for Paco’s weekly email newsletter, The Nerdletter. If you’d like to contact us about the show or ask Paco a question about finances, call our hotline at 833-ASK-PACO or email us at weirdfinancepod (at) gmail.com

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