Money Memories

Startup success isn't reserved for Silicon Valley. Andrew Albert joins Money Memories to discuss what he's learned helping founders build companies in emerging ecosystems, why capital efficiency is making a comeback, and how community can become a competitive advantage. We explore the relationship between money, ambition, and place, and why some of the most overlooked regions are producing the next generation of great companies. A conversation about entrepreneurship, economic opportunity, and building where others aren't looking.

What happens when the life you've carefully built no longer fits? In this episode, Kellen Francis shares his journey through career pivots, personal reinvention, and the emotional realities of building wealth on your own terms. We discuss how money intersects with identity, the hidden costs of success, and why some of the most important financial decisions have nothing to do with spreadsheets. It's a conversation about resilience, self-trust, and creating a life that feels as good as it looks.

Here's a special presentation of one of our recent episodes, now on video! If you're listening in an app that supports video, you can now watch this conversation. Please enjoy!

Before David Black and Heather Townsend became co-founders, they were people who almost did something — and didn't. Dave passed on buying a DC bar for $150,000 because he didn't know where to get financing. Heather built an earmuff company, had 500 pairs manufactured in China, and watched them arrive at her apartment. Years later, they met at UVA's Darden School of Business, reconnected during the pandemic, and built Cabana, a mental health platform designed to close the 11-year gap between when people start struggling and when they finally ask for help. In this episode, they talk about the scar tissue that prepared them for real entrepreneurship and the personal loss that made Dave obsessed with that statistic.

Before David Black and Heather Townsend became co-founders, they were people who almost did something — and didn't. Dave passed on buying a DC bar for $150,000 because he didn't know where to get financing. Heather built an earmuff company, had 500 pairs manufactured in China, and watched them arrive at her apartment. Years later, they met at UVA's Darden School of Business, reconnected during the pandemic, and built Cabana (yourcabana.com), a mental health platform designed to close the 11-year gap between when people start struggling and when they finally ask for help. In this episode, they talk about the scar tissue that prepared them for real entrepreneurship and the personal loss that made Dave obsessed with that statistic.

Paulana Lamounier grew up in a Haitian household in Long Island where money wasn't talked about openly but was modeled constantly, from susu to savings books to tithing. She went on to build Black People Will Swim after a student's offhand comment about buoyancy sent her down a rabbit hole of racist history she couldn't unsee. In this episode, Paulana gets candid about leaving a $95K salary to go full-time on her mission, the financial realities of running a purpose-driven small business on pool rental fees and grant funding, and why the way you manage your personal finances is exactly how you'll manage your business.

Ray grew up watching his single mother sell homemade dishes poolside during World Cup games in their Silver Lake apartment complex, and never forgot that resourcefulness. After a winding career path from photography to marketing to commercial lending in San Francisco, he returned to LA and found himself more energized by underserved entrepreneurs than by traditional banking. Now a small business coach at Operation Hope, he helps community members in Spanish-speaking and overlooked neighborhoods separate their finances, write business plans, pitch investors, and build toward generational wealth. His message is simple: the answers are already inside you, and all it takes is one person willing to show up and say, "call me anytime."

Jeff Hurst leads Furnished Finder as CEO, working inside a housing market most people never see. Serving traveling nurses and clinicians on short-term contracts, the platform sits where mobility, work, and stability collide. In this conversation, Jeff reflects on how temporary work reshaped housing long before “remote” became a buzzword, why trust outweighs scale, and how health care labor shortages quietly shape local economies. The episode traces the invisible infrastructure that keeps hospitals staffed and asks what it really takes to run a durable marketplace without chasing hype.

This episode, we're looking back at our conversation wtih Ehis Akhetuamhen, host and creator of Unmuted Moments, a podcast about finding your voice in work and life. He shares his remarkable journey from growing up in a one-bedroom apartment in Nigeria to building a career in finance in the U.S. After losing his father at 13, he learned that financial success isn’t just about hard work—it’s about where you work. We talk about career choices, financial resilience, and why speaking up is just as important as skill. Plus, how a mailman’s unexpected favor helped change the course of his life.

University of Oregon Associate Professor of Economics Jonathan Davis says he grew up with a sense of scarcity around money. His family always seemed to have enough, but there was this pervasive feeling that they wouldn’t. “I remember this narrative of, ‘money’s gonna be tight this year, don’t expect as many Christmas presents as last year,’” he says. In this episode, Davis shares findings from his research on EarnIn, a service that allows folks to get an advance on their wages without paying interest, and how immediate access to money makes the money feel more valuable, and helps alleviate the feeling of scarcity that can lead to financially unwise decisions.