737. How to Fund Your Dreams & Why Investing in Women Will Save the World with Catherine Gray, founder of She Angel Investors

Be sure to do something for someone else every day. There's so much power in that because there's no way you can't feel happy if you're not doing something for someone else.

Welcome to the Earn your Happy podcast. I'm Lori Harder, founder of Light Pink, best selling author, three time fitness world champion, and I'm a crazy, multi passionate entrepreneur. My journey has taken me everywhere from being a broke waitress, barista, retails associate and personal trainer trainer with massive anxiety and no belief in myself to later becoming a multimillionaire in love with my life. In 2007, my husband and I lost everything. We found ourselves hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt. At rock bottom. We had no ideas and I had no education to fall back on. This is when I found personal development and learned everything I could about business. I not by choice, but because I realized no one was coming to save me. The conversations on this podcast are going to let you know that you're not alone and that we all feel like we don't know what we're doing. We're going to give you the tools.

To help you face your fears, take.

Action, start your business, and grow those massive dreams that are keeping you up at night. It's time to create a life that you can't hide from and put so much on the line that your higher self is forced to come out. You're going to stop waiting for someone to approve of you and you're going to anoint yourself. Because I'm obsessed about building businesses that give women a platform, I want to feature you. So if you text the word podcast to 310-496-8363, you can get your questions answered on our Q and A segment along with a shout out. And if you rate, review and subscribe to this podcast, subscribe. We're choosing someone every month to get coached and featured on our show. It just might be you. So let's get started. Welcome back to the show.

I'm so excited to be talking about.

Funding women and investing in women with Catherine Gray. She's a producer and author, a TEDx speaker, and the host of Invest in Her podcast and the founder of she Angel Investors. So you can go to she Angel Investors.com she is the co founder of the nonprofit she Angels Foundation.org her focus is always on empowering female entrepreneurs and her passion is to utilize her multimedia platform to fund women and level the playing field. Since women are severely underfunded, she's one of the top producers in the country in cable television advertising in Miami for 15 years. She left the position to become vice president of advertising for the first ever gay cable network and decided from that day forward, all of her ventures would be working on projects for the greater good. I learned so much from this podcast about investing and about funding women. You are going to want to listen in, especially if you have goals of starting a business or raising money and also getting really creative in different ways that you can raise money. So listen in. Katherine, I'm so excited to have you on the show. Thank you so much for coming on.

Thank you. I'm so excited to be here. I love the name of your show. It makes me happy.

Well, I just learned that you have, like, some. Some happy happiness hacks. Actually, I'm gonna jump right in with that. I'm just gonna, like, turn it around here and jump right in with that because I just heard you kind of light up when you were like, oh, happiness. I actually have these things that I love to do in my life that really have proven for you to have a great life and create happiness for you. So why don't we start there, because we are going to talk a lot about investing in all of these epic things that you do and you have going on for women. But let's start with your seven things. Sure.

Yeah. And it was fresh in my mind, too, because I just spoke at usc, University of Southern California to a group of women, the panoramic girls over there, and I was sharing with them the seven things I do on a daily basis that not only bring happiness, but also make you unstoppable, that you can do anything, you can accomplish anything. And I'm guessing these are probably seven things you typically do. And there's seven so simple things that sometimes I think people say, well, anybody can do that. And I'm like, yeah, anybody can. It's just a matter of, do you do them? I think you would agree, being you are into your health and exercise stuff, but it's not about that in this case, although those things are super important. The seven I have, and I have my notes here just to share with you, is one of them is to write down what it is you want to accomplish every day, but do it the day before. So that when you get up in the morning, you literally already have a roadmap. Because I always say it's like. It's like you get up in the morning and say, hey, I want to go to Disneyland, but I don't have the directions of how to get there. And so then you would get flabbergasted so one of the easiest things you can do is write down what you're going to do the next day. And I say write down. A lot of people I'm sure, type it up or put it in their phone, but for me, I like writing it down. It makes it so clear in my mind what my intention is for the day. So when I get up in the morning and I have to think about it, one of the other great things I learned from another thought leader was when you get up in the morning, don't get hijacked by your phone. Meditate first. It sets the whole tone for your day. I don't know if anybody follows on this podcast, Marianne Williamson, but I'm a big fan of hers. I followed her for years and I love that she says a meditation in the morning helps set the tone for your entire day. And it's so true. A positive sets a positive tone for the entire day. The reason that is, is there's so much chatter in our lives, social media and phone calls and emails and all that, that if we start it in a calm place with no chatter, we can hear the downloads of what we're even supposed to be doing for the day. I really feel like when I have even an obstacle or something and I think, wow, how am I going to figure this out? It's always in that quiet of the meditation, wouldn't you agree that the download comes and then it's like, of course, it's so simple. There is a solution, there's always a solution. So I love that. It kind of also steers you and guides you. Like there's a download when your mind is quiet that says, oh, call this person. Just, you know, make send that email that maybe you had forgotten about. So I think there's so much chatter going on in our heads that to start the day not on your cell phone, but with the meditation just makes such a difference in your mindset and your happiness and also makes the day more accomplished. Another one is to share it with a trusted confidant. So whatever it is that you're wanting to do, I'm not saying share it with just anybody, share it with your people, your like minded people who are cheering you on. I bet you do this every day. You know, here you are launching this great new product. I imagine you're surrounding yourself with people who are cheering you on, right?

Yes, I couldn't do it without it.

And that's the whole point. You can't do it without it. Sometimes people will try to keep things to themselves. Oh, I don't want anybody to know I'm working on this or I'm doing that and wrong approach, because getting people in your court actually helps manifest it, and you never know who they'll know. It's always important to share it, because typically they say 99% of the time that you need something, there's someone in your sphere that knows someone that can get you that something. Whether it's funding or it's a specific type of service that you need that you're not good at, there's always someone in your sphere. So if you share it with your trusted confidants, someone in that circle is going to be able to help you with all aspects of what it is you're trying to accomplish. Right.

So good. Yep.

Another one is, you know, this is so simple. Like I said, they're all simple, but a lot of people don't do it, and that is do one thing every day toward that. That goal that you're trying to reach. Just one thing. Now, you may want to do four or five things, but make sure you do at least one thing, because if you think about it, if you did one little thing every day, even if it's a quick call or research or email, that's going to be 360 things that you did toward that goal in a year. You think it's going to happen?

Yeah.

Yeah, absolutely. There's no stopping you. If you're doing one thing toward it every day and it makes you feel empowered and good. Oh, good, I did something toward that goal. It makes me feel happy and empowered. Right. And then another one is, be sure to do something for someone else every day. There's so much power in that, because there's no way you can't feel happy if you're not doing something for someone else. So, you know, I'm always listening to. First of all, I'm just interested in people and what their stories are and what they're doing. Like, I love what you're doing. I love the new product. I find women so smart and innovative and incredible, and I love hearing their stories, which is why I do my podcast, which is called Invest in Her. And when I hear their stories, I'm always thinking, well, who could I connect them to that would help further their mission? And I think we all need to think like that. Like, you know what, it's free to introduce people, and it brings you a lot of joy, so why not? And I think that that really is a simple thing we can do every day. Another one is make sure. That you do something every day that makes you happy. I think sometimes people get so caught up in their lives that they're doing stuff for everybody else in their life. But be sure, Even if it's five or 15 minutes a day, do that one thing that makes you happy. Whether it is calling a friend or walking your dog. I know that makes me happy. Having a cookie. You probably wouldn't have that on your list, but I would.

There are some cookies in there.

Having that glass of wine.

That's in there.

There you go. But that's really important to one's happiness and to accomplishing your goals. You gotta be happy if you're gonna manifest what it is you're trying to accomplish. You gotta. You gotta be in a happy space. That's what I love about the topic of your podcast.

2026 is the year that you launch your business. It's the year that you've become the boss. You become the leader. That idea that you have that has been eating at you forever that just will not leave you alone is going.

To come to life.

Maybe it's something that someone tells you you should always sell or a store you've already designed in your head. And with Shopify, 2026 is when you finally make it happen. Shopify gives you everything you need to sell online and in person. Millions of entrepreneurs have already made this leap from household name to first time business owners. Just getting started you guys. I use Shopify for glossy and I remember when they sent me my little shopping bag celebrating my 10,000 sales and I literally cried because I was so scared to take the leap. And I'm so glad that I did.

And that I use Shopify.

It gives you all the tools to easily build your dream store. You can choose from hundreds of beautiful templates that you can customize to match. Your brand setup is fast with Shopify's built in AI tools that write product descriptions and headlines and help you edit photos. So marketing is built into. You can create email and social campaigns that reach customers wherever they scroll. So as you grow, Shopify grows with you. You can handle more orders, expand to new markets, then do it all from the Same dashboard in 2026. Stop waiting and start selling with Shopify. Sign up for your $1 per month trial and start selling today at shopify.com happy go to shopify.com happy that shopify.com happy hear your first cha ching this new year with Shopify by your side. There are so many challenges to business that I don't want starting to be one of them for you and when you want more. When you're starting a business, you registered agent because you get access to thousands of free guides, tools and legal forms to help you launch and protect your business. And it's all in one place. You can build your complete business identity with Northwest today. Northwest Registered Agent has been helping small business owners and entrepreneurs launch and grow business for nearly 30 years. They're the largest registered agent and LLC service in the US with over 1500 corporate guides. Real people who know your local laws and can help you and your business every step of the way. You can sign up for free account to begin managing your business hub with lawyer drafted operating agreements, bylaws, resolutions, membership certificates, bills of sale and more at no cost. Northwest makes life easy for business owners. They don't just help you form your business, they give you the free tools you need after you form it. Like operating agreements, meeting minutes and thousands of how to guides that explain the complicated ins and outs of running a business. And let me tell you, this is life changing cause I had no idea how much went into this. So don't wait. Protect your privacy, build your brand and get your complete business Identity in just 10 clicks and 10 minutes. Visit www.northwestregisteredagent.com Earn free and start building something amazing. Get more with Northwest registered agent@www.northwestregisteredagent.com forward/earn.

So the sixth one I think we're on is. Or actually the seventh one is gratitude Journal. You know, every night my wife and I write in our Gratitude Journal because one it's so great to calm your mind before you go to bed and with positive things. But I always say even on a bad day, everybody can find four or five things that they are really grateful for. So even if you wrecked the car or you got a bill or ticket you didn't expect, or even on a bad day you can go back and say, well my dog was crazy about me when I came home or my wife gave me a beautiful hug or my friend called out of the blue. It's just so important to reassess the days. The days things that happened that you feel gratitude for. Because you will find you can easily always find at least four or five things and when you recount them, it's like you're savvying the moment, like you're going back and embracing those things that maybe you kind of brushed over and didn't really take in what joy it brought you. So it's nice to recount it. And that recounting it makes you feel happy. And so just to give an overview of all those things, if you're writing down your game plan and you're sharing it with trusted confidants and you are meditating to allow in the downloads and set the pace for your day and taking one step every day toward your goal and helping someone else on a daily basis while also doing something to make yourself feel happy and then recounting that in a gratitude journal at night, I tell you, those seven things, they are so simple and they will absolutely make anyone feel happiness and will also help them to accomplish anything. Because if you're feeling happy and empowered, you really can accomplish anything.

Oh, man, you need to, like, print that out. That needs to be like wallpaper that we can purchase. It really is. I 1 million percent do all of those things now in my life. And it's changed my entire life, everything you said. So. And some things are gonna come, you know, if you're not doing any of those things right now, if you're listening, it's kind of like these things, Katherine, for you. I know for me, they were kind of layered. Like, I worked on one thing for a while and maybe a year later, you know, something else came. And, you know, one I still work on is meditating. But I kind of like whether that's a walk or a run where I can get those downloads. I have a version of that, whether it's a moving meditation or something where I allow my brain to just kind of open up to the ideas. Right.

And I'm so glad that you said that because I do have a hard time meditating too. I know when we're high energy people, we have a hard time quiet our mind and do that. So one crutch I use, I call it a crutch because I love it and it helps me to meditate. Is there are apps out there. The one I like is the Chopra app. And on it he has many meditations with him and Oprah. Deepak Chopra and Oprah. And yeah, I love that they always talk you through, like, some sort of message that's really meaningful that I really carry with me for the day. And then it goes into the meditation. And so, yeah, it makes it, you know, more doable.

I think I'm going to try that. I'll let you know. I'll throw that in my email that I need to reply back to you.

Love that.

Those were so beautiful and so great. And I will tell you, I'm using all seven of those to build this company, to raise money to close this round, to do all of those things, those are all very vital. And everything that you said, right down to adding value, sharing the vision, telling people that's how a lot of the investments that have come in have come by way of, you know, one person that knows one person that knows one person, and you spread the word. And. And, you know, I know that you are so passionate about getting women funded and showing them these different ways of getting funded. I know that's because it creates opportunity. That was not there. It creates possibility. That was not there before we educated ourselves and learned about this. So I am so obsessed with your message right now because, you know, I consider myself, you know, I come from a family where we. We weren't like, you know, career, education, all of that was not a very big deal. And, you know, as I've. As I've grown and really learned, you know, personal development, education, all of those different things, and how much that has empowered me to create more opportunity, I can definitely say that in my 30s, I was like, oh, I'm. I'm here. Like, I understand. I feel like I've arrived. I've learned a bit. I'm accomplishing things. Except I wasn't having, in my circles of even these very powerful women, we weren't really talking about the possibility of starting a company or raising money or getting funded. And so what was happening is in these groups of friendships that I have with these incredible women, our opportunity kind of ended at, you know, well, we don't have that type of money to be able to start these, you know, maybe product lines or things that could, you know, that could require a lot of capital. So that's really where this passion came from. And that's also how I discovered you, through Susan Sly, who was like, you have to know Katherine, because this is what she's all about. So that's why this conversation to me today is really important, is because I know that it's going to open up opportunities and possibilities for all of the women listening. So what has made you so passionate about getting women funded? And can you share a little bit of those numbers statistically, just around funding for women?

Absolutely. Well, I started sheangelinvestors.com because I wanted to create a multimedia platform to get the message out there that women are severely underfunded, and how are we going to fix this? And then my business partner, Kat Curry Williams, and I also started she Angels foundation because nonprofit women are also underfunded. So we wanted to address both the profit and the nonprofit world. So when you Go to my website, qiangelinvestors.com, we have a free download, six ways to fund you'd business. And the reason I'm so passionate about this is because, and I just spoke about this in a TED talk called Fund Women Save the world is because I honestly believe if we don't fund women, we will not save the world. And this world needs to be saved right now. Women could be the ones that have the innovation and the ideas and the developments that could cure cancer, that could help save the environment, that could help change the way we deal with pandemics. I mean, there's so many things that are left on the sidelines if women don't get funding. And most of your listeners probably know, but I like to reiterate it is that women get less than 2% of venture capital funding. This is like outrageous. We outrageous about it. And I am, and that's why I'm passionate about it. It's so unfair. We're 50% of the population. We're 50% or more of the startup businesses. Why do men get 98%? And so I'm kind of on this mission to explain to people that one of the reasons is that less than 15% of the venture capital firms and financial companies have female decision makers. So 85% have zero female decision makers. What does that mean to us? It means that more young women need to be thinking about getting into the funding world and working in venture capital, and more successful women need to think about getting into the angel investing arena. More venture capital firms are starting to pop up. There's Backstage Capital, which is focused on women and people of color and lgbt. There are groups like Golden Seeds and Portfolio that are getting women involved in investing in women through angel investing. I think the big thing is our culture never cultivated women to be investors. Now why is it important that women invest? Because people tend to invest in their own kind, people they relate to. So if a woman goes in and pitches to an all white male panel, and I'm sure you're accustomed to this, they might not identify with that founder because it totally. Investing is a personal thing. It's about investing in someone you identify with. And if this woman is talking about the next best medical bra or you're talking about a light rose seltzer drink that women would prefer, a man might say, I don't really see a market for that.

Totally, totally.

Right. And so we have to have our own people sitting at that table that we're looking at and they're saying, oh, my God. I so get this. I want to invest in that. So how do we get more women at that decision making table? That's what I'm on a mission to do. We're working on a series to go to different cities and educate women on how to become angel investors. And I'm learning myself as I go what's out there to help educate women. I mentioned Golden Seeds and Portfolio and of course there's lots of angel investor groups popping up there that will help educate you how to become an angel investor. And this is super exciting to be an angel investor. Women tend to go to things like book clubs. And I say this is the new book club, this is the 21st Century Book Club. But instead of going and reading a book and talking about that, you get to go and hear an amazing, smart, innovative woman talk about their new idea or invention and then you get to get behind it. Collectively, you can get a group to invest in a woman's company and you can actually make money from it. So it's exciting to hear what's out there. Like every time I hear someone pitch me an idea, I'm thinking, wow, how come nobody thought of this? A no brainer. This is so great. Throughout history, women have never been acknowledged for their inventions. A lot of people don't know it was a woman that created central heating. What would we do without it? Yeah, it's a woman, as we know, that created X rays. What would we do in the medical field without X rays? It was a woman that created the fire escape, saved many lives. So there's all these inventions that have come in the past. If we didn't have them, what would the world look like? I feel the same way about today's inventions and ideas and development that sit in the hands of many women that need funding. And so your listeners can be part of the solution. First of all, if you are a woman out there who is super successful and you haven't invested in another woman, and you've only put your money into stocks and bonds and real estate, think of it as one more niche you need to diversify into and seeking out either a venture fund or an angel group where you can go in and be a part of this exciting opportunity. Women actually impact more than 30% of all the wealth. That's trillions of dollars. So we are in a position to invest in women. We just have to be educated on how and why we need to do that. And really, so that's my message and that's my mission. Now. There are other ways for women to get investments. Some of those are mentioned on my website, sheangelinvestors.com where they can get a free download of the six ways to fund your business. A couple others than venture capital and angel investing is SBA loans, small business association loans that help people that might not be in a position to be able to get it from a bank. So it's a wonderful opportunity for them to tap into that. And then, of course, for some startups, crowdfunding can be a good way to go. There's one called I Fund Women that I think is phenomenal because she gives all the resources of how to be successful at it. You could do it on these other ones, too, I think. There's seed and Spark. There's GoFundMe. But what I like about Ifund women, besides the fact that she's behind women, is that it really does take a certain amount of resources and information and guidance to have a successful fundraiser. When you're doing that kind of crowdfunding, another interesting thing is for people to look into. What's new is it's a different kind of crowdfunding called equity crowdfunding, where people actually invest in your company and could get shares in your company. And before Obama was president, this didn't exist. Only very wealthy people could invest in companies for an equity position. They had to have like a million dollars in the bank or earn a certain amount of money. But now anybody can do equity crowdfunding because a law was passed saying that when they're doing it in this equity crowdfunding parameter, that they meet these guidelines that a person could put in $100 or $500, something that anybody could do. And so that's a very exciting new thing that's happened in the past five to 10 years, too, that a lot of people still aren't aware of.

And where can we find out about that one? That one's actually fairly new to me. I don't know if I've learned about that one.

Yeah, I think that, like, everything, thank goodness we can Google it and you can Google equity crowdfunding.

Equity crowdfunding is the keyword equity crowdf.

And I know some people that are doing that, and I think it's a great way to go. For certain companies, it depends on the company, but there's lots of different opportunities to be an investor or to get funding. And so everybody, I think, falls in one of those categories. If you're not needing the funding, you can certainly be investing in another company.

Too many people finish their workday feeling frustrated, drained, and unfulfilled. I know that. I have experienced that myself. And the good news is it doesn't have to be this way and you don't need a new job to fix it. Patrick Lencioni, author of the Five Dysfunctions of a Team and more than a dozen other bestsellers, created the Working Genius assessment to help you pinpoint the kind of work that gives you energy, the kind that lights you up, and it also shares the kind that drains it. So over a million people, including me, have taken it and completely changed how I lead and show up every day. If you're a CEO, an entrepreneur, or someone who just wants to level up in business and in life, Working Genius is going to give you the clarity and confidence to operate in your strengths and find greater joy in what you do. Because confidence isn't pretending to be good at everything. It's knowing where you're truly gifted. Take the Working Genius assessment today and get 20% off with code code earn@working genius.com that's working genius.com you'll be glad you did it.

I have to tell you about Talk Space when they say mental health is a journey, they mean it. That's why it's important to prioritize your mental health and wellness every day. When you work on yourself, it brings positive changes in all areas of your life. That's what this podcast is all about. The long term effects of therapy can give you the tools to deal with challenges as they arise, strengthen your relationships, which we know is so important, and give you a more positive outlook on life. There's no better time to invest in yourself than right now and talkspace is the number one online therapy platform that has thousands of licensed therapists trained in over 40 specialties including anxiety, depression, relationships, relationships and more. Your therapist can help you set and achieve your goals. It's affordable. It's a fraction of the cost of in person therapy. Instead of waiting for an appointment, you can send unlimited messages to your therapist 247 and they'll engage with you daily, five days a week. They have a great therapist network. They have thousands of licensed therapists with years of experience and over 40 specialties including depression, anxiety, substance abuse, trauma and anger management, relationship issues, food and eating, and so much more. As a listener of this podcast, you'll get $100 off your first month with talk Space. To match with a licensed therapist today, go to talk space.com and make sure.

To use the code. Happy to get $100 off of your.

First month and show your support for the show. That's happy and talkspace.com.

Oh, man. I. I just. Just, like, want to cue the choir to everything that you're saying, because I'm just, like, feeling this so hard. Like, I just. The thought of, you know, because I have pitched in front of men before, I decided, you know what? I'm gonna have all female investors in this because they weren't understanding, and I wasn't mad at them for not understanding. I was. I had a moment of being upset of not knowing where to look for the women. I was like, okay, I understand that they're not gonna. They don't have this. They're not. God, I wish I had a light rose and that I could ask better questions to my girlfriend so we could go deeper and start businesses together. Like, they're not my people. So it's like I had a moment of being angry, and then I had a moment of being like, wait, how do we get the solution? How do we get this conversation to women so that women have the opportunity when they have a product like this or when they're pitching in general, to put it in front of the audience? Who will be the consumers as well, you know, who understand it? So, yeah, I.1 million percent was just like, yes. How do we get this out there?

Some of the best advice I've gotten is from a thought leader that I love to follow and work with is Andrea Quinn, and she says, you know, women spend so much time trying to convince not their people to be their people.

Oh, my God.

So what you just said is right on, Laurie. When people are your people, they're going to get your product and your idea, and they're going to want to get behind you. It should be easy, and we're making it so hard. But I understand what you're saying about the challenge of finding women to invest as opposed to just finding men. And sometimes people will say to me, well, Kathryn, shouldn't we just be encouraging men to get behind their daughters and wives and sisters and friends? And I say, well, sure we should, but how's that been working for us? So I do think you need women to get into here and be decision makers and be investors. And I love that you're perpetuating that and you are accomplishing it. So you are living proof it can be done, that women can get behind a company and launch it. And I love that.

Yes. And I'm like, so. I'm just so in such gratitude to have found you and be having this conversation. I know we'll have many conversations because it truly is. It's how it has to be. Because like I said, we can't necessarily just be upset about it. And I know that's. You take massive action. That's not what you or I are saying. It's like, we need to solve it. Because I cannot blame the men for not understanding my idea. That would be like a man pitching me something about fly fishing and waiters and if that's what they're even called. And me being like, I'm sorry, I just can't give my money to that because I don't understand it and I don't, you know, care about it. So.

And this trickles over into every vertical. You know, I hear this being that I'm in LA all the time, when people are pitching their shows to men that head up the studios and the production companies and they'll be like, no, I don't get it. And that's why a lot of the programming is very attuned to the male audience. It's because that's who the decision makers are. And as that's slowly changing, slowly you are starting to see different programming and more female driven characters. You know, the woman was never the star, was never the superhero, you know, but now that's changing because there is a demand for it. And that's what the men who are the decision makers in Hollywood don't understand, is that just because they don't like it or don't agree with something doesn't mean there's not a whole half of the population that is starving for this other kind of programming. So it spills over into not just investments, but programming. And that is why we need female decision makers in every vertical. And so hopefully we're moving in that direction. I just had on my podcast an astrologer who told me that the planets are aligning to perpetuate the feminine going forward, that all male patriarchy is on its way out. The planets are absolutely aligning to come together not just for women, but for minorities, for social justice. It's a slow and hard process and a difficult time the Earth and the world are going through, but we are going to get there. And that's where we're headed, to a more equitable world. And it's an exciting time to be hopeful and look forward to that because it is moving in that direction. But everybody's gotta play their part. It won't happen without the action.

I love that.

And it doesn't have to be, you know, for anybody listening, if this feels a bit overwhelming, if it's a newer conversation it's also, it doesn't. You don't have to do it all at once. You don't have to know everything at once. If there was one thing that triggered you that you were curious about, it's even just the fact that your brain opened up a little bit to it. It's now on your radar. So I prom. Once it's on your radar, it's kind of like it's just going to pour in. It's going to become more interesting to you. You're going to see possibilities for yourself. So I love that you guys are listening and just, you know, staying in tune and just throughout this whole podcast, kind of look for the thing that piques your curiosity the M.O. the most and maybe do a little digging or go listen to Katherine's podcast as well for even more on that. So, Katherine, I would love to ask you, for people who maybe don't know what this is, I'm trying go back to some of the questions that I had in the beginning. I didn't understand what venture. Can't even think of it right now. What being a. Help me. Why can't I think of it?

What venture capital is.

Yes. Thank you. Versus being an angel investor. Can you tell me about what those two things mean? And when do you use both of those modalities for what?

Here's what I'd say, because I'm not an expert really at all of this. It's really new to me, myself, and I'm learning as I go. And what I would say is like a venture capital firm, like Backstage Capital, is pooling monies. An investor group, an angel investor group, tends to be individual investors. Okay. But what I would say is I just learned of this myself, so I always like to share information that I think helps people to learn. And I became aware of Renata George, who is doing VC Academy, and they have a program at VC Academy that teaches angel investing. And if you want to start your own venture capital fund. Interesting. And I think you're going to see more and more of that type of opportunity to learn, because I understand people are afraid to get into something they don't understand. That makes perfect sense. I think that is what has held women back. You know, guys have been in it. They bring their buddies in. That's how it kind of, you know, is old boys club, like a lot of things. But the more women that become angel investors and bring their comrades in, the more women will be doing it. And so I think what holds people back is exactly what you said, the fear of not understanding it totally get that makes perfect sense. So seek out something like VC Academy or Golden Seeds. Portfolio. Groups like this actually teach angel investing. And then those angel investors pool their money into those venture capital funds. So it is a learning process for everybody because it's all new to most women. Most women, Obviously, if only 2%. Well, 2% is going to women, and less than 15% are women actually involved in the decision making. So, of course, very few women are in this space. But we do have to focus on more women getting in this space at any age. I mean, more, like I said, more college. Women need to be thinking, if they're in business and finance, why not go work for a venture capital fund? That's very exciting. Or if you're in your second or third chapter of life and you're very successful, earmark some of that money to become an angel investor. So I would say there's plenty of opportunities to learn about it.

Are there, are there certain places or things or maybe even a tip that you could give around if you're thinking about a business, ways to figure out what type of funding is best for you. I know that you have an awesome document for that, which you can refer back to again, but is there certain things like typically, if you are this, you want to look at this, or is that really, like, personal to how you want to set up your business?

I think it is personal. Each person would be different. A person that would be getting the SBA loan might be different than the person really scaling that needs venture capital. Venture capital will tend not to look at a company unless it's really already super successful and needs to scale. Like, you have a product, you're in 700 stores, but you want to be in 7,000 stores. In fact, you may even have to already be in the 7,000 stores for the venture capital to invest in you. So that's really for late stage, the angel investing, not so much. They might put in 25 or 100,000 in. It might be easier to raise in that group. SBA loan would be. Somebody might need 10 or 25,000 to just get it started, like seed money. So there's kind of something for different people based on what level they're at.

And then for crowdfunding, is that typically for people who kind of like, are already out in the world, they have an audience? Or can anybody do this for crowdfunding?

I think anybody could do it. I suggested the. The I fund women because they provide resources to understand it, because there is a method to making it successful. It Doesn't. I've seen plenty of people just try to do a crowdfund on their own and it doesn't work. You really do have to know what you're doing. But some people have been very successful at it. And what it is good for is, let's say you have a product. It's also a great marketing and research tool because you see if there is a demand when you offer your product in the crowdfunding. So if you're launching some type of product, it's a great way to go. Crowdfunding. It's like a focus group.

Yeah, absolutely. Okay, so a couple questions that are coming up for me. I know a lot of people get really, they actually get really scared around the idea of either borrowing money, so raising money and investing because there is, there's risk involved. Right. So first of all, let's start with when do you think is a good time for somebody to raise money or essentially crowdfund borrow money? Is there a way to tell or do you think trying to bootstrap is a good idea? Are there different thresholds that you hit that you're kind of like, okay, if I'm here and I can't seem to get here, this might be a good time to raise money?

You know, I think every, every situation is so personal. You can't really blanket that. I mean a lot of people have started very successful businesses while they had a full time job and then they did it on the side. A lot of companies have been born that way. And then when this gets so busy, they came over and did that. I just talked to someone the other day who did that. She has a T shirt company and she was working for somebody and doing on the side and then it got so busy that she had to quit her full time job and then her husband just now quit his six figure job to come over and help her.

So cool.

Because they are just booming. So each situation is different and it depends, you know, it's different. A T shirt company as opposed to are you creating a product that goes into thousands of stores? You know, so you can't really blanket that. What I would do is meet with a coaching consultant in that arena. You know, I'm a big believer in why try to reinvent the wheel, get with somebody. You know, I send some people too that are putting a pitch deck together to Anastasia Green get funded tools. I just think it's a fantastic business. She's a woman. She helps women create really impressive, powerful pitch decks because she's learned what investors are looking For.

Ooh, say that again, because I could have used her. Let's give that resource again.

I'll introduce you to her. Anastasia Green. And she is one of several, I'm sure, that help people create effective pitch decks, because I think it is one of the things that holds a lot of women back. They don't know how to make the pitch deck or they don't make it properly. They don't know what the investors are really looking for. She's been down that road. She knows what they're looking for and she knows the common mistakes that people make. I'm a big believer in. Everybody on this planet was given a gift and you have to seek out the people that have the gifts that you don't have and let them do it. Yeah. Why try to do something you're not good at? It makes absolutely no sense.

Takes so much time.

It takes so much time and energy and you'll fail because if you don't know what you're doing and you can't do it well. So you have to get yourself in a position where you can bring in people and then, of course, build out your team as you grow, but you have to start with some other people that can do what you're not good at. So it frees you up to do what you are great at and what you love and what makes you happy, right?

Yes. And if we all just figured that out, the world would be a better place, that's for sure. We wouldn't be walking around with so much.

And I think there's something about that energy, too. When you're contributing to someone else because they have a gift, you don't. You're circulating that money, if you will. And so I think that this is what makes everything work so well, is, you know, you're paying someone for that. Like, I've had somebody say, oh, that person wants to coach me, they want me to pay them. And I'm like, well, yeah, that's what they do for a living. That's their gift. So, yes, you should pay them for their gift because their gift is going to help you. And then you could pay someone else with the money you make to do things that they're good, whatever it is, social media or running your website or, you know, that's how it all. That's the beauty of it all. We all have different gifts and that's how we all make a living. And we should be generating that goodness between each other.

Oh, man. So good. What do you wish more women knew about this arena?

I Wish more women knew that, A, how underfunded they are, B, why it's so important, and C, how they can be part of the solution. Today they could go out and seek out an angel investment class or group and learn and be a part of a very exciting thing that could not only make them money, but just help another woman. And what's better than those two things together?

Yeah, absolutely. What's exciting you the most right now?

What's exciting me the most is that it is leveling up slowly but surely. It was a bit of a setback for women over Covid, but I do see more people talking about it, becoming aware, you know, as Oprah says, once you know, you know. So the more we get the message out there, the more people are getting behind us. I know. With Archie Angels foundation, we quickly got a lot of people becoming members and wanting to get behind. What we do is we give grants to female founded nonprofits that are helping women to thrive. So it seemed like more and more people are wanting to do conscious donating and conscious investing. And so the nonprofit world needs funding for women that are helping women get back on their feet and get into the entrepreneurial spirit. So that's important. And then the other side of it is the angel investing. So, like I said, we're developing a show that we're going to take on the road to go city to city to explain to women and inspire them and get them excited. This is something we can unify about, by the way. You know, we're trying to get unity in this country. This is something I think we can all unify on is how do we lift up women, how do we fund women, how do we come together to empower women? And so I'm excited to take that on the road through a series that I'm working on. You know, I'm a big believer that film and television is what changes culture. So that's my mission, is to utilize that platform, multimedia platform, to educate and inspire women. Because if enough women become angel investors, we will level the playing field. That is so true. We'll save the world, invest in enough women. It sounds big. It sounds big to say fund women, save the world. But if you really look at it in that aspect of, you can't leave all those ideas and inventions and input on the sidelines if you're going to save this planet. It really is real.

I agree. And I think that when we allow and engage in this conversation, it opens up parts of our minds that we potentially or may not have been using to think Bigger. Right. You're asking a bigger question, which is gonna get us bigger answers. And if we don't even think that question is for us, then we're never gonna engage our brain that level. And so that's why it's so beautiful.

And you're so right, and that's why I applaud what you're doing. You've been fearless. You are being an example to other women of what's possible. I did have recently a male investor tell me that, yeah, women often just get to a certain plateau. They're making their six figures. They don't think they can make seven figures. They don't think they can get the venture capital funding. They're holding themselves back. So. So that's the conversation I would like to change, is to have more women gather around women, get behind them, and help boost their confidence. We got this.

Yes. That would have never been possible for me if I wouldn't have gotten around other women that I saw who were doing was great for me to see my husband and his friends doing great things, but I needed to see somebody like me doing it. And that's what I decided to surround myself in. So you couldn't be more correct. So what are you doing personal, Catherine? When you're at your best?

When I'm what?

When you're at your best, what are you doing?

When I'm at my best? Oh, gosh, I think I'm at my best when I'm living on purpose, when I'm doing something that's making a difference in the world. And I feel like I'm really doing something to be a difference maker. Am I doing what I'm here on the planet to do? And I feel like I am. I'm living my mission to change this. And I do believe that I will see, in my lifetime, I will see this shift of funding going to women and more women being in funding and more women taking off with their businesses. So that's what makes me happy and living in the moment, being with people I love. You know nothing better than that. That's. That's as high as it gets.

So good. So you've had to educate yourself on all of this. There was a time when you did not know any of this. And I think that some people listening, like how I probably would have listened three years ago, would have been like, it must just be a natural inclination for her to lean into this, or this must just feel easy. Tell me about what, like, what was the point where you were like, I want to get educated around this. And what did that education process look like for you?

Yeah, it's been a journey like anybody's, you know, originally. For many, many years, I've been a big advocate for the gay community. And as a filmmaker, one of my first projects was called a documentary called I Can't Marry youy about same sex marriage. And I got very passionate about the fact that gay people couldn't get married, which meant they could not get the 1000 rights and benefits and protections that came with the federal government when people get married. And so I was super passionate about that for many years until, of course, I made a film that was called I Can't marry youy. Ellen DeGeneres mom Betty narrated it and it was on PBS. I will tell you, when I made that film, it was my very first documentary. And I later read that getting it on television was like winning the lottery, but I had no idea. But really, like any business, it was right place, right time. So I came out with that film right when we were able to get married in San Francisco and Massachusetts and the tide was starting to turn. And I believe it was the first film that was about the federal rights and benefits. And then many other films came out. And I do believe, like I said, I do believe it's film and television that helps change culture. And so I'm really a filmmaker. That's what I am. I love telling people stories, whether it's on a series or a documentary or on my podcast, Invest in Her. I love sharing people's stories because I think that's what inspires people when you get to hear those adversity to triumph stories and you relate to it and you say, oh my gosh, that's me, or that's my brother or that's my cousin. So I wanted to humanize the situation to people. And I think my film helped people realize, oh, some of these people have been together 10, 20, 30, 50 years and they can't get married. And what does that mean? It means they can't visit them in the hospital or they can't leave them, their Social Security, all of these things that really, anybody would, I think, understand how unfair that was. And so, oh, wow. The day that that came about was, you know, just brought me to tears. I was just. I couldn't believe that we got that right. And then, of course, three years ago, I was the beneficiary of that law, so I got to get married. And I'm so happy about that and just didn't really know if that would ever happen in my lifetime. So I'm so happy that it did, which gets me to the point, I am making a point here, that I've always been for the underdog. And so I was starting to. I just felt. I always try to, like I say in meditation, listen to a download. And I just got this download to start feeling like, as a gay woman, I needed to reach out to help all women to empower themselves. Not just gay women, but gay women should be part of the conversation. I feel like many times they might feel left out of the conferences and things like that. So I created a conference called Live Love Thrive and a book and a podcast at the time, all Live Love Thrive. And I did that in one year. And I hadn't done any of those things. I think that's the exciting thing about life, is we really can do anything that we put our mind to. Women are just unstoppable. And like I said, implementing those seven things that we talked about at the beginning of the show is really what I attribute to allowing myself to be able to create whatever I feel the download is. So in that conference, I decided to add a night called she Angels Pitch Fest. I saw that women weren't getting funding, and it came together so easily. I found these six or seven women that were willing to invest in female entrepreneurs. I had the female entrepreneurs come and do their pitches. And then as a filmmaker, I decided to film that and film the series of how the. The money and the mentorship impacted the success of these women. And so actually, anybody can see it. It's called she Angels with an S series, with an s dot com, and there's six episodes there about that Pitch Fest. And that's when I got really interested in figuring out that women were so underfunded, I couldn't even believe it. And every time I would tell people, you know, we get less than 2% of venture capital, people would. Their mouth would drop. They'd be like, what? And I thought, oh, my gosh, I really need to be on a mission to educate people about this. This is my next calling. And I did the TED Talk called Fund Women, Save the World. And I did that so that I'd have this platform to educate people on the fact of how underfunded we are and why that needs to change and how we can fix it, how they, as a participant, can fix it. And so, yeah, I'm just one of those people. When I find something that I'm passionate about, then I want to use film and television to get it out there. And that's why I'M working on this new series to go city to city and inspire women to get involved in angel investing. And we're going to go to each city and and give a grant and give an investment to a deserving woman in that area. And that's my next film and television project.

Oh my gosh. I am so excited for you. I think so many people listening are excited for that. So we'll stay tuned for where we can all see that and watch that when that comes up. Hopefully do some behind the scenes stuff so we can follow along with that too. That would be amazing. I'm so grateful for you. I'm excited for the future. I know that we have some plans cooking with some of our companies that we're doing. So I can't wait for that. You guys will be on the lookout for that. And you're such a beautiful human. I love chatting with you. I love how your brain works. I love your enthusiasm over what you're doing. You have a true, just passion for being a cheerleader and advocate of women and their dreams. And I think truly if we were all living in our purpose, the planet would be completely different. And I think that is what this is all about is getting people to be able to live exactly in their purpose and all the things that fulfill us. So grateful for you, you guys. You can find her and follow her at Let us know where we can.

Find you and follow you she angel investors on social media. You can find me also on LinkedIn under Kathryn Gray. And of course my podcast is Invest in Her. It's on Apple and Spotify and wherever you listen to your podcast. Thank you so much for having me on. I feel the same about you and I'm so excited about your new venture. I'm cheering you on and really grateful that our paths have crossed as well. Me too.

You guys.

If you loved this podcast, make sure you share it with a friend and also let Katherine know. Tag her on Instagram, let her know what your biggest takeaway was like, if you had an aha moment or if you felt like this conversation was super approachable and it was the first time you've learned about it or heard about it. Let her know because we love learning about, you know, who's listening and what you guys want to learn more of. So thank you guys so much for tuning in and until next time, earn your happy. Bye everyone.