Episode 9: Igniting Passion and Purpose for Female Funding Through Documentary Filmmaking with Ca...

Welcome to the Entertainment Business Podcast. I'm your host, Tisha Morris. Join me as we go inside the entertainment industry of film, TV, books, music, and all content creation, where we'll weave together the creative and business of entertainment with practical tips, inspirational interviews, and insider information of all the latest trends. And with that, let's get on with the show. Our current era is witnessing the largest intergenerational transfer of wealth in history, with a significant portion flowing into the hands of women. It's estimated that by 2030, women could hold up to 40% of global private wealth. My guest today is moving the needle to help women get the venture capital funding they need, which currently sits at only 2% of all funding. She's doing this through her groundbreaking documentary, Katherine Gray is the producer of Show Her the Money that features rockstar female investors who invest in diverse women entrepreneurs with innovations that are changing the world. Katherine is also an author, TEDx speaker, podcast host, founder of She Angels Investors, and co-founder of the nonprofit She Angels Foundation. Katherine hosts and produces the popular podcast series Invest in Her, available everywhere you listen to podcasts, and Katherine is doing a 50-city grassroots tour of the film to encourage this initiative to get more women to invest in female-funded funds.

I'm so excited to welcome Kathryn Gray to the podcast. Thank you for being here, Kathryn.

Good to be here. I've been looking forward to this.

Awesome. Well, you are a, uh, you're all over the world these days. So tell us a little bit about the 50-city tour.

Yeah, sure. So first of all, I love that you're doing a podcast about creative content, and then the business side of it. I think it's so important to talk about the two. And you've been such a great champion for us, Tisha, as our entertainment attorney, which every filmmaker needs. So really happy to be talking about this today. So first of all, the reason that we decided to take Show Her the Money on a 50-city tour, which now is becoming a 100-city tour 'cause we've had such a demand. So grateful for that. And so the reason that we did this was that we felt like it's not just a movie, it's a movement, or as I've now referred to it, a moviement. And everybody seems to love that terminology. So it is a moviement. And what I mean by that is We knew if we just played it somewhere and somebody watched it, nothing would really happen. But to take it from city to city, meet with people in person, the energy and excitement and the magic that happens could not be the same if it was just airing on a network. So the in-person tour has just been phenomenal. And what I mean by a movement is we are on a movement to help more women and men, uh, understand what is venture capital, why are women only getting 2% of it, and how can we change that? And so I'm a big believer, uh, like you, I think that it is film and television that helps change culture. And so I've said there has to be a film about this. This is a story that's never been told. How crazy is that? We need to tell this story. And the story is that venture capital is incredibly important to our future. What products and services we're going to see in the future depend a lot on venture capital. And so we as women want to say so with that. And we as women, more than 50% of the population, of course, have so many creative ideas and innovations that are going to help impact the planet. That they have to be funded. So this is a problem that has to be fixed. It's not a, we want to fix it. We have to fix it. And it's going to take women to fix it. But we couldn't fix it if we didn't even know what the problem was, right? So that's what the movie is about. But I will say we tried to capture it in a, you know, fascinating, engaging storytelling kind of way. Because if you say to somebody, Hey, want you to come see a documentary about venture capital? They're like, yeah, no thanks. So what we've done is made venture capital sexy and exciting. And that's exactly what it is because you as a potential investor or someone looking for funding has an opportunity to meet entrepreneurs that have game-changing ideas and innovations that you would never hear about if you weren't involved in this ecosystem. So it's been a very exciting journey to take on the road, the movie, and have people walking out of the movie saying, oh my God, I didn't understand what venture was, how incredibly interesting it is, how I would like to invest in it because not only is it a way of generating wealth, but it's also a way of making a huge impact. And that's what I want them leaving with. But knowing that the film is about heart-centered stories of entrepreneurs and the women investing in them and the women who are starting their own venture capital funds, who I call the real rock stars of the industry. They are the unsung heroes that nobody knew about out there raising, you know, $25, $50, $100 million to invest not only in women, but also BIPOC and LGBTQ, all the overlooked communities that had not been getting venture capital. Women are very focused on that. Isn't that fabulous?

Yeah. The film does exactly what you've just described, and I've seen it several times. I'm like, I feel like an official part of the official groupie. And it's so— the way it's so entertaining and so educational all in one. And, you know, I, I kind of pride myself of being, you know, pretty business savvy, but boy, did I learn a lot. And it, the way that it presents the, the, the, the actual educational part is so, it's so effective. And, um, I've already looked into, um, being an angel investor myself, being very inspired by the movie. And one of, one of my biggest takeaways that you already touched on is how with women being the entrepreneurs and the creators, they are creating products and services that women need. And if you, I went to some, a lot of the websites of these, um, these funds and saw the companies that they're investing in. It's all these companies that we so desperately need as women. So it's, it's just really enlightened and broadened my perspective of what investment, investing is and needs to be. So a real thank you, um, on behalf of myself and, and women out there.

Thank you. You know, it is going to take us to fix it. As one of my coworkers or on the, you know, co-creators on the film, executive producer Diana Greschuk, she says, we're not damsels in distress and nobody is coming to help us. So, you know, people sometimes will say to me, don't we want men to invest in the venture funds? Of course we do. And thank goodness this film is even waking them up to the fact that their daughters, their sisters, their wives. These entrepreneurs are only getting 2% and they realize it's such an injustice and they do want to invest. But the most important thing is that we encourage women to become investors. And, you know, Tisha, you and I know not that long ago women had to even in the '70s have a man sign to even get a credit card. So we don't think of ourselves as investors, but we have to. Because this is what's going to save the planet. It's going to be women investing in women and BIPOC and LGBTQ that have innovations that will affect everyone. And it will also affect the wealth for everyone. Venture capital is a very important asset class that most people are not investing in because they don't know about it and they're not going to invest in something they don't understand. Our goal with this moviement is to help people understand it, let people know that they do have access to it. For instance, a lot of people have this idea that you have to be a gazillionaire to invest in venture capital when actually they have an IRA or a pension fund where they could move as little as $25,000 or $100,000 into a venture capital fund and be able to be part of that asset class that they haven't had access to. And their wealth advisor may or may not advise them to do this because that wealth advisor might not have access to that and it might not benefit them. But we have to be smart enough to look outside that wealth advisor and say, oh, this is an alternative asset class that I do want to participate in. And you know, the movie explains that it's kind of like a mutual fund. You're pooling your money with other women or other people, and those smart, accomplished general partners that are running that fund, they will deploy that capital into 10 or 20 or 30 different entrepreneurs that they have vetted. That you don't even have to do that. You know, it's like a mutual fund. You don't vet who's in your mutual fund. It's the same with the venture fund. And so it's an exciting world to step into. And the other reason that you'd want to do it besides the return is higher than you would get on the public market and the, you know, the impact that you're making. But also you meet the most brilliant, smart, accomplished, incredible women by stepping into this circle. Because you're either meeting other investors who are very accomplished and interesting, or you're meeting these innovators who have these game-changing ideas that are going to impact the future. What's more exciting than that, really?

Yeah, you know, it's just a great way to diversify your portfolio. And like I said, the companies that, that are in these These funds are just doing, like you said, amazing, amazing things on the, on the, on the pulse, a finger on the pulse of what's needed with regards to healthcare and, um, technology and, and everything. So the going back to the 50, 50 city tour, and now that's becoming more than 50 cities, but you've been all over the world with this film. What kind of, um, what are you hearing? Are, are you seeing the, the needle being moved a little bit? With, with the impact of this film?

You know, we've only started in February and yes, already a tremendous impact. And we obviously have a long way to go. But every time we move that 1%, even just 1% change will be a couple billion dollars. So if we get women in every single city investing in these women-founded venture funds that invest in women, and other underserved minorities, then we are going to make a difference. We absolutely can change this. In fact, we have to do it, and there's gonna be a lot of joy in doing it. So yes, we're making an impact. Even some people have started new women-founded funds, some that are just getting started because of the film, which will generate millions of dollars into the market. All of the venture funds that are featured in our film have generated significant investments because of the movie. And also the companies that are featured in our film, like Dapper Boy. Dapper Boy is game-changing. They have all-gender clothing. They're making strides in creating a whole new niche in the clothing industry that speaks to Everyone that doesn't feel like they want to shop in the, just the men or the women's department, you know, someone might want a man's jeans or shorts, uh, that because they have a different look than the women's, but they are all cut straight because, uh, that's the way men are. Most men are built, but there's men that are like football players that have bought their clothing and said, you know what, I have a butt, I have.

Hips.

I don't fit in that. I love the concept of Dapper Boy because that's— their clothing is based on your body type. And so they've really got something amazing going there. They're featured in our film and they're on fire. They're going to soon be expanding out of the country. Like you said, that's what it's done for us to take the film around the country is we all learn about each other's products and services. And research and all of that. And we're more powerful when we share that information. So it's been game-changing. Every single city I have met smart and brilliant women who are looking for funding and smart and brilliant women who want to start investing in venture capital. Every single city has been filled with so much excitement about this topic. That nobody really knew about, and it's really, really gratifying.

Yeah, I've had so much fun following your socials and seeing where you are, seeing the crowds. And you, by the way, your, the Instagram is Show Her the Money Movie.

Yeah, it's @showherthemoney is our Instagram. And then our website is showherthemoneymovie.com. And that has plenty of resources on it as well, as well as our schedule of where we'll be screening. And then once we're not screening live as much, our next step starting November is to stream it pay-per-view through our Kinema platform, mostly to large organizations and large corporations. So if listeners have either a large group or large corporation that they're affiliated with, we'll be streaming it out to them in a pay-per-view. Situation, and people can contact me to learn details about that. But that's how we're going to reach millions and still engage them in conversation with virtual panels.

Great. I want to ask a question from a filmmaker's perspective, because I have a lot of filmmakers who listen to this podcast. And you— I watched your TED Talk from 2020, and which is now going on, you know, 5 years ago, and I loved how basically that TED Talk, I mean, this movie did not come out of nowhere. You have been working on this mission for a long time. You have the podcast Invest in Her, you have the She Angels Foundation. This topic has been something you have been championing for years. And so I wanted to, I'd love to hear kind of from your perspective how the rollout happened and how this film kind of was the, the— I won't even say final because who knows what you have up your sleeve next. But how this film came to be from this— how this moviemen began.

Yeah, it really began, I'd say, about a decade ago. I was putting on women's empowerment events. And when I found out about this underfunding issue, I decided to do a pitch fest. And I wanted to put all women on it. With all women pitching to them. So women investing in women, and that's really where the impetus of it started. And I created something called the SheAngel Series. It's actually on YouTube. And we followed the journeys of how it impacts entrepreneurs to have other women believe in them, help fund them, help them with contacts and opening doors. All of that really does make a big difference. They need that support. That's why we need more women investors sitting at the table deciding who gets the money. There's a big power in that in a positive way. So that was the impetus of it. As I got into that, I started to learn about venture capital and that we only got 2%. Of course, the first thing I said was, we're only getting 2% and what the heck is venture capital? You know, and I realized that there was a lot of smart, accomplished people out there that they thought they knew what venture capital was, but they really couldn't explain it to you. They, they didn't really know. And I'm a big believer, it's film and television that helps change culture. Uh, it makes people aware, it educates them in an inspiring way about something. And so I thought we really need to make a movie about this because this is a story that's never been told and nobody's been telling it. And we need to pull back the curtain, demystify this, but tell it in layperson's terms so everyone could understand it and make it exciting and engaging by storytelling. So by featuring actual people's story in this ecosystem, you know, it's, it's a very heart-centered film. So I've had people say to me, gee, I don't even like documentaries, but I love this film. It's kind of like a documentary and a feature in one is what I've been told because it's stories. And there's stories that seem to captivate everyone. Very diverse cast. Everybody, I think, in the audience sees themselves in one of our characters.

From around the world too.

Yes. And so that's what I think speaks to people is that they see themselves in the movie in one of the three genres that we showcase. So we showcase the women that are starting the funds, the women that are investing in those funds and the women that have the innovative ideas that are getting investments from those funds that otherwise wouldn't be getting funding and say how that works and how important it is and how exciting it is. So that's really what the film is about. And that's why I created it.

For those who have not seen it, um, showherthemoneymovie.com and check out where it's going to be. Um, if it, if it's coming to your city and if not, um, catch it online when it, when it comes to the online platform. And you have also tons of resources where people can learn on the website and you have an e-course coming up as well for people to learn how to get their business funded, correct?

Yeah, we do free webinars. We have one coming up. I will be doing those from time to time. Also on my sheangelinvestors.com site, I do have an e-course. It's called 6 Ways to Fund Your Business. Because venture capital isn't for every business. And I think it's for every— good for everyone starting out to have a program, which the e-course does, 6 Ways to Fund Your Business, shows you all the different ways that you could fund a business. You may fund it through 1 or 2 or 3 different ways, but it's good to educate yourself on that. I tried to also put that in lay terms, so it made it easy to understand what could sometimes feel complicated. So 6 Ways to Fund Your Business on sheangelinvestors.com is one way to get started learning what your options are so that you can pick the right option of how to fund and grow that business. Now, the movie is specifically geared toward angel investing and venture capital so that people understand how to access that and how to invest in that.

Gotcha. Well, thank you so much, Catherine. I, um, uh, you're just such an inspiration and I really, really appreciate you being, um, on the podcast and sharing.

Thank you. And, uh, speaking of the podcast, uh, I have an Invest in Her podcast with lots of resources every week. I have on, you know, people that are funders, founders, you've been on there. Um, and it's on its 400th episode and filled with a lot of great non- knowledge and experts.

Yeah, you can learn so much from that, from your podcast, Invest in Her. So everyone check it out.

Thanks, Tisha. Appreciate you. Have a great day.

All right. You too.

Thank you so much for listening to today's episode. If you like the podcast, please like, subscribe, maybe even share to your friends. And for more information about my services, visit my website at tishamorris.com. That's T-I-S-H-A M-O-R-R-I-S. Well, that concludes today's episode, and I wish you all the best. Until next time, keep creating and please take care.