Shanda Women and Wealth: Building a Library of Conversations About Money
What started as a simple question — why aren’t more women having conversations about money? — is steadily becoming something much bigger.
Through Shanda Initiative, we launched Shanda Women and Wealth with a clear vision: to create a growing library of conversations where women can hear other women speak openly and practically about money, financial literacy, investing, wealth creation and the financial decisions that shape our lives.
We did not want these conversations to be reserved for financial professionals or women who already understand investing. We wanted to create a table where a woman who is only beginning to think about her finances can sit alongside a woman who has been investing for years and still find something valuable.
From an Idea to a Podcast
The journey began with conversations within the Shanda community about women, money and wealth creation. The response showed us that there was both an appetite and a need for more accessible financial conversations.
That eventually developed into the Shanda Women and Wealth Podcast.
For Season 1, I have had the privilege of sitting down with Desberia Mutara, who has spearheaded our first season with me.
Our Season 1 theme is:
Changing the Way Women Think About Money.
And that is intentional. Before we talk about portfolios, investments and sophisticated financial products, there are foundational conversations that need to happen.
What do we believe about money?
Where did those beliefs come from?
Are they helping us build wealth, or are they keeping us financially stuck?
Season 1: The Conversations So Far
Our first episode asked a fundamental question:
Why Aren’t Women Having Enough Conversations About Money?
We explored why financial conversations are still uncommon among many women, what happens when women are excluded from these conversations and why simply becoming comfortable talking about money is an important part of financial empowerment.
Our second episode, which is now available on YouTube, takes the conversation further:
Money Myths That Keep Women Financially Stuck.
We challenge beliefs such as “Investing is for rich people,” “I don’t earn enough to invest,” “I’m not good with numbers,” and “Property is the only investment worth having.”
These may sound like harmless statements, but beliefs influence decisions. And sometimes, before our financial circumstances can change, we have to challenge the thinking that has shaped them.
There is still more coming from Season 1.
We will be exploring what it really means to build wealth, including the difference between simply earning an income and intentionally building assets.
We will also be asking the practical question: Where should women start? From saving and investing to financial independence, asset ownership and the legacy we eventually leave behind, we want to move from conversation into practical action.
We Are Building Beyond Season 1
One of the things I am most excited about is that Shanda Women and Wealth is not being built around one voice.
The vision has always been bigger than that.
We want financial professionals at the table. We want investors, entrepreneurs and women building businesses and assets. We want women who made financial mistakes and had to start again.
And we also want the everyday woman.
I want to sit with the woman selling vegetables and hear how she manages cash flow, supports her family, saves and grows her business. I want to hear from women whose financial lessons may never appear in textbooks but have been learnt through years of lived experience.
Because there is knowledge everywhere.
Our role at Shanda is to create the table, ask the questions and preserve these conversations so another woman can learn from them.
And We Are Only Getting Started
Seeing Shanda Women and Wealth move from an idea, to conversations in our community, to physical engagements, studio recordings and now published podcast episodes has been incredibly fulfilling.
There is still so much that we want to build.
One episode at a time, we are creating a resource that women can return to — whether they are 20 and receiving their first salary, 35 and beginning to think seriously about investing, or 50 and wondering whether it is too late to start.
The answer we hope these conversations continue to reinforce is simple:
You can start where you are.
Episode 1 and Episode 2 of Shanda Women and Wealth are now available on our YouTube channel, with more conversations from Season 1 on the way.
Subscribe, watch, share the conversations and join us as we continue building a community of women who are becoming more comfortable talking about money and more intentional about building wealth.
Shanda Women and Wealth
Women talking to women about money, wealth and the futures we are building.