What does it really take to turn your vision into reality as an entrepreneur—and how do our early experiences shape the leaders we become? In this episode of The Angel Next Door Podcast, Marcia Dawood sits down with the dynamic Syama Bunten, whose journey from a driven, creative child writing letters to the White House to a powerhouse in the world of retail and brand consulting is nothing short of inspiring. The episode dives deep into how ambition, creativity, and a determination to improve one’s circumstances can fuel an extraordinary career. Syama brings a wealth of experience to the conversation. She shares her evolution from retail buying at Macy’s to launching her own consultancy, Scaling Retail, where she empowered emerging brands to succeed in a rapidly changing marketplace. She also provides insight into her more recent work as co-founder of Wealth Catalyst, a movement and community dedicated to helping women—and people at large—claim agency over their financial lives. This episode is a must-listen for anyone passionate about entrepreneurship, wealth-building, or changing the narrative around who can lead and invest. Marcia and Syama discuss the real stories behind building businesses, the importance of agency and vision, and why normalizing conversations about money (especially among women) is critical for collective growth. With powerful anecdotes, actionable insights, and a preview of game-changing initiatives like the Wealth Catalyst Freedom Tour, this episode is both inspiring and practical, offering listeners a front-row seat to the next evolution in personal wealth and leadership.
What does it really take to turn your vision into reality as an entrepreneur—and how do our early experiences shape the leaders we become? In this episode of The Angel Next Door Podcast, Marcia Dawood sits down with the dynamic Syama Bunten, whose journey from a driven, creative child writing letters to the White House to a powerhouse in the world of retail and brand consulting is nothing short of inspiring. The episode dives deep into how ambition, creativity, and a determination to improve one’s circumstances can fuel an extraordinary career.
Syama brings a wealth of experience to the conversation. She shares her evolution from retail buying at Macy’s to launching her own consultancy, Scaling Retail, where she empowered emerging brands to succeed in a rapidly changing marketplace. She also provides insight into her more recent work as co-founder of Wealth Catalyst, a movement and community dedicated to helping women—and people at large—claim agency over their financial lives.
This episode is a must-listen for anyone passionate about entrepreneurship, wealth-building, or changing the narrative around who can lead and invest. Marcia and Syama discuss the real stories behind building businesses, the importance of agency and vision, and why normalizing conversations about money (especially among women) is critical for collective growth. With powerful anecdotes, actionable insights, and a preview of game-changing initiatives like the Wealth Catalyst Freedom Tour, this episode is both inspiring and practical, offering listeners a front-row seat to the next evolution in personal wealth and leadership.
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Marcia Dawood [00:00:02 - 00:00:07]:
Shama, welcome to the Angel Next Door podcast.
Syama Bunten [00:00:07 - 00:00:08]:
Thank you, Marcia. So happy to be here.
Marcia Dawood [00:00:08 - 00:00:24]:
I am so happy to have you. We have so many things to talk about. There's so much going on, and 2025 was an amazing year. You created these incredible summits. You brought people together. We talked about wealth and women and people and money. I just. I love everything about it.
Marcia Dawood [00:00:24 - 00:01:02]:
And 2026 is just going to be so much bigger, so we'll have to talk about all the things. So. But first, I'm going to turn your own question that you have from your podcast on you to start off. Okay. So for our listeners, Shama has a podcast called Getting Rich Together, and it is fantastic. I always learn amazing things and get to hear about people and all the amazing things they've done. But you always start by asking people about how they were. How they got started thinking about money, how they got started in their life, what were they doing when they were about 8, 10 years old? So maybe you can tell us what you were doing at that point.
Syama Bunten [00:01:03 - 00:01:39]:
Oh, my God. So when I was 8, I'd say, like, the big moment for me was probably 10 to 12, and I was part of a performing arts school, which was, like, a really big part of my life. And people who know me now are like, oh, yeah, totally. You were on stage at a very young age. And at the age of 12, I. Gosh, it's so funny. I was watching this show called Jenny Jones, and some of your folks might recall this show, and I saw a. I saw this little kid on stage, and this little kid had just finished singing at the White House with their choir.
Syama Bunten [00:01:39 - 00:02:18]:
And I said, oh, my gosh, if this little kid can sing at their choir, then why can't I? And so at the age of 12, I started writing letters to the White House. So that's, like, where I was thinking, fast forward that story. I ended up singing at the White House with my choir at the age of 14. But that's like Shama, at a young age. I grew up in a small apartment, and I went to all incredible private schools. I was the smart kid on financial aid in very small, elite schools. And so that also was, like, a incredible window into what was possible with. With money.
Syama Bunten [00:02:18 - 00:03:03]:
But it was also really confusing. I didn't really understand what people did for work or why our circumstances were the way that they were. And so that part was confusing, but also gave me a lot of, like, drive to freaking figure it out. And, like, all right, if it's going to change in this world, I'M going to need to figure out how to do that. And so also around that age of 9, 10 years old, writing letters to my senators, I was telling them kids needed the right to vote because I thought the idiots around me were all adults. I was published in like environmental kids journals around, I don't know, some silly poetry. But I was definitely like, I'm on this planet to do something and shake it up. And I do not like my circumstances.
Syama Bunten [00:03:03 - 00:03:05]:
And so I am determined to change it.
Marcia Dawood [00:03:06 - 00:03:27]:
That is incredible. I don't even know at 9 or 10 years old that I knew what a senator was at that point. But it's incredible. If all, imagine if all kids did that, that's great. So, okay, so then that then drove you through high school, college, and then what did that ultimately mean for a first job?
Syama Bunten [00:03:27 - 00:04:11]:
Yeah. So at, so in, in high school, I knew that I loved fashion. So I should also mention my mother was a model when she came to this country and ended up studying accounting and bookkeeping. But my mother is gorge, was very gorgeous. She's still good looking now, but she was gorgeous when I was younger and I was like, wow, fashion and makeup and all these things. And so I also knew that I needed to study business because most immigrant parents will tell you, you gotta study business, doctor, lawyer or business. So I feel like I didn't have much choice here. But in university I ended up studying economics and philosophy because as Marcia, I just, I can't stop thinking so deeply.
Syama Bunten [00:04:11 - 00:05:06]:
So when I ended up graduating through the panic of what am I going to be for the rest of my life? I ended up landing my first job at Macy's in their business development program. And so I was being trained to be a buyer and a planner. And so for me, it was almost like the entry into this incredible world of fashion and clothing and all these things that I already loved throughout my younger years, plus, like business. And I remember this moment where I had to price and buy 20,000 red sweaters for the holiday. Must have been 23 years old. And I was like, wow, what a Machiavelli moment. I get to decide how people are going to relate to buying this red sweater and it's going to be in all these doors. And so, I don't know, I think it turned me on to controlling the world in some devious way.
Syama Bunten [00:05:06 - 00:05:15]:
But that was my first job, was my first big moment, was buying 20,000 red sweaters and trying to price them so that people would buy them.
Marcia Dawood [00:05:15 - 00:05:16]:
And did they buy them?
Syama Bunten [00:05:17 - 00:05:19]:
They did buy them, which was great.
Marcia Dawood [00:05:19 - 00:05:21]:
Yeah, What'd the sweater look like? Tell us.
Syama Bunten [00:05:21 - 00:05:23]:
You know, it was like a charter. You remember charter club?
Marcia Dawood [00:05:23 - 00:05:23]:
Oh, yeah.
Syama Bunten [00:05:24 - 00:05:43]:
Charter club sweater and cable knit. And it was this, like, wonderful shade of a deep sort of holiday red. And I think it was like, night. I think I priced it out. It was like 29.99. And you, obviously, at Macy's, you price everything for a markdown, so. And I was like, so event. Eventually the sucker will sell at, like, 1999.
Syama Bunten [00:05:43 - 00:05:57]:
But it was really fun and engaged my mind and then also engaged my aesthetics. And those have been, come to think of it, two very big driving forces in all the things I do.
Marcia Dawood [00:05:57 - 00:06:07]:
Amazing. It's so funny that my first job was also in retail buying for May company, and it ended up being owned by Macy's down the road. So. How about that?
Syama Bunten [00:06:07 - 00:06:11]:
I know we love each other for so many reasons, and that's probably one that we didn't even realize.
Marcia Dawood [00:06:12 - 00:06:36]:
That's right. Although at first I was. My first buying job, I was in the China department. So that then I had. Now I have this love for dishes, and my husband has now banned me from buying any new dishes because he said, do you see how many dishes we own? You do not need any more dishes. But they're so pretty. And I just wanted all the dishes anyway. All right, so then retail.
Marcia Dawood [00:06:36 - 00:06:47]:
You started doing other things, though, after the buying jobs. And so tell me more about what you started building. You were consulting. You were helping people. You're helping people build their retail businesses. Talk to us about that.
Syama Bunten [00:06:47 - 00:07:16]:
Yeah, so at, so in, in high school, I knew that I loved fashion. So I should also mention my mother was a model when she came to this country and ended up studying accounting and bookkeeping. But my mother is gorge, was very gorgeous. She's still good looking now, but she was gorgeous when I was younger and I was like, wow, fashion and makeup and all these things. And so I also knew that I needed to study business because most immigrant parents will tell you, you gotta study business, doctor, lawyer or business. So I feel like I didn't have much choice here. But in university I ended up studying economics and philosophy because as Marcia, I just, I can't stop thinking so deeply.
Syama Bunten [00:07:16 - 00:07:59]:
So when I ended up graduating through the panic of what am I going to be for the rest of my life? I ended up landing my first job at Macy's in their business development program. And so I was being trained to be a buyer and a planner. And so for me, it was almost like the entry into this incredible world of fashion and clothing and all these things that I already loved throughout my younger years, plus, like business. And I remember this moment where I had to price and buy 20,000 red sweaters for the holiday. Must have been 23 years old. And I was like, wow, what a Machiavelli moment. I get to decide how people are going to relate to buying this red sweater and it's going to be in all these doors. And so, I don't know, I think it turned me on to controlling the world in some devious way.
Syama Bunten [00:07:59 - 00:08:35]:
But that was my first job, was my first big moment, was buying 20,000 red sweaters and trying to price them so that people would buy them.
Marcia Dawood [00:08:36 - 00:08:40]:
Amazing. And so what exactly did Scaling Retail do?
Syama Bunten [00:08:40 - 00:09:40]:
Yeah, it was so cool, Marcia. I feel like today you have so many consultants and people who build things, but back then, there was no one who was servicing that market that McKinsey and Accenture were turning away. And that was really the startup ecosystem globally for brands that were emergent and entering into the new DTC world. So direct to consumer world, but also looking to bridge this omnichannel concept that really was so new. Right. Was when Instagram really started. And so we had the opportunity, and I say we because it started as me, but then I had a team, about 13 at a point, and we would go into organizations and companies who are either launching or ready to scale and basically either co CEO them to help them reach particular milestones or help them with, like, brand development and, like, market positioning for when they were launching. And it was so amazing because I ended up working with people like the United Nations.
Syama Bunten [00:09:41 - 00:10:19]:
We launched a brand out of Nepal, this cashmere collective, into Japan and the U.S. i launched the first dropshipping luxury brand out of Tanzania that was actually taking products from 26 countries on the continent and then shipping them out to the US and to the uk And. And so it was so cool because I got to basically pick projects that I thought were interesting, where they had great product and great vision, but also something new for me to chew on and to be like, how do we do this? And so knew more things about global logistics than I think I ever thought I would.
Marcia Dawood [00:10:19 - 00:10:21]:
I know I was thinking, like, how do you learn that?
Syama Bunten [00:10:23 - 00:11:08]:
Yeah, you get on the phone with, like, customer service people and you go, here's what I'm trying to do. How can you help me? And I would do that all the time. Like, when we launched this United nations brand in Japan, I was like, I don't know anyone in Japan. It's like, how are we going to do this? And. And so I just remember, like, setting up a bunch of calls and being like, here is the vision. Here are the outcomes that I want. How can you help me satisfy these outcomes? And then if they couldn't help me or it wasn't a good fit, I'd say, you know what? Who else do you know who might be someone good for me to talk to? And so it was really a spidery situation in figuring out the right people conversations to almost make anything happen. It's like someone's gotta have the information.
Marcia Dawood [00:11:09 - 00:11:24]:
Yeah. That's incredible. I love that. I remember talking to you about one of my past guests who had, like, in 45 days, stood up like a whole China facility. And I was, like, blown away by it. And you're like, oh, yeah, I could do that. And I'm like, oh, okay.
Syama Bunten [00:11:25 - 00:11:25]:
All right.
Marcia Dawood [00:11:25 - 00:11:27]:
That's just something to do on a Tuesday.
Syama Bunten [00:11:28 - 00:12:01]:
It's really funny how retail has evolved in so many ways, like from a marketing side of things, but really it's formulaic. And once you know what ducks need to go in what order, it's again, pretty easy to cross it off. The thing that I can't do and could never do for anyone else is give them vision of what they wanted. As soon as someone was like, here's what I'm going for, here's what I want. Getting it done was pretty easy. But so launching something in 45 days in China, like, yeah, as long as you know what you want and what your success metrics look like.
Marcia Dawood [00:12:02 - 00:12:06]:
I love that. I think the theme here is if you put your mind to it, you can do it.
Syama Bunten [00:12:07 - 00:12:38]:
Totally. And if you can see it right and you believe in yourself almost, I think anything is really possible. Like, it's really incredible to know that we are truly limited by our own conceptions of ourselves. And holding that at bay and working with that as, like, you continue to build and launch things. It's wow. To know that you are your own biggest opportunity and limitation factor is liberating, but also terrifying because it'd be so much easier if I could blame someone else.
Marcia Dawood [00:12:39 - 00:13:19]:
That's a good point. So you have this, like, deep thinking philosophy mind, and you are really good at logistics and getting things done, which I think leads us to a really great pivot into the conversation of Wealth Catalyst. Because Wealth Catalyst is a lot of deep thinking in how to get more people, especially women, to take agency over not Just their financial situations, but over their life so that they have a better. They are in better alignment with their own values and what it is that they want to happen in their life. Is that fair?
Syama Bunten [00:13:20 - 00:13:26]:
That is a fantastic summary. You, Marette, you nailed it.
Marcia Dawood [00:13:28 - 00:14:13]:
So I know I came to the Wealth Summit, Wealth Catalyst Summit in New York City in May of 2025. It was absolutely fabulous. It was the first time I was ever in a room full of women talking about money. In the way that you presented it, it was a way to that we could actually talk about things that we don't normally get to talk about. And really, as a collective, it wasn't people on stage talking to us or at us. It was more of a group conversation and learning about all of these different things that I know. I think I'm relatively well versed in alternative assets. And I realized at that summit that I think I have quite a bit.
Marcia Dawood [00:14:13 - 00:14:33]:
I still need to learn in a lot of other categories besides just early stage investing. So I just found it to be so eye opening and also empowering. And so tell us about that journey from this past year and then how it has led into what's happening in 2026.
Syama Bunten [00:14:33 - 00:15:25]:
Yeah, it's really fascinating because over the last six years, I have come to learn that how we fundamentally have been taught. So like education, especially in the financial world, how women make decisions, what are the things that are wrong? What can we do right? Everything we did with these summits and how we've built this has been totally different in the way the industry has put forward knowledge and information. And so you really nailed it. Which is this isn't about experts telling you what to do. This is about women sharing what they are doing and understanding what the different pathways are so that one can make their own decision for themselves. And so that is something we have fundamentally gotten wrong. Women have been infantilized. Hey, this is don't worry about the stock market and don't worry about this and give us your money and it'll be safe.
Syama Bunten [00:15:25 - 00:16:36]:
Really not understanding that not all of us a have the luxury of playing it safe. So safety is really for those who are like, oh, I know I'm going to have enough money at this time. I don't need to take bigger bets or bigger risks. But also safety implies that we don't have the capacity to learn and understand things and that we're not able to make good decisions for ourselves. So the entire framework of how our podcast, our substack, the summits, these salons we've done are really oriented is around first person experience, sharing. And what is it that we can learn and see in other people of ourselves so that we realize we're not ahead, we're not behind, we are tracking to this beautiful story of our lives. And what's impressive is that all of these women who've come together, especially you, are so brilliant and are so accomplished, and this is probably for the first time ever, a space where women can stand in their brilliance and their accomplishments and be like, I want to learn and expand. And that is truly what I believe growth is.
Syama Bunten [00:16:36 - 00:17:53]:
How do we acknowledge who we are and what we've done and feel safe enough to learn from our peers about things we don't know, to make even better decisions? And so our learning, our wealth building, our wealth deployment never ends right when we approach it that way. And as we're looking into 2026, what is really exciting is it's been very clear from the beginning that, you know, these events started in San Francisco and New York because honestly, these are places I've lived. I grew up in San Francisco, lived in New York for 10 years, in LA for 10 years, back to San Francisco. And so those are places where I'm like, okay, girlfriends are there, people are there. Like, industry is there. But I knew in my heart from the very beginning that this was a message that needed to reach on a national scale the rooms, the hearts, the minds of so many women who are ready to be activated with their money right to have some agency and to truly see what's possible. And in 2026, I believe it is more critical now than ever to see hope and possibility in the world and to be able to claim our own ability to contribute to the world we want to see. And I'm very cognizant that we all have different values, we want different things in our lives.
Syama Bunten [00:17:53 - 00:18:41]:
Money is not linear, but cash outflow, cash inflow. It is as complicated as any other aspect of who we are in our identities. But if we can come together and share and be able to hold the space and literally the pie gets bigger. It's not that we're fighting over the same things. We're actually expanding possibilities and rising up to a better future that we each individually want to see. So that is on the horizon for next year. I'm so grateful for your leadership and love and support and guidance as we are building out this programming for next year. But 2026 is like 32 city nationwide tour, two big summits, capital, agency and possibility around the country.
Syama Bunten [00:18:41 - 00:18:46]:
And really, women rising up to Claim their own right to a bigger pie and to a better.
Marcia Dawood [00:18:48 - 00:19:00]:
I love everything about that. Can't wait to be a part of it. So when you say the 32 city tour, explain exactly, like, what that means and what people could expect if you are coming to their city.
Syama Bunten [00:19:01 - 00:19:04]:
Yeah, well, depending on where they're going, they'll see you too.
Marcia Dawood [00:19:04 - 00:19:04]:
So that.
Syama Bunten [00:19:04 - 00:20:16]:
Yeah, so it's a great twofer, but really the idea is to enter into spaces. Some of them will be large rooms, some will be beautiful homes. The idea is to come together in groups of, you know, 25, sometimes 40, sometimes larger, but really to come to understand what it is that we can do together when we share what's possible and what we have done. And so a big component of that is leveling the playing field. If you've ever been into a room where someone says, how many people have been divorced? And I raise my hand? All of a sudden, over half the room might raise their hand. Or I say, how many people have invested money and lost some? And I put my hand up, and then all of a sudden everyone's, me too. So it's really about taking the hype out of some of these things that, you know well from your book that can bring us shame and guilt and make us feel poorly, but to really normalize these processes and then to also share these things that we have been experiencing. So the events are about three hours long, delicious things to eat, wonderful things to drink, but ultimately really anchored in what's possible with our money.
Syama Bunten [00:20:16 - 00:20:41]:
And so I think people who attend can really expect to be ignited with new ideas. Right. New hope. And that is why we're calling this the Freedom Tour. Because without the ability to invest in the people, businesses, and ideas that we believe in, right, to be able to protect our families and our communities, we don't have freedom. And so capital agency is freedom.
Marcia Dawood [00:20:41 - 00:21:08]:
I love that. So people should definitely subscribe to your substack. And by the way, you did a video substack the other day, which is so cool. It was so neat. So tell us a little bit about that. But also recently, you. You gave us a visual of what the Wealth Catalyst is all about with all of the things that kind of are incorporated. The podcast, you have a course, the tour.
Marcia Dawood [00:21:08 - 00:21:11]:
So tell us what that is all about.
Syama Bunten [00:21:12 - 00:21:23]:
Yeah, substack has been so fun. Marcia. I tried. I was like, going live. And I was like, oh, my God, I'm like, on live camera now. I was like, this is pretty cool. And then I was like, this is dangerous.
Marcia Dawood [00:21:23 - 00:21:26]:
Who knows what she'll say totally all the things.
Syama Bunten [00:21:26 - 00:22:16]:
Substack has been wonderful because this year on my vision board, one of the phrases on there was, you can't hide who you are. And so this year for me has been a real like taking layers off of my story, of my identity, of my hopes and dreams in the world. What is it that I, who am I and what is it that I want? And Substack has become this beautiful easy way to publish the things that I'm thinking about and the ways in which I'm connecting new ideas and how these synapses are firing. And so it's been this very like real time way of thinking about money, identity, freedom. And, and I'm so grateful to have that as an outlet. And as a result of that, it's been growing. There's nothing more magical. And I know you'll relate to this.
Syama Bunten [00:22:16 - 00:23:30]:
It's putting something down and having someone else pick it up and being like, yes, I see you, I understand you. And that to me is so magical. So substack has been an incredible part of that journey for me. Now this ecosystem that we have built out is, is exciting because what I did is I didn't look around and say, how do I become like these other people? I actually looked inward and I said, who am I and how do I want to show up in the world and how am I invest contribution to people? And so we're building a business model around that. And this company, Wealth Catalyst, is also co founded by my second greatest and most amazing husband, John Bunton. And so what's also been incredible has been looking at this through the lens of. And your listeners might recognize the author Gay Hendricks and his concepts around Zone of Genius work. But really what John and I have sat down and said, what are the areas that are truly my zone of genius and what are the ways in which I can best show up for the vision of the world I want? And so this ecosystem is built out of something I believe is sustainable for me because it's not rooted in what someone else is doing.
Syama Bunten [00:23:30 - 00:24:11]:
And so the framework of it and how we're looking at this is we have our more national media properties. So the podcast, the substack, the podcast. I loved interviewing you, Marcia. This beautiful first person experience, sharing those things are so exciting and robust and then we move up into different levels of experience. And for me, our summits are really some of these beautiful flagship moments where women come together who are brilliant and successful and they can finally step out from behind their LinkedIn profiles and say, Just because I run $100 million PNL doesn't mean that, like, I have my together, Right?
Marcia Dawood [00:24:11 - 00:24:11]:
Yeah.
Syama Bunten [00:24:11 - 00:24:40]:
It's not always one to one. We obviously have the salon tour that we're doing that's really meant to bring people into community. And then we have retreats. And actually John and I are producing an incredible couples retreat at the end of February. And what I think is so valuable is in this world of talking about women and wealth, well, if you are a woman who's in a significant othered relationship, it's likely two of you who are making decisions.
Marcia Dawood [00:24:40 - 00:24:40]:
Right.
Syama Bunten [00:24:40 - 00:26:01]:
And being on the same page about what that vision looks like is mission critical. One of the things that was really a huge detriment to my first marriage was that we had all the things together on a spreadsheet and it like looked really good and we were really good at managing sort of the numbers, but we were really bad at having a collective wealth vision together. What is the money for exactly? And like, how do we know what really is making us happy? And how did we. How do we not hold ourselves static to maybe the people who we used to be when we first decided what those numbers were going to look like and how we were going to invest that money? So I'm really excited because our retreats and this one in particular, John and I are leading it together. And it's really not about being prescriptive because nothing we do is about telling you what to do but creating a safe space for couples to come together and say, what do we actually want in this world? And trust me, if you know what you want in this world together, all the other little tiny things become so much easier because there's a larger goal. If you really don't know what the whole thing is for, then you might be fighting over dollars on a spreadsheet, but it's for what purpose? And so anyway, the retreats are a big part of this. And then the last component of this is our course. And so that is called Confident and in Control.
Syama Bunten [00:26:01 - 00:27:39]:
And that really came out of a workshop that I was asked to teach earlier this year that was really around, like, how do you take these principles that I've learned from the last six years of basically trying to figure out my own stuff and being in rooms with women and being active and vocal in the space, how do I put together a framework that really helps women no matter how much money they have in their bank account? And certainly we both know billionaires with poverty consciousness, right? So, like, how much you have doesn't necessarily correlate to how you feel. And so, yeah, putting together a framework to really help women say, okay, what are the ways in which I can meet myself to where I am today? And that is across understanding your own risk, understanding the narrative stories of your life, but also being like, what can I actually be curious about? Where's the buffet of things that I can opt in to learn from? And the one component I think of this that's so valuable is because of the ways in which we've integrated this podcast, this first person storytelling, sourcing from all of our speakers resources and tools is that within this course there are so many recommended resources from women like you, Marcia, and like your books and your podcast and so many others, such that it's not really like, here's what Shama thinks, it's, here's what all these incredible women are offering and here are some podcast episodes to listen to to help guide you on this process on your own. And so I like that it's holistic like that.
Marcia Dawood [00:27:39 - 00:28:45]:
I think that's magical. Absolutely. So when we talk a lot about wealth and women and a lot of things are, hey, this is for women or that, but at the end of the day, to your point earlier, it is about people. And we are certainly not against men in any way, I always want to say 100%, I want there to be a lot of exclusive or a lot of inclusivity with what we're talking about and the things that we're doing and how we're relating to each other. And imagine if all of us felt the same way about how to bring the innovations to life that we'd want to see regardless of who is running the company or who thought of it. So I can't let you go without you explaining a little bit more about your amazing husband and how he has been such a, an, such an integral part of the wealth catalyst and how he's helping to build this vision that, that you both have.
Syama Bunten [00:28:46 - 00:29:51]:
You know, what's so powerful is through influencing the financial lives of women, you influence the lives of families of communities and men. So there, there is an entire sort of upliftment universally when women have agency, feel confident and feel empowered to make smart decisions. And John's story, he and I come to this work very differently. He grew up in a home where his mother did not have a good solid financial understanding of what was possible for her. That put John, unfortunately, in some dangerous situations as she got remarried and was navigating what her young life was looking like. And so John really had to experience firsthand what it was like to be a man and a child of a home that was dysfunctional. And what it looks like when the women in his life are not empowered to make the right decisions. Also, some of the greatest leaders and mentors that John has had in his military career were from women.
Syama Bunten [00:29:51 - 00:30:36]:
When he tells stories of incredible leadership, often there are great women who accompany at the heads of those stories. But John has really come to this work out of its equality desire to change the world and to find the entry point where actually the work is needed. And so we are both in agreement that there are two major components that are coming together in this incredible moment. One is obviously the great wealth transfer. The number keeps inching up as far as how much money women are going to receive. That's very exciting. Also terrifying if they're not empowered with agency. And then the other thing is just simply the sheer snowballing of time and deregulation around things that women can do with their money and sort of the opportunities for women to grow their capital.
Syama Bunten [00:30:37 - 00:31:43]:
And so there is this inflection point where even if you're not making money from this inheritance, which I will not be, you will be at a certain level in your life because of this maturation where you have control of more capital in your own life than you ever would have had the opportunity to. And so John and I really see this work together around empowering women and really just the conversation around hope, possibility and capital agency combined with also this work with couples on making sure that there's a holistic vision. Because as we both know, you go to an event and you feel great about something, but if you're in a relationship, you have to go home and somehow translate that. Like how do you translate the high you came off of in order to have a high in the relationship and invigorate that. So I'm so fortunate and blessed. John is a multi time CEO and founder. He's had an incredible business life and career. We both met at a entrepreneur's organization conference which is really awesome to be like we didn't meet on an app.
Syama Bunten [00:31:43 - 00:32:03]:
We met in person. Conference, totally. But we met around this topic of business and spirituality. And I always like to tell people if you really want to meet God, go start a company. It's really the fastest way to understanding like who you are in this world is to go out there and put yourself on the line.
Marcia Dawood [00:32:04 - 00:32:23]:
I completely agree. Building a company is very hard, hard work, very hard. And that's why we do all the things we do in order to help people, especially women be able to do that and have the resources that they need. Well Shamma, I could sit here and talk to you all day long and.
Syama Bunten [00:32:23 - 00:32:24]:
I love why don't we, why don't we.
Marcia Dawood [00:32:24 - 00:32:42]:
I love all the stories that you have and people will just need to keep following you and me for what's going to happen in 2026 with the freedom Tour and the summits and we'll definitely put in the show notes, links to your substack, how to buy tickets to the summits and to be able to follow the tour.
Syama Bunten [00:32:42 - 00:33:04]:
Well Marcia, I am so grateful for all the work you've done in this world to really evangelize a better and everything you do every day to evangelize the people you care about and I'm fortunate to get to call you a friend, a mentor and someone who I'm so thrilled and excited to continue building with. So thank you for having me here today.
Marcia Dawood [00:33:04 - 00:33:06]:
Well, thank you for being here.