Angel Investing for Women, Building Wealth from Scratch, and Backing the Founders VC Overlooks With Lisha Bell

July 28

54 mins

Episode Description

Writing your first angel check is an act of conviction. For Lisha Bell it was also an act of defiance. She had spent 20 years as a Black woman in tech, rarely working alongside other Black people or women, watching founders who looked like her get passed over. VC wasn't going to fix it. So she decided to write her own checks. And she wants more women to do the same.

Lisha grew up working the cash register at her dad's gas station in South Central LA, counting nickels and dimes, watching money move through a community in real time. She understood early that money was a tool and a need. When her family lost everything, that lesson got sharper.

She got to the Bay Area, maxed out her 401k from her very first paycheck, and bought a house in Oakland at 24. Not because someone told her to. Because she was afraid of being poor and she wasn't going to wait for anyone else to sort it out.

In this conversation with host Syama Bunten, Lisha talks about what it actually looks like to become an angel investor when you built everything yourself, why she did it with a community of women instead of alone, and what it means to deploy capital into founders nobody else was betting on.

Lisha built the room she needed when nobody else would. Syama is doing the same thing at Wealth Catalyst, salons and summits where women speak candidly about money, risk, and the choices that shape a life. If you want to be part of that room,join us at the Wealth Catalyst Summit, a full-day event in San Francisco this October 16, 2026, or find a Freedom Tour salon happening near you.

Episode Breakdown:

00:00 Introduction to Lisha Bell and Women's Financial Power

02:31 Childhood Money Lessons from a Family Gas Station

06:58 Growing Up Between Worlds and Shaping Her Identity

13:14 Early Wealth Building Through Saving and Homeownership

22:51 Why She Chose an MBA to Increase Earning Power

26:48 Startup Culture, Career Risk, and Becoming a Mother

30:20 Angel Investing for Women and Writing the First Check

40:32 Why Emerging Fund Managers Matter in Venture Capital

44:56 Capital Preservation and Investing With Purpose

52:40 Access to Capital for Women and Building an Equitable Future

Connect with Lisha Bell: