Before Vivian Tu became a multimillionaire financial educator with 6.5 million followers, two New York Times bestselling books, and a chart-topping podcast, she was a 22-year-old analyst sitting on a filing cabinet at JP Morgan while senior traders commanded the room. Then Jean Ma, her first manager and the first rich Asian woman she had ever met, told her: You deserve a seat at the table. Don't sit on a filing cabinet like you are some lackey.

In this deeply personal conversation, the creator of Your Rich BFF tells David Begnaud how Jean, who walked into the office in limited-edition Chanel and Gucci stilettos, taught her that life isn't a meritocracy and showed her at a meatpacking-district dive bar that the rules she thought she had to play by weren't the rules everyone else played by.

Vivian also gets real about the manager who reassigned her, told her she was "too girly for finance," and mocked her cardigan as a kimono — and why she's thankful he was such a jerk, because it's exactly what pushed her out of JP Morgan and into the life she has now. She talks about walking away from a $600,000 job at BuzzFeed to bet on herself full time, the $100,000 safety net she built just in case (and never had to touch), and growing up the daughter of Chinese immigrants who sacrificed everything so she could be here. She opens up about buying her parents cars and vacations, why her husband Greg is the reason she can take big career swings without fear, and closes with the story that still gives her chills: a woman at the University of Delaware who used one of Vivian's videos to talk her hospital down $5,000 on a medical bill. And yes, she'll admit it — some of her drive really is just pure spite, knowing the guy who doubted her can't walk past a bookstore today without seeing her face in the window.

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Chapters ☀️

Chapters

• 00:00:00 Intro: The Woman Who Gave Her a Seat at the Table
• 00:01:31 The First Meeting: Designer Bags and Gucci Stilettos
• 00:08:53 The Brass Monkey Bar: When Time Has Value
• 00:11:05 The Rules Rich People Play By
• 00:12:17 The Chaos Demon: Growing Up Outside Baltimore
• 00:16:16 The Last Strike: When Mom Said We Can't Keep You in America
• 00:20:37 The American Dream: Running the Race for Those Who Came Before
• 00:25:42 Raising Rich Kids: The Inheritance They Won't Get
• 00:29:11 The Kimono Incident: When the Racist Boss Struck
• 00:32:49 Don't Make Decisions Mad: The Strategic Exit
• 00:39:58 The Imperfect Mentor: Dogs on Credit Cards
• 00:42:29 When Your Mom Thanks Your Mentor
• 00:43:41 The Book Dedication: To Jean and That Man
• 00:46:21 No Apologies: I Deserve All of My Wins
• 00:50:07 Not Afraid to Be Embarrassed: The Pattern of Risk
• 00:54:51 Rich Person or Broke Person: The Rapid Fire Game
• 00:59:57 The 22-Year-Old Starter Pack: Building Your Financial Foundation
• 01:13:41 Climbing Cringe Mountain: The Villagers at the Bottom
• 01:20:53 The Woman Younger Me Wanted to See

ABOUT THIS PODCAST:
The Person Who Believed In Me is hosted by David Begnaud, founder and CEO of Do Good Crew and often called "America's storyteller." In each episode, David sits down with world-class guests to ask one simple question: Who believed in you before the world did? Big names. Honest stories. Relatable takeaways. Different paths — same question.

David is also a CBS News contributor and host of the weekly segment Beg Knows America, which airs every Monday morning.

Host: David Begnaud

Guest: Vivian Tu

Executive Producer: David Begnaud, Olivier Delfosse, Justin McGoldrick

Booker: Sully Bloch

Director of Photography: Foster Parks

Live Production Technician: Joseph Gabay & Will Whitley (Statik Creative)

Social: Kylee Anderson, Maxim Trofimenko, Gracie Pekrul

Theme Music: Slipstream

Post-Production: Longwave Digital & David & Luana Co.

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