Funding Women & Changing the World with Catherine Gray

From Hollywood producer to venture capital advocate — Catherine Gray is on a mission to close the funding gap for women and ignite a global movement through film, books, and bold action.

Catherine Gray CEO of She Angel Investors, Executive Producer of the movie, Show Her The Money as well as Host of the Podcast Invest In Her, shares how she’s turning the tide on a staggering statistic: women receive just 2% of venture capital funding. In this insightful episode, she reveals how her award-winning film Show Her the Money is educating women on the power of venture capital, shifting mindsets about wealth, and inspiring women to invest in each other. 

From producing movies to launching the She Angels Foundation, Catherine has spent her career spotlighting women founders and connecting them to the resources they need to scale. She discusses why finding “your people” is critical in fundraising, the overlooked opportunities in underserved communities, and the massive wealth transfer heading into women’s hands. Her approach blends storytelling with actionable strategies, proving that doing good and making a profit are not mutually exclusive. 

Whether you’re an aspiring entrepreneur, a future investor, or simply curious about how money can be a tool for change, Catherine’s story will challenge your thinking and inspire you to take action. 

Ready to learn how investing in women can change the world? Tune in to hear Catherine Gray’s bold vision for funding the future.

Chapters
📊 02:55 Show Her the Money: The "moviement" helping to make venture capital more accessible and exciting for women
💡 11:40 Finding the right investors who see your vision instead of convincing the wrong ones
💖 15:01 Nonprofit investing is important, but investing in for-profit women and making good money from it is also a way to do great things for the world
📚 17:36 Go learn about investing! Starting small with angel investing and learn by doing
💵 20:58 IRA or other pension funds are an underutilized way to start making alternative investments
🎓 24:25 Inspiring young women to consider venture capital as a career path
🤝 27:17 Why underserved communities must be at the decision-making table as investors
♻️ 29:48 The cycle of getting investments and investing back in your own people
🎬 31:50 Building a movement with live and virtual screenings to spark action
📖 35:32 Launching the Show Her the Money book and combining screenings with book events

Links

Website: https://showherthemoneymovie.com
Instagram: instagram.com/showherthemoney
Facebook: facebook.com/ShowHerTheMoney
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/catherinelgray
Email address: [e-mail]
Check out Catherine Gray’s website and follow her on social media to learn more about investing in women and joining the Show Her the Money movement.

Reach out to Adrienne: [e-mail]

Visit our website: www.sheleadsmedia.com

Join us at the upcoming She Leads LIVE 2025 conference in NYC on November 6th & 7th. Learn more at sheleadsmedia.com

"I love ♥️ listening to The She Leads™ Podcast!” If that thought crossed your mind at any time while listening to our special show, I’d love it if you would take a moment and give our podcast some love too. To do so, simply Rate, Review & Follow Us on Apple Podcasts & Spotify. Taking this simple action helps my team and I to spread the word about all the incredible guests featured on The She Leads Podcast and contributes overall to helping women leaders and entrepreneurs everywhere! 🗺 Also, if you haven’t done so already, please +follow the podcast so you never miss an episode. Thank you so much!!

— Adrienne 

Creators and Guests

Host

She Leads® Media

👩🏻‍⚖️ ⭐️ Adrienne Garland - She Leads® Podcast Network - 4 women X women ⭐️ 🎧 The She Leads Podcast Host| Leadership Conferences, Retreats #SheLeads #Women #entrepreneurs

What is The She Leads Podcast | Rewriting the Rules of Entrepreneurship?

No sugar-coating, no fluff - just real conversations that matter. The She Leads Podcast features raw, unfiltered stories from visionary women who see the future and who've been bold enough to break the mold and re-write the rules. Each episode amplifies diverse voices with powerful missions, giving women the platform they deserve while delivering actionable insights you won't find in business textbooks. Join host Adrienne Garland, MBA, Professor, Entrepreneur for the straight talk about entrepreneurship that other business podcasts are afraid to have.

[00:00] Adrienne Garland (Host): Leadership isn't just changing. It's evolving in ways we're only just beginning to imagine. And women, we're not playing this game anymore. We're the ones reshaping the entire field, building models, movements, and businesses that serve more than just a few.

On the She Leads podcast, you'll hear real conversations with women who've broken through all kinds of barriers—revenue, identity, borders, and expectations. There's no sugar coating here, just the truth told by those who are living it.

I'm Adrienne Garland, entrepreneur, strategist, educator, and creator of live experiences, gathering women leaders together for over a decade. And this is the She Leads podcast.

Hi everybody and welcome back to the She Leads podcast. I'm so excited because I have a very special guest. Her name is Catherine Gray and she's the COO and General Partner for the Silicon Valley Women Founders Fund, the CEO and Founder of She Angel Investors, and she's the Producer of the award-winning movie Show Her the Money.

Catherine's also an Author, a TEDx speaker, and co-founder of the She Angels Foundation. She hosts and produces the popular podcast series Invest in Her that's focused on ways to accelerate the funding of women entrepreneurs. We love that. And she encourages more women and men to invest in venture capital as a way to build wealth, make an impact, and leave a legacy. Welcome to the She Leads podcast, Catherine.

[01:10] Catherine Gray: Thank you, Adrienne. Great to be here. Always love talking about entrepreneurship, fundraising, and investing. So, let's do it.

[01:15] Adrienne Garland (Host): We're going to get into all of it. The women that are in the She Leads podcast audience are always looking for super practical advice.

We need to really figure out how to launch businesses that grow, that scale, that are profitable so that we can build the wealth that we deserve. And we all know that when women have wealth, we do good things to help our families, our communities, the world, humanity, right?

So, more women really must launch and grow these profitable companies. We can't afford to not do this anymore.

You have gone around the country, probably around the world, talking about all of this. What can women do to launch more profitable ventures that really make a difference?

Catherine Gray: Well, you know, there's a line in our movie, Show Her the Money, that Dawn Lafreeda says—she's the largest franchise owner of restaurants in the country for her segment—and she says without funding, you're doomed.

That means if you want to scale your business, you have got to find funding. That has been one of the biggest drawbacks for women—they're getting 2% of venture capital. We've got to change that.

Otherwise, how are they going to grow and scale if they don't have that funding? That really is key.

We as women have to determine how we are going to change our money mindset so that we can become great fundraisers, understand how that old boys network works, and create our own. I always kid around and say women don't want to belong to the old girls network—so we have to change it. It's going to be the bold girls network, our version of the old boys network.

More women than ever are coming into money. There's a big transfer of wealth—the biggest in history. Those women have to get on board funding other women, one because it makes a great investment, and two because it's the right thing to do to leave their legacy and start shifting this power of wealth to women, who tend to be more sensitive to the needs of people, the planet, and children.

I feel that shift of power happening even in this political arena that is trying to hold women back, so we have to take it into our own hands. No one's coming to save us—we have to do it ourselves.

[03:22] Adrienne Garland (Host): Yeah. This is so interesting, and I'd love to almost have a conversation with you and tease some of this apart because it's such a multi-dimensional problem.

I think that all women would probably agree that it's a really good idea to invest in other women. We probably all want to do that.

But we also find ourselves not earning as much money. If we're employed, we're earning maybe 81 cents or 85 cents on the dollar. Then we take pauses in our careers to help people, raise kids, whatever the case may be.

So overall, our wealth basket isn't as big as some of these men who earn more and have longer careers. They can take that money and invest it however they want. That's part of the problem.

The second part is that women culturally aren't socialized to have a comfort level around money. What we're taught to do is buy luxury goods and look attractive for others, and that diverts our money away from making it work for us.

The third problem is that when we launch businesses, we don’t always launch the types of companies that fit the pattern of what traditional venture capitalists have invested in. We've got all these issues.

[04:47] Adrienne Garland (Host): Which one of those problems, if solved, could lead to at least making some progress? Because we haven’t made enough yet.

[04:56] Catherine Gray: Well, we have made some progress. In the angel investing world, women are getting slightly more than they used to, and we need to shift that over to the venture capital world too.

The reason I made the movie Show Her the Money was to, in an engaging storytelling way, explain to women how easy venture capital is to understand, how accessible it is, and how exciting it is to invest in—because it’s determining what the products and services of the future will be.

Women impact more than 80% of buying decisions. Why aren't we impacting more of the investment decisions? If we’re going to buy these products and services, we should have a say in what they are.

It's an education process—pointing out everything you just said. You can only change things by educating and bringing awareness, and that’s what I love about film and television. It helps change culture by educating and raising awareness in an entertaining way.

We call it a movie and a movement. We created this movement to educate more women about venture capital, what it is, why it’s important, and why they should want to be part of it—either as investors or as recipients of funding.

Research shows women make better investments, handle money more effectively, and are more efficient—likely because they’re used to multitasking, which makes them great business owners.

People don’t invest in what they don’t understand, so our hope is to help them understand how fascinating, exciting, lucrative, and impactful venture capital can be.

We also have our book coming out, Show Her the Money, because the women and men who invested in this film have extraordinary stories. Anytime you hear someone else’s story, you can feel yourself in it and gain inspiration.

For example, Sarah Dusk, who I just had on my Invest in Her podcast, sold her company for $100 million. She used to work at a nonprofit NGO making very little, doing what she loved. Then she realized she could do what she loved and make money—money that allows her to give back and invest in more women entrepreneurs in areas important to her.

She grew up thinking wanting money was bad. It’s not—it’s powerful, and what you do with it matters. That’s what we want to get across. It’s okay to make money, it’s okay to ask for money, and you’re not asking for yourself—you’re asking for the cause or purpose you believe in. That should make you fearless.

I raised a little over a million dollars to make this movie. I had to find like-minded people who believed what I did—that a film would help solve and change this problem. When you're a founder out there looking for funding for your product, you have to find like-minded people who believe in you and your vision.

[10:11] Catherine Gray: One of the mistakes people make is wasting too much time trying to convince people who are not their people to invest, instead of recognizing that early and moving on. Focus your energy on those who see your vision the way you do, and raising funding becomes much easier.

[10:33] Adrienne Garland (Host): That makes so much sense. Everything you’ve shared makes so much sense, especially the person you highlighted in the movie. There’s a misperception that to invest, you have to already be wealthy.

But the example you just shared—a woman who worked in the nonprofit arena, built a profitable business, sold it for $100 million, and then gave back—is exactly what women do. Once we’ve taken care of our families and needs, we put that money to good use.

Women are very comfortable in the nonprofit world because we’re such givers. We want to help. But in the past, that wasn’t tied to profit. Your example shows you can do both—you can do good and make a significant profit.

More women need to adopt that mindset. We need to get out of the idea that we’re just expected to help and just get by. There’s a fallacy that women don’t have money to invest because we’re so busy helping others and not helping ourselves.

[12:12] Catherine Gray: I do think nonprofit giving is important. That’s why I have She Angels Foundation—we give grants to female-founded nonprofits that help women and girls. But even in the nonprofit world, women and girls’ initiatives get just 2% of funding—the same as in venture capital.

We don’t have to only give to charities. You can do good when you invest in for-profit women, make more money from it, and then support even more women entrepreneurs with innovative ideas.

Many life-changing innovations—everything from refrigerators to central air—came from women. The same will be true for the future, with innovations impacting health, climate change, and more.

Why wouldn’t women and men with wealth invest in women’s ideas? It’s a good investment, and it’s okay to make money from that while doing good. Another misconception is that you can’t invest in for-profit companies doing good and also make money—you absolutely can, and it’s done every day.

Why not make money with the money you want to do good with, so you can do more good?

[14:03] Adrienne Garland (Host): What advice would you give to someone who is “investment curious”—a woman who’s maybe not wealthy, perhaps early in her career or in the middle of it, paying for college and a house, and doesn’t feel like she has money to invest but wants to?

[14:32] Catherine Gray: At least go and learn about it so that when you are in a position to invest, you can.

There are lots of classes and also angel investor groups where you can meet fascinating, brilliant people. These are the innovators and founders creating the future—why wouldn’t you want to be in that space?

As Dawn Lafreeda says in our book, Show Her the Money, you are the average of the five people you spend the most time with. Surround yourself with investors, and you’ll become one.

Start learning how to build wealth. Even if you start small—say $1,000 into an angel group investing in an innovative woman’s product—you’re getting started, in motion, and learning.

[15:53] Adrienne Garland (Host): I totally agree. I’m a lifelong learner, but I also want to address the introverted woman who might be intimidated by finance, even by what you’re saying about joining an angel group. She might not live in New York, LA, Chicago, or Dallas—what should she do?

[16:40] Catherine Gray: There are angel groups everywhere. I’ve been to places like Milwaukee, Minneapolis, and Fargo, North Dakota with our film, and there are investors everywhere.

You can join entrepreneur groups too—these are amazing innovators and creators. Immerse yourself with people who are where you want to be.

Two women from our movie have great books for inspiration. Sarah Dusk’s Thinking Bigger teaches women with world-changing ideas how to build their deck and raise money. Marsha Dawood’s Doing Good by Doing Well shares her journey from angel investing into venture capital.

Also, many people have IRAs or pension funds and don’t realize they can take part of that money and put it into venture capital, private equity, or other alternative asset classes. That’s been eye-opening for many women—realizing they have money sitting in an account doing very little, and they could put part of it into investments that impact the world and could be more lucrative.

There are also venture funds where you can invest $25,000, $50,000, or $100,000—you don’t have to be a multimillionaire. If you’re not there yet, start with crowdfunding and building relationships in that circle for your future.

[19:03] Adrienne Garland (Host): I teach entrepreneurship, and even though we talk about financing and investments, students still often ask, “Okay, but how do I raise money?”

I think the key is exactly what you’re saying—it’s networking. We focus so much on grades and education, but sometimes not enough on the money part.

Are younger women being drawn to this concept of finance?

Catherine Gray: Yes—there’s a group called Girls Into VC, started by Isabella Mandis. It’s growing rapidly across many campuses, with thousands involved. These young women are starting to understand, earlier than we did, that working for a venture capital firm can be a career path.

There are so few women in decision-making roles at VC firms, and we need more. It starts with young women seeing this as an option, and that’s something we’re very focused on—educating women in high school and college to look at this field.

[22:07] Adrienne Garland (Host): I was recently at a conference with a woman who works with middle and high school girls in underserved communities, helping them make it through school.

Some of these girls are just trying to survive, just trying to complete their high school diploma. How can we introduce investment as a path in underserved communities?

[23:23] Catherine Gray: I did a TEDx talk called Fund Women, Save the World. In that talk, I referenced research showing that people tend to invest in those they identify with.

The system has been broken because women, BIPOC, and LGBTQ people have not been at the table deciding who gets the money. If we’re not at that table, we’re not going to get the money.

We have to be at the decision-making table. There are enough people in those communities who could be investors. That’s the point of the movement—we have to rally our own to be the investors.

[24:25] Catherine Gray: The only way to be the recipients is to also be the investors.

[24:30] Adrienne Garland (Host): That is so true. It’s counterintuitive, but it’s exactly what needs to happen.

I tell students, “If you want an internship, create one for yourself and for others.” The same principle applies—if you want to be invested in, become the investor.

[25:52] Catherine Gray: Exactly. The underfunded communities—women, BIPOC, LGBTQ—have many successful people in them. Those people need to invest in their own, just as white men have been investing in their own for decades.

People invest in who they know and like. If your circle includes people who need funding, help them.

Once someone gets funding and becomes successful, they should then become an investor. Some will make their money and give back; some will inherit it.

We are about to see the biggest transfer of wealth in history, and it’s going to women and young people. We need to encourage them to invest in ways that have the biggest impact, which means investing in their own communities.

[27:14] Adrienne Garland (Host): How can people see Show Her the Money if you’re not doing a screening in their city?

[28:02] Catherine Gray: Right now, we’re focusing on screenings that include live or virtual panel discussions afterward. That’s what makes it a movement.

If people could just watch it at home, they might be inspired but not know what to do next. At screenings, we can capture that energy, answer questions, and guide them toward action.

We’ve done over 100 cities, and we’re continuing this year. You can book a screening for your company, community, or college at showherthemoneymovie.com.

[30:04] Adrienne Garland (Host): The women listening can host a screening for their network—clubs, meetups, organizations. That’s how a movement grows.

[31:01] Catherine Gray: We’ve also added virtual screenings this year. If you can’t do a live one, you can book a virtual event and invite people from anywhere. We’ll still do the Q&A panel afterward.

[31:50] Adrienne Garland (Host): When is the book coming out?

[31:52] Catherine Gray: July 15th. We have a launch event in LA on July 20th at The Well, and another in New York on August 18th at City Winery, Pier 57. That one will include both a screening and the book launch.

[32:30] Adrienne Garland (Host): Catherine, I appreciate everything you’ve shared. You’re taking action to change the funding landscape for women, and the ripple effect will be huge.

[33:31] Catherine Gray: Thank you, Adrienne, for giving me a platform. We’re all in this together, and when women realize we’re getting the short end of the stick, they rise up and make change. We’re on our way.

[34:04] Adrienne Garland (Host): Thanks so much, Catherine.

[34:06] Catherine Gray: Thanks, Adrienne.

[34:07] Adrienne Garland (Host): If this conversation inspired you, leave a five-star rating and review. Share this episode with someone who needs to hear it.