Money Memories

The Instagram Effect and Why You're Probably Doing Better Than You Think

Grant Gallagher grew up watching his parents constantly argue about money, teaching him what not to do with finances. Early in his credit union career, helping a 50-year-old man use an ATM for the first time revealed the massive gap in financial education. Now with over 15 years in the industry, he champions hands-on financial literacy through budget simulations and financial reality fairs, as well as his own podcast. His message: stop judging your finances against Instagram highlights and give yourself permission to ask for help.

The $38,000 House That Changed Everything

Jaina Anne grew up in a Navy family where money was scarce and the wealthy were viewed with suspicion. The 2020 market crash jolted her into seeking financial literacy, leading from Palantir stocks to Ethereum mining to real estate investing. A chance conversation about a $38,000 Indiana house shattered her California assumptions and launched her into building a 10-property portfolio using creative financing. Now she teaches real estate investors how to turn contractor payments into luxury vacations while challenging the millennial fear of taking calculated risks.

Building Latin America’s Open Banking Future — En Español

When first featured on Money Memories in English, Ximena’s story stood out as one that needed to be shared more widely. This episode continues the conversation in Spanish. She reflects on how growing up in Uruguay shaped her entrepreneurial mindset, what it took to raise venture funding in a conservative business culture, and why Prometeo was designed as a pan-regional platform from day one. The discussion also explores the barriers women founders face in fintech and why closing the gender funding gap remains one of Latin America’s biggest untapped opportunities. A conversation about building boldly across borders—and in your own language

A Founder’s Journey from Tehran to Web3

In this episode of Money Memories, Ilona sits down with Bam Azizi, founder of Mesh, to explore how childhood hustle and immigrant resilience shaped his path from a makeshift library in Iran to scaling infrastructure for the future of crypto. Bam shares why user experience—not hype—is the industry’s biggest hurdle, and why staying lean might be a startup’s greatest asset.

A Mother’s Memory: The Pain That Sparked a Mental Health Startup

After losing his mom shortly after college, Drew Barvir set out on a journey to understand the complex connection between money, mental health, and meaning. In this episode, he opens up about how childhood arguments over finances shaped his earliest beliefs, how grief became a turning point, and why he built Sonar [https://www.sonarmentalhealth.com/] — a tech platform bringing accessible emotional support to students across the country. It’s a deeply personal story of loss, resilience, and reimagining what it means to feel financially and emotionally secure.