In this episode of the Pensions and Investments Podcast, host Atara Twersky speaks with Liat Aaronson, an experienced angel investor and mentor with a focus on Web3 technology and entrepreneurial growth. Liat discusses the opportunities and challenges in the Web3 space, the future of decentralized technology, and how startups in this field can navigate the complexities of raising capital. She also touches on her personal journey in investing and provides advice for entrepreneurs seeking to succeed in the fast-evolving world of Web3. Key Points: The growing impact of Web3 and decentralized technologies on the future of business How to successfully raise capital in the Web3 space Liat’s experience with angel investing and the criteria she uses to identify strong startups The importance of building a team that combines product expertise with fundraising capabilities The evolving nature of entrepreneurship and the ability to pivot in Web3 Insights into balancing passion, skill, and market need in the rapidly changing tech landscape. Liat’s perspective on mentoring entrepreneurs and helping them succeed in the Web3 ecosystem

Kim Wendland is co-founder and Director of Asset Management at Quattro Capital. Kim has always had an entrepreneurial spirit, but she credits her real estate success to the influence of 4 women!   Who has played a role in influencing your career choices?  Dolly, Helen, Carol, and Rita - 4 women who helped shape Kim’s transition into Real Estate. Dolly was in her late 70’s and flipping houses. Helen spent her life accumulating farms and land which eventually turned into millions of dollars.  Carol borrowed money from her father to buy her first rental property, eventually amassing over 100 single family homes.  Rita purchased and took over many of Carol’s properties upon her death. These women and their determination to own property in various ways impacted Kim’s thinking and helped change her trajectory. In life, it is not only the things we choose but also the people we surround ourselves with who help us to choose. Who is that person for you??

Working with your spouse has many pros and sometimes a few cons. For Debbie Wilcox, it was mostly pros. Debbie partnered in life and in business with her husband. The couple owned a swimming pool business for 32 years. They made many connections and loved having their own business. Two years ago, Debbie upended her life and moved from Hawaii to the Mainland in California to try her hand at real estate. Her journey with her husband in their new venture is not just about making money but also finding meaning in sharing what they now both love to do.

Hanna Osundina is reimagining real estate for women! Hanna Osundina, Founder of the Black Women in Real Estate or "BWRE" based in the UK, established the movement as a way to connect with other black women in the real estate industry with the goal of creating opportunities for black women to create a supportive network across the industry. Hanna struggled to find women like herself in her chosen field. BWRE was born out of Hanna's desire to help other women like herself to find community, network, and connect. Hanna is also the Managing Director and Founder of Mood and Space (MAS)-- a development company that supports clients in creating their development vision and strategy to deliver great buildings with smart and intentional design. Hanna specializes in development management for large-scale regeneration projects in urban areas. She is passionate about racial and gender equality and hopes that BWRE will help black women connect and empower one another. Hanna has a Master’s Degree in Project Management from Oxford Brookes University.

Ash Patel is a seasoned commercial real estate investor with over 10 years of experience in the industry. He got into real estate by accident while working a W2 job and has since transitioned into a full-time investor in non-residential commercial properties, including office, warehouse, industrial, medical, and ground up development. Ash believes in out of the box thinking and is not afraid to venture into commercial real estate instead of the more popular route of residential properties with showers, kids, and pets. Ash is also the host of a daily real estate podcast, "The Best Ever," which is one of the longest running and most comprehensive sources of information on real estate founded by Joe Fairless - a former-advertiser-turned-real estate-investor who now controls over $2.7 billion worth of commercial real estate as co-founder of Ashcroft Capital.

Nancy Huynh, MD is an ophthalmologist, surgeon, and real estate investor. Nancy was born to immigrant parents and was always taught the value of money and the need to save for rainy days. Like many other professionals, Nancy followed a traditional path of working hard in school, advancing to medical school, and obtaining a secure and good-paying job. With a few twists and turns, Nancy found her way to real estate investing. Nancy is now the Founder and CEO of Clear Vision Investing, a real estate investment company that assists physicians with passive investment in real estate. Nancy is passionate about curing blindness both literally as well as figuratively as she educates about ways to build financial freedom. Nancy completed her undergraduate studies in Molecular Biochemistry and Biophysics at Yale University and completed her ophthalmology residency at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary at Harvard Medical School.

Are you looking to achieve different kinds of freedom in life?! Would that be even possible??? Trevor McGregor, a real estate investor, a business strategist, and a master coach says YES!

Dr. Vikram Raya, a cardiologist by training and a functional medicine physician realized that many of his peers had disposable income but were unsure what to do with it. He founded Limitless MD and Viking Capital where Vik is both a coach and property owner.    Tune in as Atara and Vik share secrets of the trade and talk all things multifamily investing, and being a sponsor, with a bit of life advice thrown in for fun and good measure

Vinney Chopra, popularly known as Mr. Smiles, is a real estate entrepreneur, coach, multifamily investor, and syndicator, who has successfully completed 35 syndications and owns property valued at over $500 million dollars. He is also the owner of a property management company and has over 6,000 units under management. Vinney is the author of the best-selling books "Apartment Syndication Made Easy: A Step-by-Step Guide" and "Positivity Brings Profitability". Before venturing into real estate in the U.S., Vinney was a mechanical engineer in India, moved to Washington, and received an MBA in Marketing. With only seven dollars in his pocket, he started his career sales by selling encyclopedias door to door. Vinney believes that a positive attitude can be life-changing. I share this sentiment. Tune in to Vinney’s story of struggle, failure, and then success always smiling all along the way.

Ever Wish you could travel the world without care?!  Is that even possible?? Sarah Weaver, real estate entrepreneur and self-proclaimed nomad has made it work! Sarah Weaver is a world traveler, a real estate investor and entrepreneur, a coach, and a consultant at Sarah Weaver Coaching. Sarah first fell in love with Real Estate in Austin, TX where she began her career as a real estate agent with Keller Williams Realty. Sarah also organizes retreats for business owners and real estate investors providing the most current information that impacts their investments. In order to motivate real estate agents to concentrate on developing their own portfolios, Sarah conducts seminars for real estate brokerages. Sarah launched Arya Design Services to fill a market gap for investors to furnish, strategically design, and fully launch a furnished rental. Sarah now works remotely from different parts of the world while assuring that all of her clients achieve measurable results. She has adopted a nomadic lifestyle since January 2019 and has traveled to 44 countries on 6 continents. She travels to different countries to teach agents, furnish Airbnb for clients, and host retreats for entrepreneurs, while doing this she has learned how to invest wisely in her own properties thereby freeing up her TIME to do the things she loves to do.

Sam Liebman is the Founder and CEO of WealthWay Equity and the best-selling author of the real estate book “Harvard Can't Teach What You Learn from the Streets: The Street Success Guide to Building Wealth through Multi-Family Real Estate”. Sam spent the early part of his career building an empire.  Now he devotes much of his time to teaching others the many hard lessons he learned on his journey to financial freedom!  Sam is the owner of 70+ properties and is a born and bred New Yorker in every way!

Founder of Legacy Acquisitions and host of the Capital Raiser's podcast, Ruben Greth is a real estate investor and a Multifamily Fund Manager who hosts a really cool podcast where he interviews successful syndicators and educates people on the best practices in capital raising, multifamily syndication, and other real estate investments. He began his real estate career in the world of social media, where he parlayed video content into successful capital raises totaling multi-millions of dollars in a short span of time. Ruben also specializes in passive investing, apartment investing, partnering with investors, build to rent Investing, multifamily syndication, fund creation, fund structures, underwriting, and more.  Ruben is a graduate of  Arizona State University where he received a Bachelor of Arts in Chemistry and Spanish, diversity of interests and skills is one of Ruben’s many strengths!  

Yonah Weiss is a real expert in Cost Segregation and the intricacies of ensuring that investors save taxes through cost segregation. Yonah’s background in teaching and his passion for real estate has propelled him to the top of his field in finding ways to help his clients in this esoteric area. Yonah is also the host of his own podcast Weiss Advice. If you are a property investor, you might be asking, “When is the best time to conduct cost segregation?” “What are its benefits?” Find out in this new episode of Bridging the Gap: Real Estate for Women with Atara!  

Scott Carson is the founder and CEO of WeCloseNotes.com, a real estate company whose focus is on buying pools of distressed assets in residential and commercial properties. He is also a nationally syndicated radio host of the popular podcast The Note Closer Show which has millions of listeners around the globe and across 130 countries! If you are an investor and interested in this asset class, tune in to this episode as Scott details the actual mechanics of investing in distressed notes whether they are residential or commercial ones!  He is also one of the most fun guests to talk and listen to!!

The countdown begins: My new podcast-- Bridging the Gap: Real Estate for Women airing soon! I invited amazing guests and dynamic industry experts in the real estate industry so be sure to stay tuned in the coming days!

Panayiotis Lambropoulos, Portfolio Manager at the Employees Retirement System of Texas-- a $35B public fund located in Austin, Texas, works in the hedge funds department on a team of managers. Panayiotis brings his diverse background, being born and raised in Greece until he was 13 years old, as well as his prior experience working for a Japanese Hedge fund, to work he does on behalf of Texas ERS. As one of the large public funds in the U.S., Panayiotis has a lot of experience that funds of all sizes can learn from.

Women in Business need to support one another!  We are on the same team and Kathryn Sollmann, founder of The 4 Jobs Club, an online community of women assists women in navigating their many roles as moms, caregivers, and career women.  Kathryn, quoted in the NY Times,  is  the author of the book “Ambition Redefined: Why the Corner of Office is Not for Every Woman & What to Do Instead”.  If you are a woman with any type of job and other responsibilities (who isn’t?!!) this episode is for you! 

The UAE (United Arab Emirates) is bursting with business opportunities.  In this Episode, I speak with Fahem Almusa who is the Director for the  Internal Audit and Accounting Advisory at Crowe UAE which is one of the Key Economic Country (KEC) within the Crowe Global network.  Crowe is ranked as one of the top 10 largest accounting networks in the UAE ( by the International Accounting Bulletin). Fahem is U.S. educated but lives in the UAE so he really understands the global conversation! 

As a child, Richard Wilson was already attending his father’s business meetings. By the time he was in High School, Richard was a full-fledged entrepreneur; by the age of 21, he was earning 6 figures. From risk consulting to raising capital, Richard ventured into the world of family offices with the goal of providing trends in structuring deals and opportunities for wealthy family offices to connect with each other, share insights, and learn from each other's ups and downs. Richard Wilson is the Founder and CEO of The Family Office Club—the #1 largest association of over 2000 registered ultra-wealthy families and their family offices. Richard is also a best-selling author of an important book in the field of family wealth titled “How To Start A Family Office”. If you are working for a Family Office or a principal in one, this episode is a "must-listen-to"!

The word attorney conjures up many images, some less likable than others.   Sometimes this distaste for lawyers is rooted in reality and other times it is not.  But every now and again you will meet a lawyer who has changed course and taken a new route and this change informs who they become.  My guest, Blair Nicholas, was one of my former legal competitors (friendly ones of course) and yet we crossed over into real conversation as Blair shares his journey in finding a new path as a Vineyard owner and the deep connection he feels with the land in Dundee Hills Oregon. I knew Blair before our conversation, but today I met a man that showed me how complex we can all be given the opportunity!