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Hey, I'm Jon.
And I'm Becky.
And this is the We Are For Good podcast.
Nonprofits are faced with more challenges to accomplish their missions and the growing pressure to do more, raise more and be more for the causes that improve our world.
We're here to learn with you from some of the best in the industry, bringing the most innovative ideas, inspirational stories, all to create an impact uprising.
So welcome to the good community. We're nonprofit professionals, philanthropists, world changers and rabid fans who are striving to bring a little more goodness into the world.
So let's get started. Hey, Becky, what's happening?
I'll tell you this is a conversation almost six months in the making. I have been waiting for it. And I'm truly overjoyed to introduce our guests to our community. Today we have a creative rebel. We have a fighter for women. We have a fighter for equality. And we have just truly an amazing human today but I want to give some backstory about how we got connected to Mona. For anyone who's been in our community for any length of time. You know that we have a great friendship with Mallory Erickson, and she had Dr. Ann Olivarius. On her podcast with the fundraising several months ago, it was one of the most incredible conversations about sexual assault and sexual trauma for women in this world and in this lifetime. And when we visited with her, she said you need to meet someone. Mona is one of the finest persons I have ever met. She is truly out an outstanding visionary. She's hugely competent and effective at social change. And she has focused on doing good to change the world. And she has made an utterly and truly a positive difference over decades, she will not disappoint. So community I want to introduce you to Mona Sinha she is a growth globally recognized advocate for gender equality and business and society. She's got this incredible story which we're going to let her go into parlaying a career in finance over at Morgan Stanley marketing our jam over at Unilever and restructuring at Elizabeth Arden to work at the intersection of social justice and women's economic empowerment and leadership. She's the board chair of Women Moving Millions, which I cannot wait to talk to you all about this incredible organization. And this is a community of women who fun big and bold million dollar plus gifts to actually get into the membership to create a gender equal world. She is the board chair of the ERA, the Equal Rights Coalition fund for women's equality, which seeks to codify the 28th constitutional amendment of equal rights on the basis of sex. Thank you, Mona. And she is also on her free time, an executive producer of Disclosure, the documentary film on the representation of trans people, which premiered at Sundance in January 2020 and was released on Netflix during pride month that same year. And so she has got a litany of awards, of positions. But she is a mom. She is someone who cares deeply about the smallest in our community. And she fights for justice. And really value aligns with all the things that we show up to be, as well. So Mona, thank you for spending time in the We Are For Good podcast, we are overjoyed that you're here.
Thank you, Becky. Thank you, Jon. It's been quite a week. So I feel very honored to be talking to you both today. And to this amazing community.
Thank you for that it has been a heavy week. And it just feels kind of like it's serendipitous that you are here talking to us during this time. But before we dive into these incredible topics into your story, we just want to know about you. We want to know about the woman behind all of this. And we want to know your story growing up and tell us just kind of a little bit about your life that led you to where what you're doing right now.
The thing I've learned over the years is that everything we do has a core in your childhood. I think any psychologist will tell you that when you're sitting on the couch, but I didn't grow up with psychologists and I had to come to that conclusion by myself. As a five year old, I remember having traditions. I grew up in Calcutta, India, and we were a fairly traditional family and I was the youngest of three girls. And every Sunday afternoon we would have tea with my grandparents. And one such Sunday afternoon. I remember it so vividly. There was my five year old messy self, you know hair all over the place wearing hand me downs as desperately trying to avoid my grandfather. And they snuck into his home because he was a very famous lawyer, and making, you know, all these laws that would impact the lives of people in Calcutta and in India. And he used to sit in this big chamber surrounded by the denizens of business and society, and you know, all kinds of famous people, I guess. But he caught me and he called me in and he introduced me as a grandson he wished I was. And my five year old self didn't quite understand the impact of that. But that stayed with me and I, someone asked the question, well, what do you want to be when you grow up? You know, as they do, right? And I stood up stall, and I said, Well, maybe I'll be a lawyer just like you. And Becky, the whole room started laughing. And he patted me on the head and said, run along, find your grandma, this is not women's work. And the fact that I remember that 50 years later, it tells me that that shaped a lot of what I do now. Because I grew up in Calcutta, I had the privilege of volunteering at Mother Teresa's Orphanage. And there to at age 12, I saw a lot of very cute baby girls, and a lot of girls my age that I was thrilled to be able to play with because of that age, you know, that's what you really did there is keep them company until a few years later, the realization dawned, but the reason they were all these girls was because the boys got adopted first. So I just share this with you to tell you that the work I do in uplifting gender, and my vision for creating a gender equal world comes from that soul space that I felt as a child. And I feel like in my communities that I intersect with a lot of our work that we do, and it's hard stuff, right? It's not easy stuff. We dive deep into it, as you said, and got very granular, very deep about sexual assault. Well, that's why we do the work we do. That's just a little bit of, you know, my background where I came from. The other piece of it that's less heavy, is that as a child, I love numbers. And every summer, my parents would travel, and I'd be put in charge of a household even though I was the youngest. And I love doing all the little math and adding up everything cost and, you know, questioning the poor housekeeper by the price of potatoes had gone up. So that level of numbers and level of finance also stemmed from from a very early age. And I consider myself very lucky, but I'm able to actually have those two worlds collide.
Wow, I mean, goodness, what a powerful testimony to your story and how you have stayed so true. And I look at your career, I look at how you've poured and invested your life's work and how you are literally moving so many resources and minds and hearts in these directions all started as a five year old. And it's funny, we talk about being kids a lot on the podcast, because not only are Becky and I raising our own families, but we just believe in the power of that of how we're talking and how we're shaping and how we can influence the world. So thanks for threading those two together. And I just, it's not lost on me, you know, in kind of preparing for this today, I'm just shocked if I pull back the curtain and look at you know, only one purse 1.6% of philanthropy globally is going to women and girls is such a disproportionate share. I just love to know, you know, you're now in these positions where you're literally moving millions you're trying to mobilize an army of people to move millions. How is that affecting? And how is that changing you now, given your life experience?
What you know, it makes me mad, and it makes me sad, right? mad because women and girls are the center of our universe, right? If you look around as an even if you talk to the brightest men who are captains of industry and own a lot of wealth, they will always say their mothers, their sisters, you know, all these women, and that the grandmothers who have influenced them and who have had such a big impact on their lives, yet, and their daughters, of course, their children who are the most important, but yet when it comes to actually lifting them up and resourcing them, that falls apart. I do think it's something to do with power, or a lot to do with power, because men, and I'm not going to categorically say men, I'd say have a few good men who have the ability to make the big changes that they can, like keeping the power dynamic where it is. But we do know that women are the change makers at the center of really changing the world we want to see this week in particular was I really don't even have words for it. But the ultimate showcasing of that power dynamic, because it's the policing of our bodies. And it's the policing of who we are as human beings, done by people who don't have that shared experience. So that's the crux of the problem. How do we dismantle that? I think one of the things we talk about is again, where is it coming from, it's coming from a place of fear, and a place of scarcity, as opposed to saying, let's be abundant about this, let's be joyful about this. We're not limiting the pie and carving it up, we're actually growing it. We're expanding it. We're being inclusive, we're bringing in people into leadership and into all these different industries and arenas that have never been represented before. And we only learn more, by learning about difference. If we're always talking to each other and talking about the same things we don't grow as human beings and our world doesn't change.
Exactly. Thank you for saying this, I want to give our listeners some context that we're recording this the week after the reversal of Roe versus Wade here in the United States, and know that it's a very contentious topic, and there are a lot of opinions on it, but cannot let the moment go by without talking about a hurting people. And I love this concept that you have about rather than dividing, the gathering is actually where the power begins, and the where the equity begins. And, and I have to say that women naturally gather beautifully. And when they get together, you know, and again, I'm not going to categorize women, either. But you know, there is a sense that women uplift each other. And they love to link arms. And it takes the ego out of it when you are running in lockstep together chasing things that are bigger than yourself. And I really want to talk about women moving millions, because this is an organization, if you don't know about this organization, we're gonna have Mona break it down for you. But what you all are doing at a global level, to influence gender equity, is really nothing short of aspirational and amazing. So I would love for you to talk about this organization. And then we're going to put you in the hot seat and talk to you about being the chair of Board Chair of this organization, and what you're learning from that. But give us kind of an overview about this incredible organization and what your focus is on right now.
Absolutely, women moving millions is a group of it's a community of 340 women, who each have to commit to a million dollars over 10 years, to create a gender equal world. So it's a it's a group of women who have inherited wealth, who have made their wealth, who are of a generation ahead of me, and I'm in my 50s, who are many generations younger than me. So it's really a collective of women who want to do away with ego, you spoke about ego, Becky, and they want to do away with ego, and dismantle the power structures that hold women back from participating fully in our world and in our economy. We don't tell them where to put their money, but we certainly put issues in front of them. And watch the magic happens. So you make a commitment to give away a million dollars, you don't have to tell us when you join exactly where it's going to go. But you do have to commit to the fact that it's going to uplift women. And then we do all this programming around issues during the pandemic. In particular, we had these Wednesday calls, where we'd highlight what was going on with this unknown virus that was erupting around the world and how it was actually harming and impacting women disproportionately, which now in hindsight, we know all of that right, economically, from a health standpoint, from having to manage home and work from, you know, making sure their kids get access to education. What if you have one computer who gets it? Right, so the whole equity issue was really high on the agenda. And what happened there was really magical, the first call, we had, you know, maybe 70 people show up, then 80 people, then 90 people before you know it, the community just grew and grew and grew. And sort of the middle of the summer, we'd gone through about six of those calls. Our CEO and I had a conversation and I said, you know, Sarah, it's time for us to launch another campaign. Because this organization started with a campaign, about 11 or 12 years ago, the founders said, we need to support women. So we're gonna call our friends everyone's gonna call everybody else and we're going to commit to giving a million dollars to women's funds. That was the campaign which was hugely successful. After which we all loved each other so much. We stayed with it that's just stay forever, become this community and you know, actually incorporate and become an organization. So we launched a campaign, imagine this in the height of the camp pandemic, for women to re up their commitment, and we pegged it at $100 million. We launched it in September with our summit, we were already at about $40 million. And by the middle of December, we were at about 90, we've given ourselves a year. This was a few months in and Sarah and I both looked at each other and said okay, let's bring this home by the New Year. And we did and we did which shocked both of us. But really reaffirmed the values and the principles that this organization stands for, which is that we learn and communities we lean upon each other, we delve into spaces that are, that are fraught, right? This is not fun stuff, sexual violence, domestic abuse, trafficking, all of this, all of this stuff. And we're a really tight knit community, we lean on each other times of great shifts in our community, we save and hold that space. We are having a community call tomorrow, for example, just to hold the space and listen to each other. Because people turn to us as kind of the problem solvers and the ones who can get the money into the hands of changemakers, who need it quickly. And we need a space for us to, you know, be strong and buffer ourselves up to do this work. And at the end of the day, we collaborate, because we all become friends, and we love each other's work. And that's the way I got involved with Disclosure, because there was someone in the community who knew that I was interested in trans justice. And she invited me to her home to expose me to Disclosure. And that's how it started. And that has become such a critical part of who I am right now.
Wow. I mean, it's a lot of the things that we thread together that y'all are just living out loud. So deeply, which is one, like, philanthropy baked on values is just a different level of engagement. You know, it's the difference of transactional giving, versus what's really connects to our heart and what we want to see in the world and champion in the world. But then this idea of community like I, we just kind of camp out on this for a second, because I think we believe in the power of community, we believe philanthropy needs to happen in community. And y'all are doing that. I mean, what is what are those relationships meant to you, and kind of, I'd love to hear inside of like how it's maybe informed or changed the way you want to give as you hear other people in community given a certain way, I think it's such a powerful topic.
It just opens up your mind. And we're all intelligent, intellectual human beings. And I think just sitting around a circle, and understanding that this is not a hierarchy, right, this is not a male constructed space. It's a space where we actually sit respectfully and listen to each other. So Anne, and I, Anne who you mentioned earlier in this in the introduction, we really got to know each other very well, because we did a leadership program together, that was curated and designed by Women Moving Millions. And there were about eight to 10 of us in this program. And to this day, to this day, we speak to each other once a month. As I mentioned to you this week, we lost a dear friend from that group. And we have all helped each other up. And I don't think I could have been here doing this podcast right now with you if I didn't have the strength that came from that sisterhood. So it's more than just being funders, right? It's more than just being the changemakers, who put resources into the world, that's great. But it's about being there in community for each other and knowing that that's your safe space that you can lean into when you need to be vulnerable, or you need to cry a little bit, or you need to just lament about the state of the world.
Well, I feel that very deep, deeply. And I'm trying to keep my emotions together, as we're having this conversation, because I think one of the things I want to thank you for is just the hope that you bring into your conversations, because, you know, one of the worst feelings in the world is the feeling of isolation. And I think that we all felt that at some point during the pandemic, no matter where you were in the world, no matter what your circumstance was. But having community having sisterhood, having people that you can count on whoever they are in this world who are unconditional, in the way that they show up for you is absolutely the thing that gets you through very difficult times. And I want to talk to you about Women Moving Millions, because I'm so fascinated by it. And we think of it is like maybe one of the world's largest giving circles of all time. It's got to be bigger than just the the giving what happens in terms of the conversations and how you leverage your networks. How do you talk about how you leverage who you know, and your influence, to go in, take the money and actually make it work? Talk about that dynamic? If you would a little bit?
I would love to. There are three things that we do very well and Women Moving Millions and it's evolved. Remember, it's evolved? Because the thing you have to realize is even as you build community, you build trust. And trust is the basis of every relationship that's going to bloom and blossom into the future. Right. So when we talk about impact, our core question is how does the work we do uplift gender equality? How does it showcase the people at the very margins, perhaps, who are doing the hardest work in this field, and yet not getting recognized? Right? We all come from places of privilege and power, we can use that privilege and power to center those margins. And that's what this community does really well. The other piece of it is we don't just look at our philanthropy. But we motivate each other to look at our investment portfolios. Because philanthropy is wonderful. But it's not so great when it's coming from investment in fossil fuels and things that are actually harming rather than doing good. So when you talk about doing good, your money that's being, you know, refurbished and revitalized and in the markets and producing a return has to also be doing good. And then the money you give away philanthropically can come from a place of being clean and pure and doing good and do more good, right. So that's, that's also a piece of it, that we, that we delve into, and which is more than just philanthropy. And the third thing you talked about is influence. It's very important to use the platforms, we have to again, to use the term I use before to center the margins, to uplift those women who don't necessarily have those same platforms to share the work they're doing. I mean, film, and storytelling is such a powerful platform, right? If we have the ability to make a film, to produce a film, or to put these changemakers, and these badass feminists, right on a stage where they're going to meet all of us, and we can collaborate with them, and we can uplift the work that they do. We had a wonderful summit after two years of not doing it in Washington, DC in April, and the energy and the joy in that room was just palpable. You could walk away feeling those vibrations in your body, it was so powerful. And we really centered the conversations around democracy, and how democracy cannot exist without gender equality and gender equity. And we talk to politicians and we talk to academics, but the most important people we talk to were the people on the ground, working on things like Black maternal mortality, working on subjects, such as sexual violence, working on subjects such as suicide. There were really heavy topics. But the fact that we were unpacking all of these and community made them a little bit more palatable and real, and to us, as funders, knowing that we could actually step in and recreate maybe tweak the system a little bit so that it can be more equitable. Every one of us left there feeling like okay, we're charged off the batteries full, let's go.
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Okay, I know Becky said this in passing already that you're board chair. I'm just thinking if someone listening, don't you want a board chair like Mona that is this comprehensive in how you think about how you serve and this equitable and how everybody has a voice at this. And so I would just love to transition and talk about that because we have a lot of people listening that are inside nonprofits but we do have board members that listen and philanthropists that listen, you cast a net of like, what not just what have you learned as being board chair, but what do you think are the mindsets in the way that you show up that really make this work and thrive in such a powerful way?
You know, for me, it's all about shared leadership. So I left India and I went to Smith College, which is a women's institution in the US and Smith showed me a very different side of what I could be. Because for the first time in my life, I saw women who held up women who supported women who, who supported me in a way that I didn't even know, I needed to be supported, but I did. Because I had left home, I had no money, I didn't have my parents blessing. And I showed up on this college campus because somebody I didn't know, decided they would take a bet on me. That's powerful, right. And the community that I had at Smith that surrounded me, saw in me something that I didn't see in myself. And that's what I bring to leadership. Because when I became the board chair, Women Moving Millions. And it wasn't particularly diverse. So I guess in some ways that was being a statement in itself, to have someone like me lead a community of 300, you know, largely white women of wealth, I didn't inherit wealth, I made my wealth. And I intentionally want to give it away. So there were all these little things that came into play. When we hired Sarah as CEO, it was, I was looking at someone that I could partner with someone I could hold up and support in her own amazing, bold leadership. And someone that I could be a core partner to, I didn't want to come in and say, I'm going to tell you how to do this job. And you just follow the rules. And just do it the way I said, that's not what leadership looks like to me. And we have built an organization we have brought in people from far and wide, we have really created a community that is meaningful and deep. And I'm also very cognizant of saying, I have done my term, I need to step off, and there needs to be new leadership. And, and I believe in that I really believe in good governance, I believe in shared leadership, and I really believe in upholding the leadership of people who come after me or alongside me.
Okay, I mean this with absolute sincerity. I love you so much, Mona, you are so wonderful, you get it, you are saying all the things that we just say when we turn on this microphone about how to elevate leadership, how to elevate partnership, how to elevate vision, I mean, Sarah, you have got a gem and Mona as your board chair right now. And I want to ask you about how to best to utilize your board chair, we have a lot of nonprofits tuned in. And they're wondering, how do I use my board chair well? We're, we're looking at a modern fundraising world, we're looking at the way that relationships are changing, we're looking at the way that the world and the giving is changing, how can nonprofits work and partner with that board chair to maximize, you know, this really important volunteer role?
I think the first thing to do is to understand that you need to shift that board dynamic. And you have to work with your board chair as an equal, right? You're both doing this work because you deeply believe in the vision and the mission of the organization. So how do you best take it forward? As a CEO, you are responsible for running the organization. So you're responsible for your team, for recruiting your team, for making sure they're well taken care of, and that every one of them is performing at the highest and best level that they can. As a board, your board chair is responsible for creating the best board that she can. Because you want the diversity yes, but you also want engaged board members, I will never be on a board where they just want to use my name, right. So you, as a board chair, have to make sure you have regular touch bases with all your board members. Make sure your CEO gets in front of all the board members and develops her own relationship with each board member, because everyone brings something different. And everybody has the leverages that you need in different situations. Sometimes you don't even know them till you ask. So I think that's a very important piece of it. There's not always agreement, Sarah and I have disagreed on many things, but we do it respectfully. And we both try and see what we're each learning from that. There are moments where Sarah will want to put out a statement and she'll call me and she'll say I want your name on it. Of course, she has my name on it. You know, it's this unconditionality that you talked about, because you have to recognize that you're building something together, and you're building something that's going to exist far beyond each of you individually. And when you have that kind of long game perspective, then it also becomes a lot of fun. Because, you know, like, when we launched the campaign, we were like, oh my god, how do we do this? Right. I was confident because I had actually run this college capital campaign, which was almost $500 million. So I kind of had done this. But I was also cognizant that Sarah hadn't done this. So we actually found the person who worked with me at Smith and who, you know, since moved on and had sort of designed the whole campaign. And we brought her on as a consultant. And she and Sarah worked together so Sarah could build that skill set. Now, I could have taught it to her, but I had that weird position of being the person she reported to. So I didn't want to be that person. Right. But I knew who I could bring in to help her learn those skills. And now she's the expert. So the next time around, you know, we don't need to do that. So I think it's that piece of it. I think, with Sarah and me also, because we talk so much, and we text all the time, you know, we have our weekly catch up, but there's a lot of back and forth that goes on during the week. I really value her, I really value what she brings from the movement space, from having been a leader in that space and understanding the dynamics. Right. And I think she values me for the perspective I bring from the business world, which is not a sandbox that she played in. So it's that mutuality. I think that makes this work. And you know, the other board, I chaired the ERA Coalition Fund, we just hired a new CEO. And with the outgoing CEO, we had some of that same dynamic. So I think the three things to really think about is respect, to give each other the space to disagree. And to make sure you always have each other's back.
Oh, my gosh, this is like a mini masterclass. I mean, the things that you're reflecting back are not just our personal values, they're our core values of how we believe can be revolutionary for the entire sector. And the way you have showed up with no ego with lifting others and valuing all people is just hashtag goals. That's all I got to say is like...self awareness
...the emotional intelligence is just, the self awareness, jinx you owe me Coke, is is truly just wonderful. And I hope nobody missed that Mona said that she values her Executive Director, she values what she brings to the table. I am just wishing, putting all my magic into the world that I wish that it was like that for every nonprofit that they had a board chair where there was such mutual respect, and mutual value that they gave each other because my gosh, our missions could soar so much with that level of abundance mindset.
You know, we the nonprofit sector, as a whole is predominantly women. I mean, it's 75% of the staffing at our nonprofits. And so we want to just we create community here, but we I would love for you to pour into this conversation. You talk about the power of women locking together empowering each other's industry, and how I as the token white guy right here on this call, how can I be a better ally, to amplifying and empowering women in the sector?
Well, only you can answer that, Jon, right. Yes, it's got to come from you.
I love that answer.
But But I will say that there are lots of men who are amazing, right there lots of men who are allies in this work, I couldn't do this work if you know, my husband didn't say, okay, go ahead and do it and I'll take care of the family, right. So we have to build these little, I call them scaffolds all around us. And it doesn't work. If we leave men out of the equation, it just doesn't right. And we may be 51% of the population, but men are the other 49%. And, and we have to take care of each other. Because at the end of the day, the long long game is to build a world that we are happy and content, which may not happen quite that you know, easily to leave behind for the next generation. And in the panel that we hosted at our Summit in April, we had a panel of fiery young women who were making change in the world. And their lives are very different from the ones either we grew up in, or we're living right now. Because they're talking about gender as being fluid. They're talking about relationships as being something very different than what we imagine growing up, right? They're talking about society being different, but their whole worldview is about acceptance and belonging. How do we accept people who don't look like us who don't think like us who don't behave like us? And how do we make them feel like they belong? And I think that's such a universal truth. I mean, it's just like when I listened to them, I was like, wow, it took a high schooler to tell me this. And their message to us in that room was that don't keep saying that you have a great belief that we are going to inherit the world and fix it. Because yes, we want to, but we need you. We need you to tell us how to do it. We need you to tell us what barriers you faced and what barriers you overcame, so that we don't have to deal with that anymore. And especially now when you're looking at rights that have that are being overturned, you know from being a law 50 years ago or a fight that began 50 years ago, you know, for the ERA work, for example, next year will be 100 years since this law was proposed. I mean, really? Are we talking about equality based on sex, it's such a simple thing in my mind. So we need to like build these alliances, we need to be linked with not just women, but also with men with also the next generation with, frankly, the generation ahead of us, that we can still learn from. And you know, when everyone learns together, that's the only way we can really create a better world because there is no other way.
I'm just sitting here thinking how lucky Mona's kids are. And I wonder if you have a daughter among your kids, you do?
I have twins.
Oh, twins. Okay. Oh, Jon has two sets of twins. So you guys can riff on that. I think about little five year old Mona, you know, walking into that room. And I think about your daughter walking into your room, and having so much love and unconditional support. And your the way that you give courage is very interesting to me. And I love that. How has your experience, juxtapose or dovetailed with your daughter's experiences? I'm curious about that?
Well, I will say I also have a son who's 23 and calls himself a badass feminist. So I love that that's a big win for me. And then my girls are twins, they are two and a half years younger than him. And I learned so much from them, you know, and I feel like maybe some of it is reflected back on me. Because they are brave, and they are undaunted. I'll tell you a couple stories about my kids, and then I'll stop, I promise. But when I was on the Smith board, one of the big issues we were grappling with as a women's college was about the transgender admissions policy. And I realized early on, and I was in charge of the Campus Life Community, which the committee so that decision, you know, came to us as community members. And I remember doing a straw poll and then realizing that this board, which no surprise, you know, was older and white, mostly, it didn't really understand that community, and there was a lot of learning to be done. So I requested the president for the whole semester, that we would actually come with a decision in me as opposed to October, which is a month after, and I think she was a little bit disturbed, because it was such a hot topic, and everyone was talking about it. And as you can imagine, there was a lot of pressure on her from all the stakeholders around. But she agreed, because I told her, you know, I promise you get the I'll give you a process at the end of this, because this is not the only thorny topic we're gonna have to cover. So we'll develop a process that you can use for, you know, other issues as well. And I remember after every board meeting, and after every committee meeting, I'd come home and my son would say, so did you guys decide?
That is amazing.
And I'd say no, we, you know, we're going through a process and he goes, Mom process smocess, let people be who they want to be. But it was so affirming to me to hear that, because that's how the next generation thinks, right? There is they don't care about process. They care about what the outcome is. So hapilly, we came to the right outcome. But it was lovely to hear that. My daughters, I mean, they are brave and bold, but do they give me heart attacks? Yes, they do. Because
So do mine.
During the height of the pandemic, you know, college went virtual, they were this was going to be their first year of college, and they decided they were gonna take a gap year. Now, with most gap years, the kids have a plan when we had no plan because we were in the middle of a global pandemic, with no vaccinations in sight and this disease spreading in a way that no one understood. Well, they offered me a plan when they were little when I was, you know, in the corporate world, I used to make them do little presentations to me for things that they want, if they wanted a puppy or they wanted something, you know, they would present their case, it was really totally cute. But I got a big kick out of it more than anything, but it really allowed them I think, to center their thoughts and figure out, you know, how were they gonna get through to me? So they gave me and my husband is long sheaf of papers, and I'm looking at this and it looks like it's a road trip. Like, Oh, that's interesting. So I look at it and I'm like, Oh, my God, this goes on and on and on and on. So I looked at it. I said, Okay, girls, what is this plan? And they said, Well, we decided since we have this unique opportunity, we're going to drive around America and discover this country and go to places that nobody's ever been to from our community. And it's a 72 day road trip. Honestly. I paused for a minute, and I said, okay, in my in my headspace, I'm saying don't react don't react don't react. Yeah. And I said, Okay, girls, are you asking me for permission? Are you letting me know? And they turned around and said, well, we do need your Jeep. So that was the Jeep moment. I went to bed that night. And I said to my husband, I said, you know, I'm so uncomfortable about this helped me out. They're 19 years old, two brown girls, with their friend. Okay, admittedly, she's, you know, blond, and blue eyed and artsy. But I said, three girls, driving through America during a pandemic, you know, there's all this stuff that comes to mind, disease, safety, you know, everything and all the stuff that I deal with on a daily basis. And he paused and he looked me in the eye, and he said, Mona, what did you do when you were 19? And of course, I was like, that's not fair.
Left home on your own and went to college.
Yeah, with a suitcase, not knowing where I was going into. So I'm like, Alright, you got it. So they left. And I held my mommy feels back. And I have to say Becky and Jon, now was the most amazing growth opportunity for these girls. Because when they came back after those 72 days, I'm sure I didn't hear some of the stories that would have killed me. Honestly it's best. But they got to see parts of America that I haven't seen. They got to interact with populations that I don't know. And I'm really curious about, they got to hike 10 national parks. And they got to figure out systems, they had an app that told them, which sort of motels were available, and they could negotiate rates, because who was traveling who was there was nobody, they got their first vaccine in Las Vegas, which was a story unto itself. And they kept this beautiful running Instagram blog. And they were up and out every morning, out there exploring, doing things, meeting people, also stopping at university towns where they caught up with friends who were there. So they had an incredible experience. And I couldn't live it for them, but I certainly lived through them. And I can only hope that it's the it's the same value proposition that I have with Sarah in some ways, giving them the leeway and the respect to listen to their ideas. You know, they are thought partners, sometimes when I'm writing a speech, or I'm doing something, and I'm like, I am kind of stuck on this, what do you think? And they'll, you know, they'll critique it pretty harshly. But I want that, because I know that at the end of the day, you know, that generation is the generation that is going to inherit a lot of problems, and they need to be bold and badass to be able to solve them.
Amen.
Goodness, Mona, these stories and the way that you show up and lead and let is just truly amazing. So I want to create space as we start to wind down. We love philanthropy here. I know it's a deep core, just how you show up in the world, would you take us to a story of philanthropy that is really shaped who you are.
So many stories, little and big write a little stories are again, growing up. My mother was very careful. I remember every month my father and she would sit on the bed, and I'd be watching fascinated because it was all about money. And I'm like what's going on here, and they would hand out money and she would paperclip, you know, little sheets of notes and put, you know, laundry guy, or you know, like whatever it was, and that was her monthly little kitty. And then if she had anything leftover, you know, that was extra, and it got saved for a rainy day, though what she also did, and in our household. We had rations, right. So we had my mother every morning would give our staff who cooked and so forth, the rations for the day, including, you know, our food, the groceries, their food, everything, right? The dog's food, all of it would be portioned out. And I would notice everyday that she would take a cup of rice and she would put it in a different container. And one day I asked her, I said, Mom, what are you doing? And she said, you'll see at the end of the month, that container would be pretty full. And she would give it to a family that needed it. That was my first understanding of philanthropy. I didn't have a big fancy word for it. But I knew that what she was dealing with something from her soul and that filled her heart. And that's where it came from. I think my biggest soul filling moment in philanthropy was when we launched the campaign, because it was a really fraught time. It was a time when people were just not feeling hopeful. People didn't know what was happening in the world. People were falling sick, right? We were losing loved ones. New York City looked like a grave yard, it was just such a fraught moment. And in that moment to have this community rise up and say, I mean, I'm getting chills right now, I put up my hand to join you, in committing another million dollars, another $10 million, another $5 million to uplift women and uplift gender equality. It was really something we pulled together and brought about, that was so affirming to me, that there is goodness in the world, that there are people who believe in gender equality, there are people who realize the impact of what they can have on the world, and who do it without ego. Right, and who do it from a place of abundance and a place of generosity and a place of real caring. That, to me, was just an incredible moment. And, you know, the campaign is still on, we never closed it. So we're now close to $150 million, and it's gonna keep growing. And, and that's the boldness that we expect from our community, you know, if we can't be bold, and who can be bold, we've been, you know, we won the lottery, in some senses, none of us expected to have this wealth. I certainly didn't. So, you know, sharing it and amplifying, it just makes it much more meaningful.
The thing about all your stories is they are wrapped in community, even down to your children, you have this tiny little community and your family of accountability and trust. And I just think about that growing in the almost like a Russian nesting doll, you know, where we just keep adding community on to ourselves, and our lives get richer, and the ego gets smaller and smaller. I don't know how you're going to answer this question. But we end all of our conversations, asking our guests to give us a one good thing. You've given us many good things. I'm wondering what you would offer up to our community today, as your one good thing.
My one good thing is that you can lean into visibility and humility at the same time.
Well, okay, say that again. Yeah,
You can lean into visibility and humility. At the same time. When I grew up, I was always told, don't be seen, you know, be heard, don't be seen. And I used to struggle with that. Even when I was, you know, stepping into this board position at Moving Millions, I was like, Oh, my God, what's my community gonna say? Are they gonna judge me for being wealthy, or they're gonna judge me for what I'm doing? Until someone told me, you can be visible and humble at the same time. And that pivot shifted a fundamental core belief. And she said to me, she said, you worked with Mother Teresa. Was she not visible and humble at the same time? And so you can't be who you can't see, right. So that's how I show up in the world. And that's how this community shows up in the world.
I hope you know that it just comes through the screen and through our headphones. This conversation has been deeply moving and deeply touching. I just thank you so much for the space that you've shared with us today. And honestly, the the type of leadership you talk about is what we all need to pour into. Yeah, we all need to lean into this way of thinking so Mona, how can people find you? How can they follow your words and connect with you in all the ways that you show up online, point us in those directions.
So I have a fun thing that they can follow, actually. So I was invited to be part of a group of 24 women from around the world, but I don't know. And we are going on something called an expedition. And we are unlocking what leadership could look like, in a way that women says, if that's what leadership looks like I'm in for someone like me, who's very mapped around finance and numbers and boxes and scaffolds. This is very uncharted territory. Because
I'm so proud of you.
I know. It's a little scary, but I'm loving it. And it's completely open. We have people on there who we have a woman who's a Maori leader from New Zealand, we have young women scientists, we have people from the military, we have women from all walks of life that I have never met in my life. But I'm learning so much, and I invite you to follow along. I will send you after this podcast is recorded the link to follow the podcast where the expedition where the woman who's running it, interviews each one of us and ask what we're gonna get out of it. And it is it has been fascinating, and I have no idea what's going to come with it. So follow that instead of following me follow these incredible 24 people. We have in the group, a disrupter, which is fun. Because one of the concerns I had when Julia interviewed me was whatever you're also not to each other that we don't disagree, what's the point? I think so we have. Yeah, so we have a disrupter. And I am a curious for what's to come again, I have no idea. But these things are bubbling up. And it's just fun to be in that space.
Are we surprised that Mona would not talk about herself she would give that space to somebody else?
Of course.
No, we're not. I just want to say to everybody that's listening right now. I hope you have gotten as much out of this conversation as we have. And the visual that staying with me that I want to use as a challenge for everybody is, we all have a little bit of rice that we can put back for somebody else. And I'm using that as a metaphor for whatever it is in your life that you have a lot of you have gifts, you have network, you have influence. You have expertise, you have lots of things that you can give to this world find a way to grab a little piece of that rice and put it back for somebody that is a great reminder Mona you completely knocked our socks off and I will tell Ann Olivarius, Dr. Olivarius you were right. Mona did not disappoint.
Thank you for the space. And thank you for putting this out in the world. I appreciate it.
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