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E26 - Zuleyma Bebell, COO & Co-Founder of ImpactAlpha
14 Plays1 hour ago
How do you make sense of a rapidly evolving impact investing landscape? In this episode, Zuleyma Bebell, Co-Founder and COO of ImpactAlpha, explores how stories, data, and community are shaping the future of finance. Over the past 10 years, ImpactAlpha has grown from a start-up into the leading voice in the field, tracking trends, connecting people, and making impact investing more approachable. We discuss what has changed in the industry, what signals matter today, and how investors are navigating uncertainty. We also talk about learning and what it takes to build and grow a business in a space that can often feel intimidating from the outside. But progress doesn’t happen in isolation. Zuleyma shares why building trust, staying curious, and simply talking to people may be the most important things we can do. This episode is an invitation: step out of your bubble, reach out, and be part of the conversation.
Please review the episode, share your feedback, and subscribe to the podcast!
You can also:
- Visit our website: womenchangingfinance.org
- Follow Zuleyma on LinkedIn
Women Changing Finance is part of the Impact Alpha Podcast Network.
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Transcript
Introduction to 'Women Changing Finance'
00:00:05
Speaker
Hi, welcome to the podcast Women Changing Finance, where you will discover amazing women from all around the world who are making finance become a force for good.
00:00:21
Speaker
Welcome to the podcast Women Changing Finance.
Meet Zuleima Bibo, CEO of Impact Alpha
00:00:24
Speaker
I'm Christina Tora, and I'm welcoming today Zuleima Bibo, co-founder and the CEO of Impact Alpha, the leading provider of impact investing news and marketing intelligence.
00:00:34
Speaker
I have been a keen reader of Zulema's insightful articles on news and trends in the sector. It is such a privilege to have her on the show today. Zulema, welcome. Thank you, Christina.
Impact Alpha's 10-Year Journey
00:00:46
Speaker
As we begin, i wanted to, first of all, congratulate you because Impact Alpha celebrated 10 years last year. So I was really curious to hear from you about the celebration and the history of Impact Alpha. How did it start?
00:01:03
Speaker
where you now in this journey of creating a great media source for impact and impact investment? Wonderful. Well, thank you so much,
Transition to Subscription Model
00:01:12
Speaker
Christina. It's great to to be here with you Yes, we celebrated 10 years last year.
00:01:18
Speaker
it feels like it was just yesterday when we were trying to figure out what to do in the space. And at the time we had started a database called Impact Space. but We were sort of tracking the company's investors in the deal and the space.
00:01:33
Speaker
And then we met with David Bank, who was starting to chronicle what was happening in the industry. David is a former Wall Street Journal writer and decided to cover impact investing as a beat. He's always been a beat reporter. So he went deeper into what is it that is happening here in the industry. So we met and started to blend both the data and the editorial.
00:01:55
Speaker
And so to show people that this was in fact happening, that was happening daily, that there was large transactions that were taking place. And so ah we kept hearing, oh, this is just a fad. This is temporary. It's not really happening.
00:02:09
Speaker
There's not enough deals. There's not enough companies. There's not enough investors. We were, of course, seeing the opposite. And so we wanted to bring that to the space. And so that was the birth of of Impact Alpha, as you know.
Global Expansion and Reader Engagement
00:02:20
Speaker
And now, about six years ago, we moved into the subscription business model for Impact Alpha. We said, great, you guys are loving it. This is fantastic.
00:02:29
Speaker
We want to do it more and we want to do it better. And we need your support. So we launched the Impact Alpha subscription service six years ago. And now we are a team of We have about 12 people that are working at Impact Alpha now. We have our editorial team.
00:02:46
Speaker
We say it's it's small but mighty. We have seven full-time writers. And we have just a great team of people that support us on the marketing, on the business side, on sales, and on product management.
00:02:59
Speaker
That's amazing, given the current media landscape. What surprised you in that journey? What stands out from those 10 years? Everything. I mean, you know, we always say that this is definitely not what we thought we were going to be doing. And we didn't quite know what the business model of Impact Alpha was going to be. And so we did explore that for for quite a bit. And we took a slow approach.
00:03:21
Speaker
to really figuring out what would be the best way for us to run the business. At the time, a lot of people were saying, well, just raise money, get advertising, and do all those things that didn't quite feel right for us at the moment.
Community Collaboration in Impact Investing
00:03:34
Speaker
And so we didn't, right? We said, no, we're going to build a great product. We're going to focus on delivering the most value to our audience. And the growth will come, right? And so little by little, we started to just really get more consistent in our reporting, being able to expand to different areas of and regions, right? Not just US-focused, but Europe, but Asia, Africa, Latin America. And so now that we have truly a broader coverage of not only geographies, but also asset classes and impact objectives, it does feel like a more robust product that people are...
00:04:10
Speaker
are just excited about. we hear feedback all the time of people saying, oh, I wake up my day or I start my day by reading Impact Alpha. Right? It's Impact Alpha in my coffee. We get great feedback also saying, hey, because of your article and in Impact Alpha, I got two new investors reach out to us and want to have a conversation.
00:04:29
Speaker
Or I started a partnership with someone that we reported or or interviewed in a podcast. So we are able to make those connections. And it's great to see that. I always say that the best part of this journey has also been the community that we're building, you know what we call the agents of impact. And all of us, all of you that are doing this work, people are very collaborative in this space. And I think they really mean it when they say we want to work together, we want to figure things out.
00:04:58
Speaker
And so I'm always delighted when that happens, when you... you know you can spend a few months, years even talking about something and things might not happen right away until the moment is right and things click. And then you just make it so much easier. But I think people are really, truly willing to collaborate and create something together. So I think that's super exciting.
00:05:15
Speaker
Yes. And I can relate to that completely. Collaboration is a very much part of the DNA of the space. What stories have been you know the top stories or or maybe what what outcomes have happened in the past 10 years?
Trends in Impact Investing
00:05:31
Speaker
a lot A lot has happened is ah is a big question. We you know we always joke that we our daily newsletter is called The Brief, but it's not very brief.
00:05:40
Speaker
There is so much to cover. There's only so much that we can put out there every day. But it's been great, someone with not a finance background, to be able to see the evolution of the space and just seeing so many new names coming in to play in the space. But also just, you know, we're talking about carbon markets and evolution of that. That was a story this week, right? Of of what is happening in this space and how we may have fallen short of some of the expectations. But now we are also finding new alternatives to how that market can actually work.
00:06:11
Speaker
And so people are starting to blend more some of the traditional finance, options that we had before with new models. And it's a constant change. It's a constant iteration of models to see what works and what doesn't.
00:06:27
Speaker
So that's always exciting. I think there's a lot of innovation in this space. This week also, we were talking about fashion week. We're talking about sustainable fashion. Things that we wouldn't have necessarily maybe been so aware of 10 years ago are now coming more to the forefront.
00:06:44
Speaker
And people are really looking for that. And at the same time, we're seeing a lot more interest in people that are still trying to learn about impact investing and what that means. And so being able to say, hey, here is now an advisor's corner that we can point you to, right? there's Here's all this content on how to and how to get started.
00:07:03
Speaker
While the same time, being able to serve our audience better by saying, hey, you've been doing this for a long time. Here's where you can go deeper into pick your theme that you're interested in.
00:07:14
Speaker
That's great. So are you saying that more and more mainstream finance people are coming to Impact Alpha to get content?
Mainstream Interest and Relaunch of Impact Space
00:07:22
Speaker
Yeah, and I think it's great. and we see this all the time. we you know Part of our subscription, we have group accounts. And so we're seeing more of quote-unquote traditional or legacy finance names come into Impact Alpha to learn about what they're doing, about to learn about the industry and how they can also participate.
00:07:40
Speaker
So that's always great to see. And we're also seeing, you know, huge uptake from the academic community as well that are bringing sustainable finance into their classrooms. Right. And so now they are educating the next generation of impact practitioners.
00:07:56
Speaker
And so you are seeing a growth. increased interest in this space and now we're hoping that in the next few months and years we'll start to see a lot more action on their part as well.
00:08:08
Speaker
That's amazing. I was actually going to ask you about that. Okay, we looked at the past 10 years. What do the next 10 years look like? As I mentioned earlier, we had started Impact Space 10 years ago. And at the time, we called it the Crunch Space for Impact, right?
00:08:25
Speaker
And it was just a way for us to start to profile some of these investors and companies that we were talking to. We are in the process of relaunching Impact Space. I'm very excited for that initiative to take place.
00:08:37
Speaker
We are going deeper into GPs and LP profiles and just being able... that The whole point is to help GPs race faster, Right. We hear it all the time. we it takes us so long to do the research, to find the right LPs. By the time we reach them, we realize that, oh, that's not, you know, that's not our ticket size. So they're not interested in education. They're interested in agriculture. Right. For as an example.
00:09:03
Speaker
So now we're able to distill this information fueled by 10 years of journalism of Impact Alpha. Right. And so now you can look at profiles of different investors and just see their history. Right.
00:09:16
Speaker
supported by all this article. So we're super excited about that. So think about it as a database that will not only help, like I said, help to speed up the process of looking for funding, but also provide more visibility for both LPs and GPs in this space, right? We hear it all the time too, like, oh, that's such a great idea, but now the fund is closed.
00:09:37
Speaker
So we miss out on that. So what can we be doing to provide more actionable intelligence for practitioners to be able to participate and take advantage of these great opportunities that are available every day. That's fantastic.
00:09:51
Speaker
And are you going to somehow use the data for market intelligence and drive investors towards sectors or geographies that might be underinvested?
Highlighting Overlooked Investment Areas
00:10:03
Speaker
Absolutely. We have always said that we're looking in Impact Alpha at the trends and the gaps in the impact investing space or the the impact space. And now, like I said, we have 10 years of history. And so we've really gone deep into some great topics like ownership economy, gender and climate, local economies, and regional, right? So now you can look at activity in Latin America, Latin um activity in Asia.
00:10:29
Speaker
And so really, we're very excited because there's so much to go deep into. And it sort of what our users wanting and helping them through that process. But also we hear from you, right? You are telling us, hey, we don't know what's happening but in Asia in the carbon space, for example.
00:10:50
Speaker
And so we're like, oh, great. We have great connections and we know some investors in that space and we know some great entrepreneurs. So let's put the all that together. And we're able to create these databases based on these topics. And so that's part of the of the value add to Impact Alpha.
00:11:06
Speaker
That's really important. been It's something that the market has been missing. So looking forward to seeing it come alive. And you were talking also about some of the issue areas.
00:11:18
Speaker
I wanted to ask you i mean, we're in such turbulent time, I guess, if I can say that. How have those macro trends like the geopolitics, climate change, or any other trends that you're seeing shifted what investors are prioritizing?
00:11:37
Speaker
And are there any topics that you think people are not paying enough attention to? That's a great question. When we started this year, there was a lot of hesitation from all of us, right? was sort of like, what is going to happen? How will the markets react to what are investors willing and not willing to do?
00:12:00
Speaker
Luckily, I think for the most part, we've seen impact investors step up to meet some of those funding gaps in some of the spaces. And at the same time, everyone i feel is still very hesitant to move. But I think above anything else, people are trying to be very conscious about how they're going to act and not just acting to act, but just be very intentional about their activities that they want to take on, right? And so you've seen a lot of different groups making sure that emerging managers are still being funded, right? That you are, if you're working in the social justice space, that those activities and those
00:12:45
Speaker
communities are being supported, right? Some of the funding has been pulled from the federal level. So where do Impact Investors can come in and help out in making sure that those activities continue?
00:12:56
Speaker
So i think that's been really great. If we're a time where we are seeing the rest of the world move forward with supporting sustainable energy sources, right? Renewable energy. And we're, the US is taking a step back at the moment. And so um we're glad to see that there's great opportunities happening, that people are moving and that direction. And hopefully we'll be able to maintain some of our position in this this space and not be able to to to get too far behind.
00:13:25
Speaker
But I think we're just in a a big transition moment, right? And it's just hard to tell where it's things will go. Yeah, absolutely. We're probably just seeing the beginning of the results of that change, right?
Editorial Choices and Storytelling
00:13:39
Speaker
One of the other questions I wanted to ask you is, you're in charge of identifying and reporting on the trends that you're seeing. How do you decide which stories make it or which...
00:13:50
Speaker
themes you have to follow. what are the signals that you're watching? like how do you basically How do you do your work? How do we do it? Well, let let me just be clear. I am not a writer and I do not have... a lot of direction to give on that front. But we have a fantastic team of editors and journalists that have been doing this work for for many, many years. So we have David Bank, who is our hope our founder and our editor-in-chief. We have Amy Cortese, who is our editorial director, who's gone deep into climate investing.
00:14:27
Speaker
Coverage has gone deep into local investing as well. We have Jessica Pothering, who leads our emerging markets. coverage. And these are people that have been part of Impact Alpha for many years and have been able to make great connections. So we're connected to the right people that are feeding us their great stories and journeys.
00:14:50
Speaker
And we're also bringing up in a whole new prop reporters, right? We have Rudy Regale, who's been doing our ownership economy. He started with us as an intern. He is now a full-time employee.
00:15:02
Speaker
We have Lucy, who is based in Nairobi. She's also focusing on emerging markets. We have Eric Stein, who just joined recently, also as an intern, turned journalist. And so I think being able, one, to grow the team, right, because then we're able to be in more places at the same time.
00:15:19
Speaker
And... Just being able to bring in new voices into the space helps. So just being able to be out there talking to people, being present at all the different, you know, conferences and reading the reports, this is where we're finding all the signals. But I think most of it, it just comes from Having trust our subscribers and having trust in the Impact Alpha editorial team, making sure that they're able to tell the story properly, right? And so not just giving big picture ideas, but actually being able to go deeper into some of the stuff is, I think that helps.
00:15:52
Speaker
We have editorial meetings all the time. and So the team is able to pitch their ideas. say This is why this matters. This is why we're going with it. i am just under the guidance of David and Amy. This is how we we pick the service. But we get this question all the time. And really, truly, it's like what is happening in the world and how does that affect the impact practitioners in
Building Credibility and Trust
00:16:11
Speaker
this space? Why does that matter? And how can the information that we're able to feed you make you help you do your job better?
00:16:18
Speaker
Right. And so... This week's, um if you read ah today's Friday, it's September 19th, but we just were talking about that letter that was signed by all the foundations where they're you know standing together to protect our freedom of speech and our freedom to give, right? Without the fear being punished for doing their mission.
00:16:40
Speaker
and this impacts all of us, right? We are all very intentional about our purpose and our mission in this space. And so it matters. And everyone's watching closely to see how things turn out.
00:16:53
Speaker
Yeah, that's a great example. Thank you. I just wanted to ask you about something that I know matters to you as an organization is ensuring that you get different perspectives, that you have different voices from different geographies or groups.
00:17:11
Speaker
Perhaps you have also the voices of more marginalized groups How do you do that? And yeah, how do you integrate that into your work? It's not hard to do when you have built something that people can trust, right? And so one of the most like amazing feedbacks that we get is when someone, you know one of our reporters writes a story and they say, you got it right. You got the story right because you went there, you looked at it, you analyzed it, you put it into context, and then you were able...
00:17:45
Speaker
to put it out there in a way that makes it easy for people to understand. And so that kind of feedback fuels more and more the spread of that credibility with other players that then are also willing to talk to us, right? we Who are we? But just the messengers of the work that you that you guys are doing, right? And so being able to have that trust with the community definitely helps.
00:18:10
Speaker
We have different, use as you mentioned, we have different ways of people that are able to contribute to Impact Alpha, right? Either via the op-eds where, you know, it's their voice, you're writing it ah you're telling your stories. We have the podcast as well, which is a great way to get people out there. But I think mostly just the fact that we have been doing this for quite a while. People have now trust in our reporting and as an organization. And they want to come to us as a space where they also know, hey, if my stories featuring Impact Alpha, my company, or my fund are talked about, people are going to listen.
00:18:47
Speaker
and I think that's a just a beautiful representation of the work that that we all as a community are doing, right? We're just the messengers of telling those great stories. But the work is being done by you, not not by us.
00:19:00
Speaker
Yeah, and I think that is one of the features of how unique Impact Alpha is and the organization and how you work.
Influencing Mainstream Media
00:19:09
Speaker
Could you reflect on on this uniqueness in the landscape of media today? And if I had a wish for for Impact Alpha, it would be how can you influence the rest of the media? How can you transfer some of the qualities of how you build your work, how you build your team, how you are sustainable as an organization, and the impact that you create. How can you transfer a little bit of that into the mainstream media?
00:19:36
Speaker
If I had a wish for Impact Alpha, that would definitely be very much a line. The media space is super hard. We never... I always said never, but I don't think we thought that this is where we would be 10 years on trying to still figure out how to make a media business work.
00:19:55
Speaker
We thought for sure by now, there'll be a lot more publications focused on impact investing. And there just aren't, right? And so we're like, okay, that's great for us. We can continue to do this.
00:20:06
Speaker
But it always puts more pressure on us to keep doing it better and better. Like I said earlier, one of the most wonderful things about this community is the community, right? Is that willingness, that identity, that shared identity about the world working together because we do believe that we can make this world a better place, right? And so I think cultivating that community, that agents of impact or whatever it is for your niche, for your audience, that works, right? But you can't do this alone.
00:20:34
Speaker
And so it's not a top-down approach. It's really from the bottom up and listening, right? And being the connectors in this space, right? Being able to say, hey, listen, we won't be able to, the story is not going to happen right now, right? We need more information. Well, no, but in the meantime, have you talked to these people over here? Have you talked to this group? Are you already connected? And being able to make those connections.
00:20:57
Speaker
And we have, as part of the description, you you can access our Slack community. And this is like the community board. And we see it all the time. Hi, am new to the space and I'm looking to meet with font managers working in Africa. And, you know, right away you get five connections.
00:21:15
Speaker
Hey, we're looking for a research report on x Y, and Z. Who is available? that Here's connections. I think people are always willing to do that. And I think if we did more of that, that worked together,
00:21:26
Speaker
I think you'll see a lot more success. Yes, that's brilliant. I didn't know about the Slack community. It seems to be a very powerful tool. Great. Please come join us. It is great. And it's we're all at the end of the day, we're all humans, right? We're all looking for connection.
00:21:43
Speaker
and I think just the fact that you can do it in a safe space, we're surrounded by other people that are you're working with and your peers and people that you may not know right away, but you will have an instant connection with, I think really works. So we are always looking to add more to that and be more present in that space. Also understanding that people have a thousand and one apps already.
00:22:05
Speaker
And so how can we be more mindful of of your time and we make sure that we're putting information in front of you that matters? Yeah, absolutely. So this podcast is also ah an occasion for you to reflect on achievements.
00:22:19
Speaker
So tell us about what achievements you're most proud of, something that you want to celebrate, or if you want, anything that you still want to achieve.
00:22:30
Speaker
Oh, I want to achieve everything still. you I feel like that. My goal list is is huge. But I think, I mean, listen, to be 10 years on doing this, it's a huge achievement as a first-time entrepreneur being able to say, hey, this is a company that we're growing together.
00:22:49
Speaker
it was beyond my imagination 10 years ago. Now I'm like, fantastic. We have a great team. We're under new leadership with Dennis Price, who has, you know, he's been part of the team for a long time, but now it's our new CEO. So it's been great.
00:23:02
Speaker
having that evolution, letting David refocus fully on the editorial voice of Impact Alpha, which is where his heart really truly is. And so it's just been super nice to be going through this evolution of Impact Alpha as a company.
00:23:16
Speaker
And at the same time, growing our team, right? We started with, you know, three, five people a few years ago, and now we're team of 10 plus. and And that's just beautiful to see. And I love the fact that, you know, we've had,
00:23:30
Speaker
high retention rates in our employees. So I think that says a lot to you as a company. I'm very proud of that. And we, as a company, you know we're able to now offer benefits to our employees, which is fantastic.
00:23:42
Speaker
We have someone that's about to go and their first like maternity leave. And we're like, this is fantastic. You can do it. And we'll be here when you come back. right And so I think at a personal level, a professional level,
00:23:54
Speaker
It feels really good to build a company where people, one, feel very comfortable, are happy doing their jobs, are willing to really put themselves out there and and travel. The job of a reporter is really hard, right? We have, for example, a few people are traveling a lot this week and to Hong Kong, to Singapore, back to their home base in Europe. That's a lot to ask of someone while at the same time,
00:24:19
Speaker
reporting, writing, and participating in the communications of of the day-to-day of running a business. I think it's, that's, i would say that's one of my my proudest achievements as a team that we have built at Impact Alpha.
00:24:32
Speaker
Yes, absolutely. And as you say, people have been there for a long time, which means how committed they are and how much they like what is what is happening. Tell us about your journey. How did you get here?
00:24:46
Speaker
I think that you have quite a unique journey. And so I'd love to hear about it. Yeah. Thank you. Unique is a good way to put it. I mean, honestly, I never... I was just talking to someone and said, what did I know about running a media business? Nothing. you know What did I know about finance? Nothing. I still don't know much about it What do I know about building teams? I don't know. And it's just... It's been beautiful. I think I've always been curious and about problem solving.
00:25:12
Speaker
And you know it's like, okay, it's a problem. Yeah, I don't know how to do that. But I'm sure I can figure it out. Right? And it's sometimes... That willingness to take risks has, of course, paid off, I would say at at this point. right But yeah, I was in grad school when i met Ravi, my former... or a When I met Ravi, a co-founder of Impact Space.
00:25:33
Speaker
And I said, what are you working on? And he started explaining to me the database idea. I was like, that's great. I want to help. And he's like, sure, let's do it. And it was just like that, right? It wasn't meant to be... At that point, we didn't know what it was going to be. And the universe had it in there for us to meet David, who was also creating something new and coming together, has been just a great journey of learning.
00:25:54
Speaker
I'm a military spouse. So we've been stationed all over the the country and the and overseas. And the ability to be able to do this as we travel and move and whatnot has been an exciting exciting journey, to say the least.
00:26:11
Speaker
And here we are. i don't know. it just I'm a mom of two. So we're starting... 10 years ago, I just had my my first son and my firstborn. And we were trying to start a family with a new baby, start a new company.
00:26:26
Speaker
we were in a new city. we were all by ourselves. And we're like, well... If not now, then when? Amazing, which is a nice bridge actually to my next question, which I ask all of my guests.
00:26:38
Speaker
How does it feel to be a woman doing this job? I don't know if I feel that being a woman is different from what probably a man doing the job is. But I you know i think, especially if you are a mom, you're always, i don't know.
00:26:55
Speaker
I think you're meant to feel guilty about wanting to do both at the same time. I like to push back on that. I don't feel guilty. I am equally proud to be a mom and a business owner and an entrepreneur.
00:27:09
Speaker
And yes, is it hard? Sure. But I'm sure it's still hard if you were a woman and did not have a family like or a man and you didn't have or have a family. I think it's just hard to run a business, period.
00:27:22
Speaker
So I think I'm not going to feel guilty about wanting to split my time between all the things that I love. And I mean that, right? Like, yes, I have a business trip coming up. And yes, things are going to happen at home.
00:27:34
Speaker
I'm lucky I have a great ah partner that is willing to step up and and not step up. I mean, it's his job, right? Like, this is not a compromise of who is doing what. It's like that is... It deserves children.
00:27:45
Speaker
And so I think that that definitely helps in that space. At the same time, and as Impact Health as a company, you know, we were all, when we started, we all had a very young family. So it was very clear from the beginning where the priority was, which was our families, right? So this is going to take a lot much, much longer to build, but we're going to do it right because we still want to be present for our spouses, for our children, for our friends, for everything else, for our health.
00:28:10
Speaker
Right. And so I think that made a difference. Would have been in a different industry? Would it be different? Probably. Right. But we were very, again, intentional about the type of culture as a company that we were creating.
00:28:23
Speaker
so I felt like I was able to you know have my children but present, do that and still be an active participant in the decisions of the company. Yeah, absolutely. And while you mentioned that sometimes it's very hard to do all of that at the same time, what helps you be your best self?
00:28:40
Speaker
I love to work out. And so I just have to make sure that's part of my daily routine when I can make that happen. But if I can definitely tell and my team can definitely tell. Yeah. When I'm going on beach, probably because I haven't had time to spend some time on myself. And that's the way that I like to do. like to play very loud, obnoxious music and do so do a workout. And then I'm a much better person when I can do that.
00:29:06
Speaker
That's brilliant. Yes, I can i can relate to it. Relate to that. Well, I have three kind of questions that I'd love to hear your thoughts on.
00:29:18
Speaker
So what's keeping you optimistic? Oh, it's very hard to be optimistic this day. And I feel like every day is a new attack on something that I believe in.
00:29:29
Speaker
So that is hard. It's just hard to be optimistic right now. But, you know, i do look at my kids, right? They're young. They're full of questions. How? Why? What does that mean?
00:29:40
Speaker
so I'm reminded of that curiosity that we all may have lost just due to to living life. Yeah. And just feeling like such cynics about everything. And when you have the kids just asking you, quote unquote, simple questions to us, but to them, they have never known why things work the way they do.
00:29:59
Speaker
that gets me excited because I hope we can continue to nurture that type of knowledge seeking. And questioning, right? The ability to question is still very much alive and well, and we're not just accepting everything as is.
00:30:16
Speaker
I think that's beautiful. So I love to see not only in the kids, but just every time something happens and people are raising up and saying, but why is this happening? Why are we doing it this way? Why does it have to be this way?
00:30:28
Speaker
That gives me hope. That's great. And actually, maybe I'll just follow up on this. How do you build that into your work? Because it's so important, it's so fundamental to what you do to be able to think about that on ah but a regular basis.
00:30:44
Speaker
How do we nurture curiosity within the team? Yeah, I think you know this is the beauty of the impact of a team. These are very curious, smart people. And so it's great to be in that work environment where I always feel like I'm the least informed of all of them just because when you're having conversations with them, they're so well informed and have some very strong takes.
00:31:08
Speaker
on any topic. And so it's very intellectually challenging to be part of those conversations daily. and I think we're all fuel each other's thinking because of that, you know, it's like, oh I didn't know about that, but what did you know? Tell me more.
00:31:23
Speaker
And people are just willing to share that information. So I think that the people that have been attracted to the space are also very curious. and are looking to explore the problems and definitely look for the solutions. I think it's just part of the DNA of Impact Alpha, that curiosity and when knowledge seeking and trying to not only learn for ourselves, but how can we also help others?
00:31:47
Speaker
in the space understand what this means yeah thank you what or who is inspiring you oh that's a good one i tell you something we were just coming back we just spent two years in North Carolina because we were stationed out there and it was very isolated it was a new community we didn't have we didn't know a lot of people And the energy felt very just subdued for what I was used to being here in San Diego, California.
00:32:14
Speaker
And I said, what is it about this place that I just don't... What's happening? I just couldn't figure out why I felt the way that I was feeling until I came back to to San Diego. And it was that ecosystem of movers and shakers of entrepreneurs. Like everyone here is hustling and trying to figure out a new business idea and it's networking.
00:32:33
Speaker
And so that energizes me and inspires me to be like, oh, well, they were doing this a few years ago and now they've moved on to the new business. And now they're building this partnership with someone. So I want that, right? And so that energizes me and the fact that the world might be falling apart around us. Yeah.
00:32:51
Speaker
ah People are still like, okay, that's fine. That might happen. That may not happen. But in the meantime, I'm going to continue to create and build something new. That's really inspiring to me. So to be around other entrepreneurs and in that ecosystem of building and doing something new, it's really exciting. Yes. The energy of entrepreneurship. Absolutely.
00:33:12
Speaker
Are you reading anything that you would recommend to the audience? I just finished a book that I found by Pura Chan at a friend's house. And was what was the name of it? I'll have to get back to you on the name. But the curious thing about it was that about a woman's journey. She was born in Colombia and came to the States around the same age that I did, according to the book. Right.
00:33:33
Speaker
And it was the first time I had ever seen sort of my story. Right. on a book. And I was like, oh my gosh, what are the odds of finding this book here? and it was beautiful to read and painful to read at the same time.
00:33:44
Speaker
i left Columbia. I left, my family left Columbia when we, I was 12. twelve And at the time it was at the height of the violence in Columbia, right? we had car bombings all the time, kidnappings,
00:33:59
Speaker
family, friends were killed. And it was just everyone's Colombian history that you just knew someone that had been kidnapped. You just knew someone that had been killed. It just part of daily life. And it wasn't until you're removed from it and then you can go back to that story and look at it with grown-up eyes, you don't realize how messed up that was.
00:34:18
Speaker
Right. And for me, it was the first time that had seen that story in a book. And it was just it moved me to to add at so many different levels because I'm like, oh, it wasn't just my story.
00:34:29
Speaker
But it's a story of millions of Colombians that have gone through this for so many years. So I think that was a good way of ah for me to relearn part of my own culture, my own history that I sort of forgotten by being here in the U.S. for so long and just sort of reconnecting to part of me that I have maybe lost throughout the journey. So I'll have to get back to you on the name of the book, but it was this beautiful story told. And yeah, it brought me to tears many times.
00:34:55
Speaker
Well, yes, please. I would love the book. My partner is Colombian, so maybe so I have to read it too. Thank you so much. Do you have any ask or any advice for fellow changemakers?
00:35:10
Speaker
Well, my first ask, of course, is just to subscribe to Impact Alpha. And you can do that at impactalpha.com slash subscribe. We'd love to hear from you. we want to hear your stories. want to hear your story pitches, your partnerships, your projects, everything that you're working on. Do come tell us about it.
00:35:26
Speaker
As I mentioned earlier, we are relaunching Impact Space, which is again coming back to Impact Alpha Roots, a blending editorial with data. We're so excited for for our users to be able to have access to this product soon. And we'll give you more details on that once once it's ready.
00:35:42
Speaker
So those are my two asks. Subscribe to Impact Alpha. Be on the lookout for new products. And advice. I mean, I think just talk to people. Going back to my my comment about being isolated and and how sad it was, truly, to be removed from a community that you know, and that you know, it's just it's it's hard to do. And I feel that, you know, in the space where now we're all working remotely, we've become so accustomed to not being around people and not putting ourselves as there as much.
00:36:13
Speaker
And so my challenge to me and to to all of your listeners too, it's like, if you haven't gone out this week to meet new people, to be in a space that you might be uncomfortable or comfortable Do it. right Get out there and talk to people. Host a small gathering, a happy hour, or a walk. you know We have a founder's hike here that happens. Everyone's every few months. And it's just a great way to do, be active, be outside and connect with new people. So it doesn't have to be a drinking event. It doesn't have to be this full on conference thing either, right? Like small gatherings are beautiful.
00:36:48
Speaker
And it's just about connecting with people, talking to real people, because we also don't want to be creating in a box, right? We want to be co-creating and you can only do that when you listen to others.
00:37:01
Speaker
Absolutely. repeat Thank you. Thank you so much, Zuleyma, for your time, for your insights. It was such a wonderful conversation. Thank you very much. Thank you, Christina.
00:37:15
Speaker
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00:37:27
Speaker
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00:37:38
Speaker
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00:37:54
Speaker
Women Changing Finance is part of the Impact Alpha podcast network. Small conversations by and for impact investing professionals.