Syama Bunten
One of the things I love the most about carrying the Wealth Catalyst Summit is that I get to bring you the women who are seeing around corners before the rest of the world catches up. And Lorene Pendleton is exactly that woman. Lorene is joining us on stage this May at the Wealth Catalyst Summit on one of our most exciting panels, Investing in Women’s Sports, Health and Deep Tech. This is the conversation about where the next wave of capital is going and Lorene is one of the few people actually deploying into it.

She’s the founder of 125 Ventures, a venture capital fund at the intersection of sports, media, entertainment, and technology. She rep DMX and Prince, negotiated the very first hip hop arena tour, and she has built and invested in over 40 companies. If you’ve been wondering where the smart money is moving and how you can be a part of it, this episode is your preview. Grab your summit ticket at WealthCatalyst.com.

Women don’t talk about money the way we should. Not honestly, not openly, and not with each other. But that’s changing. I’m Shama Bunton, founder of Wealth Catalyst. And getting rich together is where the conversation lives. Every week, a different woman, a different path, and a conversation that will change how you think about your own financial power. This community is growing and you belong in it. Please subscribe so you never miss an episode and leave us a five-star review.

Syama Bunten
Today I am joined by the brilliant Laureen Pendleton. Laureen, you are someone who I deeply admire, respect, look up to. You are a force to be reckoned with. And ladies, for those of you who don’t know Laureen, she is the founder of 125 Ventures, a venture capital fund investing at the intersection of sports, media, entertainment, technology. And what I think is so amazing about you, Laureen, is that you didn’t grow up through the traditional venture path.

She started in media and entertainment representing icons like Prince and Jay-Z went on to build and invest in over 40 companies, no small feat. And you are now backing what you believe to be one of the biggest opportunities ahead, the rise in women’s sports and the infrastructure around it. Lorraine Pendleton, welcome to Getting Rich Together.

Lorine Pendleton
Thank you so much for having me. I’ve known you, I guess, for almost two years. We met through a mutual friend, Marsha Dawood, who’s, you know, of herself, a trailblazer in the space and immediately connected. You’re in New York for dinner with your husband. And I love what you’re doing with this whole wealth catalyst. And I’m so honored to be on your show.

Syama Bunten
What a gift. Let’s start from the beginning. Let’s not start for all the glitz and clamor and all your fabulousness starts to get our attention. Let’s start with the little girl, Lorraine. Lorraine, take us back. Where were you at the ages of 10, 12 years old? What was life like around you and what was money like?

Lorine Pendleton
Great question. Let’s start even a bit earlier, because I think it’ll tie into what I’m doing now. So I was born and raised in Harlem in New York City. Harlem is a really interesting place. And I was born there. My parents were Harlemites. They were also born there. And so I grew up there until I was 10. But that really formed who I am as a person. Harlem is very different now, very gentrified and a mixture of people. But at the time, was predominantly African-American.

wasn’t a great area and that’s why my parents left because of crime and drugs, but it really was formative for me. I had really good friends. I saw it as really culturally, it was really interesting. got into music. I started playing sports there and really great kind of initially growing up there and just being tapped in. And then we moved not too far in Northern New Jersey, maybe about literally about 10 miles from where I was born and growing up. And then that just opened up my eyes to different things. You know, when I was there, when I was young, I got to move into this suburbia, like, you know, kind of it was a, you know, kind of the living room to, you know, New York City, a lot of people commuted into the city. But, you know, we lived in a house. had all kinds of neighbors, you know, incredibly diverse neighbors from all different ethnicities and races. And so I got to learn, you know, just different cultures and.

kind of a funny story, I was playing with my neighbor and he’s like, I’ve got to go inside, I’ve got to light the candles. And I said, oh, you didn’t tell me it was your birthday, we’ve been playing like all afternoon. He’s like, no, it’s the Sabbath, he’s Jewish and we light candles. And so that was just like all these things, learning these different things about people, which I think is so important because I think fundamentally we’re all the same, but we may have different cultures, different traditions, but you know, I think fundamentally people are the same. And so I got that exposure and so that was really great. And then I got into sports and

play sports, I played basketball and ran track and that was just really great. And then also focused on my academics. But yeah, I was really at first I didn’t want to leave New York City, but it was a really great experience. I’m so glad my parents moved us and I got to experience other types of people and then went on to Brown University, you know, for my undergrad. And that was a different environment, you know, went from a public, I’m a product of public education, which I’m very proud of and got to experience then like went from experiencing different cultures in Teentac where I grew up to internationally. Brown had students from all around the world and some who went to private school, which I had in boarding school and some that didn’t. And as one of my classmates said, one of his schools that he went to a private school in England, he said, his school was older than our country, the United States. so just really interesting kind of perspective and meeting different people.

It was just a great experience.

Syama Bunten
What kind of student were you? What were you like in high school? And when you were getting ready to go to university, how clear was the path ahead of you? What did you think you were going to be when you grew up?

Lorine Pendleton
Growing up, I wanted to be a brain surgeon. Wow. I wanted to be a brain surgeon. Obviously, that’s not the case. But I did, I pivoted, obviously. And I think it happened, I think when I was probably like my junior or senior year, I went to a camp, an engineering camp. My dad’s an engineer.

And I actually, brought home a personal computer. I learned how to program when I was like 14 years old. And so I was always comfortable with technology and I minored in computer science at Brown. And so I ended up going to engineering. I started engineering. And actually when I was in biology in high school, I was just like, this is not a, I didn’t like it and just not, I didn’t want to do that. I knew that you’d have to take chemistry and biology. And so, you know, I decided, you know,

I was not going to do that. So I got into engineering my first year at Brown. was engineering and I switched over to economics and then computer science. But so yeah, just completely different pivot. But growing up, I wanted to be a brain surgeon and I thought that was so fascinating. But then when I got exposed to just, you know, biology and chemistry and knew that you had to take those kind of courses, I was not interested, which is good. I think, you know, you can pivot and you should. And even after college and I’ve had so many pivots, which we’ll get into in my career, which is really, I think, part of life. And you

learn things about yourself and you grow as a person. Obviously, I’m not the same person I was when I graduated from college or even as a little girl growing up, know, fundamentally have that base, but you get exposed to different things and you develop different interests, which is great.

Syama Bunten
I think it’s so cool. Also, what’s interesting is, you know, thinking about being a brain surgeon and then shifting to engineering, it’s, they’re still sort of understanding these large systems and how things come together and even economics, you know, I mean, there’s something about how all these different components come together in a system’s capacity to create specific output. So even though they are different, you know, subject matters in different ways, it looks like

The way your brain is organizing everything is very much gravitating to how systems come together and sort of what moves things and builds things and sort of how different components can achieve. And so as you were sort of deciding, you know, throughout university, where you wanted to spend your time, your energy, you know, were there any sort of interesting inflection points during those years? know, anything that sort of gave you

an inclination, know, okay, this job is maybe going to satisfy interest or this career is maybe gonna, you know, give me more money, you know, or any of your motivations towards a degree based on let’s say, I don’t know how to survive in the real world.

Lorine Pendleton
So when I was in college, you know, I was a very like, think for obviously focused on my academics, but also did stuff outside of the classroom, which was really great. And one of those was as a radio DJ on WBRU, which is the college commercial station.

alot of people don’t know that I had a show on Sundays and did that for probably three years. That completely, by having that experience, completely changed the trajectory of my life. First of let me give a picture of what the station was. By the charter, all the students had to be, all the radio DJs were students.

But we had, it was a commercial station. We actually had salespeople who were full-time adults, this was their job. And we would go into the community, we would go to different events. We would go to clubs, we couldn’t drink or underage, but we would go and just different things. And we were like actually like in the community, we’re known. And I had the taste of that, like kind of, I would say celebrity, a little bit of that, but then also the exposure to the record industry and we had people who were promoting their albums, we worked at record labels, we want you to play this album. And so that opened up a whole different world to me. And so when I was graduating and interviewing, I had offers to work at a big, bank, big commercial bank in New York City, also to go work at a big tech company out in the West Coast. And I decided to follow my passion and I had done an internship. We had a long like break, we get six weeks off during our like holiday break, winter break. And I did an internship at alum, alum.

They had offered an internship at Blue Note Records, which is Capital Records jazz label. And I loved it. And they had an opening and I came on. I started out the very bottom assistant. I wasn’t making a lot of money. I would have made a lot more money in banking or the tech company, but I followed my passion. And so I live with my parents because, you know, it wasn’t making much, but I was doing what I loved. And that experience, the president of the record label, Bruce Lundbal, who’s a legend, he passed away probably about 10 years ago, but is a legend. was a legend in the record industry. And I went to him, I wanted to go back to school. So was thinking about getting my MBA or my law degree. And he said, I said, Hey, Bruce, you know, I’d love to get your advice. I’m thinking about going to either business school or, you know, law school. What do you think? He’s like kiddo. And he was older gentleman. He said, Hey kiddo. He’s like kiddo, do you want to have a career in entertainment? And I said, yes. And he said, go to law school. It’s the best business degree you can get for this industry.

And so I went to law school, but I went evening because it’s so hard to break into the entertainment industry. And I went to law school. I worked at another label and then another label while I was working a four year program and then ended up working at the William Morris agency, which is now William Morris Endeavor, one of the largest talent agency representing top people in film, television, sports. And I worked in the legal department while going to law school. So I would negotiate deals, film deals, television deals, theater deals. You know, I worked on actually the very first Food Network had just launched and Bobby Flay was not the Bobby Flay who he is now. We represented him. We had this whole niche where we represented a lot of these chefs and Food Network was just, you know, grow. It was just started. And listen, they were not making a lot of money as much as they are now. And, you know, Emma LaGrasse, I negotiated those deals. So cut my teeth in all kinds of like deals. And that was a great foundation for me to learn about intellectual property and people, their brand, how they sell that. And we were representing them and we would get them into deals and that’s how we would make our money. We would get 10%. And so when I graduated law school, I ended up working at a very small entertainment boutique law firm, but we were above our weight class because we represented Prince, Chaka Khan, Stevie Wonder, actually represented DMX, not Jay-Z. DMX was in the state of notorious B.I.G.s, the state of Sammy Davis Jr.

You know, we had like these incredible clients. And I did the very first hip hop arena tour, Hard Knock Life tour with Jay-Z and DMX. So this was interesting because at the time rap artists were not playing in arenas. They were playing in small little clubs. We were the first tour to do this. And so the promoters said we had to get a lot of security or people going to shoot out, have shoot outs. And, know, last year or two years ago, Kendrick Lamar was performing at the Superbowl. And I remember watching that and thinking I was part of history because at the time promoters and venues did not want to have rap artists. And so we did this 40 city tour. There was a documentary about it, you know, sold out. And obviously Jay-Z is massive now. This was like, he wasn’t as big then, but he was definitely big. And so I was part of that history. And now it’s like a no brainer, like hip hop artists play all over and Kendrick Lamar is playing at the Superbowl, you know, in front of, you know, hundreds of millions of people. And so I felt like I was a part of that trailblazing that to happen.

Syama Bunten
My gosh, okay, so externally, you’re like totally crushing it. You’re working with big names, you’re doing groundbreaking work. But obviously when you get started in any career, you’re typically not making the top of the game money, right? Like there’s usually some sort of progression. And I don’t know if music is anything like fashion, but I gotta tell you, when I was working in fashion, it was like, you are so lucky to be doing this work. And the salaries weren’t so great, but obviously, being on the legal side of things, I imagine there was just a tremendous amount of value and a leg up from a salary capacity. How did you kind of navigate, you know, asking for more or getting, you know, making those sort of salary progressions as you were closing and really moving the needle and seeing big money move, right, from the external side from your work?

Lorine Pendleton
Yeah, so you know, actually, believe it or not, even because I was working for a small entertainment boutique law firm, so I wasn’t making like the big law firm, you know, salaries that, you know, if you work at a big global law firm, they pay coming out, you know, I don’t know what it was back then, but now it’s something like 200, 250 thousand dollars, you know, so, you know, rewind, those are big, those are big global law firms, right? And you do the grind, you may make partner, you may not.

This was a small entertainment boutique firm. was five of us. You know, we were, you know, we were small, so scrappy. I was still living with my parents, but what I was doing, and I always, one of things is what I do need to kind of mention about wealth and, you know, this is about wealth, right? And so my parents came from absolutely nothing. And my dad went on, he got his master’s degree, worked at IBM, Exxon. He ended up buying, you know, working and then buying real estate. He bought six multifamily homes in New Jersey.

And so I got to see that I would drive down with him to the properties. He was changing locks, like getting painters. And I saw that and just how real estate can create wealth. And so one of the things I learned from my parents is like, you save, like you always save, you live below your means. And wealth, money was, we talked about money in my household. It wasn’t like a taboo issue, which was great. And one of the things my father did, which was a gift. And I think to this day, I’m an information kind of news junkie.

When he was working at Exxon, he would get magazines that he could take home and he would bring Time magazine and made me read it cover to cover every week. And then we would sit down and talk about what I saw in the magazine or, know, and, know, sometimes I’m like, begrudgingly didn’t want to do it. I’m to go out and play with my friends. And he’s like, no, we’re going to come and talk about it on Sunday. I want to know, like, what did you learn? And, you know, I remember I was telling my dad the story. He had forgotten that he had done that and he was just so touched.

And yeah, and just so there was stuff about economics and the world and geopolitics and all kinds of stuff. so, but money was, my father said we came from nothing and look like I was able to buy a house and I saved and I bought like multifamily homes. so we talked about stock when I was, I mean, when I was a little kid, I remember, and even in Harlem, we went to a local bank and they opened up an account in my name. I had my own bank account and they would give me an allowance and I would put it in, I would put, you know, I mean, it wasn’t a lot of allowance. It was like $2 or something, I would put probably a dollar, $1.25 in the bank and I would take this, keep the 75 cents to buy candy or whatever. So they taught me at a young age money and the value of money. And that’s, think my father, because he came from nothing, he saw the value of money. He was able to get educated. He was able to make money and save. And so.

I was ingrained in me. I had stocks when I was in college. And then I always like, worked throughout college. was computer consultant on campus because I was doing computer. It was not, I was sitting at Cura lab, people have questions, but I could also study and do my homework. Every summer I had an internship. I had an internship at a big bank. I had an internship at Johnson and Johnson. And I was making like, it was like $300 a week. I thought that was like so much money in the back then it was. And I would save it, right? And so.

And then when got out of necessity because I wasn’t making a of money in the entertainment industry, I lived with my parents and then I would save money. then the jump for me was I decided to go into technology. I was seeing how these internet companies were taking off. They’ve got funding. so I negotiated. I got a much higher salary and then I got equity in a company. Unfortunately, I tell people it was my first lesson. Product Market Fit, interesting company. We raised $3 million from GE Ventures, which was a lot at the time.

We were ahead of our time. was an AI company and it was a really company. We ended up having to fold the company, sold the technology at IBM. But then I went on to another internet startup and that company had an exit and then another one had an exit and that was sold to Oracle. And so I had equity in those. And so I learned about like having startup and I think the wealth is like, you can create wealth. Most people create wealth. You can, you know, you can work at a company and maybe get stock options or have a good salary.

but very few people kind of make it to the C-suite. The other way is create your own business. And of course that’s risky, wealth creators create their own business. And the other hat that I wear, have my fun, but I’m also a chair at Tiber 21, which is a peer group for ultra high-end individuals and family offices. And a lot of our members are wealth creators. They had a business, they had an exit, and now they’re focused on what we say, you’re now in the state-rich business, retaining your wealth, maintaining your wealth.

family dynamics, raising kids so they’re not entitled and how they could be good stewards of their wealth. And then also the impact you can have. Some people start foundations, they do other things, they have another chapter that they’re looking at. so I’ve been around, so wealth, just, mean, you know, so gladly, I’ve never even thought about this, but wealth was, money was never a ⁓ taboo topic in my household. And I was exposed to money and how you can create wealth and you save money and

you know, yeah, at an early age.

Syama Bunten
Cool. And so when you were, when you made this first transition into tech, know, things like equity, right, can seem like a black box, you know, what is this? How does it work? You know, what’s the, what’s the real value of this? As you started to move down that path of startups, where did you get your guidance, I guess, around sort of what’s appropriate equity to ask for? What does this mean? Or how does vesting work? You know, I feel like that can be

black box unless you have someone good you can ask, you know, or, you know, someone who’s sort of helping you along the process to navigate what it truly means.

Lorine Pendleton
Yeah, you know, I mean, now I think there’s a lot more access to this type of information than before. And so, I mean, I had to ask people, you know, reach out to people I know, lawyers that I knew just like, what does this look like? Now, you know, the internet is the great, you know, equalizer, and there’s just so much information. And then you also put an AI and, you know, right now information

is become a commodity. It’s everywhere. I think how you use the information, how you execute on it is going to be the difference. so, yeah, I had to ask around, but I didn’t know anything about it. I just asked. And yeah, and so the equity vested. I made some moves, and so part of it was vested, some of it wasn’t. But it was a great experience working for a startup. You eat what you kill.

You know, it was not a big company. so you have, I have responsibilities. I was in sales. I had to bring in business and clients. And so I got to learn what an operator of a company, particularly a startup, what they have to go through. And I think that’s helped me as I’m looking at early stage companies to invest in. But it was all a great experience and everything I did was kind of just, didn’t, I mean, I’ve had, it wasn’t a linear career. had, I did different things, but everything kind of built on.

you know what I’m doing and I mean even me being a radio DJ, I have my own podcast, a conversation lounge with my friend Delphina work who you know. And I, yeah, I mean, I don’t think she knows that I was a radio DJ, but doing that every week, having a show for three years on the air, you know, learning that skillset was helpful. didn’t interview people, but yeah, so all of these things you build on these, you have these experiences I think. And I think we had a guest recently who’s a good friend, Greg Fisher.

And I asked him, incredibly successful investor, you know, has a hedge fund. And he, asked him, was this luck? know, preparation meets luck, know, success. When I ask people with success, preparation meets luck. And he said, you know, he likes to think he gave luck a chance. He did a lot of different things and you know, they came together. And I think that’s where I’m at. Kind of what I’m doing is, you know, doing, I’ve done different things and I feel like all of these things have led to kind of a convergence.

intersection of where I’m at today. And I didn’t know it at the time. wanted to be a brain surgeon and then I didn’t and then I was going to be an engineer and then I was on the radio DJ. was going to go work in Silicon Valley or at a bank, but I didn’t and ended up working in the entertainment industry and then became a lawyer. that’s okay. It’s great.

Syama Bunten
Yeah, it’s the way the cookie crumbles, right? Things are always so much more incredible than we ever could have imagined. I want to double click on the first startup exit that you were a part of and sort of how, you know, a couple of questions. I mean, I so many questions about so many things, but the first one in particular, because I feel like a liquidity event.

can change things for you psychologically, right? Like what I can build, what can I do here? Like all of a sudden there’s an enablement, you know? Like it’s not, it’s like there’s a there there, you know? So as far as, you know, how you saw this first liquidity event or even the second one, you know, from a guidance standpoint, you all right, I’m gonna save money. I’m gonna, was there a key purchase that sort of…

I encourage you into this new success that you are finding in the startup capacity. What did these first glimpses of like, my gosh, I can really do this and have some big outcomes look like for you.

Lorine Pendleton
So, I mean, they weren’t like massive exits for me, you know, but it was, it was still like, you know, decent. I did buy, I bought a house actually like when the first company, even when we had an exit yet, but you know, again, like what I would say is just, I’ve always lived below my means and I’ve always saved, I’ve always invested. And I, yeah, no, I mean, I was like, real estate was important, having home, having equity. And I did that. And yeah, I mean, you know, there was nothing like

massive like lifestyle change or anything like that. And so, you know, they wasn’t like, you know, if I had like was a first employee of Facebook, right? It wasn’t like that kind of like life shift. But, know, definitely, you know, paid off like student loans and different.

Syama Bunten
Those are big successes, Laurie. And being able to pay off student loans, I think, is a big win. Buying a house is a big win. I mean, there are so many wins that become so relative over time, but that are really important moments for us to be able to make steps forward, which is exciting. At what point did you then decide to go from, all right, I’m an operator, and now I want to start being on the other side of writing checks?

What was that transition like for you? What was the first check you wrote? And did you hold your breath? Were you really excited? You know, what was that? What was the first like?

Lorine Pendleton
So after the whole internet startup phase of my life, operator, I went back to law firm world, but I went back and I worked at big global law firms. So not as a lawyer, but as like business development person working with the partners to help bring in business. And so I worked at the top law firms, like three of the world’s largest law firms. And got paid really well to do that. But deep down inside, I felt like something was missing. I wasn’t truly satisfied.

Great experience for me. think when you work at big global law firms, you learn discipline. You have a lot of stakeholders that you have to answer to. Lawyers are type A. There’s not a lot of room for mistakes. And so was a great foundation for me, attention to detail and working with people who can sometimes be difficult and demanding. But I just felt like this wasn’t going to be it for me.

I started just really getting into startups. Really one day I was at home getting ready for the work week on Sunday and I had CNN in the background. Soledad O’Brien when she was on did this program, Black in America. It was different aspects of, she went on healthcare, healthcare disparity and this one was about economic disparity but also the focus was on startups and how the funding gap for black founders was less than 1 % and then she said women was like less than 2%.

And literally I remember I stopped at my tracks and was like, what? Like I didn’t, you know, I’d worked at startups, we were all fund, we all got funding. I didn’t realize, and I sure enough, I did research and found that was the case. And I said, I want to change that. And I didn’t know how, I just put it out in the universe. And literally three weeks later, I get this newsletter, it was Daily Worth. It’s a newsletter for women in finance, it’s no longer around, but I got the newsletter and they interviewed this woman, Natalia, who started Pipeline Angels. And it was a program to train women how to become angel investors.

I applied. This was exactly 13 years ago, because I got a kind of a Facebook memory because I had posted, we had our pitch, pitch, pitch summit. And it was like this week, 13 years ago. And I got in, was basically, I was with 11 other women who were incredible. Some of them are my good friends to this day. I don’t know if you know Barbara Clark. She was in my cohort. She’s one of the most prolific angel investors. She has a family office.

And she, that’s how I met her. we learned how to angel invest, perform due diligence. We invested together in a company together called CSA. Unfortunately, it’s not around anymore, but it was a consumer packaged goods company making GMO, brownie, bakery, hot chocolate mixes was already in Whole Foods, know, was in Kruger, like grew. And so that was my first, my first check that I ever wrote angel investment chat.

What I would say about pipeline now, over 600 people have gone through that program and it’s really, you know, has moved a lot of capital, kind of the friends and family round for entrepreneurs. We invested in women-led companies that were making an impact. So we were kind of the friends and family, you know, put in like between 150 or 200,000. And so, yeah, some of the companies have gone on and done really well, but that exposed me to angel investing. And then I realized you’re writing a lot of checks and you need to like,

To have a return, need to make investments in at least 20 companies. That can add up if you think about it, if you’re writing checks out. That’s when I decided to think about funds. I connected with Portfolio, Trish Costello. She had just launched Portfolio. I invested as a limited partner in her very first fund. I had exposure to 10 companies.

you kind of a mutual fund, whereas like that’s public equities. But then you put money in a fund and they’re going to, that fund manager is going to make investments in different public equities on your behalf and hopefully they’ll grow and you’ll have a return. you know, a venture fund is similar. You make an investment in that fund, that fund manager is going to make investments in great private companies and then hopefully you’ll have a return. And so I did that to her first funds and I said to her,

Hey, you should do a fun investing in women and underrepresented founders. She didn’t want to do it at first. convinced her and we launched Rising America. That was in 2020. And we went on and raised over $6 million. We got into companies like Madison Reed, which I led, which is a woman led company, LGBTQ led. Now is it, mean, even back then it was a big company. We were able to get in because of.

that the fact that we were all women, we were all women of color who running that fund. It’s the best performing fund of portfolios out of their 15 funds. We went on to raise another fund, Rising America Fund 2, and continued. And so, yeah, but we did do some investments in some technology and sports related companies like Canella Media, which were one of the first investors in that. That company has had a 50X since we invested in that company. It’s done incredibly well. It’s one of the large, it’s the second largest Latin media company.

streaming service, 60 million people use it every month. And we got into some great, really great companies. And so, but then I decided, you know, I did these two funds under my belt. Trish was a great mentor. She launched the Kauffman Fellows program, which changed some of the best VCs. So I told people I was able to get the Kauffman Fellows training without paying $90,000 because investing a lot inside of her and learning with her. But I decided it was time to do my own thing.

But what I was really excited about and what I saw the change that was happening was around sports, particularly women’s sports. And so I would go to games, New York Liberty, then, know, soccer matches, Gotham FC. And I saw just the change, what was happening, the excitement. I saw fathers now bringing their sons to games, which was like a completely different from when I, you know, I was, you know, watching these games and when New York Liberty was playing in Masses-Gregg Garden. So I’m completely dating myself. They no longer play there.

And it was just really exciting to see what was happening in the growth of women’s sports. And then, you know, I started looking at the numbers and the data and reading about this and Deloitte puts out an annual report, which actually they just dropped today for 2026 about the rise of women’s sports and what was going on. And the data was like, you couldn’t deny it. The growth, the attendance, you know, merchandise, advertisers are now starting to, you know, look at women’s sports and, start marketing to people who watch women’s sports.

And this was four years ago when I made the decision to start looking at this. And I literally was going around before I launched the fund two years ago asking people, what do you think about investing in women’s sports and the rise of women’s sports? And people said to me, you’re crazy. And also people said, no one watches women’s sports. And obviously that’s been debunked. There’s a shirt that says everyone watches women’s sports, which is viral. And so I would like to say I did call it. Now people are kind of jumping on the bandwagon, but there’s still tremendous opportunity.

But I also looked at it just not just the women’s sports, but this whole the convergence of technology. And I was always comfortable with technology as I mentioned to you. And what I was seeing is as you think about the media race and growth of sports, now you think about AI, I say that sports is AI proof. Unless you want to see robots running up and down the corner of the field, which I don’t, maybe that will change. I don’t know who knows with the Gen Z’s or Gen Alpha, maybe that one day will change. But it’s really the last.

bastion of where we can get people’s attention. Think about the Super Bowl every year, whether you watch during a regular season, a lot of people watch the Super Bowl. In fact, that’s only about 300 million people. Then you look at soccer, which is 3 billion people. We’re to have the World Cup here in the United States. Soccer has been a sleeper kind of sport in the United States. taking off. You have a lot of women, young girls, who play soccer.

You you look at the growth of these sports, how do you reach people, specifically the younger generation, they’re on their phones. How do you reach them? You got to use technology. You know, they don’t even sometimes don’t watch on the television the whole game. They’ll get the highlight clips on YouTube or different platforms. And that’s why FIFA partnered with TikTok and YouTube for the World Cup because, you know, they’re going to be able to expand their reach. so

What I was seeing is the technology is a multiplier. Sports is now a tech business. Sports, media, entertainment are tech businesses. How do you multiply reach, global reach? All of that is through technology. And that’s what my fund is focused on. What I like to call the infrastructure, the picks and shovels. With sports being like the centerpiece of it. And then how do you supercharge it? And so a lot of people are investing in teams and leagues, which is great. But my background as a lawyer, I saw value in intellectual property, the creators and the content and how do you grow it?

How you license and all that? And so that’s what I bring is like, have this unique view or unique lens because I was a lawyer and I did those types of deals. And then you put technology on it. And so how do you extract value and monetize value out of all this intellectual property and you can do it through technology.

Syama Bunten
Yeah, it’s really powerful. It’s one of the reasons why I’m so excited to have you speaking at the Wealth Catalyst Summit in May in New York because of this approach. Not only have you been able to sort of be early in calling the moment and sort of the next big wave of where returns will be made and also where culture is heading, which I think is so incredible, but I think it’s truly this intersection of

your experience on the legal side, on the tech side, and then also this passion and your previous experience as a young girl in sports. And it’s like all of these different components of your life are coming together for a really unprecedented moment. I would love to know, Lorene, what are you most looking forward to about the summit? Because this is going to be such an exciting day. And I’m so excited to have you on stage.

Lorine Pendleton
So first, I saw the lineup. You have a lineup that’s like incredible lineup of women who some of them I know, I consider colleagues. I see them as part of this journey of, we all have our purpose and what we’re focused on. And we’re also complimentary. And then I’m looking forward to meeting some of the people that I don’t know, but I’ve heard of. So you have an all-star lineup and an incredible lineup of who’s who of like completely badass women.

And so I’m looking forward to seeing those women and learning from them. You know, we’re all doing different things. And then the people who are going to come. I know I missed the one that you had last year in San Francisco. I had another commitment and I mean, people still talk about it. So I heard it was incredible. So I’m looking forward to just meeting incredible people that I know you’re able to convene. Obviously the lineup of speakers, but then also people are going to come. And so, and then learning, just learning and talking about this important topic about wealth. And I know that’s one of the things that

you were very focused on as well and particularly women discussing it. And, you know, I think a lot of women don’t talk about wealth and in my own journey as like raising a fund and thinking women are going to just really like embrace this somehow. But some have said, well, you know, if you’re a nonprofit, someone said you should start a nonprofit doing women’s sport. I’m like, what? No, like a nonprofit. I mean, there’s nothing wrong with a nonprofit. That’s just not what I want to do. But

If you’re a nonprofit, I write a check, you know, this is like for, I don’t know, I can’t write a check. And I’m just like, Whoa, like you have to change your mindset. And you know, there’s ways that you can actually write a check in a donor advice fund that I can, you know, I know you’re going to have my friend, Patrice Brickman, Inspire Access. on her platform. And so she created, came up with this great idea of like using donor advice funds, which give you a tax benefit. A lot of them are sitting idle. Half of that money is sitting idle and you’ve already got the tax money.

She figured out a way you can use that money to invest in startups as well as funds and whoever impact or a social impact or doing good. so coming up with creative people, learning from people coming up with creative ways. I think, you know, wealth is really something that, and it’s not a bad thing. It’s like, let’s talk about it. And I do believe as we’re seeing now, the people who have the biggest purse can make the biggest impact. And I think, I think right now there’s so many challenges and I think

there’s this whole wealth transfer of women is gonna happen. And I think women now can control their destiny and invest in the change and things they wanna see in the world and use their purse to make an impact. And I think that’s really powerful and we need to do that. And men too, like, I have male investors who see the rise of women’s sports, maybe they have daughters, they see maybe the challenges that their wives had to face in corporate America and know that it’s not a level playing field.

and believe in what I’m doing. so, you know, that’s really what it’s at. It’s like using your capital. It doesn’t always have to be a check. Use your time, talent and treasure to make an impact. And if you don’t have the money to do it, there’s other ways that you can use, you know, your capital, whether it be financial, social or human capital.

Syama Bunten
I just can’t wait until it becomes more normalized that to invest in women’s anything or underrepresented anything is actually just a good business decision rather than something that is just purely based on, I’m trying to do good. mean, there’s so much, there’s so much to the point where it’s like, is a profitable arena, right?

Lorine Pendleton
Yeah, it does.

⁓

The smart investors or the ones who are tapped in are going to do that, particularly with women’s sports. was actually texting my advisor today and she saw something and it’s just like the valuations of women’s sports, although they’re growing, they’re still not as much as men’s. And she’s like, well, hopefully this will prove it to people. And I said, you know what, either people get it or they don’t. No need in trying to roll that boulder up the hill.

like some people are gonna get it and the ones who are gonna get it, the smart ones are gonna get in before it’s too late. And that’s how I feel. And I kind of was always like trying to convince people and now like it’s kind of happening. And so people who see it, see it will get in. There’s always gonna be naysayers and there were naysayers recently with the WNBA had their collective bargaining agreement, which they negotiated and increased their salary by 400%, the biggest of any sports league.

And they, you know what, they got a woman who won a Nobel Peace Nobel Prize economics, Harvard economics professor. She worked with them for free and she ran the data and her, where she won that prize is through women’s wages and women’s compensation. And she looked at, looked at attendance, just all these different stats and said, actually these women are so grossly underpaid. And she put together a recommendation. And when they were having issues with the league,

she went back to the facts and she was able to get them a 400 % increase in the Wall Street Journal she’s been written about. And so they brought out the big guns. And, you know, so even now people are like, oh, their ratings are, you know, they’re, they don’t make as much money or this and that. And, you know, they failed to realize that the women, women basketball is growing. It’s now 29 years old. The men almost collapsed 40 years ago. And, you know, now a profitable, they’re actually going be.

turn a profit probably in the next two years with the media rights. And so they’re actually growing a lot quicker than the men’s did. So it’s just interesting. But people are going to be naysayers and say things.

Syama Bunten
Well, I mean, my gosh, I can’t wait for our conversation on stage in May. Loryn, I know you have to jump. I would love for everyone to know how best they can support the infrastructure and support what it is that you are building. How can people find you? What is it you need?

Lorine Pendleton
Yeah, thank you. Well first, been such an awesome conversation. I cannot wait until the conference. I’m excited. So LinkedIn is always great. I am on LinkedIn, Lorene Pendleton. You can find me there. That’s probably the best way. You can go to my firm website, 125ventures.vc. And yeah, if you’re interested in this topic around women’s sports, the integration of sports media and payment, the infrastructure and technology, reach out. I’m happy to.

you know, share what I’m doing. I’m also about to launch my newsletter, which is going to come out at the Convergence, powered by my firm. we’re, you know, every two weeks, we’re going to talk about, you know, different topics. And the first one is going to be around women’s sports and what’s happening and giving a landscape of that and doing a deep dive. But yeah, reach out. I love connecting with people who are passionate about this or just simply want to learn about the opportunities.

Syama Bunten
You’re a rock star, Lorraine. Grateful to know you, grateful to be in your orbit. Thank you for being here today on Getting Rich Together.

Lorine Pendleton
Thank you.

Syama Bunten
Thank you for listening. This is the conversation we come back to every single week. Real women, real wealth, and what becomes possible when we stop being silent about money. If today’s episode moved you, don’t let it stop here. Wealth Catalyst is where women go to take it further. Our Freedom Tour salons are gathering women in 32 cities this year. Intimate evenings in homes and private spaces where women talk honestly about money, risk, and what they’re building.

And if you’re ready to go even bigger, join us at the Wealth Catalyst Summit, a full-day event in New York City this May and San Francisco this October. Find your city and claim your seat at wealthcatalyst.com. We’ll see you there.