Podcast 412: Alison Pena: Showing Us The Possibilities Within Our Reach

Today's guest joining us on the Join Up Dots podcast interview is Alison Pena, a lady who ever since she was 15 years old has been fascinated with how money and affluence has so much to do with our view of what's possible. In her own words she says "My dad was a 3rd generation Wall Street investment banker. My great-grandfather was one of White Weld & Co's founders. We lived in an apartment on Park Avenue. The family firm was sold to Merrill Lynch in 1978. We regularly hosted influential financial and world leaders for dinner parties and social gatherings. I attended a well-heeled private all girls' school, as you do when you're part of that world. But when I was 15, I began regularly leaving my white, wealthy, privileged world… and setting off on what can only be described of as "expeditions." Back then, it meant heading north of 96th Street (the northernmost boundary of my known world) into Harlem. Until that point, my world was Park Avenue and bankers, Latin and piano lessons, nannies and au pairs. And then I started making friends who showed me a whole other world. I came from a world where anything was possible, because there was plenty of money. I could have any career. I could go to any school. I could shape my life into whatever I chose. In contrast, my friends had different expectations. Different obligations. Different ideas about security. Different opportunities. And a lot of that had to do with money. This observation got me wondering… Why does money have so much to do with our view of what's possible? So I suppose the question is, does money have as much to do with confidence and mindset, or is it just a tool for making ideas happen? Is it the key to attracting more money into our lives, not because of it directly, but because we can make things happen and go after it? Well let's bring onto the show to start joining up dots, as we discuss the words of Steve Jobs with the one and only Alison Pena