Fiona is the financial brain and primary banker behind the world's fourth largest economy. She manages $3 trillion in transactions per year, oversees a $124 billion investment portfolio, and is shaping the future of 40 million Californians. The people in California are my boss. So they're the only ones that can elect me and the only ones that can take me out of office. But the treasure is important because I am the banker. Right now, California is the fourth largest economy. GDP is about $4.1
trillion. And I take in about $3 trillion into my office as the banker. Then I invest whatever the state's not using, as well as the idle funds for about 2,200 local governments. And I manage that short-term portfolio. That balance is about $185 billion today. And I issue all the bonds for the state of California and the UC and CSU systems. I think we all want to mentor, to be a mentor. And I always encourage people to reach out to me.
But it is not easy because number one, we don't get paid a lot. Okay. So that's the first thing I say is if you think you're going to make a lot of money in politics, don't get into politics. This is not why I'm getting into it. Exactly.
Thank you so much for watching this episode. If you could do me a huge favor and subscribe, that will really help us to make more content like this in the future. Hi, everyone. It's such a pleasure to have such an iconic guest. Fiona is the financial brain and primary banker behind the world's fourth largest economy. She manages $3 trillion in transactions per year, oversees $124 billion investment portfolio, and is shaping the future of 40 million
Californians. Her office provides financing for schools, roads, housing, recycling, and waste management, public facilities, hospitals, and other crucial infrastructure projects that help better the lives of Californian residents. She also has financed homes for the unhoused, reformed a broken tax agency. She's also walked the halls of power few women of color ever have. She's also a CPA, former state assemblywoman, and contender for lieutenant governor in 2026. But behind the title and all
these impressive accomplishments is the personal story of courage, sacrifice, and becoming the woman she never saw in the room growing up. Today, I'm so excited to welcome this iconic guest here in our presence and explore how she became one of the most powerful financial leaders in the U.S. And this is just the start of her story. Fiona Ma to the show. Thank you. Thank you, Melody. It's an honor to be here. Thank you so much for being here. And I'm so excited to dive deeper
into the story. All right. For context, for the average person that doesn't know much about what a California treasurer does, can you illuminate us a little bit about what your role is? And why should every American care about what you do? Yes. So in government, depending on the state, the treasurer and the controller sometimes are combined. But because we are such a big state, 40 million people, we have split the treasurer and the controller into two elected positions. So
in California, we have eight statewide electeds from the governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, treasurer, controller, secretary of state, superintendent of public instruction, and insurance commissioner. So the eight of us, we do get elected by the entire state. So the people in California are my boss. So they're the only ones that can elect me and the only ones that can take me out of office. So, but the treasurer is important because I am the banker. Right now,
California is the fourth largest economy. Our GDP is about $4 trillion, $4.1 trillion. And I take in about $3 trillion into my office as the banker. Then I invest whatever the state's not using, as well as the idle funds for about 2,200 local governments. And I manage that short-term portfolio. That balance is about $185 billion today. Amazing. And I issue all the bonds for the state of California and the UC and CSU systems. So bonds
go toward infrastructure projects and buildings and roads and all that. So that's the constitutional duties under the original treasurer. And then a powerful treasurer, he was a former speaker, Speaker Unruh. He got elected and he said, well, you're sitting on so much money, like we should do something more. So that's how today I fund and finance affordable housing schools and advanced manufacturing, public transportation, lots of small businesses.
So treasurer's office, I always say, you know, I know I take in the money. I know where the money goes. After being in this business for 30 years, I know who to call to get things moving. I also do a lot to attract investors to come to California, to stay here. And a lot of times they all want to come to California. We are the golden state, but they need someone to just welcome them, hold their hand a little bit, give them a little bit guidance and tell them where in the state they should invest.
Because we are 58 counties. Every county is different. Every county wants to focus on something else based on their people, their resources, their government. And so that's what I spent a lot of my time doing as well as matchmaking. Do you think there is a particular decision that you made that moved billions that would really surprise a lot of people in terms of the impact? I do have a number of different stories. This is my fourth elected position. I haven't lost yet
over the last 20 plus yet. She's never lost. Never lost yet. And I know we're going to get into that because you want to know what my secrets are, things that people don't necessarily know about. So we can dive into that a little bit. But I think in every position, there is something that I have been proud of. So on my first position on the San Francisco board of supervisors representing the Sunset District, one of the
things that I encountered when I first got elected was there was human trafficking happening in my district. So there were Korean women being sent or shipped over here to San Francisco working in massage establishments. And that was the way that they would get them here, get them to work for free. And then, you know, either use them and then move them if there was, you know, a bust. So I passed legislation requiring a conditional use permit for any new massage establishments that was opening here
in San Francisco. So in the planning process, a conditional use means you have to, you as the applicant have to put your name on the application. You have to go before the board. So people know that you are the responsible business owner before anyone can just open up a business, sign up, not even have to present real ID or know who was behind it. And so that's the reason that so many women were able to be trafficked through these massage establishments. Since my law passed, no more human trafficking
through massage parlors in San Francisco. So that's just one example. Very tangible. Very tangible. Yeah. I, you know, part of being a policymaker or an elected is trying to fix problems. So in the assembly, I banned phthalates in baby products. Phthalates is the chemical that makes baby products soft, like rubber duckies or those, you know, chew toys. So these are like toxic lollipops that these young kids that are teething are chewing on and ingesting. And it was ruining all of their,
you know, their insides, their hormones and others. And so after I passed that law, Senator Feinstein, former Senator Feinstein, put it into a federal bill and no baby products should have that toxic chemical in it. So that's like at a bigger level. And then one of the, that I'm most proud of is my last two bills signed by Jerry Brown allowed women who are convicted of life without parole, um, a second chance at getting their stories heard. Many people like my mother, my grandmother, you're, you know,
older women, uh, back then they did not have the battered women's syndrome as a defense. And so they would just go before, uh, a jury. Did you kill your husband or your, your lover? Yes or no? It was yes, but they couldn't explain the situation, how, uh, you know, how things led to, you know, that circumstance. And so because of my law, uh, at least over a hundred women, uh, are living the rest of their life, uh, not behind the prison walls, but, uh, in mainstream society.
And many of these women have suffered, um, tremendous health impacts, right? The health system, um, the food, you know, exercise, the air, the, everything in, in the prisons is not, um, is not great for women who have been in there a long time. So at least these women get a little bit of, uh, a reprieve and, you know, the ability to live the rest of their life, you know, outside the prison walls. So those are kind of my most heartwarming and I've got lots of other practical
issues. If you want to deal with, uh, you know, you want to dive into those. The personal lives that you've touched, I think beyond the macroeconomic movements that you make in the fourth largest economy in the world, it's most people would not know that you have impacted so many women's lives in particular, and how much power you do have over, um, over women, a lot of them who we will never hear and who we, again, like the voice for the voiceless.
Yeah. And I think because, uh, I'm a woman, a woman of color, when I find situations where unjust or we need to level the playing field, that's where I really get inspired, uh, and, um, and thankful that I am in this position that I can actually do something or say something that can make an impact. And a lot of the stories, you know, we may know because of our background and traditions, but a lot of others don't know. And especially like you said,
those silent voices, the women that don't have the ability or the strength or the power or the money to be able to fend for themselves. I wanted to dive a little bit deeper into who, who you are, your background and the formative experiences that you had that shaped your core values. You've talked about how your grandfather was once the mayor of, uh, Kumin, China, and that your parents immigrated to the U S very similar story that I have.
And, uh, growing up as a, you know, Asian American, what were the values that your parents passed to you that you hold dear to you today? Yes. So, um, as the oldest child of immigrant parents, I think education, uh, is something that, um, was instilled in us since we were children that, uh, my father wanted us to be one of the lead professions, a lawyer, engineer, accountant, or a doctor. And so I'm an accountant. My brother's an engineer. My sister's a doctor.
We were just missing a lawyer in the family, but we had a fourth, uh, sibling. I'm sure that sibling would have been a lawyer. Um, so education, um, the fact that, you know, education is important in terms of, you know, building your credibility, but also your ability to, you know, get better jobs and to move up. So education for sure. Number two, hard work, um, that, you know, we're coming to this land of opportunity and we're only going to succeed in the American dream if we work hard,
uh, and hopefully work smart. Yes. Right. Um, number three, I would say, um, saving money. Uh, my parents started saving money, uh, for us to go to college, um, since we were born. And because of that, I did not have any student loan debt. I actually had extra money that I could use to start a business to go get a master's or to buy a home. And I decided to buy a home, uh, a two unit building here in San Francisco. And I saw through my parents that, uh, home ownership builds equity. It gives
you that power to, uh, refinance and invest in other, uh, types of, uh, properties, for example. So, um, I'm big on home ownership. Uh, and that's something still that I talk about that we work on at the state of California is trying to get folks out of renting and helping other people become wealthy and to try to figure out how to buy their own home, because that's the way, um, you know, we can build equity here in the United States. A lot of those same principles I really resonate with,
with what my parents taught me, my mom being Chinese American and, uh, coming here when she was 16 years old. And my dad also coming here when he was very young from Japan, those same principles. And both of my parents are also CPAs as well. Well, the CPAs, you always need, you know, there's always death and taxes, right? So CPAs are always going to have stability as well as corners or, um, people who own more territories. When you typically think of the path of these traditional
lawyer, doctor, engineer, accountant, these are very stable professions that, um, again, guarantee you lifetime employment. But again, it's very stable and something that you would not think of necessarily as risk taking on risk, but with politics, it is completely different. It, I would say in a lot of ways, politics and being a CPA are diametrically opposed. What gave you that first sense of this is something that I need to pursue? Yeah. So, um, you know, like I said, my parents
wanted me to be an accountant, really my dad, I grew up with a tiger dad. Uh, my mom was an artist and an art teacher. And so, um, she wasn't the, you know, the one that pushed us, but my father, uh, was so, um, um, being a CPA, uh, made sense to me because I was good at math and things made sense, right? You have debits and credits and everything has to balance. And, um, it's very black and white for the most part. However, once I got my first job working with one of the big eight accounting
firms and started doing a lot of overtime and taxes and getting to know, uh, you know, my, my clients, it just didn't motivate me. I didn't feel satisfied that I was helping people. Really. I was helping wealthy people, you know, um, figure out how, uh, to, you know, get around or, or find the loopholes. But for me, that wasn't really, I didn't think my calling. And so when I left and started my own practice, I became president of a small business association.
And that really, uh, um, started my political interest in helping small businesses. Cause a lot of our relatives, our ancestors, they came here, even though they were qualified, uh, or licensed, uh, in our home countries, when they get here, the only thing they can do is start a small business, but it is very complicated, uh, in terms of navigating all of the, uh, the government entities and the taxes and, you know, having to figure out, you know, not just open the door and pay your
employees, but customers and health and all that. Um, so that's where I started, uh, to have that interest in saying, this is really satisfying being able to help other people. So my mom is the only child of a minister, a Presbyterian minister. So I was also brought up in the church every day. And so my mother was more about the giving, you know, the, the volunteering, you know, the service. And my dad was more of that, like make money and take care of the family, uh, type of thing. So, um, I just
started getting more and more interested in politics. And as the role, uh, president of the small business, uh, association, I was with a number of men mostly that would push us to get more involved in politics, go get an appointment, uh, run for office someday, you know, be at the table, have a voice. And so I kind of bought into it and started going down that path, volunteering, um, for the U S small business administration, for example, you know, uh, helping to choose the, uh, winners, um, for the small business
of the year. Um, I got a part-time job with a state Senator, John Burton, who definitely played a instrumental role, um, in me being here still to this day. Uh, and that's where I started finding my passion is really being out in the community and trying to help as many people as I can. Yeah. I think there were a couple of things that you mentioned there. It seems like there were really extraordinary people along your journey, almost men mentors in the sense that we're encouraging you
to go into politics, to think a little bit deeper about how you can make an impact. This, uh, icons community is also, I think of it like mentorship at scale. A lot of people who will be watching would love to be mentored by someone like you. And I think that my hope and my dream with this podcast is that people will be able to sit and in a sense, be mentored by the guests, by you and their journey. What did you learn from those initial few mentors and people that really helped create a space for you?
Yeah. So, um, most of them were men, um, just because that's the nature of this industry, but you need to find those mentors who believe in you and who are going to support you and open up those doors. So I've been very lucky to have, uh, many of them from, you know, my former boss, John Burton to, uh, former Congressman Mike Honda to, uh, you know, my former, um, you know, controller treasurer, John Chung, uh, and others. Um, so I think we all want to mentor, to be a mentor.
And I always encourage people to reach out to me, uh, but it is not easy because number one, uh, we don't get paid a lot. Okay. So that's the first thing I say is if you think you're going to make a lot of money in politics, don't get into politics. Exactly. Uh, politics is more about, uh, policy. It's about, you know, budgeting. It's about making those, uh, decisions for the people, but it's not about fame and fortune. Um, usually, uh, some people shouldn't be, it shouldn't be,
um, like, you know, I get paid, I think $185,000 being the treasurer of the fourth largest economy. So it really has to be like passion, uh, for you to, uh, run for office and then running for office is a whole nother dynamic. It's like, yeah, it's like two different jobs. You know, the job that I do every day versus the job running for office is totally different. And the skillsets are also very different. So you have to be able to, uh, pivot and, you know, understand what those, um,
you know, what those qualities are to run for office and then to serve an office and then run again for another office. It keeps going. It keeps going. It's like musical chairs. You hope when the music stops, you know, we have a chair to run for. Absolutely. So you talked about the difference between the job of campaigning versus the job of actually being treasure. Would love for you to tell us a little bit about what the day-to-day looks like and the nuances of the two rules.
For campaigning? Campaigning versus the actual job of being a treasurer. Okay. So, so let's start, cause I've run for four different positions at different levels. So let's start San Francisco border supervisors local. So when you campaign for a local office, uh, they expect you to go door to door, knock on the door. They want to see you. They want to meet you. Um, there's probably a lot more candidates running in a race and they will usually come down
to choosing the person that they met or perhaps a name or an occupation, right? So, um, in order to, you know, overcome sometimes the, uh, number of candidates, you know, going door to door, standing in front of the Safeway at the bus stops, um, going to the parks and the events on the weekends, uh, makes a huge difference. So it's almost retail politics and you have to be, uh, an extrovert helps. Um, if you like people, you know, I have to give people my phone number.
They're calling me, they're texting me, you know, they, they want to stay in touch. And so, um, campaigning, um, is different at different levels. So at the local level, San Francisco border supervisors, they expect to see you, you go door to door, uh, you, you stand in front of the Safeway, you go to the parks, you go to all the different events and you try to hand out your, you know, it's called like a palm card so that they can remember you. And the more that you can see them,
the more that they start to understand that you're serious and that you want the job. Also, you have to be able to fundraise. That is essential. And for many women, we were not brought up going out to raise money, right? Go out and, you know, mow the lawn or shovel the snow or get a paper route, right? Women were all like, Oh, go do, you know, Girl Scouts or volunteer, you know, at your church or, so it was never about money, but now you have to sell yourself and you have to be
able to say like a tech founder, you know, why should people invest in you? And women are usually good, uh, asking for money for other people, but not for themselves. So that's something that you, you know, you have to, um, we have to transition. And then, um, I've learned over the years that you need to protect your brand because you don't want to depend on the newspapers or the news or other people to put something out there. And social media for me has been the great leveler
because I am not, um, you know, bombastic. I don't like to point fingers. I don't like to, you know, be negative. And unless you do that in the news, you're never going to get picked up. Right. You have to go viral. Exactly. For being controversial or something. Right. And I don't want to go viral just to go viral, you know, unless it's something that I believe in. Uh, and so that also, I think comes from being Asian, right? Work hard, keep your head
down, you know, don't, um, um, don't get too noticed out there because then you're going to be the target. Um, and so, you know, that's another thing is how can you protect your brand number one, but then also stand up for yourself because we get attacked a lot. And then that extends to the family. How strong is your family? Um, is your spouse willing to also be brought into all of the negativity? Sometimes the kids cannot take it right. Because, you know, negative campaigning
unfortunately works. And that's why people do it is to try to, you know, give you some label that, you know, every time they, um, say your name, then that negative, you know, stereotype or connotation comes up. And so, you know, your family also has to be, uh, very strong or behind you, or maybe like me, I don't have kids. Um, and I try not try to keep things away from my father who's 90 years old. Cause you know, he probably gets a little upset. My husband gets upset. Um, he's on social media a lot.
So he probably takes the brunt of it. Whereas, you know, my, my skin is pretty thick by now that it bothers me maybe for, you know, 15 minutes, but then gotta be able to move on. So those are just some of the, uh, pitfalls. Then if you go to the assembly, that's about half a million people. So you're not expected to go door to door, but if you are a good retail politician, you still are out there connecting with people, you know, trying to help them. That really does help. And you have to
raise more money, you know, to get out your, your message to, uh, do mailers and sometimes radio and TV. Then my third position was the state board of equalization. It was a tax board. It was a quarter of the state. So 10 million people, there's no way you're going to be able, um, to get around to everyone. So you're really dependent on endorsements from organizations, from people, from the democratic party, if you're a Democrat or the Republican party, uh, and then all of the stakeholders that,
you know, are, uh, able to get the message out and then statewide whole nother game, right? Because you have to raise money so you can raise your awareness. You have to do polling. Um, when you're in a race, you have to hire consultants and social media and, you know, campaign manager. And then if you don't have a lot of name recognition or there's negative news about you, then you have to raise more money to put out those ads, um, so that you can, uh, you know, uh, try to get your
message out to more people. So that's why statewide races can cost anywhere from, you know, 10 million to a hundred million these days. Wow. Unbelievable. What has been your superpower that has helped you win? And throughout all the different elections, I think staying humble and I always run like I am behind. I am like the fourth place. Cause that's how I ran. When I ran for my first race, I felt like I was, you know, number four, uh, polling fourth and I have to work harder. I don't take anything for granted.
I work seven days a week. The only time I'm not working is when I'm sleeping. Um, but I'm also accessible. People can reach me. I give everybody my cell phone number. Um, they can contact me and I can either assist them or put them in contact with someone who can. Um, so I think those are probably, you know, my, um, my, my superpowers. Plus I'm, uh, a super, uh, extrovert. So I get energy from seeing people. So even if I have a couple hours of downtime, I'm thinking about where can I go?
Who can I see? What can I learn versus, Oh, I got to go home. I want to read a book. I want to meditate. That's not just who I am. Thank you for unpacking all the different levels of what it takes from, uh, each of the election cycles that you've been a part of. I want to go back to something really interesting that you mentioned, which is the way that we're raised as women often is not going to ask for money. And I think that that's again, a huge challenge. And the reason why only 2% of venture
funding goes towards women. Fundraising is a common thread between success as a founder and politician. How did you master fundraising? First off, I think if you don't understand something, or if I don't understand something, then I tried to do as much research and I tried to dig in and, you know, I believe in trust, but verify number one. So I'm always learning and seeing, uh, with my own eyes, um, fundraising. I was fortunate to, um, help, uh, my first boss, Senator John Burton fundraise. And I think that's
the best way to learn is to, uh, learn from someone or actually do the job before you have to be in that position of, you know, having to fundraise, for example. So I raised money for him for seven and a half years. Again, raising money for him was kind of easier because it was my boss. And I could always say, well, if you support my boss, whatever, because of legislation or things he's done, because he's a good guy, he deserves to get reelected. Right. Um, that's the way you can fundraise for
other people. And my former boss is an introvert. He did not like to go to a lot of events. So I was the one out there, um, representing him, presenting the certificates, you know, showing up at events, you know, filling tables. Um, and so the more that you can do the job yourself, when it comes time to transitioning, you already know what works and what doesn't work. And so when I became a candidate seven and a half years later, I already had those networks, people knew to call me. And so it was just
about like, Hey, Melanie, um, I really need your help now, you know, for seven years, you know, we've been friends and we've been working together in the community, but right now I really need you to please support me. Will you do a house party for me? Will you do a fundraiser? Will you just cut me a check? Just come to an event, invite a friend and you have to put yourself in that position. But if you've been doing it for so long, you kind of know what works. And I've heard in the past, what people
like about politicians and what they don't like. And I volunteered on many campaigns. So I've seen politicians when they, um, you know, when there are volunteers who are excited about them, when there are donors that are excited and when they're just not really excited. And so you kind of live and learn, um, and then you, you know, evolve. Do you have a pitch now that you are transitioning, of course, all these years from fundraising for other people now to fundraising for yourself,
uh, a pitch that you typically give people that gets them to write that check? Yeah. Well, it just depends. I have found as women, and you probably have found this as well. Uh, like my maximum is 9,800 for the primary 9,800 for the general, uh, the men will cut a $9,800 check to a guy. They don't even have to call them. They don't have to show up at an event. They don't even invite them to an event yet for me, they will give me $2,500. And so I have to call them again and again,
but I look at things on the flip side is I develop better relationships, um, with people because I am in contact with them a lot more. So, whereas I have to call a donor three times to get 9,800, uh, they really appreciate it. And it's always like, it's not like, Hey, um, you know, can you just donate? It's more like, Hey, can we have coffee? Um, you know, and then when you're having coffee or a meal, you're getting to know them better. And they always, everyone has issues that they, you know,
are bothered about or that they need help with or whatever it is. And so you develop more of a personal relationship with people. And I think that is, um, is, is good in the long run, but that's where women tend to excel is that we have better interpersonal skills because we have to. Yeah, absolutely. It reminds me of a story. Um, when I was a startup founder and I was going around raising my first angel, angel funding. And I talked to my male counterparts and they said,
what do you mean? It should be so easy to raise a million dollars. You can send an email out to your friends and basically say, I'm raising a million dollars. Give me money. And I said, okay, I am, um, you know, in the very early stages still, I don't have an idea. I don't have a product. I don't have a CTO yet. And he said, what do you mean? You don't need any of that to fundraise. And I said, without a, without a team, without a product, you think I can just go out and raise a million dollars.
And I think it just, it really highlighted the audacity that some, that some people have. And I guess in a sense, um, why there is such a big gap between men and women, whether it is at the founder level or investing level or in politics. So I tried to instill the sense of, we need more audacity for women and we need to not be afraid to put ourselves out there and to grow a thick skin. It seems like this is something that comes second nature to you.
Well, that's, that's why there aren't as many women in politics is because women will tend to think about it a lot longer. Like what does the job entail? Am I qualified to do the job? Right. Um, I need to talk to my family. I need to really think about it. Can I afford it? What if I have kids? Are they going to be, um, you know, upset that I'm not there all the time? We just overthink everything. And men don't need to qualify a hundred percent. You know, if they're 60%,
they're like, yeah, I can do the job. I can learn, learn the job. But then they also have these networks where you ask for a million dollars and you're a Stanford alumni. Yeah. They all go, okay, we'll write a check versus, you know, you may be a Stanford alumni and you're calling your friends and they'll be like, well, what's your track record? Yeah. Who is your team? Oh, send me the deck. Yeah. Oh, let's get together. Let's talk about it. Right. It's a double standard.
Absolutely. How, how did you get, get over this? Was it just a matter of reps and practice? And, you know, especially in those early days when you didn't have a track record necessarily in politics, the first time you were running or, or even now, like what is, how do you continue to, to not be afraid to ask? Yeah. Um, so I think, when I ran my first race, I did have a track record because I was on the CPA. Right. So I had
a private practice. Um, I was president of the Asian business association. So I represented, you know, a certain constituent base. I also got involved in a lot of, uh, nonprofits as well as political organizations. And I worked for, uh, John Burton for seven and a half years. So I was preparing myself to run for office, but even when I did run, there were things that I was not prepared for. And I, I should have, um, in the long run, but I've learned from that so that my other races,
uh, are different. But, um, I would say, I forgot your question. So my question is, how do you get good at asking for money? Oh, is it just reps? I, I, I've been doing it for so long. And because I have to go to a donor many times, they will say, Oh, I'm sorry. I'm out of town. And I'll say, okay, when are you back in town? They'll be like, Oh, in a month, I have another event next month. You know, can you come? So I have to have a lot of events to invite people to,
because I do not like cold calling. I don't like to be cold calls just for money. Yeah. So if someone's going to add, like if someone is going to, uh, send me a solicitation in the mail and I know they did not sign it or even a thank you letter, if they did not sign it, that's, um, it loses that personal touch. So I sign all of my, you know, thank you letters. And if you're pitching, I expect the letter to say, Hey, Fiona, you know, how's Jason hope, you know, or how are your dogs?
How's your dad? Hope you can come and join me at, you know, at this next event. Then I will be like, wow, they sat down, took the time. And that's what makes a difference. And I think that's why I've been in politics a lot longer is it's just the little things, the personal touches that extra, you know, outreach, um, makes a huge difference. And then when it comes ask for money, they call me all the time. I can call them and I feel comfortable asking them. Wow. So it sounds
like for the people that are watching who want to be able to apply it to their own journey, that it's again, the reps, it's putting yourself out there. It's the going the extra mile. It's not just going to be a phone call asking for a favor or for, uh, for funding. It would be, you know, come to this event, make it, make it an opportunity for them. And then when, when you're in the environment, make it again, very personal. Yeah. So my events are great networking events.
And when I'm there, I'm introducing you to someone that I think would be helpful and maybe a good person to be in your network. Uh, and so that's, um, you know, I think that's my reputation for my events is that, um, people meet interesting people and we're adding value to their life so that it's not only their time and their money, but they're also, uh, increasing the people in their network. Let's say when you're running for Lieutenant Governor now, what is the pitch that you're giving people?
So excited to welcome this extremely distinguished guest ecosystem builder and head of community in San Francisco, Christopher Floyd. He runs one of my favorite organizations in San Francisco Founders Bay, along with Marianne Becker. And here to talk to us a little bit about all the amazing things and how you guys can be involved in person through different conferences, events, and get connected. Christopher. So can you tell us a little bit more?
First of all, thank you so much for having me. It's a pleasure to be here and I love what you're doing. Founders Bay. It's awesome. So we're based in San Francisco. We're a community of getting close to 80,000 members. That's huge guys. You'd have to be a part of it. Yes, you have to be a part of it. So we're based in San Francisco, but our members are spread across the country, across the globe, but we have a very high concentration of folks that are based here in the city. We do events
constantly. We do large events, you know, the 2,000 plus people. We also do smaller events. Basically what we're trying to do is connect founders, investors, operators, and even just tech enthusiasts to each other and give them an avenue to share ideas, collaborate, and kind of expand their networks. At founderspay.com. Thank you. I'm a perfectionist and I often don't feel like these videos meet my standards. And for me, that's where Be Creatives comes in. I sent them my raw,
imperfect footage and they worked their magic. They helped me clean up the audio, video quality, fix the lighting, and helped me make everything look more professional and polished. Now, no matter where I'm recording, I know my content is going to be in good hands. It's been a game changer and one of the best decisions I made for this podcast. Be Creatives and I have partnered for a special discount of $150 off per month for the Icons community. Please click the link here to sign up.
Let's say when you're running for lieutenant governor now, what is the pitch that you're giving people? Maybe you can tell the camera. Okay. So, you know, I have been doing this a long time and I am still in it and I'm still passionate every single day about serving people. My tagline is proven, principled, and problem solver. And those are three things that I gave myself. I didn't have to hire a consultant, right? It's because that's who I know and that's who I believe I am in. So,
I'm running for my fifth position, lieutenant governor. That would be the number two position in the state. The number one job is to be able to take over and assume the role of the governor in case the governor is out of town or unable to serve. So, that is the number one role. And I think after 30 years, I do have the qualifications, I do have the experience and the know-how to understand what some of the problems are that we are facing, how to fix them, but also more importantly, how to
predict what is going to happen in the future. Three out of four positions have been in deficits. So, I am not one of those chicken little, the sky is falling. I know the sky is falling. It has fallen and we've gotten through it. And so, how do you kind of plan for the future? And with my fiscal and financial background, I'm always kind of thinking about how to generate revenues, how to cut costs, how to make things more efficient, who the best people are to hire or to appoint that can be those leaders. That is
equally important. Absolutely. Sorry to put you on the spot there. But yeah, I think learning to pitch and put yourself out there, advocate for yourself is one of the skills that I think is the most important. And I just have really admired the way that you are so available to people in my community, the founders, investors, builders, hearing you speak at multiple different engagements and being so generous with people is against such an asset. And I think that that's why you have not lost a single
election. And I would like to talk about the tech community for a minute. Absolutely. Please do. The tech community has not been my base in the past, but you're all small business owners, right? You're entrepreneurs. It's the same, you know, as, you know, the mom and pop, you know, grocer or, you know, manicurist or doctor or veterinarian, right? But somehow there's a disconnect between tech and politics. Yeah. Let's talk about that. Yeah. I think technology,
because you're in tech, everything is so fast and you just want politicians to stay out of the way. Just let you go, let you develop, let you just run, right? Don't put guardrails on. Whereas in politics, politics is all about protecting people, right? And we only get involved with tech if something is happening, something happened on the internet, like kids are being, you know, you know, you know, certain platforms, for example, are targeting minors. And if we find that the
company's not doing anything to prevent it, that's where the politicians get involved. But once we do get involved, it becomes very expensive for everyone, like as we have seen in some of the, you know, recent initiatives. So that's why I implore people. And when I'm at events, you know, I'm very thankful to have the stage, but to also talk about why politicians and people in tech should get to know each other more. We should educate each other more so that when something
does happen, we have a direct communication line and we're not going to go and start banning some technology or, you know, stopping, you know, whatever, you know, is putting guardrails, very strict guardrails where the tech community says, well, we're not able to compete anymore because Silicon Valley and our tech community, our biotech, our gaming, all of those are so important and really helps our budget in California. And I think that that is something that I have seen a lot of founders
struggle with is wanting to stay so far away from politics and seeing an innovation and politics as being always in opposition. I love that you want to reach out to the tech community, to the startup community, because again, it's your roots, your background is all about empowering small businesses. And there is so much in synergies, I think, between what you've been working on through your decades long career and also how founders have been building. And I think there is a lot to be
a lot to be shared in terms of the common vision. So one of my legislation in the, in the assembly was to ensure that electric vehicle charging stations were not going to be under the jurisdiction of the California Public Utilities Commission. Can you imagine everyone who wants to put up a charging station has to go get permission? Yeah. I mean, that would have slowed everything down. So those are ways. And I only learned that because all the EV charging stations, you know, that was kind of the
boom at the time. And they were trying to figure out how to scale up pretty quickly. But they were nervous because they're a technology that they would be, you know, under the jurisdiction. And so my legislation actually created more of a free market system. That's super interesting. We'd love to hear a little bit about your views on AI. I think with a lot of politicians, it's not well informed about the space. It is a lot of
fear and putting guardrails on. Same with Web3 and crypto as well. Do you have any particular views about AI and how it's impacting anything that you're working on? Absolutely. You know, when it first started, when I first heard about ChatGPT, right, I asked one of my staff, I said, okay, show me how this works. I'm always curious to see what the next and latest invention is. So I asked her to do it. And we did a short query. And back then, like seven years ago, it was a little off. You know, it was
very generic. It wasn't too specific. It didn't footnote. Seven years ago. Seven years ago. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. About seven years ago. I remember I was asking them, please tell me about cannabis banking because I was trying to bank the cannabis industry and I still am. And the, you know, the answer that it gave was, was very basic, kind of like maybe a third or fourth grader could do, you know, with a little research, but clearly things have changed a lot. And I use it every single day
for everything, whether it's, Hey, I'm coming to meet Melanie today. Tell me a couple of things about her, or, uh, I'm working on a social media posts, you know, here's their mission. Please make it more interesting, shorten, lengthen. I'm right. Using it for speeches. Now, you know, I'm giving them different, um, you know, versions or different things and asking it to keep revising so that we can finally get to that point. So I use it every single day. And I know people think that AI is going
to get rid of jobs. I heard something that said, AI is not going to replace jobs, but if you don't know how to use AI, you will not have a job moving forward. That's right. And it is, um, you know, it's penetrating every single industry, whether it's healthcare today, I had a, um, conference call with some of the community hospitals and some of the bigger healthcare providers are all using AI, you know, to figure out, you know, different matrix and how to save money and how to identify.
And these community hospitals need to also, you know, use that tool to be on that same playing field, so to speak. So AI is here to stay. It's not going away. It's continuing to get better and better. I was with a company yesterday that is, has built, uh, uh, a human robot that can actually like walk and it's going to be using AI so that whatever task it is assigned, it could get better each time instead of, you know, having to tweak it and, um, and you run it by a joystick. It's pretty remarkable.
Absolutely. So do you have a message for the community who are building in AI, the leaders who are changing the world in this space? What would you say to them? Yeah. So, um, you know, I started with chat GPT, but some of it, the information it gives you back, you're not really sure whether it is real or fake news. And then I didn't meet the owner of a founder of perplexity AI, where they are actually footnoting, uh, all of the responses that come out. So I think that is better and, and wise
versus, you know, anyone who could put anything out there. And then you say it enough times and almost becomes almost like the truth. Um, I have a digital twin now that I've been, I have a tech advisory, uh, um, uh, committee. And, uh, one of the things I wanted to do was do this digital twin because I do a lot of informational, um, workshops, but I'm only speaking to the people that are actually there or online. And I really want, uh, to open up so many of our programs to anyone who is interested.
And so not only do I have a digital twin that is, uh, you know, online, but you can call a phone number and then also ask questions. And, you know, because some people aren't tech savvy, but they can call and they can ask the questions and it's my voice, uh, you know, answering the questions. Um, so, you know, I am trying to use AI for my office as well, not only to be more efficient, but also to better serve our community. So it sounds like you are pretty bullish on the future of AI.
I'm not afraid. I'm not afraid at all. Amazing. And what do you think about government stepping in for AI regulation around things like safety? Yeah. Government, um, you know, with technology, by the time government steps in the tech communities on like iteration five, right? So you're like, okay, you go chase that. Cause we're like in the next thing. But I do think if people in the tech space make an effort to reach out to politicians, invite us to come and see what it is you're doing,
use that opportunity to tell us who we're competing with, um, what some of the challenges are, but what some of the, um, you know, the bright spots are and how California is leading on so many levels. And if we over-regulate, we are going to be killing. We have been killing the golden goose, like the cannabis industry, uh, that proposition to make it, uh, legal for adult use. The taxes are too high in it. And now we have decimated the cannabis industry. Whereas 10 years ago, we were like the
leaders. Absolutely. It is pretty much dead right now. And we're not collecting the taxes that we want. And the illegal market is, um, you know, is, is rampant right now. And it's not safe. The product, the whole reason for the initiative was to make sure when you walked into a store that that store was testing, um, that they had the proper labeling and that it was safe. And now because of, you know, the high taxes, what you're getting on the market, you're not sure
whether it's pure, whether it's laced with something, um, whether it's what it is that it says. So it is really, really dangerous, um, when we are, you know, over-regulating or over-taxing any, any industry. Absolutely. While there are a fair share of, you know, risks and fears around AI, every element of it, it sounds like you're really wanting to promote the innovation and not stand in the way. Yes. Especially as the future of being Lieutenant Governor. Is that how you see your role?
Absolutely. I mean, as Lieutenant Governor, um, you know, hopefully we can be the third largest economy where it would be the U S China and California, which I can see, I can see it is in our future, but we have to, uh, change the way we think a little bit. And only people from the industry can help policymakers better understand what is, um, doable and what is like a game changer versus what is going to be, you know, uh, um, just a barrier. And I think that, um, at the local level,
Daniel Lurie has been doing a fantastic job getting a seat at the table with a lot of the tech companies. And I, I think as well as you have as well, um, I'm really excited to see the tech community and especially people building an AI invite you more into those circles as well. And so it could be more of a partnership as, as both grow and can, can be successful. So thank you so much for sharing your perspective on that. Um, would love to learn a little bit more about your candidacy for Lieutenant
Governor and what your vision is for what you'd like to do in that role. Yeah. So Lieutenant Governor, number one has to be willing and able to serve the governor, uh, cannot, but the Lieutenant Governor sits on five boards, the UC Regents, the, uh, CSU Board of Trustees and community college, um, board as well, coastal commission and state lands. So those are the five boards right now. You know, I, I chair 17, uh, boards and I sit on a whole number of others. And so it's relatively easier in terms of the job
description, uh, but education, higher education, uh, needs to be a priority for the state of California. And it is getting more expensive for people, underserved communities, immigrants to be able to afford to even go to a UC these days. So, you know, what are some of the ways to make it more affordable? Um, the state universities, uh, they don't get a lot of funding. They don't get a lot of love, uh, from either, you know, their alumni or their endowments or their sports teams. And then
they also don't get funding like community colleges under prop 98. So I'd really like to work with the state universities, the 23 of them to see whether we can better, uh, create a curriculum that meets all of the different, uh, industries and needs of people. So AI, where do you go? If you're going to, if you want to learn AI right now, no, but all these AI companies are right here in, um, San Francisco. They could be teaching courses at San Francisco state training the next generation about, you know,
what, what they should be doing. We have so many, uh, rental properties. There's no property management school to learn how to be a property manager, right? There's so many gaps in our, uh, in California where we are strong hospitality. You want to work at Disneyland, all right. Or you want to work at a hotel. We can't afford to go back to Cornell. Why is there a school that is training, you know, us to do, you know, that type of work here. So that's kind of my vision for that.
And then coastal commission state lands that has to do with, you know, our environment, our coast, our land. Um, and because I will have more time in theory, uh, I will do a lot of my personal investigations because there's a lot of cases that will come before the board and I need to learn and understand what the ramifications are of voting yes or voting no to a proposal. And so I'm going to continue to go around the state and, you know, do my own homework. Lieutenant governor also, uh,
chairs the economic development council. Traditionally, it's been like one council. People are in different clusters. I'm going to have different councils so that I can get the best and the brightest to give me feedback and perhaps the legislature and the governor about again, what's working, what's not working, how we're going to better be able to compete and attract and keep jobs here. Our budget is highly dependent on personal income tax, corporation tax, and sales tax. So if
we do not have high net worth individuals here paying high personal income taxes, then that's where we fall into issues of deficits. So AI, we hope that eight, the top AI companies here all become unicorns. Great. That is going to help us. And we will get out of our deficit much, much faster. Not only the corporations are going to pay their taxes, but also the individuals who are benefiting. So many great things you touched upon there. And, and I hope that you get to make continuous impact in
all of those areas in terms of let's say taxes. And you were saying the majority of the tax comes from these high net worth individuals and the corporations with the exodus of tech companies, leaving places like San Francisco, California altogether. What is the vision to keep them here? Yeah. So I always say, um, cheaper is not always better. And companies that are moving outside of the state, some of their employees just don't want to live in Texas, for example. Right. And so how are
you going to attract, uh, the talent, uh, the people, and especially the young people, young people these days, you know, they're all about quality of life. Um, it doesn't matter that they can make a lot of money and they know it, but if they can do it where they are happiest, uh, with a good ecosystem, California, we speak over 200 languages, like everybody is welcome and everybody should feel welcome. Unlike other States where they don't look like many of us. Right. So that's what I, um,
I pitch to people is our diversity paying a little more in sunshine tax. But again, we have to create those ecosystems where people feel that they can make it, that there's not overly, uh, they're not overly burdened, uh, by regulations and by taxes and things cannot keep changing all the time because companies depend on stability. If they are going to, you know, invest and stay in a state for a long time. But if you keep changing the laws every year, every two years, it's going to make everybody
crazy because they, some of them long-term investors, planners like biotech, you can't keep changing, uh, the rules, right. When it takes 10 years for a drug to come to market. Absolutely. So it sounds like, again, the dream that you're continuously selling is of course the diversity and the amount of talent that is in California, but also on your part, the stability that you hope to be able to bring and the, um, in a sense, uh, very business friendly.
We have to be business friendly, right. Um, and we have to, uh, be, uh, thankful for companies that want to open up the headquarters, stay here, invest here. Uh, and so that's part of what I do as well is I go and do a lot of visits and just to understand what they're all doing. And everybody is trying to work super hard, trying to invent the next best and greatest, whether you're going to IPO or whether you're going to exit or whether you're just going to continue to grow. Um, all of it is
important, but visiting, hearing, uh, from them one-on-one, I think makes a big difference. That's so great to hear. Can you tell us about the hardest day that you've experienced, whether personally or professionally and how you got through that? I think for a lot of the people who are listening in the midst of building companies, in the midst of pursuing their dream of becoming a top athlete or in Hollywood, things like that, the odds are so small and the failures
many times can seem intermountable. Yeah. And I think it would be really amazing to hear someone at your caliber who has achieved this unprecedented level of success, what those hard days were like and how you got through them. Well, I will tell you, um, what I have experienced that many people have experienced is, um, a frivolous lawsuits. Oh, wow. And being in the middle of that every single day for three years, however, like I said, everything happens for a reason.
And I turned it into a learning experience. I started to understand how the legal system works, how lawyers work, how government works, how people work, right? Trying to extort money from other people because they thought I would back down and just, you know, settle with them. And that's not who I am. Fiona's not settling. I don't settle. And I'm a fighter and people may not know because they don't see what's been happening behind the scenes, but I am a hard fighter. I do not give up and I will not
settle. And the other side found that out because they released me from my case because I wanted to go to court and clear my name. I'm not scared of going to court because I served on a jury. Yeah. Serving like most people don't want to serve on a jury. You should. When you see how our justice system works and you serve on a jury, you're not scared about going to court because the people that are sitting in the box are regular people. They are listening to your story and they know when someone
is honest and someone is trying to, um, you know, extort people, for example, right? Make up stories. And so I was not scared about going to court. I hired the best lawyer. I'm ready to go. And they're like, Oh, three years. We don't want to go to court because that's what they don't want to do. They're exhausted too. Well, well, they just want the easy way out. Many of these attorneys, they just take on these cases and hope people settle. That is not right. Especially hardworking
people that, you know, have put their heart and soul and their life savings into a business. And then they have someone come, you know, and try to sue them for money when they didn't even do anything wrong. That's what I don't like. And that's why I'm saying leveling the playing field, being on this side in government, being, having this platform, testing the waters, testing, um, understanding so that I can be an advocate for others. So now people call me because they know
I've been in this lawsuit and they asked me for advice. What should they do? Who should they call? You know, is this lawyer a good lawyer? What should their path be? What should they expect? And I'm more than happy to be that, uh, advisor. I want to pivot a little bit to talk about inspiring the next generation, Fiona's for those who are interested in thinking about politics, but don't want to leave the comforts of, uh, having, let's say a stable job or deviating from the norm,
but they feel a calling towards public service. Can you tell them about what continuously inspires you to stay in public service and why this is a great calling? Yeah. Um, I love people and I try to look at, um, the best that someone has to offer versus the negatives and try to incorporate that into, you know, what I'm doing every day, trying to help them, um, you know, uh, improve, um, you know, their lot in life connects. Um, so that is my, um, passion.
And because I am a connector knowing and meeting more people every single day excites me, right? Because there's always someone that's doing this, but they're looking for funding or they're looking for employees or they need to locate, uh, a warehouse or, you know, a manufacturing site. They want to come here. Right. So every day, this is what, you know, gets me up at night, uh, keeps me, um, um, wakes me up, up, keeps me, uh, keeps me, um, waking me up every single day with that purpose.
But leveling the playing field is really what gives me that sense of satisfaction of why it's all worth it, because it is a lot of sacrifice to do this. It's a lot of work. Um, you know, it's a lot of guilt. Like my dad is like, he saw me this morning for three hours. Like, Oh, you're home. Good for you. You know, cause he doesn't necessarily see me. My husband's like, do you want to go to a movie tonight? I'm like, well, I have to speak at this, you know, this FinTech, uh, conference tonight,
you know, maybe later, but then mission impossible is a three hour movie. So that means I'm going to be exhausted because I'm tired a lot. Um, so, you know, it's just always having to compromise. Um, yeah. And yeah. And all the elements, and you're not going to be able to do everything well. So you have to be okay with doing the best you can in whatever, you know, I'm, I'm doing every day. I want to talk about the sacrifices that you've made, because again, you've touched so many lives,
made a tremendous impact on the economy. We all feel it in this community. You're an icon and role model to so many, but there are things that we don't see behind the scenes. The, the moments that took so much out of you. And I love to ask people about what they don't, what we don't see. Can you tell us about some of the sacrifices that you've made? Um, it's, it's definitely time. There's only so much time in the day. And so your relationships
suffer on many levels because people have different expectations of how much time, you know, people be like, Oh, let's go and, you know, get a massage. And I'm like, I don't have three hours or someone will say, Oh, you should come with me to Pilates. And I'm like, I don't have two hours. Um, you know, but it's just, I, I, I'm a workaholic number one, but I always feel I need to stay ahead of the game and by relaxing or doing things that, you know, traveling, I don't do a lot of traveling. Um,
every time I leave, I'm like, I, I hardly leave the state because I'm, you know, the time zone changes, you know, mess me up and I have to cancel certain meetings and, you know, zooms because of that. So I'm always, you know, I'm always like worried about, you know, California and what's going to happen next, um, or running in the next election, you know, who's going to jump into my race because every person, you know, it just makes it more difficult. So, uh, it's just an obsession.
And, you know, I think as a tech founder, you probably understand every day. That's all you're thinking about. You're thinking about, you know, your investors, you're thinking about your technology, you're thinking about how are you going to get ahead of everybody else in there? I mean, you have to have that drive, that fire in the belly. If you don't have the fire in the belly, um, you're just not going to be able to do it. And ultimately, as you know, two o'clock in the
morning, three o'clock in the morning, it's you that is up saying, Oh, I forgot to call this person. Oh my God, there was a mistake in my deck. Um, whatever. I said the wrong thing. Oh, I, I, you know, maybe I pissed someone off, you know, today, you know, so you have to have the fortitude that you can do it yourself. You cannot depend on anyone, not even your partner, your spouse to, to really get you through some of these times. There are so many things that you mentioned, um, are things that
we've heard from other tech founders. Oh, we did an interview with Emmett Shearer, who was the CEO of OpenAI. And before that he ran Twitch and he talked about one of the core things that separated him from the people who didn't make it, who were in very similar situations as him was this constant obsession that he had to solve the problem, that it wasn't the discipline that carried him through, but it was the obsession of, there is no way that I am going to quit. Right. And almost to an unhealthy degree,
but needing that level of pure commitment and intensity. So I wanted to, um, ask you a little bit about if there were ever times you wanted to quit and how you pulled yourself from out of that darkness. Yeah. There's been a number of times I've wanted to quit, you know, when you, um, it's too much, right. When, especially when there's deficits, uh, in California and you're forced to cut, um, people come out of the woodwork and, you know, they're concerned about their social security or their
food or their, their medical. Um, and that's where it just weighs heavy that you want to solve the problem. You'd love to generate more money. You'd love to have more money, give more, do everything for free. But unfortunately, you know, you have to figure out how to generate the revenue so that you can pay for everything that everybody wants. And so those are the times I think are the hardest is when, um, times are tough and people are really struggling and suffering that I think, oh my God,
how are we going to get out of it? Like it's too much, you know, maybe I can go do something else. Let other people worry about the problems, but other people cannot, uh, in my opinion, after doing this for so long, um, that experience is, is really, really hard to come by. You just can't buy the experience. You just can't learn the experience. It's really about, um, you know, walking the walk and, and walking through those rings of fire that keep you going, knowing that
you're going to be okay at the end or it'll pass. Cause a lot of people, you know, it'll pass. Right. But it's not always while you're like, you know, on that journey. For a lot of people, it can be this really strong sense of their faith in higher power or this sense of, again, like looking back and thinking about their own testimony, thinking, you know, I've done this before I can make it through for others. That's, um, it's that their dream is so big that
they feel like they can't give up that there are too many people depending on them for you. What is the fire that keeps you going or how you draw strength? Yeah. I think all of that, all of that, that people do depend on me right now. So if I get elected Lieutenant governor next year, I'll be the highest Asian ever to serve at the state government since 1849. We've never had a woman governor. Number one, we've never had an Asian governor. We've never had, uh, um, Asian Lieutenant governor.
Um, we do now have Rob Bonta, Filipino as attorney general, uh, March Fong Yu many years ago, she was secretary of state. So those are the highest so far. So, um, breaking those glass ceilings allows other women, uh, other people of color to dream and think that they can also move to those levels. Look at Kamala Harris. She was the vice president. Amazing. Then when she was running for president, you're like, I never thought I would see a woman president in my lifetime, still the hardest
position to run for knowing what I know now, how hard it is for women and a double standard. So, um, that, um, that, um, that kind of keeps me in the game. Number two, I don't really want to do anything else. There's nothing else I want to do. It's not like if I make more money, which I probably could sitting on corporate boards and consulting, but I don't want to travel. I don't buy fancy clothes. Many is like Ross or someone made it for me. So how is money going to change my life?
Right. I would probably buy houses for all my friends who couldn't afford it, help them with all the down payment. That's what I'd probably do with my money. But other than that, you know, I still think I'm making a difference. Um, I, I still have a lot of ideas. I know areas where California needs to reform. Um, so looking forward to kind of tackling some of those bigger issues. That's so good. The amount of, um, passion that you have for California to solve problems,
systemic issues, empower people financially, empower businesses, make California the third largest economy in the world. And on top of that, just your personal resilience and tenacity powering through all these challenges is you've just exceeded my expectations beyond the person I've looked up to. Um, and who I've drawn a lot of strength and inspiration from. I want to ask you a final question, which is what you want to be remembered for.
Hmm.
I think, um, being remembered for helping as many people as I can, uh, making a difference and just kind of breaking those invisible ceilings. I think it's important now at my age, seeing, I wouldn't have run for Lieutenant governor had my friend Mona Pascal had not been appointed, uh, as Lieutenant governor. And I walked into her office and I was like, girl, you're like the Lieutenant governor. Like you are in this powerful position. And I would not have thought of running
for state treasure statewide. That was not even in my psyche, but seeing her there, I said, well, she can do it. I can do it. And so I think that's probably my legacy is just opening as many doors, uh, for the next generation. That's so good. Thank you so much for joining us on this icons podcast episode where we learned a little bit more about Fiona, Fiona's personal story, lessons of resilience and tenacity. And I hope that you all feel more emboldened to go ask for what you want,
for what you deserve. Don't be afraid and never give up. Thank you so much. Thank you. If you're an investor, a builder, an entrepreneur, and someone who likes to attend events in person, you guys have to check this out. It's great to meet the icons community here. It's amazing work that you've done. AIFI produces events, everything from summits with thousands of people to workshops, hackathons, and we'd love to invite you. Go to AIIFY.io for links to all the events we have coming
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