#66: Designing Finance for Context: A Conversation with Joanna Levitt Cea

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Gender Lens Investing
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In this episode, Joy sits down with Joanna Levitt Cea, Founder and Principal of Valiente Capital Design and lead of the Gender Funders CoLab report Moving Beyond Grant Capital: Meeting the Moment with Innovative Finance. Together, they unpack what it means to truly design finance for context - not just replicate existing models - and explore how fund design can become a tool for shifting power and advancing gender justice.
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The conversation dives into the challenges of translation between finance and community knowledge, the pitfalls of “landscape mapping” without real co-design, and the importance of experimentation over perfection. Ultimately, Joy and Joanna invite listeners to imagine finance as an evolving language of possibility - one rooted in courage, care, and collaboration.
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Episode Highlights

  • 00:27 - Introduction
  • 04:37 - Start with context, not track record
  • 08:49 –Separating design from management
  • 12:27 - The danger of hidden rules in design
  • 16:34 - Translation: finance language and context
  • 24:43 - Valiente’s brave translation work
  • 31:15 - Move resources now: plurality and iteration
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