‘Cash is Queen’: A Fireside Chat with Natalie Levy and Dean Vijay Khatri
Author and entrepreneur Natalie Levy and Dean Vijay Khatri recently explored how leading with values can transform investing into a tool for empowerment.
On Feb. 12, Leeds Tandean Rustandy Endowed Dean Vijay Khatri sat down with author and investor Natalie Levy to discuss her book, Cash is Queen: A Conscious Journey in Angel Investing. The event, hosted by the New Venture Challenge in partnership with the Deming Center and the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Initiative, quickly expanded beyond investing. Levy and Khatri explored values, boundaries, feminine energy and broader life lessons.
Khatri shared how his mother and grandmother shaped his relationship to money, making Levy’s stories about women in finance especially meaningful to him.
“I’m very grateful to be in this conversation with you,” he said. “There were parts of the book that made me audibly gasp, and I’m excited to share them with you.”
Energy as a guiding principle
Levy wrote her book after leaving Wall Street, shifting from a high-pressure career as a derivatives trader toward a life more aligned with her values. A central theme of her work is the idea that money, time and opportunity are all forms of energy. Acknowledging that transformed how she lives and invests.
“When investing, you have to ask yourself: What is the energy behind the business? Who are the people? What are they going to bring into the world?” she said.
She emphasized the importance of tapping into feminine energy, something she struggled to do in “the boys’ club” on Wall Street. Her title phrase “cash is queen” is a play on the more common version “cash is king."
This awareness led her to create She’s Independent, a women-first investment group centered on financial empowerment through investing and education.
“I’ve grown so much more in this feminine space. When you’re just in one energy space, to me that was sickness. If you just focus on one thing, are you alive?”
Experiencing loss of family members to suicide also propelled her to dig deeper into energy, grief and a purpose-driven life. “If you sit in that pain, with that darkness, it allows you to unlearn the projections and expectations of the world and figure out who you are.”
Your Values, Your Power
Author and investment firm founder Natalie Levy shared guiding principles for shaping a life of true wealth.
- Set and maintain your boundaries.
- Define your values and let them guide you.
- Make time to rest.
- Trust your intuition. It gets stronger the more you use it.
- Don’t support companies whose values don’t align with yours.
- Know that wealth is found in your health, community and how show up—not just money.
- You have agency in your decisions and actions. Use it.
Investing in conscious capital
Levy’s trajectory moved her into “conscious capital,” which she defines as investing in companies that reflect the values you want to see in the world. But investing, she noted, is only one form of influence. Caring about ownership and personal connections is also important.
“What I will say as a woman: When you go through tough things, the opportunity is limitless. Having different people at the ownership table changes so much. The boardroom matters. Ownership matters.”
Levy noted that women control about 85% of consumer spending—something not to ignore. Women can use that power to either support or withhold support from companies.
Setting boundaries based on your values has a greater influence than you might realize, she emphasized. “If you don’t agree with what companies stand for, don’t shop there,” she said.