In this first episode of Nour, I am joined by the one and only Laurie Spengler. I have come to know Laurie through my work at GenderSmart where she has been on our Advisory Council, and a prominent and eminent thought leader in the field of gender finance. She is an impact investment banker, board member and active contributor to the impact investing industry. Laurie is CEO of Courageous Capital Advisors, LLC, an impact investing advisory firm dedicated to generating outsized positive impact by providing targeted strategy, transaction and governance services. Among her current board engagements, she serves as a non-executive director of the British International Investment (the UK DFI), Lendable, the UK Impact Investing Institute and Bridges Insights. Laurie serves as Global Ambassador to the Global Steering Group on Impact Investing and is Senior Fellow and Advisory Council member at Casei3 at the Fuqua Business School. In this episode, we meander through Laurie's leadership journey, leaders that have inspired her and all that she has come to understand and embrace about what is needed to show up as your whole self  and to have a sustained impact. We also zone in on leadership in our field of gender finance and what is needed to unlock more gender-smart capital at scale.  Show Notes Favourite quotation: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”- Margaret Mead Upbeat song:  "Stand by Me" by Ben E King. Book she is reading: "Hope Over Fate: Fazle Hasan Abed and the Science of Ending Global Poverty" by Scott Macmillan https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781538164938/Hope-Over-Fate-Fazle-Hasan-Abed-and-the-Science-of-Ending-Global-Poverty Other links: Courageous Capital- https://www.courageouscapitaladvisors.com/