In this special episode recorded live at the 2025 Milken Global Conference in Los Angeles, I sit down with Adam Mendler, entrepreneur, keynote speaker, and host of the top-rated podcast Thirty Minute Mentors, where he's interviewed more than 500 of America's most successful leaders.

Together, we discuss:

• Highlights from Milken 2025

• What Adam has learned about leadership from hundreds of top CEOs and changemakers

• The difference (if any) in how women and men rise to the top

• Why starting early and staying the course is the secret to building real wealth

• What parents and mentors can do to raise confident girls in a shifting economic landscape

• And the one piece of advice Adam gives to every future leader: “Be a good person.”

🎧 Tune in and share with someone raising the next generation of changemakers.

For more information on Adam and Thirty Minute Mentors:

https://adammendler.com/podcast/

In this special recap episode of Banking on Girls, Marina Batliwalla takes you inside the Milken Global Conference 2025—a gathering of world leaders, innovators, and investors—to uncover what the future of finance, technology, and equity means for women and girls.

You’ll hear takeaways from thought leaders like Tony Blair, Jensen Huang, and top minds in retirement, caregiving, and Gen Z finance. From the rise of AI to the realities of caregiving and generational inequality, this episode unpacks the conversations that matter for building financial power and confidence in the next generation.

💡 How AI is reshaping every job—and why digital fluency is now essential to financial literacy
💸 Why young women should front-load their savings early in life
👩‍👧‍👦 How caregiving affects women’s financial futures—and how to plan for it
📉 The broken “social escalator” and what Gen Z and Millennials are up against
💰 Why the average woman’s portfolio is still 70% cash—and how we can change that
🌍 The role women will play in the largest wealth transfer in history

✔️ Share this episode with a girl, young woman, or parent in your life
✔️ Talk to your kids about AI, investing, and debt—early and often
✔️ Download a budgeting app together or set up a mock investment account
✔️ Subscribe to Banking on Girls for more conversations on raising financially fearless girls

🔗 Milken Institute: milkeninstitute.org

On Tuesday, January 7, 2025 at 10 a.m., everything changed.

In this powerful episode of Banking on Girls, we sit down with three mothers who lived through the terrifying Palisades fires in Los Angeles—watching the flames reach their homes in real time through security cameras and dash cams left behind. As smoke filled the sky and evacuation orders came fast, for some, their neighbors stepped in to protect what they could. What followed was a test of emergency planning, emotional resilience, and financial preparedness.

We talk about:

• How it felt to watch the embers ignite their homes remotely as they raced to safety

• The critical role of having a plan to avoid panic-driven decisions during an emergency

• Why community support matters not just in the moment, but months later during long-term recovery

• The unexpected financial lessons born from loss

• And how the way we handle crisis teaches our kids—especially our daughters—what strength really looks like

This episode is a testament to friendship, preparedness, and the quiet optimism of women rebuilding from the ashes. As one mom says, “The kids are watching. Take care of yourself first.”

Resources:

www.ready.gov

https://www.ready.gov/sites/default/files/2020-03/ready_emergency-financial-first-aid-toolkit.pdf