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

Описание: In this episode, Joy sits down with Joanna Levitt Cea, Founder and Principal of Valiente Capital Design (https://www.valientecapitaldesign.co/) and lead of the Gender Funders CoLab report Moving Beyond Grant Capital: Meeting the Moment with Innovative Finance. (https://static1.squarespace.com/stati...) 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.


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.


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


Relevant Links

• Criterion Institute website (https://criterioninstitute.org/)  and LinkedIn (  / criterion-institute  )
• Joy’s LinkedIn (  / joy-anderson  )
• Joanna's LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/joanna-le...)


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