In this episode of Eating While Broke, host Coline Witt is joined by special guest Nina Lynn, a seasoned executive, founder of the Wonder Seed Foundation, and a candidate for Congress. They discuss Nina's background, her nonprofit work helping at-risk youth heal from trauma, and her advocacy for meaningful education reform. Nina shares her personal story, including her family's journey as first-generation immigrants and the challenges they faced.

Together, they cook Wonder Seed Wontons, a nostalgic dish from Nina's childhood. Nina also explains her motivation to run for Congress and her vision for bipartisan education legislation and mental health initiatives.

Tune in to learn more about Nina's inspiring journey and delicious wontons!

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Host Coline Witt welcomes Lakeisha Landrum Pierre, founder and managing partner of Emily Line Venture Capital, for a conversation about venture capital’s influence, the industry’s barriers for women and people of color, and why representation among check-writers matters. Lakeisha cooks a low-cost Colombian coconut rice with raisins inspired by her broke grad school days at Harvard, and shares her background growing up in Los Angeles with deep entrepreneurial family roots in real estate, including the impact of the 2008 crash on Black wealth.

She discusses choosing finance and business after briefly studying theology, the role of education and relationships in her career, and taking on major leadership roles early—such as becoming COO of a $10M ARR e-commerce startup at 20.

Lakeisha outlines how Emily Line Ventures invests in women-led and mixed-gender founding teams, typically at early stages (often around $500K–$1M+ revenue in the current market), and focuses heavily on women’s health areas like maternal health, endometriosis diagnostics and treatments, fertility, menstrual health, and menopause/perimenopause.

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Host Coline Witt welcomes streamer and content creator Zoe Spencer to an episode of "Eating While Broke," where Zoe cooks her throwback meal: pork and beans with cut-up hot dogs, butter, pepper, and sugar, served with rice (or bread). While cooking, Zoe talks about growing up in a two-parent, middle-class household in Brooklyn with hardworking parents, her early jobs (a supermarket at 16, Burlington through college, and a bank job after graduating in May 2022), and how she was fired from the bank due to a branch shutdown and let go from Burlington for constantly posting her shifts.

Zoe discusses creating staged-but-unscripted blind date videos, transitioning into Twitch, differences between YouTube RPM and Twitch’s real-time subs/donations, and a successful collab with Sexyy Red arranged through her team. She shares that she’s building a mostly Black women-led team, and says her biggest challenge is staying focused and consistent, noting she can stream 8–12+ hours when locked in.

Zoe opens up about streaming feeling less fun and more performative, her desire to pursue acting through classes, self-tapes, and auditions, and her interest in comedy while also wanting challenging roles like horror or serious drama, including a dream project with Regina Hall.

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