Latest / The On The Rise Podcast / Leaving Security to Follow God’s Call With Angela Wang
Transcript
- Rise48 Equity: Welcome to the Faith Driven Leader Podcast. My name is Nick Stromwell, your host. We've got an excellent guest today. Welcome to the show, Angela Wing. Thanks, Neek. Thanks for having me here. Yeah, so we got connected at the Fact Right conference in Nashville. And as we were interacting, you know, towards the end of our conversation, I was like, I think I should invite you on the podcast. but how did you like the Fact Right conference and what were you doing there? Yeah, I like the personnel interaction there. And you know, our last meeting was also pretty impr impressive for me. It was so unique. I attended hundreds of finance conferences through my career, and it was the first time someone invited me like to just to have a Bible study together. So that was very encouraging. Cool. Yeah, that's great. Well, let me just read your intro and then I'll let you fill in the gaps. So Angela is passionate about financial advisory, investment management, and financial technology. You've got 20 years of experience across consulting, investment research, portfolio construction, manager due diligence, wealth management, and business development. You were an early adopter of AI, and you built an AI steward wealth management platform. Integrating tech and human advice to deliver personalized, proactive, scalable guidance. You're committed to connecting high-quality, underdiscovered investment managers with underserved investors and expanding access to institutional caliber opportunities. You combine analytical rigor, systems thinking, persistence, entrepreneurial experience to solve complex financial challenges, build scalable scalable solutions, foster meaningful relationships, and create lasting impact through thoughtful. financial stewardship. Did I capture that correctly? What would be your one liner when someone asks, Angela, what do you do? What what do you usually say? That's how I I define myself for now. Okay. And if you were to unpack what that means, what what would you say? Yeah, I guess Like for every one of us, we are seeking who we are in this world. And I guess we all know who we are when we are seeing our Lord in heaven. but for my background, I was born in a Christian family, which is pretty common here in the US, but very rare in China, especially in the early 80s. and I heard that my great grandpa was preached by foreign missionaries and became a Christian. And that kind of faith passed down through my family to to my mom who served the house churches in China and also to me. so since I was very little I always had that kind of respect and also very looking up upon the missionaries because without missionaries the Christianity was not possible for my family or even for the for the whole country there. But for myself, I never wanted to be a missionary because I saw how hard that life could be in China and being a missionary was not a recognized career, you know, in in in that country or or even worse, like you were being looked down on or facing lots of real pressures. I watch people including my mom go through a lot. So becoming a missionary was never on my life plan until about six years ago. and at that time I had pretty much everything. I had sweet family, I had a dream job. I served at the church with my husband and outside I was very satisfied with my life but inside I often got into that kind of deep unhappiness and I knew my life lacked something but I I didn't know what. then one day God started to call me and asking me do you really want to walk on this way of faith. I was pretty confused, and I said, God, you are the way, yes. And you have led me all of the way to US, to the current position. And I have believed in you for so many years. How could it be that I haven't started the way of faith? and I thought about that. And some scary pictures kind of jumped off in my mind. It was the missionaries I had watched since childhood. And those lots of misunderstood and uncertainties and also of course financial distress. So the question for me at that time became more real. Would you give up your job? Would you leave your stable income? And rely on me by faith financially. and my answer was basically no. I've seen so much growing up. And the reason found, depending on someone else, is the last thing I wanted. So and I'm financially free. I don't want to be financially chained or imprisoned. so for almost two years I turned away from that call. but that is the thing I realize now for now that my life lacked. So that is our Jesus way lose life for life lose wisdom lose freedom for freedom he was rich but he became poor for all of us so that we might become rich just through his poverty. That's very real. And that's that is the phase I I haven't started. So around four years ago I I surrendered. I left my job. I asked God, now what shall I do? And then he didn't say, start a syntax business or financial advisory business. He said, to be a human. So that's another whole story anyway, but God didn't send me to the corners of the globe as a missionary as I imagined. his ways always full of surprises, but anyway, my job is for now is simply follow Jesus. he went through all of the towns and small villages teaching, proclaiming good news, hailing the sick. and we follow him through the the vehicle he gave us, finance, to to help people know the truths and being a human steward for God. So that's our ministry. Wow. That's amazing. Thanks for sharing your story. you know, I think a lot of listeners can really relate to maybe hearing the voice of the Lord or feeling called to leave something secure and stable. So You know, sometimes it's described as a you know a high high income or a high paying job, which provides security, but maybe at the same time, often those high paying jobs, you know, reduce the amount of time that you can spend on other things. So sometimes when we feel called from one season to another, people get too scared to make that change. How did you walk through that fear or feeling scared? To go from something seemingly so stable to maybe feeling like this is what God was calling you to. I think God has perfect timing and He has a personal plan for each of us. And it was a lifetime work on me by God. and I like the name of your podcast on the rise. and if I may, I would like to summarize the the rising life into kind of two stages, Exodus and also canon, which are ascending into freedom and glory. So actually for for my first forty years, I did start maybe from thirty years ago, the God God brought Israel out of Egypt. And led them through the wilderness, shift them there, and then brought them into canon. And God will bring us out of our many Egypts. I had so many in my past life. And that Egypt's kind of keep us from moving on with his mighty power. and several of the biggest moments in my life came in this way. about 30 years ago I think my Egypt was education. as a teenager I struggled between what I learned at school and also what I learned from the Bible. I I guess I I was the only claimed Christian at my school at that that time out of those thorts of students. my teachers, my classmates, they never saw a a real Christian. So my Egypt was being a part of the being in the group, believing in revolution versus creation, and also taking the social political values in the curricular books versus the Bible. So at that time, God called me to choose Bible versus the books versus the the groups at the school. And I think that was like my first edict, God took me out. not define like yourself based on the knowledge or or the worldly education. it doesn't mean I refuse education later. God gave me multiple degrees and multiple cre credentials. But but first he he taught me to be free of those kind of knowledge. and about twenty years ago, my Egypt was my family. my mom died and I fell into a very dark time. And one evening I was standing on the top of a building in my college and a voice just came in. Like drop down, you you don't have a home right now and you are abandoned. And very interestingly, at at that time I became very strong because I know that Satan wants me to die and I refuse to accept that lie. So God helped me and let me out of that Egypt of family and home that I thought I couldn't live. without. And then after that, in China, I was still in China. I struggled. I graduated, struggled to find a job, and I was deceived by some people hiring. I tried starting a a business but failed. one day I was sitting on the bus and watching those high-rise buildings pass by and I cried asked God. There there are so many places, rooms in this city, but no one for me. And then God helped me out of that Egypt. Like you don't need a place in this world. And that was very helpful for me. So afterwards in my jobs, I know no matter where I live, where I go, I know that no places could constrain me and as an Egypt. And then 15 years ago, I think I 15 years ago I came to to America and I didn't enter the ILA League school I had dreamed about. so I remember on my first day here I was so sad hearing about like it seemed that I leave league students everywhere. And and I asked God to help me take that obsess obsession from me. and then God helped me. And after that, I I was out of that Egypt like I'm not defined by a degree or schools I attend. And and then at my first job, my Egypt become money. so I didn't earn a lot and I thought I was so worthless. But God taught me to took me out of the Egypt of money, and he told me my value is not defined by how much I earn. and then come to my second job here. I think my Egypt became maybe people. I I had so so many good people around me. they were so nice to me and I tended to please them. so God kind of helped me taking out of that Egypt of pleasing people. And he told me like to live not by what others think of me. so looking back I think that important call before that important call it was those so many small costs set up the foundation for for for the more important one and I I saw those little Exodus again and again and that is also part of how God shapes our life. and Exodus is is is God asked us to to live our dependence on on bad things but also on good things. That is not God himself. like like Paul suffered the loss of all things and he viewed all his loss compared to Christ. so I think along the way I was very fortunate. God's work has been continually and then accumulating to the next stage and also the next stage. Hey everyone, just a quick word before we jump back into this episode. I'm Zach, the CEO of Rise 48 Equity, and I want to take a moment to share a little bit about what we do and why we do it, because I think it's going to resonate with a lot of you who are listening to this series. At Rise 48, we're a real estate investment company, but the way that we think about our work goes beyond just improving properties and generating returns. We genuinely believe that when you invest in a community, you have a responsibility to invest in the people who live there too. That looks like hiring community managers who are present and engaged with residents. It looks like hosting monthly events for our residents to build an actual community. It looks like our team showing up together to volunteer and partner with nonprofits in the areas where we operate. For those of us who are faith driven, I think there's also a deeper question underneath every investment decision. And it's not just what's the return, it's what is my capital actually building? Those two things should and can coexist together. At Rise48, we built a model where strong returns and strong communities go hand in hand. If that's the kind of investment that you've been looking for We'd love to connect with you and tell you about what we're building. You can learn more at rise48equity.com and we'll get you right back to the episode. What I hear is like every season God brings us through is preparing us in essence for the next season. Walk us back, came coming to the US, tell us kind of the things you were engaged with then and how have those experiences, you know, I I saw several different institutions, B I E, C C Pro Manage, William Blair, how did those prepare you for what you're doing now with EN plus wealth? yeah, that's a very good question. because someone asked me the same thing. like how how do do you come into this idea of Plus? Like what are you? You are doing fintech, you are doing traditional financial advisory. so my first job I was with a pension plan consulting firm and they are leveraging technology. to provide personal financial support to participants under their pension plans. And on that firm, I learned that we can use technology to scale up our services in the finance area and especially more customized, personalized financial support. and that was that was eight or nine years experience interact interacting with people and I was fortunate my boss was a very good Christian and he supported me because I was carrying those kind of traditions from the from the Chin Chinese culture. I didn't dare to voice up. I I was so afraid of making mistakes. but that environment really helped shape me that encouraged me to voice up and then to have your own thinking as a human and that was so important related to like what what god called for me to be a human and then came into the second job It was a a private wealth management firm serving highwers and outer high now. Literally I was I was working for the the wealth. and I saw how like personalized how complex each family, each individual's financial situation could be, and how deep we those kind of either research or investment products related or financial planning related, how deep and how broad that could be for one person. And then for I I really I really respect those of I my eyes was opened seeing that the wealthy are enjoying so abandon resources. in the finance area which was not accessible for broader in families like the daily Americans. And I thought I thought anyway that that is the game. that is a finance game in this industry that is already settled up but gradually got kind of led me to see that actually not necessarily those resources cannot be accessible to for for more broader households. It's just the human's intervention, human's design play a lot in in this kind of I say financial system. And when I was in that you know, sometimes you were in a w in a in a world or in in a in a group. If you not jump out of that circle, you couldn't say that holistic thing, you couldn't see the problem. So I think that's that's also why God called me out of the just just get just leave that job, get out of this financial system and then seeing everything from a fresh view, from a outside viewers perspective to say like there are not it's not what you are used to it's not what already exists there are all reasonable are are all like beneficial for everyone and then so I God give me that kind of mission I I want to bring those resources as much as possible to benefit everyday American houses. and I know individuals and families they need financial professional support in their finance and they don't have financial freedom. We all talk about freedom maybe but anyway people they they don't know the truth. and and then that's and and then that's how how the second job shaped my view and then after several years God called me out to more democratize what I learned, what I saw when I was in that world. Okay. so I was just curious, you know, the transition from helping all of those ultra wealthy and then feeling a desire or call to provide, you know, that same level of service to the everyday investor. What did you see that the ultra wealthy had that you wanted to then offer to the everyday investor? yeah, I think lots of resources are provided and surrounding the and the financial industry. I think we are naturally and thinking we need to survive, we need to be profitable and the wealthy can can make us like professionals working in this area surviving. and lots of attention actually and also technologies developed surrounding the the the wealthy And if you look at the fintech industry right now, and those those software tools are surrounding advisors. And there are also also some people they they want to create tools or just directly to provide the services to individuals and those broader families here, but it's it's just very hard. First they the the ordinary families they don't save enough. They do not have that much much resources for investment. So then if you don't have investment access, then the investment products or private products or those SECs also have tiers of like accredited investors qualified purchases, of course you don't have access for that. but that doesn't mean like like those attention like from financial advisors, from financial professionals should not be allocated more to ordinary families. So we I just saw that the imbalance of resources distribution across the the whole nation. And I I don't know what I can do too much, but it's just with my skills, at least I know due diligence on investment products, and and also I saw how to provide financial planning, what kind of households basic needs in the finance area, or at least I could accompany them like they have go to. for basic financial questions or like if they receive there are so so much fraudulence out there if they receive letter from nowhere or like even though it's from some some some authentic places but it might be not the choice or at least they have a good tool to ask if this if this something related to me, do I need to pay attention? What do I need to do? So people they they are so tired. This world full of lines and they are distracting people to so many things. and once we feel tired, we feel busy. we we need more attention, and it's very hard for us to pay attention to others. So I think we just want to to commit to bringing more attention to individuals, families while also helping professionals paying attention to the audience that they are facing. That's great. How how does your kind of love of technology in how do you incorporate that into your business today? several areas. we have so I would say it's two system one is a communication system when facing clients and we want to be closer to individuals and families so we developed a a cell phone app so that we could answer questions or we could take conversations whenever our our clients want to talk with with us. and and because we are we are receiving so many emails every day. I receive hundreds of emails and I I'm tired of those. and we want to be more pertinent and hearing be more responsive to our clients. So that's why we just embed our services to their cell phone, to the the app so that they could reach us seamlessly. and on the other side for financial advisors professionals like that we also have tax experts paying more attention to our households. I'm not relying on my own memory. we have a a work a workspace so that I could input everything I have like from the manager's conversations, from the clients conversations and even my my thoughts for for the client. Yesterday my tax expert and I we were talking about a rental house case for one of my clients And then we record that down into our working space. It's just a recording of our daily activities and then and then automatically creating tasks and also remind both us and our clients like this is the task we need we need to do and this is the task that you need to do. So we are both we are working together as as a financial steward for for our daily financial life. Tell tell me about I think you pronounce it any, your personal AI financial steward. Tell me more about her. Yeah, so any is is originated from a Chinese word. an means mercy. that means we received so so much mercy from from the world, from people around us and we want to distribute those mercy to more people and we saw that God bring more and more people in mid in need to to us for us to serve them. So any means we we are passing on God's mercy and God's grace to more people. and we are we are trying to be responsive as a human but when I was with but we still have limits. When I was with my second job I saw that how deep each financial advisor serving the wealthy people and and they spent so much time like discussing discussing something, but they also they they don't have so one advisor might serve like a hundred or a hundred and fifty or maybe ultimately two hundred households based on our human capacity. and when AI was out in twenty three, I I just think this might be the way we could combine skill and also personalization. so we created and the the AI financial steward. to scale up our human capability to serve more people. And so currently we are serving kind of dozens of households and hope hopefully we could serve like thousands of households. I don't know how that could be because we are not there yet. But our goal is when God brings people to us, we have the the the the the software we have the resources already available to serve more people. We did our homework, we are ready for that. Okay. so your your tagline is for your business, everyone deserves a personal financial steward. Where did that conviction come from? Yeah, I think everyone is a financial should be a financial steward, him or herself. And also it's very hard for a person to walk on the face journey by himself. and we need to be in a group of people that encourage each other. And and God, I think God used our different professionals to support each other. And I think that's relates to another broader question about resources. Like God give us lots or our resources a stewardship. God is so abandoned and give us lots of resources, our money, our time, our our health, and God have those positions temporarily posed into our hands. and we need to be very cautious on using them or managing them. So steward is a very important. word actually I think for our life, for our in this world, living in this world for for God. And I remind myself that all of those resources and the money and the financing God gave me the Hobshelf life and they all expire if we don't use them, if they don't manage them well. it will it will be useless. And igli Ecclesiastes, it says the riches kept for the owners to his own hurt. and I often saw that like on finance, if we are not a good steward, we tend to keep the resources, the money for our own ownership. and using for ourselves. and that would be a very round foundation for us to have a good financial life, being a good financial steward before God. And I learned that lesson again and again. and so it's not only the the industry what the industry show us you need a financial advisor. It depends on what kind of advisory you got. If the advising is from the Bible, is from God, then you could really live a financial a financial life with freedom. The other day I saw an article and it was pretty tragic. it says like a pastor in his 77, he didn't have enough he didn't have a good retirement life, not enough money. And then another pastor replied to that. he he said I he earned he said he earned like thirty thousand every year but he retired very very comfortably And God provided. So he said we we routinely desire what others have, yet too often lack the self-control or self-awareness to be patient and concerned with what we we can afford. and also yesterday we were in a group discussion. and I heard a story about a blind girl. she she was so she is so pure and her prayer was so powerful. her mom said she couldn't see and then she doesn't have that desire for like good clothes for this or that kind of attractive things, materials. and I think that's that's that's a kind of stewardship every one of us should have before our God and we want to we want to accompany like every household or person God bring to us to set up that good foundation of stewardship and also also have that right perspectives your possessions. So wise, yeah. maybe just to kind of close out our time here, Angela, if you could go back and tell yourself something, kind of that four year mark the day you left, some of those institutional finance roles, knowing what you know now, what what would it be? at least spent for souls. that is from Paul. And I used to save a lot. and I I think th that that's not right or wrong. Like in different stages of your life God set up foundations for the next stage. and God used what use me to save, like to set up the foundation for this stage. but after I started the business, I made lots of mistakes. I always thought my resources is limited. I need more like what said for women you always need one more clothes in your for your closet and for the riches you always need one more dollar for your wealth. but I think for my business I thought I always need some some more resources, more clients, more assets. that was wrong. And at least for me, I think different people have different understanding of that. and I would follow Paul's what what Paul said and what he acted aptly spent for for souls and ultimately what we do in this world or the different stages ultimately It it doesn't matter. It is using the the materials while it in this world while it's still there to build up the wells for in in the heaven. Wow, that's amazing. Thank you so much for unpacking more of your story and I think there are a lot of wisdom nuggets that you shared today that our listeners will really appreciate. when you think of like your target avatar for who you're serving, who is that person? avatar that that is can I see Jesus Christ? Sure. So it is I so it's like Jesus died for us and I think that's that's that's what God called me to do is just to be human. It's not to serve others, to do this, to do what kind of tasks is to be a workmanship in his hand so that you could to do other things. and I often kind of turned upside down of that call, like when I do I started to be busy with work, be serving people around me. is so easy to be centered by a person and then forget forgetting that you need to reflect what what is the the god's glory so that you could live out that glory. And that's that's I think the beginning of my day before I get into any work. Just spending time with God and then thinking that I should be more like Jesus today. So if someone hears what you just shared and they're like, Man, I've never investigated a relationship with Jesus Christ before, what would you tell them? Where would you send them? What would you tell them to do? read a lot of Bible. That's what I did. because I realized that whenever I have some problem. And I stuck somewhere or I don't understand something. ultimately it was I I was not buried myself in God's words. I just lost that connection with God's words. His word is so powerful. I I I experienced once and once I saw that like s sick people was healed and even for my family members I myself sometimes in I I knew in the past I was in some depression. And then God s in the Bible it says his word refresh us, revive everything and even went into like the deep every cell of our body so that you you would be a different person, you'll be renewed. I would say radically radically spend more time with with God's God's words. sometimes when I'm busy I just spent like in the past I just spent five or ten minutes like reading the Bible. That was very wrong. and right now I require myself to ties to ties my daily time to the Bible. and also the devotion. like if you work ten hours a day, you don't spend one hour in God's word. So that's that's very problematic. Yeah. That's good. Yeah, those are some good some good nuggets. If our listeners want to learn more about you, Angela, or find more information about you, where would be the best place for them to go? I'm pretty active on LinkedIn and you can go my LinkedIn page. and we also have a YouTube channel. I talk about economics, f financial stewardship, like investments related. I'm yeah just trying yeah, just that's a starting of our service. we we learn about choose and then we share the truths to to others. so that's that's just the foundation of everything we do. Awesome. Well thank you so much for coming on the podcast and would love to continue the conversation on another another episode someday. Yeah thank you Nick that's very helpful.