How a finance leader transformed crisis into his mission

In this episode of Stocks In Translation, Yahoo Finance's markets and data editor Jared Blikre and producer Sydnee Fried chat with Shawn Lesser, founder of The Real Mental Health Foundation, an organization focused on the mental health challenges within the finance industry.

Before founding The Real, Lesser co-founded Big Path Capital, the first impact-investing investment bank. Impact investing is an investment strategy aimed at generating positive social or environmental outcomes alongside financial returns. “The whole idea behind ESG or impact investing when I was in it is you make as much money or more, but you also happen to have some social or environmental benefit,” says Lesser.

Lesser opens up about his personal struggle with depression and anxiety in 2022, recalling an investor call where “[I] basically had like a full mental breakdown where I was not functioning correctly. I couldn’t speak,” says Lesser. This breakdown led to a trip to the emergency room, followed by a three-day stay in a psychiatric ward, marking the beginning of his road to recovery

It was during this recovery that he found his mental health sponsor and conceived the idea for The Real. “I went through something, and if I could help somebody else, terrific,” Lesser continues. “And hopefully they get better… and then they pass it along to somebody else.”

Twice a week, Stocks In Translation cuts through the market mayhem, noisy numbers and hyperbole to give you the information you need to make the right trade for your portfolio. You can find more episodes here, or watch on your favorite streaming service.

Find this episode's transcripts and more episodes of Stocks in Translation at https://finance.yahoo.com/videos/series/stocks-in-translation/

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Yahoo Finance's Stocks in Translation is hosted by Jared Blikre and Sydnee Fried, and produced by John Tejada.

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