The Biggest Money Mistake Women Make (And How to Avoid It) Ft. Zarna & Zoya Garg

Summary

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Networth and Chill with Your Rich BFF

Episode: The Biggest Money Mistake Women Make (And How to Avoid It)

Guests: Zarna Garg & Zoya Garg

Date: February 18, 2026
Host: Vivian Tu

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Episode Overview

This vibrant, candid episode explores the biggest money mistake women make—neglecting to take charge of their own financial lives—and how to avoid it. Vivian Tu welcomes comedian Zarna Garg and her daughter Zoya Garg to discuss generational shifts in money mindsets, personal finance in immigrant families, lessons learned from business failures and successes, the value of building together, and frank insights on career pivots, independence, and relationships. The conversation is rich with humor, actionable advice, and brutally honest reflections.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Generational & Cultural Views on Money

[02:13–04:47] Family Money Arguments and Spending Values

• Zarna and Zoya frequently argue about money, revealing deep generational divides.
  • Zoya prefers to invest in "experiences" and daily wellness (like organic berries).
  • Zarna advocates for investing in quality, lasting items (e.g., designer bags).
• Debate: Is it better to spend on frequent small pleasures or to save for significant purchases?
  • Vivian: "I do think this very much shows a generational divide." [04:11]
  • Zarna: "First of all, there is a right answer. You guys are wrong." [04:36]
• Practicality and legitimacy—debating whether to get an office space for their business.
  • Both ultimately agree the expense is unnecessary when the work involves so much travel and remote collaboration.

Notable Moment:
Vivian sides with Zarna on the practical use of money after learning Zoya borrows her mom’s expensive handbags. [05:43]

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2. Pivots, Failures, and Unexpected Success in Career

[08:45–12:15] Reinventing at Midlife & Lessons from Business Flops

• Zarna’s career path: lawyer (briefly), stay-at-home mom, serial failed entrepreneur, then stand-up comic.
  • “At one point, all my clients were in jail. That was a sign.” [08:59]
  • Tried careers as a matchmaker, vegan chili business owner, and toothbrush inventor—all failures.
• Zarna started comedy at age 44, a leap that seemed “crazy” but paid off.
• Zoya credits Zarna’s charisma and storytelling with her eventual comedic success.
  • “She was just rizzing these customers up in front of me and that’s why they would buy.” [11:34]

Notable Quote:
Zarna: “You have to leverage out of the comedy. You know, you have to generally...” [09:52]

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3. Immigrant Experience and Money Mindset

[14:34–16:36] From Mumbai to Ohio: Starting Over

• Zarna immigrated as a teen under challenging circumstances—her mother’s death, father’s pressure to marry, and lack of financial support.
  • “I was the youngest of four kids. My dad was like, I'm done parenting. You need to get married.” [14:41]
  • Sister in Ohio supported her education and living expenses, which Zarna now thinks of as a lifelong debt of gratitude.
• Zarna reflects on the psychological impact of receiving financial help, fueling her drive for independence and success.
  • “When you receive charity, it strips you of your self esteem in a way that’s very hard to explain.” [17:01]

Notable Quote:
“Thank God for rich relatives.” – Zarna Garg, [16:13]

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4. Individualism vs. Family Collectivism in Money

[20:16–23:32] Pooling Resources and the American Culture of Independence

• Zoya shares that American culture values individual earnings and independence, while their family’s immigrant perspective sees strength and profitability in pooling resources.
• Zarna emphasizes the risk independence poses to women, noting how not sharing resources creates unnecessary burdens (e.g., every woman running a household alone).
  • “That lifestyle has not served women… Because we don’t pool resources, it puts a crushing burden on each woman.” [22:34]
• They discuss the importance of family teamwork to increase efficiency, value, and security.

Notable Quote:
“The more we band together as a family, the more profitable we are as a unit.” – Zarna Garg, [21:35]

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5. The Power and Necessity of Women’s Financial Independence

[24:59–27:35] Why Every Woman Needs Her Own Money

• Zarna is adamant that women must control their own financial fate, drawn from her personal experience of needing to start from scratch after years as a stay-at-home mom when her husband lost his job.
  • “My biggest money regret is not taking control of my own financial destiny earlier in life… Don’t ever put yourself in that situation, ever.” [49:37–50:16]
• Zoya learns the critical skill of sales from working with her mom, viewing selling as essential to understanding and commanding financial value.
  • “In order to understand the value of money, you need to know how to sell. And I think that is the skill that so many young girls aren’t taught…” [27:26]

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6. Lessons on Spending: Buy Well, Buy Once

[27:42–29:11]

• Zoya shares her father’s philosophy: "I’m too poor to buy cheap things." Investing in quality, lasting items is more cost-effective than always buying “cheap.”
• Example: Zoya invests in expensive earrings she plans to wear every day, emphasizing value per use over price alone.

Notable Quote:
“Buy expensive things… I’m too poor to buy cheap things. That is my dad’s attitude towards life.” – Zoya Garg, [27:48]

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7. On Marriage: Marry Ambition, Not Money

[29:25–32:40]

• Zarna does not want Zoya to marry for money but for drive and ambition.
  • “The idea is not to bypass the work… They should get rich together, ideally.” [29:35]
• She shares a “hot take” that marrying into wealth may dull ambition and adaptability in a partner.
  • “In some way, I’m a little prejudiced against rich people… If you have it early in life and you were just given it, there’s no hunger.” [30:13]

Memorable Exchange:
Zoya: “She has rejected every single one [rich suitors]... For people who might be interested in going on a date with me.”
Zarna: “I’ve learned… you have to pair up with somebody who can withstand life. And just money alone is not sufficient. It’s necessary. It’s not sufficient.” [31:00–31:38]

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8. Business Ethics & Controversial Decisions

[34:50–41:11] Performing at the Riyadh Comedy Festival

• Zarna addresses criticism of her performing in Saudi Arabia, emphasizing women's empowerment over politics and being transparent about the business decision.
  • “I try to stay out of the politics of it. I’m more concerned with what can I do for the women in that region.” [36:35]
• She delivers laughter and freedom of speech to audiences not usually exposed to such acts.
  • “Bringing freedom of speech to people who’ve never seen anything like it.” [38:53]
• Notes the hypocrisy of critics, many of whom benefit from similar ties.

Memorable Quote:
“We are very clear about what we do. Are we running a business or is this a hobby?” – Zarna Garg, [37:20];
“And they paid well.” [41:02]

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9. “Nepotism” and Earning Your Place

[42:31–47:03]

• Zoya “earned” her position running Zarna’s pre-order book campaign by proving business results.
  • “There was no Nepo baby in us.” [44:54]
  • Zoya was nearly fired by her mother after a slow start; results are demanded, not gifted.

Notable Quotes:
Zarna: “My business, I’m so serious about it that if I didn’t think she had it in me, I would encourage her to get a tech job.” [43:13]
Zoya: “If you can deliver somebody a process from 0 to 100 of XYZ thing will get done... you will make money and you will be a power player to whoever you’re serving.” [45:54]

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10. Higher Education Realities

[51:21–52:12]

• Zoya’s biggest money regret is treating college as the “main event” rather than gaining full-time work experience early on.
  • “Every college student should have a full time job and treat college like a part time job… The work experience… was so much more valuable to me and actually made me a better student.” [51:21]
• Warns against over-investment in degrees and the mis-sold promise of higher salaries via unnecessary education.

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11. Women, Marriage, and Protecting Financial Futures

[52:19–54:11]

• Zarna challenges the idea that marriage must be a lifelong commitment if the financial or personal situation isn’t right, prioritizing women's independence and ability to support themselves.
  • “I tell my daughter, just, if you like somebody and you want to get married, get married and get divorced. If it needs to be that way... My job is to empower women into living lives that they own their destinies of, and that is not gonna happen without your own money.” [52:19–54:11]

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12. Actionable Tip for Entrepreneurs & Sellers

[55:14–55:43]

• Zoya shares her top sales tool: Instagram DMs.
  • “Dms are customer service tickets… I was on Instagram DM four hours a day, every single day for six months for this pre order process… and it worked. Highest conversion tool.” [55:14–55:43]
• Zarna notes that Instagram DMs are one of the best ways to reach very famous people directly.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Zarna Garg: “My biggest money regret is not taking control of my own financial destiny earlier in life.” — [49:37]
• Zoya Garg: “In order to understand the value of money, you need to know how to sell. And I think that is the skill that so many young girls aren’t taught because they’re afraid…” — [27:26]
• Vivian Tu: “Money has to be your power. And the only way it has to be your power is if it’s yours.” — [32:11]
• Zarna Garg: “It’s not life or death. Like, if you make a mistake, you’ll get out of it… Make that mistake early, get it out of your system so you can focus on building your financial future.” — [52:19]
• Zoya Garg: “Every college student should have a full time job and treat college like a part time job and not treat their classes like they’re so important.” — [51:21]

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Family Money Arguments & Spending: [02:13–06:49]
• Career Reinvention at 44, Business Failures: [08:45–12:15]
• Immigrant Struggles & Family Debts: [14:34–16:36]
• Individualism vs. Family Finances: [20:16–23:32]
• Entrepreneurial Lessons for Women: [24:59–27:35]
• ‘Buy Well, Buy Once’ Spending Philosophy: [27:42–29:11]
• Marriage and Money—Prioritizing Ambition: [29:25–32:40]
• Performing in Saudi Arabia—Ethics & Opportunity: [34:50–41:11]
• Earning Your Place in the Family Business: [42:31–47:03]
• Regrets About College Investment: [51:21–52:12]
• On Women, Marriage, & Financial Independence: [52:19–54:11]
• Top Sales Tip: Instagram DMs: [55:14–55:43]

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Final Words & Where to Find More

• Zarna Garg: “Be part of this world. It’s social media. Be social.” [54:50]
• Zoya Garg: “Please direct message us what you disagree about with us on this podcast. Cause I live for that. I love the debate.” [54:58]

Find them:

• Zarna Garg: @zarnagarg everywhere
• Zoya Garg: @zoyagarg everywhere
• Their podcast: @zarnagargfamilypodcast

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This episode is a must-listen for anyone, but especially for women navigating personal finance, career pivots, and complex family dynamics, served with laughter and hard-won wisdom.

Transcript

[Zarna Garg]

My mom had passed. Suddenly. I was almost 15 at the time. My dad was like, I'm done parenting. You need to get married. That does something to your psychology. I was a matchmaker for a minute. Horrible. I had a vegan chili business. Okay, total disaster. I had a disposable toothbrush product that I had kind of invented and total flop. I lived in New York 25 years and I didn't know what stand up comedy was. I was at ground zero. I had to like wake up and build from ground zero overnight and it was a mistake. What was I thinking for the 15 years? Foreign.

[Vivian Tu]

What's up rich friends? Welcome back to another episode of Net Worth and Chill with me, your host, Vivian Tu, AKA your rich BFF and your favorite Wall street girly. Like most Americans, I turned 18, picked a college, then a major, and basically assumed that I was gonna work that job that I got out of school for the next 40 years of my life until retirement. That's the dream, right? Not quite. No one tells you that you can pivot, evolve, and completely reinvent yourself at any age and that the timeline we're sold is honestly kind of BS. But here's the thing. Reinventing yourself at 40, that's kind of terrifying. Building a whole new career from scratch when you're supposed to be settled with a 401k and a sensible sedan. That takes serious guts and financial courage. For so long, we've been told there's one timeline for success, one safe path to follow, one narrow window to make your big move. But today's guests said, nah, it's never too late. And prove that your 40s can just be the beginning of something incredible. From Mumbai to Ohio, from lawyer to matchmaking entrepreneur to selling out comedy shows across the country, she's turned her unfiltered truth telling into Hulu specials, a best selling memoir, and tours with comedy legends like Amy Poehler and Tina Fey and her daughter. She's been right there watching, learning, and building her own path in the process. So everyone please welcome the hilarious, inspiring and brutally honest mother daughter duo, Zarna and Zoya Garg.

[Zarna Garg]

Yay. Thank you so much for having us. So excited to be here.

[Vivian Tu]

We are going to have so much fun. We are going to have such a great conversation. But before we get into the hard hitting questions, I'm going to ask a mom daughter question.

[Zoya Garg]

Yeah.

[Vivian Tu]

Have you two ever gotten into a serious argument about money or a financial decision? And how did you resolve it? Support for Net Worth and Chill comes from Adobe. Planning your finances means taking a realistic picture of your life as it is now and where you want to be. But you also got to plan for the unexpected, because life happens, and you need to be able to edit, adapt, and collaborate with others to reach your goals. Adobe gets that, which is why they made a tool that's just as flexible. PDF Spaces and Acrobat Studio. Your PDF files are no longer static. Instead, they're living documents that flex with you and your project's needs. Learn [e-mail] do that with Acrobat every day.

[Zarna Garg]

Yes, every day we fight about money.

[Vivian Tu]

Okay, like.

[Zarna Garg]

But, like, what? And it is currently unresolved.

[Zoya Garg]

We recently fought about whether or not it makes more sense to invest in berries every day versus a very expensive bag. What's your take?

[Zarna Garg]

She spends a lot of money on food. Like, inordinate amounts.

[Zoya Garg]

Yes, I do, but I think it's.

[Zarna Garg]

A healthy investment known to man.

[Zoya Garg]

Like, if so, what are you eating? I'm eating organic berries every day.

[Zarna Garg]

And entire boxes gone. Like, not two berries. The whole thing.

[Zoya Garg]

I do.

[Vivian Tu]

Okay, I'm gonna.

[Zarna Garg]

There is the Matcha and that.

[Zoya Garg]

Yes. But she buys a very expensive Hermes bag, which she then shows off on her Instagram, and she's showing off at these events. And so we actually got into a giant disagreement on livestream, where we talked about, is it better to spend money on berries every single day, or is it a better investment to buy a very expensive bag?

[Vivian Tu]

I'm gonna be entirely honest. When you first said Barry's, my immediate thought was that Zoya was going to Barry's boot camp every morning.

[Zarna Garg]

Well, there's also that.

[Vivian Tu]

Okay, all right.

[Zarna Garg]

There's also that. All of those.

[Zoya Garg]

All of the above.

[Zarna Garg]

Every health thing, every boot camp. What is it? Yoga? Hot yoga? The goat yoga, the whole thing.

[Zoya Garg]

Goat yoga. I would never do. That's not serious enough.

[Zarna Garg]

Oh, yeah. Okay.

[Vivian Tu]

Okay, so here's my take, and I think it's. There's no wrong answer. However, I do think this very much shows a generational divide. I feel like our parents were very much like, oh, if I save up for something, it's like one big thing that they really get to enjoy. Like, my mom also loves a designer bag, but I prefer to spend on experiences and daily lifestyle. Your mom is so mad at me right now.

[Zoya Garg]

You and I are so alive.

[Zarna Garg]

I was like, first of all, there is a right answer. You guys are wrong.

[Vivian Tu]

Okay, okay.

[Zarna Garg]

That's the right answer.

[Zoya Garg]

You can blink twice.

[Zarna Garg]

Don't worry. It's not an experience to eat every day. I mean, what have you guys done?

[Vivian Tu]

But, okay, well, so here's my question. What's wrong with the berries at Costco? Could you get, like, a massive thing of berries?

[Zoya Garg]

To me, it's just wherever I can practically pick up a carton of berries, I will go. So that typically ends up being, like, the local grocery store, which is much more expensive. I'm not good about planning ahead. Listen, it is hard.

[Vivian Tu]

It is hard.

[Zarna Garg]

No, that's an issue. Not that hard.

[Vivian Tu]

But when you're, like, when you're single or if you're living by yourself, shopping for groceries can be just as expensive as going out to eat.

[Zoya Garg]

Well, it's not just groceries now. It's doordash. I spend on food delivery so much. But I think it actually weighs out to be more because in time, imagine how much time I'm saving. Right.

[Zarna Garg]

Well, also, I buy the bag. Right. And then she borrows it.

[Vivian Tu]

Right?

[Zoya Garg]

Oh, okay. So, Zoya, please.

[Zarna Garg]

We're getting the berries, and the berries. Like, what is happening here? Do you understand?

[Zoya Garg]

It's called negotiation.

[Vivian Tu]

Okay, you know what, Zoya? I'm actually gonna have to side with mom for this one, because you didn't tell me that you were coincidentally borrowing the bag.

[Zarna Garg]

I mean, thank you.

[Vivian Tu]

Okay.

[Zarna Garg]

Thank you. But the thing is that there are everyday disagreements. We work together, and there's gonna be. Of course there's disagreements. You can't agree all the time. You're not running a business, then.

[Zoya Garg]

Yeah. And allocating funds is really challenging for us. One we've constantly negotiated about recently is, should we get an office? Right now, we work all over the place. We're working in cars. We're working in airplanes. We're working in hotel rooms. And a large proportion of the business is live touring shows. So does it make sense for us to invest in an office where we're only gonna be there maybe once a month? I don't know.

[Zarna Garg]

Yeah. And it's a constant because we have a team and, like, you know, but we are.

[Vivian Tu]

Who wants the office and who doesn't.

[Zoya Garg]

I want the office because I. I want. But upon reflection, I want the office for legitimacy, not for reasons of practicality.

[Vivian Tu]

Yeah.

[Zoya Garg]

Whereas she understands it's not practical and we don't need it.

[Vivian Tu]

Yeah. I think the happy medium here is. So I actually. My whole team works out of my apartment, so same.

[Zarna Garg]

See that?

[Vivian Tu]

But I will say this. If you are looking for legitimacy or filming content in an office setting, you can just rent a peer space for an afternoon, get all of that content in the office, and it'll be a much nicer office than one you could actually want to spend on rent, and then the rest of the time, work out of your apartment.

[Zoya Garg]

So do you think an office is overrated?

[Vivian Tu]

I do. Wow. Because the office that I would be able to get in a location that is convenient for all of my employees would be much less nice than them just coming to my apartment.

[Zarna Garg]

Totally.

[Vivian Tu]

And it's more money spent.

[Zarna Garg]

Right. And it's money. And also, I assume that you also travel a lot.

[Vivian Tu]

A lot.

[Zarna Garg]

And then, see, I made some of these mistakes. We used to have a house outside the city. We made these mistakes. When you tie yourself to rent or to mortgage, there's a guilt. Oh, now you're going to this third place. You're living here, you're paying for that. You're paying for the office. And now you're at this third place trying to set up the whole thing all over again. Anyway. And the reality of working today in 2025 is that you have to be on the go always. You just have to. There's no negotiating that. So what will we do with an office? It'll just sit there.

[Vivian Tu]

Yeah.

[Zarna Garg]

Yeah.

[Vivian Tu]

I'm sorry, this has so far turned into a lecture for Zoya.

[Zoya Garg]

No, I actually really appreciate the perspective because I think when you are doing something unconventional, especially when you're young, you're looking for ways to make it make sense.

[Vivian Tu]

Right.

[Zoya Garg]

And an office feels like one of those ways that it just makes it make sense, but not necessarily something that really meaningfully helps the business.

[Zarna Garg]

So it's interesting, it's glamorized. And also, Hollywood has a habit. Like, if you see working people, they show beautiful offices.

[Zoya Garg]

Yeah. With the elevator.

[Zarna Garg]

But it's a studio. That's how they shoot in one space. Yes. They cannot actually afford to take a camera with you everywhere they go.

[Vivian Tu]

Yeah, exactly. So I wanna talk a little bit about Zarna, your comedy career. You famously started it at age 40 after practicing.

[Zarna Garg]

44.

[Vivian Tu]

44. After practicing law for two decades.

[Zarna Garg]

No, actually, I was. I practiced law for a little bit, and then I was a stay at home mom for 16 years. I was so bad at practicing law, I horrible at it. I mean, at one point, all my clients were in jail. That was a sign. No. Yes, that was a sign. I was like, you know what? I should get out of this before I end up in their jail, too. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And then I decided, you know, my husband had a good job on Wall street, and I was like, you know what? I'll support him. I thought I would be a lady who Lunches.

[Vivian Tu]

Yeah.

[Zarna Garg]

You know, but 16 years of being home with the kids full time, I was like, I'm not that into them. Okay, cool.

[Vivian Tu]

You're like, I'm trying to get back into my own thing.

[Zarna Garg]

Yeah.

[Vivian Tu]

But talk to me about the conversation you had with your husband when you were deciding to pursue comedy. Because certainly it's not an industry known for being ultra high paying for everybody. Right. It's like the very.

[Zarna Garg]

Even. They don't really make money in comedy. You have to leverage out of the comedy. You know, you have to generally.

[Vivian Tu]

Yeah.

[Zarna Garg]

Look, my husband was very supportive because before I found comedy, I had tried like 15, 20 businesses that all failed.

[Vivian Tu]

What were some of them?

[Zarna Garg]

I was a matchmaker for a minute. Horrible. Real professional matchmaker. I'm not making this up. Horrible. I had a vegan chili business.

[Vivian Tu]

Okay.

[Zarna Garg]

Total disaster. Then what was the other thing? Toothbrush. Toothbrush. I had a disposable toothbrush product that I had kind of invented. And total flop. So my husband was kind of like being supportive and he thought this comedy thing, you know, and say, all right, let her try it. It's gonna come and go. Nobody expected it to become what it became, except her. Actually. I knew.

[Vivian Tu]

Wait, what gave you such faith in your mom?

[Zoya Garg]

So when I was 14, 15, 16, that was when she was trying all these different businesses. And we were always really close. I would say we're the people often make us out to be like the awkward Gilmore Girls. Like the nerdy Gilmore girl. Mom and daughter. We've gotten that comment a lot where I'm obsessed with her and she's trying to run away from me. She's like, go find your friends. And so I would constantly be following her around, wherever she would go. And when she was starting all of these businesses, I noticed that the reason why people would buy her products or services was because she would make them feel so good. She would stand in front of them, she would make them laugh, she would tell stories. She would start spewing all this ranting about, oh, my daughter's annoying me. My mother in law is calling all of these different things.

[Vivian Tu]

She's got the riz.

[Zoya Garg]

She was just rizzing these customers up in front of me and that's why they would buy. And I grew up in New York City. I grew up in the heart of stand up. I would watch Seinfeld and Curb youb Enthusiasm. And I was so enriched in that culture. I saw a business there, I was like, you can actually monetize your personality. This was also when social media Was. Was rising on its own occasion, which is obviously such a ginormous part of her business. She was actually recently named one of Instagram's top 25 creators. Actually, three days ago, she got a gold ring to award her original creativity. It's wild. It's been eight years, but it was there from the start.

[Zarna Garg]

Yeah. So he didn't. Going back to my husband when I said, I want to try comedy, he's like, yeah, sure. No one thought anything off it.

[Zoya Garg]

And to his defense, comedy is not a career in India. Right. Like, it's not a career.

[Vivian Tu]

You can't be a jester as a career.

[Zoya Garg]

That's not a engineer. Lawyer. Doctor. Lawyer, maybe.

[Vivian Tu]

Yeah.

[Zarna Garg]

Well, also, it's. We're just not a culture that prioritizes fun at all. Comedy is, like, you go out to have fun. I have people now. They're like, who are all these people who buy tickets to your show? They don't understand that. Indian people, Asian people. Yeah.

[Vivian Tu]

We don't have that in our culture, that entertainment.

[Zoya Garg]

Did you grow up going to plays?

[Vivian Tu]

No.

[Zoya Garg]

Did you grow up watching movies?

[Vivian Tu]

No.

[Zarna Garg]

Like, maybe movies at home, because it's.

[Vivian Tu]

Easy and it's free.

[Zoya Garg]

And the movies were all intense movies.

[Zarna Garg]

When you were, like, a message.

[Vivian Tu]

Like, my dad and I were watching, like, Goodfellas and the Shawshank Redemption, and I'm like, what am I watching this? I'm an eight.

[Zoya Garg]

No, truly.

[Zarna Garg]

But that makes sense. I mean, my kids, we. They're all born and raised in Manhattan. This is a true fact. We've never bought Broadway tickets ever, ever, ever, ever. We've never gone to a sporting game where we bought tickets. Now we get some. We get invitations, and I've taken my sons, but we've never bought tickets to these things. We stay far, far away from all that pop culture stuff.

[Vivian Tu]

Can I tell you some of the first, like, sporting, like, concert. Like. Like, all of those things that I. The. I did, those for the first time were with white people who took me. Because I have never personally thought in my mind, ooh, I should go into this.

[Zoya Garg]

Yeah. It's just not part of our culture.

[Zarna Garg]

And I don't even let my kids go. Like, my kids, friends, parents will be like, oh, for. You know, whatever. Jake's birthday, we're gonna take the kids. Yeah. I'm like, you're never gonna be friends with Jake. This is the end of this friendship.

[Zoya Garg]

And even her comedy show, we're only allowed to go to her comedy show. Cause we're working and we're learning her comedy show Is like, you get lectured. It's not like some jokesing show. We're not going to anyone else's show.

[Vivian Tu]

Right. Okay. Oh, my gosh, that's so funny. And to take it back, like, we talk about culture, being Indian. You immigrated to America from Mumbai. You started your life in Ohio.

[Zarna Garg]

Yes.

[Vivian Tu]

Ohio. Yes. What made you want to make the leap to America? What was your financial situation when you first arrived?

[Zarna Garg]

I mean, very complicated set of circumstances brought me to America. My mom had passed. Suddenly. I was almost 15 at the time, and my dad. I was the youngest of four kids. My dad was like, I'm done parenting. You need to get married. And it sounds jarring in America, but it's actually not that big of a deal back home. 15 is a little early, even for India. But not that, like, all my siblings were married by their late teens. So we were talking, you know, we were off by about a year or two at most. And my dad didn't see much with it. He was like, you know, I. I was the fourth kid. He was fed up.

[Vivian Tu]

Yeah.

[Zarna Garg]

And I get it. I have three kids. I now do wonder what I would be like if I had a fourth. Right. It's exhausting. It is exhausting. So I get it. I never held it against my dad, but he was not. He was very clear that if I didn't want to get married, I couldn't live at home.

[Vivian Tu]

Okay.

[Zarna Garg]

And I had a sister who lived in Ohio, who was married and lived in Ohio, who offered to take me in, which is how I ended up.

[Vivian Tu]

That's really nice.

[Zarna Garg]

But of course, I had no money. Of course, I was indebted to her for years. For years. Because I left, and my dad was really upset. And, you know, Asian dads, they're not playing.

[Vivian Tu]

No, no. Like, if they say they knock you out.

[Zarna Garg]

Yeah. It's over. Like, I was dead to him. He said, all right, you want to go do this adventure thing with your sister? That's on you. So I came to America. My sister paid for my college, my life, my law school, and it's a debt that I owe her for life. And thank God for rich relatives.

[Vivian Tu]

Yeah.

[Zoya Garg]

Thank God for our rich sister.

[Zarna Garg]

Yeah. And, you know, of course, I've settled it in my own way, but she hates when I talk about it. She hates when I talk about it because she doesn't like the idea that I think of it as a debt. We're very Indian. We're very Asian that way. We're siblings. We're there for each other no matter what.

[Vivian Tu]

It's like, there's. What's the. There's a Korean phrase. I'm Chinese, but there's a Korean phrase that they said in squid games. It's like there's no ownership between us.

[Zarna Garg]

Yeah, exactly. And she truly believes it. I don't. I don't. For clarity, I'm like, no, this is mine. This jacket is mine. The shoe is mine. But she's very much of that mindset. So it was a very stressful time, you know, but when you're taking. Here's the thing. I live in New York now, and I live a fairly affluent life. I mean, nobody is truly affluent in New York. You know, even the billionaires feel poor. Yeah, we know. But I've been to a lot of charity events, as a lot of us are philanthropic things. I think often in those rooms, I am one of the only people who's received charity, so. Because in my case, my sister was like, being very charitable, supporting me for years and years. And that does something to your psychology. When you receive charity, it strips you of your self esteem in a way that. That's very hard to explain. It's like, it also fires you up in a way that you're trying to get out of these circumstances as fast as possible, because in your mind, you're a burden on everybody around you. You know, she's not my parent. She had no obligation to do any of it, but she chose to. So it was a very, very complicated few years. But honestly, Ohio was so kind to me. I had the best time. I had the best. Ohio's whatever phrase in America is the heart of it all. Cause it's a heart shape, and it truly was a heartbeat for me.

[Vivian Tu]

Aw, we love Ohio.

[Zoya Garg]

Yes.

[Vivian Tu]

Also, you mentioned that your sister had this very immigrant culture mentality of, I'm going to take care of my sister no matter what. But you made a joke just now that you don't really have that mentality. You're like, no, no, no, it's mine. This is yours. We are separate. Is that a joke, or do you truly feel like you've kind of kicked that immigrant mentality?

[Zarna Garg]

It doesn't come naturally to me the way it does to her.

[Vivian Tu]

Did she?

[Zarna Garg]

Naturally. She literally is that generous soul who will be like, you want my car? Sure, take it. Me, I'll be like, you know, I'll resist it and be like, it's my sister. I'm supposed to be good to her, you know, so I've definitely crossed over into being American. Yeah, I've been here 30 plus. Years now, so it doesn't come as naturally to me. I have to talk my head into, like, I'm Indian. We're supposed to like this.

[Vivian Tu]

This is supposed to feel good. Well, I guess then my question is for Zoya, like, do you feel like growing up with an immigrant parent, being first gen, you know, here for, like, you know, American your entire life, how do you feel like your perspective on money differs versus your parents? Support for net worth and chill comes from Adobe. When you write down your financial goals, you do it knowing that life happens. Your finances evolve, your timeline shifts, and the details change as needed. So if you need to be flexible and adaptable, then the documents you use to keep track of it all should be too. That's where PDF Spaces from Adobe Acrobat Studio comes in. With Acrobat Studio, you can do so much more with a PDF file than you ever thought possible. PDF Spaces takes those documents and turns them into a living project that you can edit, engage with, and collaborate with others on. You can even put all of your files into one workspace and have a whole conversation with your AI assistant about it and ask questions to get deep insights about your project. You can also invite people to your PDF space and let them add files, comments, notes, and more. You can brainstorm through sketches or even synthesize all the info in podcast form. Acrobat Studio lets you generate an audio overview of your project in just one click. Learn [e-mail] do that with Acrobat.

[Zoya Garg]

Yeah, I mean, I grew up feeling like money was very individualistic, and also building a career was very individualistic. Most of the people who I went to school with were so flabbergasted by this idea that we were working together and that her money was my money and that the business's money was something that we shared. Because I think America profits off of siloing people off and basically making it feel like if you don't earn your own individual salary, if you're not doing everything yourself, you're doing something almost wrong. And so I constantly was, from a very young age, battling between these ideas of, like, what's mine, what's hers, what's allowed to be shared? How individual do I have to be now? It was because of my American attitude towards things that I was very demanding of her getting paid very early on. Everything about her business as a comedian has been very well thought out of. Like, what are the margins? How much are we gonna sell this ticket for? How much is it gonna cost to produce a video in order to, like, market this show. And it's always been very economical from the very beginning, because, you know, that's how we were both raised. We were both thinking about that. She actually comes from a very business oriented family too, so. Yeah.

[Zarna Garg]

Yeah. And I think we've learned that the more we band together as a family, the more profitable we are as a unit.

[Vivian Tu]

Yeah. That economies of scale.

[Zoya Garg]

Yes.

[Zarna Garg]

And also we leverage from each other's strengths. Like there's a natural give and take that is there's a shorthand that you may have with your family that you just can't have with anybody else.

[Vivian Tu]

Right.

[Zarna Garg]

This is not to say that you can't build with other people. It just so happens in our case that it's the family. And, you know, I'm always telling her, I have a son in college, that if you want to do something else, do that, like, that's fine, but it's got to make sense. It's got to compete with what we're building here.

[Zoya Garg]

Right.

[Zarna Garg]

Yeah. Don't do it just so you can say I'm doing it on my own.

[Vivian Tu]

Right.

[Zarna Garg]

You don't owe that to anybody.

[Zoya Garg]

Yeah.

[Vivian Tu]

Yeah.

[Zoya Garg]

That's over glamorized in America, in my opinion.

[Zarna Garg]

Yeah.

[Vivian Tu]

Like that. We all each have our own house, own car. We drive to and from each way. We don't carpool. We do, like, it's just very like, me, me, me, me, me, me.

[Zarna Garg]

That lifestyle has not served women.

[Vivian Tu]

No.

[Zarna Garg]

Look at all the women. That what it does is that because we don't pool resources, it puts a crushing burden on each woman. Now each woman is running a household. Now each woman is buying groceries, 80% of which we're all throwing out. Let's be honest. Yeah. You know, because who can eat that? Each woman is like, trying to figure out how to take care of their own one kid. Like, there's no economies of skills. That makes no sense.

[Vivian Tu]

I had this conversation with a girlfriend who is a mother of two the other day, and she was like, we literally realized that instead of me picking up my kid every single day from school, I could only pick up my kid and a couple other kids once a week. And then each day would be assigned to a different parent. And that way the other four days we could relax.

[Zoya Garg]

Yeah, exactly. And use that time more efficiently. 100%.

[Vivian Tu]

Exactly.

[Zarna Garg]

Exactly. But that's not the story they tell in America. I think the pendulum swung too far towards independence.

[Zoya Garg]

100%.

[Zarna Garg]

And the thing is that it didn't serve women. I'm all about, like, what is a good life for a woman look like because I have a daughter. And even for my sons, I want them to be in relationships where their spouses and their girlfriends are, like, empowered to live the lives they want and not be bogged down. My generation, we were bogged down by minutia. We got killed by it. There was no remote work in my day. There was no, like, oh, like four day flex pa. There was none of that. And it killed entire generations of moms, got pushed out of the workforce.

[Zoya Garg]

And it was very intentional.

[Zarna Garg]

Right.

[Zoya Garg]

Like one story that you told that you'll. You should clarify the details of that I just love, and I learned so much from is advertisers for mainstream television make more money selling on TV shows that are siloed off to specific people.

[Zarna Garg]

Right?

[Zoya Garg]

Like making sure that an ad is placed for the boy that watches sports that is not watching what the mom is watching on the cooking show. Basically selling, separating people out so families don't watch TV together. It's all very intentional to make money. It wasn't like this cultural revolution in America. It was telegraphed.

[Vivian Tu]

Yeah.

[Zarna Garg]

And when you're watching something alone or you're living alone or whatever, you're more vulnerable to buy nonsense, to buy shit. Just to put it bluntly, when you're in a family unit, you're not thinking, let me go all nine shopping, right? You're not thinking, let me have one more drink.

[Vivian Tu]

Yeah.

[Zarna Garg]

You know, you're not thinking any of those things. But when you're alone, that's when all those feelings are heightened and companies profit from it. I tell her all the time, I go, you should watch out because you think you're getting bored, but that whole circumstance has been created for you.

[Zoya Garg]

Yeah.

[Vivian Tu]

Zoya, I have a quick question. What is the most valuable financial lesson you have learned from your mom, either directly or indirectly?

[Zoya Garg]

Oh, directly, I learned how to sell.

[Vivian Tu]

Okay.

[Zoya Garg]

So in my senior year of college, I had just finished multiple tech internships. I had worked at Apple, I had worked at this Y Combinator startup. Like, I had spent my undergrad learning everything I could learn about computer science because I was in the heart of Silicon Valley. That was so important to me. And I felt, okay.

[Vivian Tu]

Computer science. And classics.

[Zoya Garg]

And classics.

[Vivian Tu]

And classics. Don't forget, that's my girl.

[Zarna Garg]

That's what she's like. You can forget it. You can forget it. Nobody cares about the classes. She's so.

[Zoya Garg]

I'm actually so happy. You don't even understand because all the business podcasts never care about classics, but I swear it's because of Classics that I can sit on these podcasts and make sense.

[Zarna Garg]

Yeah.

[Zoya Garg]

Anyways, in my senior year of college, in the very beginning, I was really lost. I was like these technology startups that I was a part of, I didn't feel like I identified with them. I didn't think my talents were being used in the correct way. And her memoir, this American Woman, which is a New York Times bestseller now, was coming out. And the publishing team told her, you need to hire somebody to basically take on this entire pre order campaign. For people who aren't familiar, pre order campaigns determine whether you make bestseller lists. They also determine whether or not your book is even stocked in bookstores. It's all those sales before. That's why when an author is like pleading you to pre order, that is why. It's not because they just want orders before. It's very much a process. She told me, you should take on this pre order campaign process. And in the process, you'll learn how to sell. This is a skill you use for life regardless of whether or not you join me full time. And for six months, I learned everything that you could possibly learn about learning how to sell online. We were doing live streams where we were selling a book a minute. We were going to every live comedy show and being like, if you buy two books, I'll give you a sweatshirt that's only available at this show. I learned about scarcity. I learned about adding value to as many people as possible. And I. More than that, I learned that in order to understand the value of money, you need to know how to sell. And I think that is the skill that so many young girls aren't taught because they're afraid of talking about money and numbers and deal making. But it's the reason why men get ahead.

[Vivian Tu]

Yeah. What about your dad? What's a piece of financial advice that you may have learned from him?

[Zoya Garg]

Buy expensive things and. Or what's that quote? That's like.

[Zarna Garg]

That's my friend's quote, but okay, you can attribute it to your dad. Can you tell me, as per usual, the men get all the credit. I'm too poor to buy cheap things.

[Zoya Garg]

I'm too poor to buy cheap things. That is my dad's attitude towards life. He always raised the bar even more than her about what we could afford. We always shot above, like, our bracket in terms of the apartment we bought, in terms of clothes that we buy. And it was, it was something that I learned from a very early age, that it's better to actually invest really well into pieces that you Love whether that's clothes, food, workout classes, things of that kind, and use it.

[Vivian Tu]

As valuable as. Sardo's making such a face right now, he's.

[Zoya Garg]

I mean, he's a princess. He loves his Loro Piana, but he buys one and wears it entire year, and he wears it everywhere.

[Zarna Garg]

He has a little bit of a European attitude towards fashion and life.

[Vivian Tu]

He wants to look nice and have nice things.

[Zarna Garg]

So the two of them will walk over to Butterfield, which is the most expensive grocery store, and, like, somehow it's, I don't know, 50 bucks, and there's two cases of empty berries.

[Vivian Tu]

Yeah.

[Zarna Garg]

Coming back to the berries.

[Zoya Garg]

Okay, we'll talk about the berries more. But, like, for example, I'm wearing these earrings, these two toned earrings. I bought these for myself after the pre order campaign was very successful, and I wear them every day, and they were really expensive, but I don't plan on taking them off pretty much ever.

[Vivian Tu]

Yeah.

[Zoya Garg]

Yeah.

[Vivian Tu]

Good. Invest in things that'll last you through the test of time.

[Zoya Garg]

Yeah.

[Zarna Garg]

Well, within reason.

[Vivian Tu]

Within reason.

[Zarna Garg]

I have a feeling that these are going to go at some point.

[Vivian Tu]

Yeah. So now I have kind of a contentious question.

[Zoya Garg]

Love it.

[Vivian Tu]

Zarna, do you want Zoya to marry a rich man?

[Zarna Garg]

No.

[Vivian Tu]

No.

[Zarna Garg]

Yeah. Because the criteria is not rich.

[Vivian Tu]

Okay.

[Zarna Garg]

The criteria is, I myself didn't look for a rich man. My entire dating, my own matchmaking and dating stories out there, it's viral. You can look it up. I want her to marry a very smart and ambitious man. The idea is not to bypass the work. I want her to live a fulfilling life where she is part of building something with somebody. So they should get rich together, ideally, in fact, in some way. And this is a little bit of a hot take, in some ways, I'm a little prejudiced against rich people talk to me about that because I feel like they don't have the fire. If you have it early in life and you were just given it.

[Vivian Tu]

No hunger.

[Zarna Garg]

There's no hunger. And life has many twists and turns. Like, you might not be rich forever. You need to know how to survive the ups and downs of life. That would make me nervous. If she brought home a guy who was very rich from birth, I would be nervous. I would be like, the first hit, and this guy is gonna be out.

[Zoya Garg]

No, she really means that. I actually am working with a matchmaker. I'm fully.

[Vivian Tu]

Are you?

[Zoya Garg]

I am.

[Vivian Tu]

It's not your.

[Zoya Garg]

Not my mom. I mean, she's a terrible matchmaker.

[Vivian Tu]

Okay.

[Zoya Garg]

She has other talents.

[Zarna Garg]

I hired the matchmaker.

[Zoya Garg]

She did she did. And I'm very comfortable and open saying that. And he has brought her genuinely, like Bollywood actors who are extremely famous and royalty, like, genuinely for people who might be interested in going on a date with me. And she has rejected every single one. Every single one.

[Zarna Garg]

It's not because as women, we have to protect ourselves. I've learned. I've been married 26 years. You have to pair up with somebody who can withdraw, withstand life. And just money alone is not sufficient. It's necessary. It's not sufficient. You can earn the money. If somebody is bright, somebody is ambitious, you'll earn the money with them. She's smart enough, you're smart enough. I figured it out at 45 how to earn money. That can be done. But you cannot give somebody drive. You cannot give somebody that wherewithal that you need. I don't want a life for her where she's beholden to somebody's aging parents because they have no way to live.

[Vivian Tu]

Right.

[Zarna Garg]

And there's a lot of people like that in New York. I mean, my kids went to private school for many years. 80% of our private school classmates, the tuition was paid by the grandparents. And if the grandparents decided to pull that string, they could no longer afford it. I don't want that life for my kid. I don't care how fancy it looks on the outside. Yeah. Do you know what I mean?

[Vivian Tu]

Yeah.

[Zarna Garg]

So money is critical. It is fundamental. But it's gotta be yours. You gotta be able to claim it. You gotta be able to say that I did this and I deserve it and it is mine.

[Vivian Tu]

Wow. Money has to be your power.

[Zarna Garg]

Money has to be your power. And the only way it has to be it is your power, is if it's yours. There's no other way. There's no way to bypass the hard work. Totally and honestly, if you accept that and embrace it, the journey of building it is actually fun. We love what we do love, and we love building what we're building. Like, we're not looking for an easy solution ever. Ask anybody who's worked with us. We take the long road, the hardest road, always.

[Zoya Garg]

We start small and we build from there always too.

[Zarna Garg]

Yeah. And it's fun, you know, and it's ours. Like in Hindi, there's a saying. It's like. It means the person who holds the bat, only he gets to bat. It's a cricket quote that nobody else gets a say in how you use that bat.

[Vivian Tu]

Oh, I love that.

[Zarna Garg]

Yeah.

[Zoya Garg]

She has. She's very famous. She writes a column every Monday of Like business wisdom and these quotes and her analysis of them. And there are people who only follow her on Instagram for that Monday motivation.

[Zarna Garg]

I love quotes, so I search for quotes all over the world and I keep them in my arsenal, but I think they're very helpful. So rich is not what we're looking for.

[Vivian Tu]

Right? Okay.

[Zoya Garg]

Not in that I love that it's not. What does that make sense we're looking for?

[Vivian Tu]

Right.

[Zoya Garg]

Like Vivian. I'm like, okay, you know my dating life, question mark. Mine, not ours. Right. But somehow it's become ours. Ours.

[Vivian Tu]

It's a team project.

[Zarna Garg]

A good project.

[Zoya Garg]

Honestly. My hot take is you should introduce whoever you're serious about to your parents as soon as possible.

[Vivian Tu]

Why?

[Zoya Garg]

I think your parents have a really good gauge over whether or not somebody like gut instinct is worth pursuing or not. I don't think it has to be this serious thing. People make meeting the parents way too serious in America. It's like, oh, my God. It's like this bachelor moment, the season semi finale.

[Vivian Tu]

The hometown.

[Zoya Garg]

The hometown. I mean, I think that's ridiculous. It's your parents. They should have a say in whether or not this person feels like they could fit the vibe of the family. And so I actually introduce most people that I'm like, considering seriously to my mom specifically pretty quickly, but not for a very long time. I just have them Talk for like 30 minutes and just see. I'm like, what's her gut check on this?

[Zarna Garg]

30 minutes is enough to have them pull up their tax return on their phone. Okay, perfect.

[Vivian Tu]

Perfect, perfect, perfect, perfect, perfect, perfect. We're looking at the tax return. Amazing. She's like, what is your FICO score?

[Zarna Garg]

Yeah, but that's a good indicator.

[Vivian Tu]

It is a good one. Are you, you know, a credit worthy person?

[Zoya Garg]

You are clearly in finance. And I'm obsessed.

[Vivian Tu]

Yeah, of course. So I want to, you know, kind of take a turn. We're going to pivot to a little bit of a serious conversation.

[Zarna Garg]

Yeah.

[Vivian Tu]

And I do want to address the elephant in the room, please. Zarna, you recently performed at the Riyadh Comedy Festival.

[Zarna Garg]

Yes.

[Vivian Tu]

Which was pretty contentious.

[Zarna Garg]

Yeah.

[Vivian Tu]

I wanna just have a conversation. And this is not a lecture. This is not anything.

[Zarna Garg]

No, no, but it can be also. No problem.

[Vivian Tu]

But I wanna have a conversation of, like, how do you make these business decisions? What compelled you to do it and would you do it again?

[Zarna Garg]

Yeah, I would do it again. It was a business decision. And in that case, in the case of Riyadh, it was also a little bit of an emotional Decision. Yeah. I have two comedy specials, and both those specials were number one in the Middle east for a long time because those women have never seen anybody who look do what I do.

[Vivian Tu]

Yeah.

[Zarna Garg]

I lived in New York 25 years, and I didn't know what stand up comedy was. My All American kid introduced me to it. But I, through my work, have changed lives. I, through my work, have empowered women to say what's on their mind or to laugh about what's on other people's mind around them to not take life so seriously. I'm very proud of what I do. We are very proud of what we built. So in the case of Riyadh in particular, I was very conscious that those women who are texting me, DMing me every day, come here. We want to watch you with our daughters. We want to watch you live. We want to see what you do. I couldn't turn my back on them, honestly. People think it was the money and the money was good, but it wasn't life changing. Just so it's clear. Not for anybody, because I work with the agents that rep everybody. The money was good, but everybody on that lineup would make that money anyway. This is the superstar lineup. Like, it's not like, if I didn't go there, like, how am I gonna pay my bills? It's not like that. Like, I could have done three shows in New Jersey. We would have made the money.

[Vivian Tu]

Right?

[Zarna Garg]

So it's not like we all just went running for the money. There's that two. I don't take a moral position on it because every government in the world, including America, is doing things that I don't necessarily agree with, to be honest with you. I try to stay out of the politics of it. I'm more concerned with what can I do for the women in that region. Because I truly, especially in the Middle East, I truly believe that in the end the solution is gonna emerge from the women, that the more those women are empowered, the more there is hope for peace, for stability, for progress, for everybody. And I want whatever little I can do to move that needle, I'm happy to do. Now. Did I get paid? Of course I got paid. Yes. And I have.

[Vivian Tu]

As you should, by the way.

[Zarna Garg]

And I have offered no apologies for it. And by the way, people who think they would never like they doing business if you live in America, you're doing business with Saudi Arabia. If you're gassing up your car, you're doing business if you're riding Uber. The management company that reps me is partially owned by the Saudi royal family. You just don't know about it. Right. So it's a lot of noise about nothing as far as I'm concerned. And I had a very. I went in with a very clear mind. We are very clear about what we do. Are we running a business or is this a hobby? That's the first thing. As a business decision, did it make sense to go, yes, okay, now, so what are the issues? And once we were, like, we made our peace with it, there was nothing more to do.

[Zoya Garg]

And then also, what's the most diverse set of people possible that we can contribute value to?

[Zarna Garg]

Right.

[Zoya Garg]

Like, she was one of three female comedians out of 50 comedians that were invited. It was a very strict list. It's not that there aren't amazing female comics. It's that her set is clean, it's relatable, and it's something that that audience doesn't hear ever. And so I was really inspired, honestly, by her decision to go. I mean, I've. I think that's probably one of the top five most inspiring things I've seen her do. It's not easy. It's not easy for her to also speak boldly and unapologetically on a stage like that. I can't even. It's unfathomable that people can't even appreciate, like, the actual American protest that she was bringing through her words on that stage.

[Zarna Garg]

Yeah, that's what it was. Bringing freedom of speech to people who've never seen anything like it.

[Vivian Tu]

Yeah, yeah.

[Zarna Garg]

Half the people who made it controversial here, between you and me, were comics who weren't invited or who are so far into the progressive liberal side of things that there's just no room to talk to them or negotiate with them. Half of them are repped by a company that is owned by a Saudi royal family, and they just either don't know it or choose to look away.

[Zoya Garg]

And from, like, a business point of view as well, we respect all the comics that have, you know, said anything about this event, good or bad, but anyone who spoke on this event in a negative way, in my opinion, was profiting off of the. Off of the crazy engagement and the engagement for themselves as well.

[Zarna Garg]

They turned it into a press tour. Why? I wouldn't go, right. How stupid is that? Like, we decline things every day. We don't have time to talk about it.

[Zoya Garg]

So I just. I think it's important to highlight the irony in that. In that this event, people who weren't even a part of it were getting benefit from it monetarily as well, and.

[Vivian Tu]

So people saying, I'm not gonna go. You weren't invited. Yeah.

[Zarna Garg]

And if, even if you were, let's say, like I think on the, on average we probably turn down five things a day, right? Different things for different reasons. We don't have time to talk about it. We really don't. And everybody, we assume that everybody is smart enough to make their own decisions and that's it. But I personally am very proud that I went, I think I showed Saudi women a new side of what women can be. And even if that's a start, maybe it's the smallest germ, a start of a revolution in their minds, maybe in their women hangouts, maybe for the first time they went home and started telling jokes about their mother in laws. You know, everything starts somewhere.

[Vivian Tu]

Yeah.

[Zoya Garg]

Our goal is to make families laugh all over the world, no matter what demographic you're in. That is our responsibility and that's our prerogative and priority first.

[Zarna Garg]

And they paid well.

[Vivian Tu]

I just, I have to laugh because you are such a comedian to just follow it up with that. And they paid well.

[Zarna Garg]

Like, I mean, I mean, I'm not apologizing for it. And by the way, people who came, there were some comics who came reluctantly. They were blown away. I was not. I've been to Asia and Middle east enough to know that it's not all what you see on TV here. Cause if you watch, if you have your view of Middle east just based on news in America, you don't know what you're talking about, honestly. But the comics who were a little reluctant, absolutely flabbergasted with the advancement, it just, you land in the airport and the level of advancement, technology, you just don't expect it.

[Vivian Tu]

Totally.

[Zarna Garg]

And you know, I think that they've gone back with their eyes open.

[Vivian Tu]

Yeah, I appreciate that and I appreciate the candor. I think we should continue this candid conversation. Typically in many Asian families, Indian families, you get a Panera, you pick one. Doctor, lawyer, engineer. Not lawyer, not lawyer. You have famously said that you were not supportive of Zoya studying Classics, of wanting to write, of doing all these things. What changed your mind to realize that she was the best person to rep you?

[Zarna Garg]

I didn't want her to study classics because the degree is very expensive. The Stanford. I was like, you want to study classics, just stay at home and study classic. Go to the local. Like you don't go there for a half a million dollar degree and all this life experience and not get the one thing it's known for, accomplishment.

[Vivian Tu]

Do you know What?

[Zarna Garg]

I mean, like, keep it in your back pocket. If you want that whole experience, you gotta do it. Listen, we're Asian. I made a movie. My director was a cancer surgeon on the side.

[Zoya Garg]

Yeah, he is Harvard cancer surgeon.

[Zarna Garg]

So funny because that's how we wrote. And he still practices his mother. He's a grown man.

[Vivian Tu]

He's afraid of his mom.

[Zarna Garg]

Of course, his mother still won't let him quit his medical practice three months of the year. He has to stop the Hollywood thing and go practice in a medical. In a hospital. Because she's like, I don't trust the Hollywood thing. So I get it. You know, the reason she's working with me is because she's the best at it. She's an execution beast. Honestly, between you and me, I'm not gonna look this way. My business, I'm so serious about it that if I didn't think she had it in me, I would encourage her to get a tech job. I would be like, go hide behind three levels of engineers. You know, L, 1, L2, A, B, C, D. Whatever they create, there's lots of room to hide in. Big companies go enjoy the sushi bar and whatever else they do, the ping pong table, whatever. Like, you know, there's a lot of fluff attached to all that stuff. I don't have it. I'm a small business. My team is small and mighty. We are ninjas. We get things done. We show profitability. I'm known in the business as somebody who makes money for everybody that collaborates with them. That is my reputation. I could not have her work with me and jeopardize my business just because she has nothing to do. Yeah. By running the New York Times campaign, she proved that she knows what she's doing. I gave her the assignment and I never looked at it again. I said, get it done.

[Vivian Tu]

Yeah.

[Zarna Garg]

And like, literally, get it done. Here's the budget, like, for whatever little tools that she needed. I never involved myself. She took it on head on. And in fact, we had one bump along the way.

[Zoya Garg]

You wanna be. I mean, yeah, I was gonna say I also really had to earn it.

[Vivian Tu]

There were moments there was no Nepo baby in us.

[Zoya Garg]

I mean, I honest envy the Nepo baby thing because being her daughter, a lot of people think that it's just like, oh, you have a famous parent. But I really struggled to figure out, especially this campaign, really early into the campaign, I remember it had been a month in and I had shown no numbers. There were no pre order numbers. There was no views, There was No work to speak for all the ideas that I had about how to sell the book. And she looked at me and she said, zoya, I'm gonna give this job to someone else. I'm gonna give not only this job to someone else, but I'm going to give what this journey can teach you to someone else because you don't deserve it. And I was so devastated. I really had to put our personal relationship aside in order to actually hear what she was saying. But the very next day, I like, hit the ground running. I was like, I don't care what it takes. I'll hold a sign in the middle of my college campus that literally says, three book equals one sweatshirt if that's what's gonna get the job done. And that is what got the job done. So I think one thing that I think is really interesting is a lot of people who are trying to learn how to make money out of college, they can't figure it out. It's really stressful. People don't wanna take a leap. But if you can deliver somebody a process from 0 to 100 of XYZ thing will get done. All the people involved will get a win. I'm going to deliver value in all of these different ways. You will make money and you will be a power player to whoever you're serving. Right? And now I have job offers out the wazoo. I mean, like, every single person that I worked with wants to hire me. I've been like, I've gotten a pre order campaign job offer from, I think every notable author right now in the last six months. And I earned that because people saw this girl sold 10,000 pre orders. That, that's over $300,000 worth of pre order revenue of something that didn't even exist yet.

[Zarna Garg]

Yeah, you'll see. Pre order is tricky because you're selling something that doesn't exist and people don't read anymore.

[Vivian Tu]

No, I'm incentivize.

[Zoya Garg]

You have to incentivize people to see the value in a product that they're probably not even going to consume.

[Zarna Garg]

But I wanna add because a lot of women watch your podcast, listen to your podcast. In the early days of the pre order campaign because she's in Silicon Valley, she's surrounded by tech, everybody is chasing the unicorn, right? There were friends who would say to her, why are you doing such low vibration work?

[Zoya Garg]

Oh yeah, people, vibration work is crazy low status. People would constantly say, zoya, you worked at Apple, you go to Stanford, you have all these VC connections. Why are you not just Going down this path of raising millions of dollars and doing an AI startup and applying it to the comedy industry. Very big words that are very hollow. And it took me so long. It took me seeing what sales was doing for my confidence, honestly, as a human being. Like every time I sold a pre order, I became a better person. Honestly, like genuinely I did.

[Zarna Garg]

And we were very clear. I remember telling her, I'm like, I don't have room for shiny pennies in my business. You gotta mean something. You gotta bring something to the table. And life is about sales. Business is about sales. The whole game is sales. It doesn't even matter what you're selling. Whatever this low vibration thing is. I don't know what goes on in Silicon Valley because I feel like now we're at an age where every kid is waking up thinking, I'm not an AI billionaire yet. The AI rocket hasn't hit me yet. Like, relax, people just give somebody value.

[Zoya Garg]

And the reason we're bringing that up also is because entrepreneurship has become conflated with that. Entrepreneurship is very different than that. Entrepreneurship to me is distinctly creating ways of making money for some service or product that is adding something different or is making something better. That's it, that's all it is. And I, you know, we have a lot of criticism of all that, but I'm glad I didn't listen to all that kind of.

[Zarna Garg]

But she was almost fired. But she was fired.

[Zoya Garg]

I was, I genuinely was.

[Vivian Tu]

You got performance improvement plan by your mom?

[Zarna Garg]

No.

[Vivian Tu]

Yeah.

[Zoya Garg]

I mean, can you imagine what she's like as a boss? You've seen her on stage, you've seen her in this podcast. Can you imagine the kind of threat. I mean, it was.

[Vivian Tu]

She has high demands because she brings a lot to the table herself. And you want someone to match that.

[Zoya Garg]

Energy and people rise to the expectations that to them.

[Vivian Tu]

That's right. So we are running out of time. But I want to ask one question to each of you. It's the same question. What is your biggest money regret and why?

[Zarna Garg]

It's going to be a hard. Okay. My biggest money regret is not taking control of my own financial destiny. Earlier in life, I was a stay at home mom for many years and my husband is a Wall street professional, a very nice guy and very trustworthy. So it's not that, but every single woman should take control of her financial destiny. And I learned it the hard way because when bad times hit, which they did, my husband lost his job during COVID He got completely frazzled and I was at ground zero right I had to like wake up and build from ground zero overnight and it was a mistake. What was I thinking for the 15 years before?

[Vivian Tu]

Right.

[Zarna Garg]

Don't ever put yourself in that situation, ever. Every woman, no matter what your circumstance, no matter who you marry, no matter who you date, you must have your own money and you must have your own financial plan for yourself and also for your family.

[Vivian Tu]

Family. I love that. That is an incredible piece of advice.

[Zoya Garg]

Using my college investment in a way that I don't think was actually accurate and right for my purposes. I think a lot of people feel all sorts of ways when they graduate college. Like I could have done this and I could have done that. And no matter what you're doing, if you're going to a private university, you someone is proportionally making up a $500,000 investment plus, plus housing plus everything else on your behalf or you are paying it for yourself. I regret not working full time as soon as possible in college. I think every college student should have a full time job and treat college like a part time job and not treat their classes like they're so important. Should use the environment to meet as many people as possible. I'm glad I got a hard skill.

[Vivian Tu]

Why is your mom laughing?

[Zoya Garg]

Because she, I think she'll probably disagree with me here but. But the work experience that I got in those last two years of my undergrad were so much more valuable to me and actually made me a better student because I was so like learning how to time manage class with my full time job, with socializing. And I think students should learn that as soon as possible and should not get caught up in getting more degrees. These colleges are so unethical in that way because they sell this promise of if you get this master's degree, you'll get a higher paying AI and it's not true. They're stealing time from you. That's time that you could be exploring and figuring things out and working for somebody or building something of your own. And I have a real gripe with higher education and I really think that I could have used my investment a little bit differently.

[Vivian Tu]

I think that's wise too. Like be conscious of why you are going to college and what it's for and what you're trying to get out of it.

[Zarna Garg]

Yeah, can I just, can I just leave? Give you one piece of advice to your people because it's something your audience in particular and my daughter, you know, lot of men and women of this age, 20s, 30s, they're like caught up in dating and then also the Job. And should I take a job, like, now for women? I tell my daughter, just, if you like somebody and you want to get married, get married and get divorced. If it needs to be that way, really, you don't need to be thinking of it as a lifetime commitment. That has not served women either. Because the men get in and out of marriages, as we've seen. It's the women who are like, but I thought we were gonna get old together. And then they make all these financial mistakes. They give up their financial future because they're trying to appease the guy. Or worse yet, support him, which he might just turn around and say, I didn't even ask for it. Which happens today all the time. Now, I tell my daughter, I tell all the women, don't take marriage. So it's not life or death. Like, if you make a mistake, you'll get out of it. In fact, maybe make that mistake early, get it out of your system so you can focus on building your financial future. Because we are all. As I'm aging, I'm 50. I have so many friends. Women who are in horrible situations now because they trusted their partners, they trusted their spouses. Now they're divorced or worse things have happened, you know, they're widowed or whatever, and now they have nothing. They're suddenly in America with no means to support themselves, or the money they thought was gonna last them a lifetime is not gonna last them five years. And it's very, very shocking and jarring. So I tell her, I tell everybody who's watching and listening, and it's a real hot take. I get trolled for it all the time, and I don't care. But my job is to empower women into living lives that they own their destinies of, and that is not gonna happen without your own money. It's just not.

[Vivian Tu]

I don't think that's a hot take. I think that's the right take. Thank you so much for sharing your wisdom, for sharing our laughs. I completely understand why you are just as charismatic and fun and bubbly in person. What's next for the both of you? And where can everybody listening and watching find you.

[Zarna Garg]

At? Zarnagarg family podcast. If we don't blow up.

[Zoya Garg]

Yeah.

[Zarna Garg]

If we don't fight our way into.

[Zoya Garg]

An explosion, we fight on the Internet about money, politics, sex, everything you could possibly fight with your family about. We put it all on the Internet. That's our little thing. But you can also find me Oyagarg.

[Zarna Garg]

Pretty much everywhere, and I'm Arnagarg everywhere. And you know, be part of this world. It's social media. Be social.

[Zoya Garg]

And please direct message us what you disagree about with us on this podcast. Cause I live for that. I live for the debate. I loved. I am a debater over df. I respond to people on DM all the time.

[Vivian Tu]

Zoya, that's crazy.

[Zarna Garg]

I know you want to know.

[Zoya Garg]

You want to know. Okay, this is a secret tip. You want to know where you can sell the most product? Instagram dm.

[Vivian Tu]

Yeah.

[Zoya Garg]

Dms are customer service tickets. Now that is literally a customer. So if you're talking to somebody and you send them a link and you create a compelling enough reason. I was on Instagram DM four hours a day, every single day for six months for this pre order process being like, you should consider buying this book for this reason, for this business, for this human being. And it worked. Highest conversion tool.

[Zarna Garg]

Also, it's one of the best ways to reach very famous people. People don't know that. Cause very famous people usually have a wall of agents and managers around them whose only job is to keep you away. But they don't hand over their Instagram accounts easily. Cause they're trying to keep that private. They don't want people in their DMs. So there is a way to get through to very famous people if you're trying. Instagram DMs is one of the last things they're gonna hand over to a rep. Totally. Yeah. Yeah. Wow.

[Vivian Tu]

And on that note, thank you guys so much for joining me. This was so much fun.

[Zarna Garg]

Thank you, thank you, thank you for having us. This was so fun.

[Vivian Tu]

Thanks for tuning into this week's episode of Net Worth and Chill, part of the Vox Media podcast network. If you liked the episode, make sure to leave a rating and review and subscribe so you never miss an episode. Got a burning financial question that you want covered in a future episode? Write to us via podcastourrichbff.com follow Net Worth and Chillpod on Instagram to stay up to date on all podcast related news. And you can follow me at YourRichBFF for even more financial know how. See you next week. Bye. Support for Net Worth and Chill comes from Adobe. For a long time, turning something into a PDF kind of felt like creating a digitized fossil, like you were encasing all your grammar errors and resin for your whole team to see in perpetuity. But what if your PDF was alive? You could engage with it, collaborate through it, and ask it questions with the help of an AI assistant. You could even let your PDF talk to you by turning it into a podcast with PDF Spaces. Your PDFs stay dynamic and alive, letting you do more than you ever thought was possible. Learn [e-mail] do that with Acrobat.