"I coach women to be Financially Unstoppable!"
Sheetal Gurung's story of helping 1000s of women boost their net worth + self-worth through financial skilling.
The New Year is always a great time to celebrate annual milestones, and Sheetal Gurung’s Instagram post in particular, caught my eye. She shared that in 2024:
She led 10 financial skilling batches of women from the North East. 75 of the women began investing in the stock market.
A savvy investor herself, Sheetal is investing in a new asset class - wine (while yours truly is only drinking it)!
Her brother got married, and her family ensured a “no-loan” wedding.
Three cheers to Sheetal for these accomplishments. But like many women, she wasn’t always this financially astute.
Meeting Sheetal
I met Sheetal in 2018, when I registered for a financial skilling programme with the platform Women on Wealth (WOW). She turned out to be my coach. Every week, I dutifully went down to the centre located in Saket, New Delhi.
Here I strengthened my knowledge on saving, investing, budgeting, taxes, and more. The experience to me was wow! Sheetal’s coaching transformed my self-worth, net worth, and my life. It made me curious to know:
What propelled Sheetal to become a financial skills coach to women?
How did she build her own financial knowledge?
How is her coaching journey?
What’s the impact of skilling women?
I reached out to Sheetal to unravel these gems. As Maria Vontrap would say, “let’s start at the very beginning”!
Growing up in Nagaland
Sheetal grew up in Mokokchung, Nagaland. In her memory, life was simple, basic. Money conversations mostly revolved around lending or borrowing within the family. She had her own piggy bank, referred to as a "charity box." From the sounds of it not much saving happened.
“When relatives visited, they would give us money, and my sisters and I would rush to the neighborhood store to buy fancy candies. When I grew up a little, I remember going to the market and making sure I spent the last ten rupees, too. No wonder I had to get trained to save money as spending was my DNA. LOL, “ jokes Sheetal.
As India’s call centre industry boomed, Sheetal headed to Mumbai. “My sister told me about a job where they had you watch English movies as training! “ shares Sheetal, who was hired. Eventually, she moved to Delhi along with her sister Prema, whom she is extremely close to.
Discovering the wanderlust and beyond
Delhi proved to be an eye-opener for Sheetal, who discovered that people here, travelled for leisure. This was an alien idea to Sheetal. Her family had always viewed travel as a functional activity - a means to get from point A to point B.
“Annual vacation travel was never a thing in Nagaland for me, probably because we didn’t have the means (or dreams).“ But in Delhi, conversations about travel were brewing all around her.
“I remember seeing holiday package ads in newspapers - INR 1 lakhs for 4 nights in Europe, and instantly thinking ‘oh that’s expensive’. Coming to Delhi and being horrible at saving, even conversations of weekend trips with friends made me nervous LOL, “ she recalls of those early days.
By then, Sheetal had worked in the corporate world for 10 years. But she had no savings, and was going broke each month, despite rising in the ranks as a corporate trainer. Lucky for Sheetal, fate had something wonderful in store for her. Sheetal’s aunt, a progressive lady named Purnima Gurung, moved from Australia to Delhi along with her hubby, who was on a work assignment.
“We had only seen photos of aunty Purnima growing up. But she made a real effort to bond with us. Being a coach herself, she exposed us to all the learning opportunities available. In fact, she was the first person to talk to me and my siblings about goal setting, “ recalls Sheetal, with much gratitude.
The “aha” moment
Aunty Purnima recommended that Sheetal attend a free session on financial skilling hosted by Priyanka Bhatia, co-founder of WOW. During the session, she was asked to list down:
How much money had entered her life till that day - salaries, gifts, pocket money, et al.
What she had to show for the money she had received - assets, savings, and investments.
A shocked, embarrassed Sheetal realised that INR 28 lakhs had entered her life till that moment (this was over 10 years back). Yet, she had nothing to show for it. She had credit card debt, and her net worth was in the negative.
“Formal education, even as an educated woman, hadn't taught me how to grow the money I earned. From that moment, it was a choice: I could either ignore this realization and continue living as I had, or I could choose financial education and change my future.”
During this seminal session, Sheetal also realised that financial well-being was a skill that could be learnt and perfected, and she resolved to build it. She was now convinced that skills were the key to building financial resilience in the face of all eventualities. Since then she has:
Gotten out of nagging credit card debt.
Learned all aspects of saving, investing, and spending smart.
Learned how to save money, methodically. “I realised it’s not a natural gift you are born with😀. “
Is able to extend financial support to people she loves. “I have the confidence that besides taking care of myself, I can take care of them.“
Made her dream of travelling and exploring places come true.
Also, connected the dots between money and her life’s purpose.
“One of the most poignant moments in a coaching session, was when I was asked about my purpose. I struggled with the question, broke down. Praveer, our co-founder whom I affectionately call Bapu, told me that I could take anything in front of me and make it my purpose. “
The idea of coaching financial skills began to intrigue her. But she was not quite ready to go into it full-time. So, for nearly five years, she moonlighted with WOW, while managing a full-time night shift job.
“I had nearly mastered balancing both roles. But when COVID hit, online training brought new opportunities. At the same time, changes in my corporate job required me to step up, and I realised I didn’t want to.”
Sheetal quit her job, and pivoted into financial skills coaching fulltime.
Handholding Women
Today, Sheetal leads stock investing programmes for women at WOW, and is an active leader in the growing WOW community. She seems to understand the mindset of Indian women rather well, and the challenges they face.
“Many women, today, are aware that they must invest but are still scared. Many seek their husband’s approval about becoming financially educated. It’s particularly frustrating when they’ve already told me that their husbands are not good with finances.
I understand where they are coming from, and that this is going to be a long journey for all of us. It hits me that I need to be understanding and compassionate, while also being a strict teacher when necessary. Today, I’m proud to say that “handholding” is what we specialise in.“
According to Sheetal, financially-skilled women successfully emerge out of “survival mode”, and make decisions differently.
They take a step back from their usual money habits and rethink their approach.
Assess their financial situation, and create a plan for their goals.
Choose good quality investments.
The most significant impact - self-determination - their ability to make choices without being controlled by others. “Women gain the skills to rely on themselves. They become decisive, find ways to overcome their fears, and start taking action. “
Once learners join the WOW community, they can be part of fun activities like Cashflow board games, group travel, vineyard tours, book clubs, and staycations. My favourites are the 21-day no-spend challenges that nudge us to reflect on our motivations, habits, and relationship with money.
Sheetal’s personal resource picks:
Monika Halan’s Let’s Talk Money
The Almanack of Naval Ravikant by Eric Jorgenson
The Daily Brief podcast by Zerodha
The North East Effect
A daughter of Nagaland, Sheetal gradually felt a desire to ignite the financial freedom flame in women from the North East. With support from the WOW team and co-founders, she created short-form financial programmes, and took them to her hometown. But the road was paved with challenges.
“We made a difference for a few women, got them started, but it didn’t really take off. Learning online was a challenge for many due to lack of access to proper internet connections and personal computers, fear of online scams, and inexperience with online banking. So, it’s been a real test of patience and perseverance, “ she recollects.
In my experience, Sheetal’s not one to give up easily. In 2024, she rekindled the vision and finally made headway.
“There’s a lot of curiosity in the women mixed with fear. But a few courageous women have come forward, and learned. This time, besides my home state of Nagaland, women from Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh have also stepped up and taken action, “ she shares, with pride.
Here are some glimpses of Sheetal’s personal advocacy, which galvanised interest in financial skilling, back home.
Achieving Personal Goals
Ever since I’ve known Sheetal she’s had the wanderlust. From being an envious bystander to other people’s travel adventures, she has become a global traveller.
She’s also fitness-conscious, and is always training for some marathon or the other, living the mantra that fiscal and physical fitness go together.
Essentially, she is goals!
In conclusion, Sheetal leaves me with some powerful words: “If you take care of your money, it will take care of you.” Well said. More power to Sheetal, and the growing tribe of financially skilled women in India and around the world.
Beautifully captured. A well rounded access into the Sheetal we know. More power and many blessings to Sheetal on her onward journey at WOW.
Congratulations