This Pride month, we’re featuring queer couples who are making a difference on the Eastside. Through activism, art, business and more, these couples have found unique ways to give back to the communities they most identify with – all while being unapologetically in love.
In 2019, Sky Gaven was grieving the death of her mother while stuck in a legal battle with her father over money and family assets. Married with plans to have children, Gaven and her wife, Nancy “Uninanti” Ventura, knew they had to find a way to guarantee their future children were not forced into a similar situation.
“If we don’t become financially literate, we’re going to get left out in the cold. Then our kids will also be left out in the cold,” said Gaven.
The experience led the couple to establish Gaventura Capital, (the name is a combination of their last names), a business based in Boyle Heights that offers financial literacy services and aims to help end generational poverty.
Gaven and Ventura also created 501(c)(3) nonprofit Heirs of The World and penned the “ABCs of Wealth,” a kids book guiding heirs worldwide through the maze of financial literacy.
From early on in their relationship, creating economic gains was important to Gaven and Ventura, who both agree that learning about finance at school or home was rare.
Ventura, who grew up in the San Diego area, was forced to leave her love of painting to clean houses with her mother. Gaven still remembers her daily hourslong bus commute from her home in Boyle Heights to Pacific Palisades High School – where she first recognized income inequality. “I didn’t realize that we were broke until I went to high school,” she said, recalling how she marveled at her classmates’ luxury homes.
Now, the couple, who shares two children, works to give advice to aspiring wealth builders: acquire knowledge, embrace discomfort and cultivate abundance consciousness. To queer and trans people of color seeking to carve their niche in the business world, Gaven and Ventura extend a rallying cry: defy self-doubt, seize opportunities and pave the way for visibility and representation.
We sat down with Gaven and Ventura to talk about the journey to rewrite their family’s and community’s wealth narrative. The interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.
How did you two meet?
Gaven: There was a band called Los Hollywood. I did a documentary for them and Nancy was their graphic designer. I saw the flier and I’m like ‘man who made this?’ Then I met her and she was fire in person. We just kind of met and it wasn’t really a thing. Then she crept up in my DMs. Next thing you know, we’re married.
How were your family finances growing up? How did that impact your relationship with money?
Gaven: My mom lost her job after 32 years working for a major company… That was the first time that we experienced being homelessness and we lost all [our] properties. We ended up sleeping on the garage floor of a family member’s house and right then and there, I made the decision at 13 years old that I would never call anybody boss.
Ventura: There was no talk about money that surrounded anything of abundance. It was all the scarcity mindset of like, ‘we don’t have enough or there’s another bankruptcy’ and it was always negative surrounding that topic.
Why is it important to ensure your children are financially secured?
Gaven: We come from generational poverty and it was super important to start a family here in Boyle Heights that did not come from generational poverty. That was created in the name of generational wealth, which we are the first in our family to do so.
As entrepreneurs who educate others about finance, have you experienced any bigotry being part of the LGBTQ+ or Latino communities?
Gaven: When you’re super educated in finance, everyone’s your best friend. So I haven’t experienced much of that. My private life is now very public. I need to show the world that things look different; that you can have two mothers, you can be Latina, you can be from the hood, you can build in the hood, you can make something of yourself if you come from the hood. Despite all the isms, we’ve been able to work around that.
Can you explain what your book “ABCs of Wealth” is about?
Ventura: The characters, Wizzy and Goldie, walk you through the ABCs of wealth. These are all the words from A to Z that you need for wealth creation, building, safeguarding and understanding and also how to apply it right…It’s a book for everyone no matter what part of the financial journey you’re starting at.
Gaven: We don’t talk about finance in school, it’s pretty much illegal. You know, it’s up there with God, yet we worship money, more than we worship God. We wanted to make sure that this book is second to the Bible. In my opinion, there’s the Bible, and then there’s “ABCs of Wealth.” And those are the two important things that you have to have, faith and financial literacy.
What advice do you have for queer and trans people of color hoping to start their own business?
Gaven: We need you. We need you to build [businesses]. If you build it, they will come. We need to be seen more.
Ventura: Yes, stop the self doubt and don’t overthink. Whatever needed to be done yesterday, needs to already be done.
To learn more about Gaventura Capital, check out their Instagram. “ABC’s of Wealth” can be ordered here.
Love it! Powerful story! Go Gaventura!