My Most Influential People: Mum’s Tough Love, Mr Pleat, Dad & Munger — Monsoon Pabrai on Money & Impact

S03-EP07 - Monsoon Pabrai

At 29, Monsoon is an Indian-American fund manager and founder of Drew, managing ~$25M across 100+ clients. In this conversation she unpacks the 4 most influential people in her life (without myth or hype): a tiger-mum who engineered discipline, a history teacher (Mr Pleat) who sparked real-world curiosity and financial literacy, a North-Star dad (Mohnish) whose integrity and philanthropy shaped her compass, and Charlie Munger, whose's “no self-pity, no envy” mindset anchors her investing and life philosophy.

✨In this episode we explore:

• Building a people-first investment firm (Buffett-style 0/6/25 fees, no management fee on main funds)
• Finding purpose through Dakshina, the family education nonprofit changing social mobility in India
• Managing other people’s money with care (families on Zoom, transparent communication)
• Why integrity beats shortcuts (anti-bribery stance, doing hard things the right way)
• Career path: UC Berkeley → Dalton Investments → beauty-tech startup → launching her own fund

✨Highlights✨

👩‍🔬 Harina (Mum) — Engineer, tough-love “tiger mum” who paused her Physics PhD to coach Monsoon through high school; instituted structure, study discipline, and tech-free nights that led to straight A’s.

🌟 Mohnish (Dad) — “My North Star.” Modeled uncompromising integrity, philanthropy and clear principles; annual rural-India trips; taught business culture, ethics, and the meaning of independence.

📚 Mr Pleat (AP U.S. History) — Treated students like future decision-makers; brought the financial crisis and real-world literacy into class; returned large parent gifts on principle; funny, curious, and deeply invested in students.

🧠 Charlie Munger — Philosophy of “no self-pity, no envy,” multidisciplinary thinking, independence over money, and partnership wisdom.

@peopleareeverything

Find out more about Monsoon here:-

🌐 www.drewinvestments.com
💼 LinkedIn @monsoon-pabrai
📘 Facebook @monsoon.pabrai
🐦 Twitter @Typhoon_Girl

#PeopleAreEverything #PodcastInterview #ValueInvesting #WomenInFinance #YoungFounder #InvestingMindset #IntegrityMatters #FinancialLiteracy #EducationChangesLives #Philanthropy #CharlieMunger #WarrenBuffett #MohnishPabrai #BerkshireHathaway #ImmigrantStory #ImpactDriven #FounderLife #Nonprofit #LifeLessons #Mentorship

If you care about values-driven finance, education, and impact, this one’s for you.