Promoting connection empowerment and promoting women, NYC Fintech Women released their 2021 list of the many Inspiring Fintech Females on Monday.
Highlighting 65 women through various categories, NYC fintech Women co-founder Michelle Tran said the awards highlight the determination of 65 leaders, founders, product builders, and money movers.
“It always continues to be important to highlight women, I think, you know, one is it’s important to say the names and to help women promote themselves,” Tran said. “I think historically women just have done less of that.”
Tran said the list covers the diverse community transforming fintech by advocating for women and gender equity. The list will be featured on the fintech women site all year.
Tran said that women in fintech are not just 20 something executives living in New York, but working moms like Tran on the west coast and product engineers, venture capitalists, founders, and those in support roles.
“It’s a huge range when you say fintech, and we are all coming together to create a more innovative environment and a more equitable environment,” Tran said. “And you know, that there are different roles within fintech, it’s not just an engineer, you know, but could be a CEO, it could be a marketing person, it could be someone who is Chief People Officer.”
8K fintech women and counting
NYC Fintech women, a collaborative networking support group founded four years ago, even before fintech became a hot topic, has grown to 8,000 members strong.
“So it’s diversity across ethnicity it’s diversity across level, everyone from senior down to the analysts, it’s diversity in terms of the type of company,” Tran said.
“You have your BlackRock’s, and you have your Goldman Sachs and your Citi’s who are doing a lot in the fintech space themselves, [but also] supporting smaller fintechs, and then you also have your startups.”
Plan to add hubs
Tran said that the group plans to add hubs across the US after the pandemic saw a dispersion of NYC community members.
In 2022, NYC fintech women want to build support for women across the US, in Miami, Chicago, Austin, Atlanta, San Francisco, and more.
Tran said part of NYC Fintech Women’s outreach brings speakers to high schools and colleges to promote women in the fintech scape, to let young women aspiring for leadership and fintech roles know someone has their back.
Tran said that just knowing there are women leaders and builders can help young women pursue roles in the fintech world.
“So it’s really important for us to talk about it, I do a lot of these talks with colleges and high schools too. I really wish someone told me just a little bit more about you know, financial technology or just financial services in general when I was that age,” Trans said. “But there’s just so many different avenues and we can go down, and really interesting avenues too.”
That’s why Tran and Co-founder Sasha Pilch originally founded the group, to foster support for women like them working in fintech.
“Myself and a couple of others were struggling to find a community of women in fintech to lean on right you know, you have typical networks or events for fintech or women in tech, but specifically women in fintech,” Tran said. “We struggled to find that right one so he said, hey, why to let’s just start it ourselves, And so we did.”
Each recipient of the Inspiring Fintech Females honor will be featured for a full calendar year on NYC FinTech Women’s website. The 2021 winners include:
Founders
She is a tenacious female founder in a male-dominated industry who has an entrepreneurial spirit using her platform to build diverse teams and mentor other women.
- Michele Alt, Partner and Co-Founder, Klaros Group
- Nora Apsel, Co-Founder and CEO, Morty
- Lilac Bar David, Co-founder and CEO, Lili
- Sarah Biller, Co-Founder of FinTech Sandbox & ED at Vantage Ventures
- Wendy Cai-Lee, Founder & CEO, Piermont Bank
- Tani Chambers, CEO and Founder, RAVN
- Swati Chaturvedi, Co-founder and CEO, Propel(x)
- Nisha Desai, Managing General Partner, Andav Capital
- Margaret Hartigan, Founder & CEO, Marstone
- Gina Kirch, Founder, The Venture Collective
- Renee King, Founder & CEO, FundBlackFounders.com
- Ennie Lim, CEO & Co-Founder, HoneyBee
- Maya Nijhawan, Co-Founder & Head of Marketing, Finch
- Jessica Schaefer, Executive Chair and Founder, Bevel
- Kirti Shenoy, CEO, Zeal
- Billie Simmons, Founder, Daylight
- Yanique Williams, Technologist & Founder, Young Ambitious One
Leaders
Her mission-led leadership is driving change within her organization all the while championing equity and the inclusion of women.
- Brooke Berman, Head of Financial Partnerships, Propel, Inc.
- Anya Boutov, Chief Revenue Officer, Beacon Platform
- Thais Branco, Head of Marketing, Nate
- Rachel Carpenter, COO, Global Consumer Technology Partnerships, Citi
- Angela Ceresnie, CEO, Climb Credit
- Lule Demissie, President, eToro
- Tracy Garley, CEO, GoFundHer
- Delisha Grant, Associate General Counsel, Addepar
- Aliya Haider, General Counsel, Beacon Platform
- Toan Huynh, Fintech Entrepreneur, Investor, Advisor, Board Member & Champion
- Erin Jaeger, Head of US GtM Operations, Klarna
- Deniz Johnson, COO, Stratyfy
- Suzan Kereere, Chief Growth Officer, Fiserv
- Keryn Koch, VP People, CommonBond
- Beth Kurteson, Managing Director, Gemini
- Amanda Lui, Head of Product, Albert
- Calanthia Mei, VP, Head of Partnerships, Fast
- Robin Nunn, Partner, Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP
- Bridgette Penel, Head of Customer Success, Synctera
- Sydney Schaub, Chief Legal Officer, Gemini
- Garima, Shah, President, Biller Genie
- Juliette-Marie Somerset, Board member/Advisor/ CEO of Somerset Capital
Money Movers
She is actively investing and supporting diverse FinTech founders, challenging the current status quo within venture capital, and shifting the distribution of wealth and opportunity for all women.
- Christine Chang, Advisor/Board Member/Angel Investor, TBD Angels
- Elizabeth Davis, Principal, Anthemis
- Jasleen Kaur, Principal, CE Innovation Capital
- Jennifer Lee, Partner, Edison Partners
- Senofer Mendoza, Founder & General Partner, Mendoza Ventures
- Amee Parbhoo, Managing Director, Accion Venture Labs
Network Builders
She is an industry powerhouse who leverages her network to drive connections across the FinTech community to foster a more inclusive ecosystem, enriching experiences and ultimately promoting better innovation.
- Amber Buker, Director of Insights, Alloy Labs
- Ilana Fass, VP, Silicon Valley Bank
- Cara Hayward, Director of Partnerships, North America, Currencycloud
- Parker Jay-Pachirat, Chief of Staff, Fintech Today
- Ashlyn Lackey, Startup Commercial Catalyst, Citibank
- Gloria Li, Researcher (& Student), Harvard University
- Linda Lipovetsky, Senior Client Success, Vise
- Allison Schneider, Venture Partnerships at Vouch Insurance, Vouch
- Nneka Ukpai, Senior Director, Business and Legal Affairs, Better
- Kelsey Weaver, Board Member, Locality Bank
Product Builders
She is an innovative problem solver committed to building products that power decisions made in FinTech and an advocate for increased representation.
- Shriya Baddula, Senior QA Analyst, Gemini
- Sreya Basumallik, Senior Project Manager and Product Design, Marqeta
- Jan Choy, VP of Data Analytics, Evaluserve
- Catherine Cornell, Sr Director of Product, Invest and Brokerage, Stash
- MaryAlexa Divver, Director of Product & Investing, Public.com
- Dylani Herath, Head of Engineering, Greenwood
- Raakhee Miller, Chief Product Officer, DriveWealth
- Maliha Salim, Global Product Manager, Bloomberg LP
- Nellie Yee Feng Tan, Product Manager, Revolut
- Dory Weiss, Executive Vice President, Engineering, nCino, inc.
For the complete list and profiles of the winners visit: https://www.nycfintechwomen.com/iff2021
