All right. So today's panel is about building the future for a fintech and how female executives are leading the way. So, um I will be joined by three amazing women on this panel.Um But until Sandra comes, I'm going to hand over to Acne and pretty to introduce themselves, I think, would you like to introduce yourselves to the panel here?

Sure. Hi. Uh My name is Agna and I'm I'm leading, I'm co leading uh one of the largest fintech companies in Lithuania uh called Connect Pay. We've been in operations for five for four years now. Uh So I co-founded that with my partner, uh Mars as well and we are, yeah, we are running the show and, and breaking through technologies of our authentic world today.

Exciting. So, thank you. Pretty. Would you like to do so? So,

yeah. Um So I'm Preti Krishnan. I uh work at Daily Pay uh in New York City in the United States. Um We are a company that offers a, you know, a huge selection of product um solutions to employers um to enable their employees to um both, you know, be paid daily, but just optimize and and change the way the world um is paid and, and change the financial system. So I uh run strategy and operations at daily pay. Um I started out uh as chief of staff to the CEO um And then I transitioned into this role about two years ago, I've been with the company for four years. Um And the company has existed for about six now. Um things have grown super rapidly. Um It's very exciting to be a part of um this change generally, but also um to have experienced, you know, changes in my career that I have um at the company as well. So excited to discuss it.

Thank you and Sanjay, you're back with us. Uh Yeah, I can hear you.

Awesome. Yeah, apologies for the delay. Um I'm at another conference. It was um not possible to find a room. So, yeah, small technical problems. Uh Very happy to be here. Um Are we introducing ourselves?

Yeah. Yes, please go ahead and introduce yourself.

Great. So, hey, everyone. Uh My name is Sonia. I'm the CEO and co-founder at Ru ru is a web three payment technology platform, uh Blockchain native. So we use the power of Blockchain to facilitate crypto payment for anyone and to really offer the merchants the opportunity to accept Cryptocurrency as a payment method. Um I'm actively invested in web three as mentor advisor, invest that.

Ok. Um

My business corporate. So prior to me and traditional payment world for a few years and specifically prior to RU I was leading um the marketplace payments at, at paypal. So that's how uh you know, Blockchain got my attention because I wanted to uh innovate international payments.

Um Long story short, it was too early at, at the time at paypal. Uh and I decided to, to do it on my own.

Wow, that's, that's huge. Thank you. So I know when we've spoken previously that you from the three of you, none of you started out in Fintech. Um You found those opportunities, you dubbed them out, you jumped in. Can we talk a little bit more about, um you know, the changes that have happened in fintech? I know women overall are still very underrepresented in the Fintech space and female executives are such a minority. Um How have you gone about finding these opportunities and, you know, really rising through to grab hold of them and run with them essentially? Pretty sure we should we start with you?

Sure. Um I think this is a really good question, Nema with respect to, you know, how you kind of make the most of, um you know, your professional career and, and, and professional opportunity. It's interesting, you know, I knew that um when I was, you know, kind of transitioning out of my old career, um which was I, so I'm a lawyer by trade. Um I was working at, um you know, a major international law firm Um, and, and when I transitioned out of that, um, I knew that I wanted to break into this space, but frankly, I knew no one in the space. I didn't know, you know, kind of the, the, uh ways in which to sort of get to the place that I wanted to, with respect to the type of career I wanted to build. Um, and so I, I did the most I could in every avenue. Um by that, I mean, you know, I went to networking events like this one. I applied to all the jobs that I could find on linkedin. Um I, I met with CEO S and founders, um you know, female and male to understand their experiences of how they kind of built their careers and made a similar, a similar transition.

Um And I think, you know, quite honestly, the thing that was most helpful for me is being open to the fact that even though you may face lots of roadblocks, an opportunity is there for you. Um And, and you can make the most of it once you find it. Um One of the, one of the great things about my career has been that, you know, since I joined the company, I've been able to create the niche and create the opportunities that I want to um based on the people that I work with, based on the role that I found. Um having an operator's perspective on things really enables you to, I think um take control of an approach, different avenues of investment in an organization um and being open to directions that your career can take, I think allows you and offers you um the flexibility that you might, you know, kind of like um in creating the, the role in the career that you want in the future.

So um if I were to, if I were to provide all of that, um it is be open to lots of different avenues and explore lots of different avenues. Um Because, you know, it's likely that you'll apply to 500 different jobs, but one of them will be the one that you want.

Yeah, absolutely. Um Being open is a huge thing, I think sometimes. So tunnel vision and it is, has your experience been similar? I

think my journey was completely different. Um I, I was never like, I it didn't take for me to, to network or to go to the events that much or, or apply for many positions as well. Um I came through architectural background which is not less probably mainly men dominated than, than the financial world. It is now today as well. Um But I think what helped me along the way is to actually do everything 100%. So I was very into whatever I do. I do it well and, and very passionate and driven by, by what and focused on doing what I want. To do as well, not just doing for someone else, but really um well identifying. What do I, what do I want from that? And what do I need to do? Uh And by then you meet the people on the way who actually one way or another, you make the connections and you, and you see the opportunities and you go and talk with the people that you want to work with as well. So my approach has been always like, I focus on people who I want to spend time with and, and who I want to, you know, relate to as well and have the same values and, and then I make a choice whether it's actually we are going towards that direction or not because the case for me to appear in fintech was I was on my maternity leave and I was running.

Um I lived in China at that time and I, I ran the project which is marketing and investment projects between Lithuania and, and, and us as well. Uh And then apparently I got uh approached by someone saying, hey, I'm, I'm, you know, we are starting this exciting fintech. Why, why don't you join? And I said, like I, I haven't done anything in the financial world. Like I, I only know, well, I'm driven by technology. I know people, I'm driven by growth and change and, and this is something that, you know, this is the reason why I probably I was approached because I worked with those people before. Um and then, you know, someone said, look, you've got the bank account, right? So what, what is it that you don't know? So I said, well, yeah, actually let's try it. So I think it's more about finding the opportunity and, and you know, trying to put the dots together and see, you know, do you like that? The principles are you bound with the same um uh values with the people as well? And do you see yourself in it? So that that was the journey and it still is, I think

still on the journey. Fantastic and, and Sandra, you're the ceo of your company. I mean, there's not many female female infant that can say that. How has your Children?

Yeah. So I'm gonna talk maybe about my journey to becoming an entrepreneur because it wasn't linear at all. You know, from the moment that I started my career to the moment that I decided to co found the company. And I think in my case, I studied business administration. So uh my career was pretty linear at the beginning. So I knew exactly, you know, what I was supposed to do with my studies. So I started in consulting, then I went into ecommerce. I never thought about becoming an entrepreneur, never thought about launching my own business because a like no one in my network was an entrepreneur. I didn't have anyone in my family, like with their business, like with their business, not even, not even being ac I taught.

So I think, you know, today is very different today. You can have classes about entrepreneurship and even like very early stage. What does that mean launching your business at the time? That was not the case for me. So I really thought that my career was going to be very linear. And um that time, that time of my life was great. So I had a lot of fun. I work at Vodafone, I worked at ebay, I worked at paypal. Um So I would never change the journey. But I always felt, you know, there's, there's something more in there for me. Like I feel I should do something more. I feel the urge to like do something myself. And I think, you know, that really happened when I started working on my own self development. So it was not really about one or two mentors. It was really about finding people that inspired me and learning their journey, like learning their mindset and what did they do to, to become who they are? Um And, you know, one of my mentors at the time, he said, you know, success leaves traces. So really, you know, start watching, you know what those traces are for people. Um And then really, once I started my job at paypal, I quickly became aware about all the problems in traditional payments. And I really saw, you know, this is my opportunity to, to do it.

Like this is my opportunity to, to really do something else on my own. And by that time, because I was working already with a lot of coaches, with a lot of mentors, my mindset was in the right place. Um And I said, ok, it's, it's now or never. So I'm going to jump and, and, and I'm going to do it and, you know, since then it's been uh quite of a journey, uh super fun. Um But yeah, I would say the most important thing you have is your mindset. Um And you know, you, your skills and how much you want to, to push for, for it because I think if you want to, anything is available to you,

thank you. And it's interesting that you said on your journey, you had a lot of coaches and um, mentors and advisors. Whereas, you know, in your journeys agne I pretty, it, it sounded as if, you know, you kind of put goals in place and you plowed through. Can you talk a little bit more about, um, if you don't have a mentor or you don't know people in that space, as you said, where do you go for help? How do you, how do you find help? How do you find somebody to lean on?

Um So, you know, I think this is a great question because I, I have often struggled with this too. Um You know, once I am in a certain space or situation, um you know, at daily pay, I've, I've benefited significantly from the mentorship that um I've received. But until I, and, and I'll get to that in a moment. But, you know, looking for tour is often difficult because I think without understanding the baseline kind of connectivity that you might have with someone, it's difficult to say, hey, do you want to be my mentor? Right. Um I, I think relationships that organically um you know, develop into that mentor mentee relationship often have a lot of value or, or rather are easier to kind of move into. I think one thing that really benefited me um especially as I was looking to, into the industry um was just looking at, you know, sort of those who were, who had a similar path to me. So maybe it wasn't um lawyers who wanted to transition into an operations role. But I specifically remember reaching out to someone who had started one of my favorite clothing brands. Um and she had left private equity um to start this company and it was a kind of similar path to what I was interested in doing. Um So I, I just reached out to her and I said, hey, can you meet with me?

Um and, and talk to me about your experience and she of course, was or not, of course, but she was happy to and I think taking in um you know, feedback like that or, or giving myself the opportunity to just learn from people, enabled me to kind of create the same um effect that having a mentor at the time wouldn't have given me um to kind of bridge that gap.

But, you know, I will also mention that after being at daily pay and I think I had um you know, related this to this group earlier. Um I have benefited significantly from uh from mentor, you know, that I have had here who happens to be my boss. Um Because, you know, I think, you know, I think there are many different ways that a mental relationship can kind of unfold. I have always, I think benefited from indirect mentors or mentorship that is more feedback driven um or a little bit more um you know, kind of organically oriented instead of, hey, here are some things you need to work on. Let's talk about what that looks like in a couple of months. Um Because I found that that mentorship kind of osmosis um enables you to achieve retain uh a lot of the behavioral, you know, kind of mechanisms that maybe will enable you to get to the next level in a much more consistent way. Um And, and I've really, really appreciated that in my career, I think, you know, everyone kind of track behind or um gets the support of their, you know, chosen mentors or relationships in their careers.

Um I have been lucky enough to kind of, you know, work closely with and thus learn closely from um people who've had very diverse and different experiences from what I have. Um And so the connection, you know, I think between me bringing my expertise and taking a different approach or perspective, that expertise um has enabled me, I think to do way more with or amplify the impact of things that I know I want to do. Um But having the, you know, kind of difference in perspective that um working with, you know, your mentors with diverse experiences, um you know, bring has afforded me a, a growth that is much more um um rapid than I probably would have had otherwise.

Fantastic. Thank you so much for sharing that an A a We Back audio Still Melodia. OK. All right. I, I'm gonna, um I've sent a message to support so hopefully they can fix it in the next 10 minutes, but I'm going to dive into the next um questions, so to speak. Um pretty kind of staying with you. And, you know, you've talked about coming into this career from a different career from a legal background and that's giving you a whole diverse set of experiences. Um Can we touch on, you know, I, I know you're a new mom. Um I hope you don't mind me sharing that on here. I know one of the things in fintech that's such a challenge. The gender disparity is one thing but having environments that are set up for successful females to actually function and one of them is flexible, working, flexible structure. How have you found that? Um But, and I use the word balance really lightly because I don't think it is a balance ever, ever. It's always a juggle. Um What works out at the time? How have you found that as a senior leader and motherhood? Balancing that and working with that?

This is a great question. Um You know, and I know this is something Nema, as you mentioned, we discussed, I think one thing, Nema also, I some, we're getting some feedback in the chat to um if people can mute because there's some feedback I think being heard. So um I just wanted to, I don't know if you're looking at that but, but um I, yeah, hopefully this works, we'll see what happens. So I think I'm like echoing a lot and others aren't. So maybe it is something on my side. Um But Nina, the reason I say this is a great question is I didn't really fully appreciate this until I had a baby. Um Maybe that sounds like the most obvious statement in the world. But, you know, II I think it will always be, as you said, a struggle, it is very difficult to balance a high performing career with also wanting to devote time and energy, you know, to a family. Um, again might sound like the most obvious statement in the world. But I think, you know, if anyone on this, um, session is like me, you, you kind of always think you can manage it even though maybe everyone else didn't. Um, and, and you'll find some way to hack it. But I will say, you know, it is certainly extremely challenging, but I would not have been able to even be in like close to a position as I am right now.

If I didn't have, I think, you know, kind of the opportunities in the workplace that I do today, meaning I think I spent a lot of time cultivating the career that I did. And so it was very clear to those around me um and continued to be very clear, you know, kind of what the impact of my work has on the organization and probably because of that, but also, you know, just a part of the, the workplace that I am lucky enough to work in. Um you know, just the policies that we have enabled me to create like a more flexible environment. For example, you know, it's not flexible, like I work from home half the time. But um I come into the office very early and I leave earlier than I did before I had a baby, right? So I leave around 5 p.m. Eastern, whereas typically I would have spent until, you know, 637 in the office, um then I'll get back online at night. Um So that I have time to spend time with my baby and, you know, do bed time and things like that. Um But I will say it, it continues to be a challenge because when I leave at 5 p.m. you know, we're often in the middle of meetings or um I'm in the middle of a dialogue that I don't want to cut off at that time. Um And, and that's never something that goes away, right?

Similarly, on kind of the family side when I leave at 730 in the morning, um my baby is, you know, just waking up and I'd, I'd love to have a couple more hours with him in the morning. Right. So being able to kind of manage, I think both of those sides, um is something that I, I think I will consistently struggle with throughout my career. But I think one of the things that I've benefited from a lot is having a work environment that I've sort of um both established that the value that I I'm able to bring, but also that the organization requires, um doesn't necessarily mean that I might have a traditional work schedule in the same way that I did before.

Um But understanding what the needs of my team, you know, what, what those needs are, what the needs of the organization are and then making sure that I can marry those two in a way that continues to drive the effective value that um I was driving before and amplifying that value.

Um Well, just, you know, making a couple of changes, sort of on the uh again, technical aspects of how often am I in the not how often, but what am I in office hours? What does that mean about how I need to be available afterwards? Are there creative solutions that we can come up with? Um especially in a post COVID world where um being virtual is, you know, a little bit more um accessible. How can we work with all of those tools to be able to, you know, kind of create that same value? Um I think that's something that again, I've, you know, I, I won't say like demanded. Um because I think I do, I am, as I said, lucky enough to work in an environment and at a workplace where it is clear that um working moms, you know, are, are gonna continue wanting to drive their careers forward. Um But making sure that, you know, like, you personally know what that's going to take from your end. Um And making sure that your organization then understands that, right? I think that's very, very important um you know, both on the family side, but also just to make sure that it is um that, that you're creating room for yourself to continue amplifying the value that you've, you know, made at the organization, I think.

Um, I'm, I'm still learning. I've only been back in the office for about a month now. Um, but I will say I benefited greatly from just having a perspective on what I need and what I think, you know, the, the organization needs, um, to be able to keep doing the work that, um, I, I was able to, before

I'm back, it's

like it's in a head back it, since you left. Yeah.

Yes, I fix it, fixed it. So, um so can I comment on the, on the motherhood if I may? Um I think one of the exciting things, well, for me, it was to learn that you can actually live on and, and do the work when the babies are born as well. Um I'm not, I'm not the one who was like the career driven and, you know, would give up everything just to go with the work, but I love the work and, and I think that helps me to combine the, the work with the babies as well. Um And, and it's, it's always a struggle for me. It's like if you go to work with a ba with having Children, there's challenges along the way. And even if I didn't, if I stayed at home, there would still be challenges for me on, on the way as well. So it's always a constant fight with myself, you know, am I, am I good brother? Am I good at work. Am I good at something? But just at some point I, I just give up that voice and I think like, oh, what the heck, you know, you do what you would like to do and, and you do it well, so, you know, don't, don't listen to that voice, whatever it says somewhere.

So I think it's more about dedication and being, um, and, and willing to do what you want because you always have a choice. And I think it's a bit uh related to the mentors as well, like on, you know, the people that we meet on the way. So, um I didn't have a chance to, to just to comment briefly as well. Like it's, it's not only about the official mentors and we all have the mentors one way or another, but it's, it's a realization or, or identifying them as, as mentors on the way as well. So it could be a sister or friend, a mother or a colleague or anything, you know, that inspires you on daily basis or like, even if it's not here next to you, it's somewhere in, in the world as well. So perhaps um seeing women who can combine their lives and, and, you know, when, when the family is there, it's still, you know, the show goes on. So it's, it's more complicated sometimes, but it's still a show. So I think it's, it's up to you how you wanna run it really

I think it's really inspiring. So I'm not a mother yet, but that's in my uh very short immediate plans and it's very inspiring to hear, you know, other women like you ladies. And um I think specially in a very male dominated environment like like ours and I'm in crypto. So that's, I think, you know, even more, it's very important to people about, you know, what happens when a woman goes on maternity and the importance of supporting the woman when she returns. So I'm very fortunate as well because in my company, we are very diverse. So it's like almost a 5050 sort of environment. And I was very much supported by my board of directors to take on the role of CEO. But I think it's very important to educate, you know, our male colleagues, our male counterparts on the importance of, you know, what happens to a woman when she has a baby because it's a major time in her life and we want her to enjoy that moment. So we don't want her to feel guilty or, you know, resentful when she comes back. And I think related to the concept of a mentor, I think it's also about redefining, you know, who a mentor is because for me, like a mentor can be anyone.

And it's, it's about, you know, learning small um pieces and bits from, from each person I meet along the way. But I think, you know, if you're looking for example, to change your career or to change the industry you're working in, it's very important to identify people that are maybe, you know, 1 to 3 years ahead of you and, you know, learn about what did they do in order to be where, where they are.

So when I was changing my career from telco into e commerce, I really wanted to go into ecommerce. Uh so I literally spent hours per day, you know, searching people on linkedin people that I really admire their career and asking them to meet for a coffee. And you would really be surprised that like in 90% of the cases, people are super happy to have a virtual coffee or meeting with you. So I think, you know, it's about um going forward on that resistance to, to write someone because usually people will be super happy to help you and like even myself, I always try to reply to all of the linkedin messages I receive or like Twitter. Um Because the best part of my job is if I can help someone else, if I can give an advice, I think that's very rewarding for anyone.

Yeah. And I think it's a very good point because um that there are a lot of people not only female but female, perhaps that I met, especially that create the story that, you know, someone needs to come and help and, and smell like a victim pose and, and not realizing, actually you can go and talk with anyone you like or you can approach anyone even if you will receive.

No, it's fine. Like you, you still try and you learn something out of it and just go and try. So with the learning I had like on linkedin, I approach people, I approach people on the street if I, you know, if I have some ideas and I want to share and obviously they have the whole right to say no to me as well. And I'm fine and live on with that as well. So I think it's more of a courage to go and, and, and really don't pay attention too much if you, if someone says no, OK, uh I can, I can start with the tip. So for, for anyone and this is what I'm trying to say to my colleagues or anyone I meet on the way as well that we shouldn't be taking ourselves too seriously and, and stop victimizing ourselves as well. So we, we have the, the whole same features mentally that the man has and that it's not the fault of a man that something is not right or something is not going uh as we plan or as we want to, but it's more about our own resilience and, and keep up and, and do the things and, and step up and, you know, talk and um yeah, just when, when you take, when you don't take yourself too seriously in, in life.

Then I think the reactions to other people are not that serious. So it just li um, gives you more freedom and liberty to do things.

Oh, I love that one. Yeah, I think I would echo that and definitely add like, let go of perfectionism. I think, you know, as women, we're always waiting to have the perfect pitch and like to have the perfect thing to say in a meeting or like to have all the skills in order to apply for a job. And you know, by doing that, we're not doing a favor to ourselves. We're just losing opportunities because someone else will come most likely a man who will take the opportunity, you know, even if they don't have all the skills, they will go for it. So I think, you know, it's really about letting go of the fact that we need to be perfect and embracing and being bold and sometimes as you said, Agne maybe it's better to receive a no and just move forward. But yeah, being bolder and embracing everything that comes along the way and not just staying in our corner because we're waiting for uh the perfect, the perfect moment.

I think my tip um is kind of a double whammy. So I, I would say, you know, don't be discouraged and always trust your judgment. So, you know, and don't be discouraged. Uh What I mean by that is sort of similar to um you know what Sanjay and Agne said here, I think a lot of times um it can be very discouraging both in the workplace, but also as you are trying to find a role that um people say no or people may, you know, say something to you, but then someone else may say something very similar and um everyone will respond to that, that person happens to be a male.

Um I think just not being discouraged by that and actually continuing to um in some ways, learn from the fact that the world is what the world is, right? And finding a way to operate in that world um is something that has helped me a lot. Um Not, you know, I don't want to say I have a positive attitude. It's very difficult to not feel beat down sometimes when things happen over and over and over again. Um But just using what, you know about the realities of the world in the workplace um to be able to kind of carve out what, you know, your value can like how you can amplify your value. Um And then also trust your judgment, you know, I think one thing that um my, my boss and I often talk about um you know, he is male and I am female, we often bring very different perspectives to solving the same problem. Um And you know, that is definitely because of the diversity of our professional backgrounds, but it also is because of, you know, kind of the differences with which we approach the world. Um And I think that women often have a very, very unique perspective to bring to things that men do not.

Um It is often, you know, a much richer and more diverse perspective, not just in terms of like I am a diverse person, but rather I have a different opinion or a different approach to how to solve this problem. Um And that's something that, you know, I think has given me significant opportunities to solve better and more important problems um throughout my career. Um And that I enjoy, you know, being able to kind of work with people with diverse opinions or perspectives um to be able to approach. And so, um I think those two things have, have really helped me in my career. And I think, you know, I have to constantly remind myself of them because, you know, suffice to say, regardless of how far you get in your career, where you are, things like that. These are things that I think all of us face on a regular basis. Um and being able to, you know, kind of come together and um share in forums like this. Um being able to learn from, I think other women who have perspectives that are different from mine um enable me to create a much richer mosaic um and a much richer picture in terms of how, uh you know, I think I can approach my work.

Um and how hopefully, you know, others can, can kind of learn from that and how I can learn from them. So, um you know, don't, don't be discouraged and always trust your judgment is sort of what I live by and hopefully, um something that can help, you know, other folks as well. Thank you all so much.

Thank you very much.

Great to be here. Bye. Thank you. Bye

bye.