40 Women in Finance We’re Watching in 2022

Money is better when women get involved. That’s why we can’t get enough of these incredible women in finance this year.

Money is better when women get involved. Let’s not be shy about that. 

As a historically disadvantaged group, women can bring a perspective and a care for other, more marginalized groups of people that are vital to conversations about work and money.

That’s why it bothers us that the conversation about money has been dominated for so long by mostly white, mostly affluent, mostly cishet men. But, as always, there’s no shortage of women out there doing the good work. We just need to shine a bigger spotlight their way. 

Bookmark this page, and check in anytime you need a dose of inspiration or advice from some of our favorite women nailing it in the world of personal finance.

Fintech and financial services leaders

Financial technology isn’t all crypto and startup bros. We’ve sifted through the same ol’ banking and investment apps to find these inspiring women creating and leading companies that are making money better for our most vulnerable communities.

Karen Rios

Company: Lifesaver, Inc.

Karen Rios is the co-founder and CEO of Lifesaver, Inc., a member of Barclays Techstars accelerator class of 2019. The forthcoming Lifesaver app is a fintech platform that helps you discover minority-owned businesses that match your values and rewards you for supporting them. 

Before founding Lifesaver, Rios was chief compliance officer for a wealth management firm, the youngest person and first Latina to serve at the C-level in the company’s history. Rios brings a breadth of community-focused and tech expertise to Lifesaver: She worked for an education tech startup, was a beat writer in Paris during college and worked for the Obama campaign.

Kate Anthony

Company: Euphoria.LGBT, Inc.

Kate Anthony is the founder and CEO of Euphoria.LGBT, Inc., a public benefit corporation that builds technology for the trans community designed to “alleviate the great pains associated with gender transition.” Anthony leans on her experiences as a trans woman in tech to inform what she creates for users.

Bliss, a savings app in the suite, is designed for transgender people first. It lets you set savings goals, with a focus on transition-related expenses like HRT and breast augmentation. Bliss invests your savings into U.S. Treasury Bills to help funds grow faster, and — unlike many investing apps — you have instant access to your money anytime you want to spend it. 

Yassi Hadjibashi

Company: Stretch

Yasaman “Yassi” Hadjibashi is the co-founder and CEO at Stretch, an innovative banking and jobs platform designed for people impacted by incarceration.

Hadjibashi’s banking cred runs deep, and we’re so excited for her to bring it to this platform for a long overlooked population. She’s worked with Deutsche Bank, served as chief data officer and chief innovation officer for Barclays Africa, and was global head of data and analytics and a board member with Citi. 

Margot + Alexia de Broglie

Company: Your Juno

Sisters Margot de Broglie and Alexia de Broglie are co-founders of Your Juno, a financial education app designed to empower women and non-binary people with financial literacy. 

Both just a couple of years out of college, the pair have raised $2.5 million for Your Juno and landed on Forbes’ 30 Under 30 in Europe for finance.

Why a financial platform for women? As Margot writes for TechCrunch — and we couldn’t agree more — “Money is gendered because, however frustrating, women’s and men’s experience of the world is different.”

Dana L. Wilson

Company: CHIP

Dana L. Wilson is the founder and CEO of CHIP (Changing How Individuals Prosper), a financial services marketplace that helps you find Black and Latinx financial professionals, from financial advisors to accountants and bookkeepers. 

With about 15 years’ experience as a financial and investment advisor herself, Wilson uses her experience to help other financial institutions shape more inclusive workplace cultures. She’s a speaker through her brand Dana Disrupts and host of The Included Series podcast, where she hears the financial journeys of people of color.

Billie Simmons

Company: Daylight

Billie Simmons is the co-founder and COO at Daylight, a banking platform for the LGBTQ community. The app rewards you for spending at queer-friendly businesses, helps you save for goals like medical transitioning and family planning, and gives you a debit card with your chosen name regardless of what’s on your legal I.D.

Simmons is a developer by trade and previous founder of affirm.space, a platform to help trans and non-binary people find safe and affirming service providers and businesses. She was also a software engineer for the investing platform SparkChange and worked with Barclays’ Techstars accelerator to help startups build technology.

Cokie Hasiotis

Company: twali

Cokie Hasiotis was a founding team member for the popular newsletter Fintech Today, which was acquired by WorkWeek in 2022, and kind of a big deal among the biggest nerds in financial technology (hand eagerly raised).

Hasiotis spent time as lead fintech researcher at consulting firm BCG and chief of staff at crypto media site The Block. Her latest venture, Twali, is a community and marketplace for web3 (think: blockchain) freelancers in tech, financial services, law, science, marketing and more.

Yam Karkai

Company: World of Women

Yam Karkai is the co-founder and artist behind World of Women, a collection of NFT art by diverse women from around the world, celebrating representation and inclusivity.

Karkai and her team are committed to improving diversity and inclusion in the otherwise male-centric crypto universe. The collection was launched in May 2021, and donated a portion of NFT sales to international organizations supporting women and girls. Primary sales are finished, but you can still buy these NFTs through secondary markets including OpenSea.

Cathie Mahon

Organization: Inclusiv

Cathie Mahon is the president and CEO of Inclusiv, an organization that helps community development credit unions serve low-income communities.

Mahon’s background in community development is impressive: She served nearly six years as Deputy Commissioner at the New York City Department of Consumer Affairs, co-founded the Cities for Financial Empowerment Coalition and Fund and was the founding coordinator of Asset Funders Network. She interned at Self-Help Federal Credit Union and worked her way up from program director to the C-suite position at Inclusiv. 

Podcasters, bloggers and newsletter creators

We’ll always have more to learn about work and money, and these women bring fun, levity and unique perspectives to personal finance education.

Jen Smith

Podcast: Frugal Friends

Jen Smith is a co-host (along with Jill Sirianni) of the Frugal Friends podcast, a personal finance podcast that helps you manage money and spending without relying on shame and guilt.

Through the podcast and her personal blog, Modern Frugality, Smith shares her own journey of paying off debt and living a “modern frugal” life, which is about saving time, space and natural resources, not just money.

Kate Campbell

Newsletter: How to Money

Kate Campbell is the creator behind the How to Money newsletter and podcast, a personal finance resource for young Australians. Through the platform, she shares her personal finance journey and — notably — mistakes to help other young Australians learn more about money.

Elizabeth Tai

Newsletter: Commonplace Book

Elizabeth Tai writes the newsletter Commonplace Book, where she records what she’s learning about managing money and living a peace-filled, intentional life.

Tai is a Malaysian freelance writer and author living in Kuala Lumpur. She writes about minimalism, zero-waste, personal finance, paying off debt and spirituality.

Abigail Perry

Blog: I Pick Up Pennies

Abigail Perry is the blogger behind I Pick Up Pennies and the author of Frugality for Depressives.

She uses her experience of chronic fatigue and depression due to a rare neurological disease as a lens to help all of us approach life and money in the face of limitations that make everything a little harder.

Tami Mitchell

Blog: Disabled Girl on FIRE

Tami Mitchell blogs about disability, frugality and her personal journey to financial freedom at Disabled Girl on FIRE. She’s struggled with disabilities and chronic degenerative illness most of her life and was awarded Social Security Disability Insurance at 24. 

The constraints of the Social Security system and workplace expectations force Mitchell into living on less than $25,000 a year — but her signature optimism kicked in, and she’s learned (and shares) how to make it feel like twice as much.

Lexa VanDamme

Blog: Avocado Toast Budget

Lexa VanDamme is a personal finance star on Instagram and YouTube with her brand The Avocado Toast Budget.

With wit and empathy, VanDamme shares resources to help millennials feel confident with money — whether that means saving money, dealing with debt or letting go of the shame of spending on what you love.

Jen Hemphill

Blog: Jen Hemphill

Jen Hemphill is a Latina money expert who blogs about strategies to become confident with your money at JenHemphill.com. She also shares lessons and speaks with financial experts through her bilingual podcast, Her Dinero Matters. 

Her Dinero Matters includes episodes entirely in English and those entirely en español for other Latinas who want to strengthen their finances.

Tonya Rapley

Blog: My Fab Finance

Tonya Rapley shares advice to stop living paycheck to paycheck at My Fab Finance. She also provides financial, educational and emotional support — including grants — for parents from pregnancy on through her organization Muhturnl, and is working to help students crowdfund money to pay for education expenses as the co-founder and CFO of FOAM.

Rapley identifies as a Philippine-born entrepreneur, wife, co-founder and domestic violence survivor. She started My Fab Finance in 2013 to share her journey of getting her finances in order and inspire other women and girls. 

Fiona Smith

Blog: The Millennial Money Woman

Fiona Smith, a.k.a. The Millennial Money Woman blogs about wealth building in a quest to help people become millionaires — while focusing on leading a rich and fulfilling life.

Smith holds an MS in personal financial planning and shares her knowledge not only through her blog but also through a local non-profit she co-founded and through her book/guided course How to Get Rich from Nothing. 

Elle Hall-Coleman

Blog: Girlfriend’s, Budget!

Elle Hall-Coleman is a personal finance and business educator sharing money management advice for career-oriented women through her business Girlfriend’s, Budget!

Hall-Coleman found herself in 2012 stuck in a corporate job she couldn’t stand and became determined to live life on her own terms and teach others how to do the same. She saved money, paid off her debt and quit her job to teach women through private coaching, group programs, government contracts and employee financial wellness programs.

Stephanie “Stephonee” Kibler

Blog: Poorer Than You

Stephonee has been blogging about her personal financial journey through Poorer Than You for more than a decade — she even had a Blogger blog back in the day! We’re pretty much obsessed with her Making Do program, which supports low-income, unemployed, and underemployed writers, photographers and artists by paying them to share their money stories on the blog.

When she’s not blogging about personal finance — with signature wit and creativity — Stephonee geeks out on history and science as a museum technician and a freelance writer.

Renee Sylvestre-Williams

Newsletter: The Budgette

Renee Sylvestre-Williams is a Canadian Trinidadian financial journalist and author of The Budgette, a newsletter of financial feels and advice for single people. Through the publication, she shares her thoughts as she navigates the world of money, plus takeaways and advice for readers.

In addition to her newsletter, Sylvestre-Williams has written about personal finance for publications including the Globe and Mail, Amex and Forbes.

Alicia McElhaney

Blog: She Spends

Alicia McElhaney is a financial journalist, certified financial planner and an investment advisor representative. After a couple of years of writing about CEOs and millionaires — mostly men — while eking by on a journalist’s salary, she became fed up with the status quo. 

McElhaney started She Spends as a weekly newsletter, and it grew into the site it is today, sharing stories from a diverse group of women, offering tools to succeed within our existing capitalist system and working to dismantle that system that keeps women from achieving financial parity. 

Writers and journalists

Looking for a writer for your fintech or personal finance project? You don’t need another crypto bro. Tap into the brilliance of these wonderful women.

Note from Dana: We’ve worked with several of these writers on projects for Dana Media and can totally vouch! Hire them :)

Erin Gobler

Blog: Erin Gobler

Erin Gobler is a Wisconsin-based personal finance writer who shares practical advice for women who want to feel better about their money at her blog.

Gobler has written for many of the top personal finance sites you’ve probably heard of, including Fox Business, NextAdvisor (by Time) and The Balance. She also coaches women one-on-one, so get in touch if you want help getting a handle on your finances!

Julia Glum

Writes: Dollar Scholar for Money

Julia Glum is a news editor for Money and author of the publication’s Dollar Scholar newsletter. Glum has more than a decade of experience as a journalist and freelance writer, and we love the fun tone she combines with expert financial advice through the newsletter.

Catherine Hiles

Writes: Freelance

Catherine “Cat” Hiles is a British writer based in Dayton, Ohio. She’s written about personal finance for The Penny Hoarder, Money Talks News, The Insurance Bulletin and Know Better Plan Better — and she writes about all things Disney World at WDW Magazine.

Robin Hartill

Writes: Dear Penny for The Penny Hoarder

Robin Hartill is a Certified Financial Planner and a senior editor and writer at The Penny Hoarder. She writes the site’s “Dear Penny” personal financial advice column, which is syndicated by the Tampa Bay Times.

Lindsey Danis

Writes: Freelance

Lindsey Danis is a queer freelance writer who’s written from a perspective that centers LGBTQ voices about work, money, food and travel for The Penny Hoarder, Conde Nast Traveler, NextAdvsor and Business Insider. Through her newsletter, Office Hours, she shares productivity, creativity and business tips for self-employed and freelance writers.

Kelly Anne Smith

Writes: Consumer finance for Forbes Advisor

Kelly Anne Smith is a Paris-based senior staff writer covering consumer finance for Forbes Advisor. Her work ​​focuses on economic inequality and the policies, proposals and experts aiming to overcome it in the U.S. 

And, just because being a staff writer leaves a person with SO much free time, Smith is also finishing up her master’s in global communications from the American University of Paris.

Lisa Rowan

Writes: Consumer finance for Forbes Advisor

Lisa Rowan is a senior staff writer covering consumer finance for Forbes Advisor and author of Money Hacks. Previously, she wrote about personal finance as a reporter at Lifehacker, and a senior writer and on-air analyst for The Penny Hoarder.

When she's not thinking about money, Rowan co-hosts a long-running weekly fashion podcast, Pop Fashion. 

Financial planners and coaches

Financial advice that sees your whole person can be hard to come by. All of these incredible women offer guidance as coaches or fee-only, fiduciary financial advisors (i.e. they’re driven by your best interest, not the prospect of earning a commission).

Dannielle Romoleroux 

Blog: First Gen Money

Dannielle Romoleroux offers coaching and digital resources to help Latinas tackle their money through First Gen Money. She uses her experience of dealing with student loan debt as the daughter of two immigrant, working-class parents to spread financial literacy to others.

Nika Booth

Blog: Debt Free Gonnabe

Nika Booth teaches people how to pay off debt without sacrificing fun through coaching and digital products, and she’s detailing her own journey with debt through Instagram and her blog at Debt Free Gonnabe.

Booth is worth an Instagram follow for her Reels alone, but she offers tons of ways to connect and learn, including an email newsletter, downloadable freebies, eguides, a course and more.

Anna N'Jie-Konte

Company: Dare to Dream Financial Planning

Anna N’Jie-Konte is a Certified Financial Planner who works with female entrepreneurs of color through her fee-only, virtual financial planning firm, Dare to Dream. She provides both personal and business financial advice to help these entrepreneurs leverage business profit to build generational wealth and shift financial inequities.

N’Jie-Konte is also a speaker and host of The Financial Powerhouse podcast.

Brittney Castro

Company: Rooted Planning Group and Brittney Castro, Inc.

Brittney Castro is a Certified Financial Planner, Chartered Retirement Planning Counselor, Accredited Asset Management Specialist and Certified Digital Asset Advisor — in other words, if you have questions about what to do with your money, take them to her.

Castro offers financial planning services in partnership with Rooted Planning Group, and through her company, Brittney Castro, Inc., she sells courses and mentorship to help you get your finances in order.

René Nourse

Company: Urban Wealth Management

René Nourse is a Certified Financial Planner and independent advisor with more than 25 years’ experience. 

After experiencing decades of blatant discrimination as a Black female financial advisor in the corporate world, Nourse left a major firm and founded her firm, Urban Wealth Management, which employs and serves women, especially women of color. Through the firm, she focuses on connecting with clients based on their lifestyles, not their assets.

Courtney Ranstrom

Company: Trailhead Planners

Courtney Ranstrom is a Certified Financial Planner and a co-founder and partner at Trailhead Planners, a fee-only financial planning firm focused on tax-focused retirement planning for career-focused clients. 

Leighann Miko

Company: Equalis Financial 

Leighann Miko is a Certified Financial Planner who offers human-centered financial planning for LGBTQ professionals and creatives through her firm, Equalis Financial.

As an LGBTQ woman who grew up in a volatile financial environment, Miko offers an empathetic perspective to help clients who want to not only build wealth but be thoughtful and intentional about wealth redistribution after experiencing financial constraints themselves. 

Cait Howerton

Company: Facet Wealth

Cait Howerton is a Certified Financial Planner, Accredited Financial Counselor and a lead planner at Facet Wealth, a fee-only firm dedicated to equitable, objective and fiduciary financial guidance for people with or without money to invest.

Howerton’s personal commitment to diversity extends beyond her work with clients; she’s also committed to improving diversity in the field of financial planning as a whole. She’s a member of the Diversity Committee with the Financial Planning Association of Georgia, PridePlanners Knowledge Circle and The CFP Board Women’s Initiative Council.

Jen Mayer

Company: Fully Funded x 40 Weeks

Jen Mayer offers financial counseling and parental leave planning, especially for self-employed parents, through her company Fully Funded.

Mayer has been self-employed her whole adult life, working in the wellness industry as a massage therapist and birth doula and founding the New York City–based doula collective Baby Caravan. She decided to become a financial counselor after planning her own self-funded maternity leaves and learning lessons along the way.

Chantel Chapman

Company: The Trauma of Money and What the Finances

Chantel Chapman is the founder of Trauma of Money, a collection of online training that takes a decolonized, trauma-informed approach to healing generational, relational, systemic and societal trauma around money. She’s also the founder of What the Finances, which works with companies, schools and individuals to provide financial education based on the Trauma of Money Method.

Image by Karolina Grabowska via Pexels.