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Hey, fintech fam! 💜

The countdown is on — we’re officially 3 weeks away from the first-ever Fintech Is Femme AI Summit, happening October 8th in San Francisco as part of #SFTechWeek!

We are proud to host this event alongside our amazing partners, including Stripe, Middesk, Brex, Krooloo, JPMorgan, GoodFin, and Rosy Finch. It’s a full day of:

✨ Fireside chats + panels with the women (and allies) building AI that actually works for fintech.

✨ Our Pitch Competition, where founders will pitch in front of our panel of VC judges (apply to pitch here!)

✨ Networking power hours in a room full of 200+ operators, investors, and founders — the people shaping the future of money and tech right now.

🎟️ Don’t wait — snag your tickets here.

👉 And here’s where you come in:

If you’ve ever thought “I wish more women were in these rooms” — invite a friend, colleague, or rising leader to join you. Forward this email, drop the link in Slack, or post it on LinkedIn.

The more of us who show up, the stronger the signal we send: the future of AI = women in fintech.

If you’re serious about AI, fintech, and leadership, this is the room you want to be in. 💥

Let’s get into it.

INNOVATION

Profit, Purpose & AI: Laurel Taylor’s Fight to Rewrite $1.8 Trillion in Student Debt

Some founders arrive with flashy pitch decks and buzzwords. Others show up with battle scars — lived experience that makes their mission impossible to ignore.

Laurel Taylor is firmly in the second camp.

I profiled Laurel in my book Fintech Feminists, and now she’s joining us on stage at the Fintech Is Femme AI Summit in San Francisco this October.

She’s one of those leaders who doesn’t just talk about changing the system — she’s actively building the tools to do it.

Her story begins in a place that millions of Americans know too well: under the weight of student debt.

A Personal Crisis Turned Mission

Laurel grew up in a household where college was an expectation, not a choice.

Student loans came with the territory.

But what she didn’t realize — and what far too many borrowers discover too late — was the opportunity cost.

“What I didn’t anticipate,” she told me, “was missing out on two decades of compound interest while repaying loans.”

It wasn’t just about the monthly checks. It was about the wealth that never had a chance to grow.

That insight became the foundation of Candidly, the fintech platform she founded in 2016.

Her mission was clear from the start: obliterate student debt and give people back the years of wealth-building they deserve.

At the time, Laurel was working at Google in a leadership role, but she felt called to step out and tackle this problem head-on.

“My purpose was solving for financial freedom,” she said. With her tech background and personal experience, she was stunned by how little progress the industry had made in addressing such a massive economic crisis.

So, she built it herself.

The Scale of the Problem

To understand how Candidly works, you have to face the numbers.

• Nearly 47 million Americans hold student debt.

• Total balances have swelled to almost $1.8 trillion, growing by roughly $100 billion annually.

• Two-thirds of this debt is held by women — around $929 billion.

• Women, particularly women of color, also earn less on average, making the repayment math even more brutal.

Laurel doesn’t shy away from saying the quiet part out loud: this isn’t just “student debt.” It’s family debt.

Parents, spouses, and even grandparents carry it too. “It’s mom’s debt, dad’s debt, spouse’s debt, grandparent’s debt. It’s everyone’s debt,” she said.

For millennials — who make up 75% of the workforce — student debt isn’t an outlier. It’s the norm.

And it’s reshaping everything from retirement savings to housing to family formation.

Building Candidly

Candidly’s model is deceptively simple. Instead of chasing individual borrowers with one-off apps, Laurel went B2B2C — embedding Candidly into the infrastructure of work: employers, financial institutions, and retirement platforms.

Why? Because that’s where the impact multiplies.

Employers offering Candidly’s tools don’t just help workers manage debt — they also cut turnover by up to 76%.

That’s a return on investment that HR leaders can’t ignore.

And for employees, it means student debt help is delivered where benefits already live: alongside healthcare, 401(k)s, and paid time off.

This strategy has attracted heavyweight partners like Vanguard, UBS, Lincoln Financial, Empower, and even non-financial brands like American Eagle Outfitters, which used Candidly to help employees pay down over $100,000 in student loans.

The impact? To date, Candidly has delivered more than $1.4 billion in projected savings and debt reduction for its users.

Enter Cait: AI With Empathy

This year, Laurel and her team took the next bold step: launching Cait (short for Conversational AI Tool).

Cait isn’t your typical chatbot. Built on a multi-agent architecture, it provides deep, specialized expertise across three interconnected financial domains:

1. Student debt repayment — from income-driven repayment options to public service loan forgiveness.

2. College planning and savings — including guidance on 529 plans, tax-advantaged strategies, and scholarship optimization.

3. Retirement wealth-building — leveraging new programs like Student Loan Retirement Match to help borrowers save while they repay.

This matters because families don’t experience these decisions in silos. College planning, student debt, and retirement are part of one long financial journey — and Cait is designed to help people navigate it holistically.

As Laurel put it:

“We’re not just fixing a broken system; we’re reimagining how every American household navigates financial life.”

And the data is already there.

In simulated tests with millions of user profiles, Cait helped borrowers find repayment plans that saved an average of $32,800 over the life of their loans. Users were also far more likely to pick plans that improved long-term outcomes.

That’s not just AI for AI’s sake. That’s AI doing real economic work.

Policy Tailwinds and System Change

Candidly’s rise hasn’t happened in a vacuum.

Policy changes like the SECURE 2.0 Act have unlocked powerful new levers — including provisions that let employers match retirement savings with student loan payments.

The math is staggering: Laurel estimates that an employee making loan payments for 10 years under such a program could retire with an extra $450,000 in savings.

For families who wealth-building tools have historically left behind, that’s transformative.

This is where Laurel’s approach shines. She doesn’t just build products; she reads the policy landscape, anticipates shifts, and positions Candidly to operationalize them at scale.

The Founder’s Playbook

Laurel will be the first to tell you that building Candidly hasn’t been easy.

Some investors dismissed her mission as “philanthropic” or even implied that offering student debt benefits would attract “subpar employees.”

She didn’t flinch.

Instead, she doubled down on stamina, discipline, and surrounding herself with the right people.

“Being a founder is like running a marathon with intervals,” she said. “You have to understand what works for you and stick to it, even when balance feels elusive.”

It’s paid off.

After a year of record growth, Candidly raised $20.5 million in Series B funding in 2023 and is now positioned as the market’s leading platform for student debt and savings optimization.

Where I Land

If you’ve followed Fintech Is Femme, you know I’m allergic to hype and obsessed with receipts. Laurel Taylor has both.

Candidly’s success proves what I’ve argued all along: purpose and profit aren’t opposites — they’re aligned.

Student debt isn’t just an economic issue; it’s a cultural one, shaping who gets to build wealth, who gets to own homes, and who gets to retire securely.

By embedding debt relief into the very infrastructure of work, Laurel is tackling the crisis at scale — and showing that enlightened capitalism is possible when you design for people, not just numbers.

And with Cait, she’s pointing us toward a future where AI doesn’t just serve the wealthy — it empowers the millions living closest to the edge.

That’s the feminine future of fintech. Not pink cards or token gestures. Leaders like Laurel Taylor building systems that give people back time, dignity, and freedom.

At the SF Summit, she’ll remind us what’s at stake — and what’s possible when founders refuse to separate mission from model.

That’s the work. That’s the win.

Why This Story Belongs at the Fintech Is Femme AI Summit during #SFTechWeek

Laurel’s journey is exactly why we’re bringing nearly 200 founders, investors, and operators together for the Fintech Is Femme AI Leadership Summit on October 8 during #SFTechWeek.

Because here’s the truth:

👉 Before events like this, many founders tell me they feel stuck — overwhelmed by AI noise, unsure how to connect with investors, and siloed from the peers who “get it.”

👉 After spending a day in this room? They leave with clarity. With real strategies to implement the next day. With 2–3 new meaningful connections who can fund, partner, or mentor. And with the confidence that they’re not just surviving fintech’s next era — they’re shaping it.

This isn’t about another conference badge. It’s about stepping into a movement.

At the Summit, you’ll hear from leaders like Laurel Taylor, who turned lived experience into a category-defining company.

You’ll meet investors actively writing checks. You’ll sit alongside operators who are building products that put humans — not hype — at the center of AI.

📍 When & Where: October 8, 2025 • 10 AM – 6 PM • The Green Room, San Francisco War Memorial

🎟️ Your seat is waiting: Register here

If you’ve ever felt isolated in your founder journey, this is your chance to step out of the dark and into the spotlight.

_{I WANT IT, I GOT IT}

• 🎧 Today’s Listen: This women energy playlist I found on YouTube. Lots of favorite girl anthems, power ballads, and more that just makes working on this Tuesday so much more fun.

• 🚀 Today’s Activity: Heading to the Rho dinner tonight! Fintech is Femme recently leveled up our financial processes and with our new accountant, I’ve gained a completely new respect for the work they do every day. Excited to celebrate them all tonight!

• 🧘‍♀️Today’s Self-Care: I realized today my nails weren’t done for the event tonight - and yes I realize that’s cutting it very close, but what are you going to do. Thankfully, I was able to get in and get a fresh set. 💅

_#SPONSORED

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_FINTUNES

Olivia Rodrigo - deja vu

A 2021 tune, but still a bop today!

_{LET’S CONNECT}

📣 Don’t miss the AI event of the year. Get your tickets here!

📰 Share this newsletter with a friend and start growing your network.

🔗 Connect with me on LinkedIn for daily insights on female leadership.

📚 Increase your expertise by ordering your copy of my book, Fintech Feminists: Increasing Inclusion, Redefining Innovation, and Changing the Future for Women Around the World.

That wraps up today’s edition—thanks as always for reading! Until next time, keep innovating and challenging the status quo. 

See you Thursday!

Love,

Nicole 💜