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Hey, fintech fam! 💜

This week on LinkedIn, I shared a story about the time, a few years ago, I paid $900 out of pocket to attend the Forbes Power Women Summit.

It was invite-only. I asked my boss if my L&D budget could cover it. They said no.

So I bet on myself. Because I believed being in that room could change my life.

And I was right. That’s where I met Dr. Angel Rich—one of my business heroes.

Last month? She opened the Fintech Is Femme Leadership Summit.

She delivered a masterclass in building a billion-dollar fintech company—without shortcuts, without handouts, and without waiting for permission.

Here’s what I’ve learned—over and over again—from building Fintech Is Femme, interviewing hundreds of founders, and saying yes to the rooms that stretch me:

✨ Showing up is strategy.

✨ Proximity is power.

✨ And it only takes one room to change your next five years.

That $900 investment introduced me to someone who would one day become my keynote speaker, business mentor, and biggest hype woman backstage.

The blueprint is out there. We just have to listen to the women who are already living it.

This week’s lineup is full of stories that embody that mindset—starting with an exclusive interview with Stephanie Ferris, CEO of FIS, who just led one of the boldest fintech deals of the year, plus the live keynote with Angel Rich, and more.

Let’s get into it.

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#TRENDING

Every Thursday, I bring you the latest fintech news and trends, delivering the key insights that matter most to the industry—and you.

In a moment when many fintech CEOs are playing it safe, Stephanie Ferris is playing to win.

Last month, the CEO and President of Fidelity National Information Services (FIS) announced a $24.25 billion deal—one of the biggest fintech transactions of the year.

The move? A three-way reshuffling of assets that allows FIS to double down on its core infrastructure business, while Global Payments acquires Worldpay and private equity firm GTCR takes home a tidy return.

It’s the kind of decision that turns heads on Wall Street—but what stood out to me most was how Ferris made it.

I caught up with her just days after the announcement, and she said something that stuck with me:

“If you’re not making a decision where you feel nervous or uncomfortable, you’re probably not playing the game hard enough.”

This wasn’t a rash leap—it was a calculated one, built on data, instinct, and a clear understanding of where fintech is heading.

And it’s not just about the numbers. It’s about focus.

The age of sprawling, catch-all fintech platforms is fading. What’s replacing it? Infrastructure-first models with precision. The Worldpay carve-out lets FIS get back to what it does best: powering issuer and banking infrastructure at scale.

To deliver those experiences—onboarding, real-time payments, seamless back-end systems—you need clarity. Discipline. Focus. That’s what this deal delivers.

It also turns a non-cash generating minority stake into something with more predictable returns: recurring revenue, improved EBITDA, and an estimated $500 million in free cash flow in year one.

This is what strategic clarity looks like in motion.

Here’s the part I think Fintech Is Femme readers will really appreciate: Ferris doesn’t pretend this was easy.

The day before the announcement, interest rate news shook the market. And Ferris? She was in Cancun on a mother-daughter trip—a promise she wasn’t willing to break.

That kind of leadership—grounded, present, and still unshakably committed to the big picture—is rare. She calls it “feeding the human.” Because balance isn’t about perfection. It’s about knowing what matters in every moment.

“You just have to chop wood and keep moving,” she said. “And sometimes, that means doing both.”

She leads 50,000 people across the globe. And she’s navigating one of the most uncertain markets fintech has seen in years.

But what makes her leadership resonate isn’t just scale. It’s her mindset.

In a market starved for clarity, Ferris is offering exactly that. She’s leading with conviction, acting decisively, and—most importantly—she’s doing it her way.

For the full deep dive on how Ferris’s leadership made a $24B fintech deal come together, read my latest Forbes column: How FIS CEO Stephanie Ferris Led a $24 Billion Fintech Deal.

At last month’s Fintech Is Femme Leadership Summit, I opened the day with someone reshaping fintech from the inside out: Dr. Angel Rich, founder and CEO of CreditRich.

Dubbed “the next Steve Jobs” by Forbes and awarded the Presidential Lifetime Achievement Award by President Biden, Angel isn’t here to fit into the system—she’s rebuilding it.

Her insight? Most Americans were never taught how credit really works. So she reverse-engineered the FICO algorithm and built a platform that helps users improve their credit in real time using AI, automation, and behavioral finance.

“If you can create a system that simply helps people pay their bills on time, you could dramatically raise their credit scores,” she said.

CreditRich isn’t just another budgeting app. It’s a credit-building engine that rounds up purchases, targets high-impact liabilities, and delivers custom financial pathways—all while integrating directly with Experian, Equifax, and Visa.

And she didn’t wait for VC funding to scale. She picked up the phone, pitched top execs, and built revenue-driving partnerships that now value the business at $1 billion—with a $100M Series B in motion.

“Everyone told me it couldn’t be done. So I decided to just pick up the phone and do it anyway,” she said. “You don’t wait for someone to find you—you go find them.”

Angel’s playbook:

Next up? She’s launching Credit Cooks, a nationally syndicated show bringing real financial tools to underserved communities. And then? She plans to sell CreditRich and start again.

“We can’t afford to sit this one out,” she said. “The economy is changing—and people need real tools, not empty promises.”

If you missed her powerhouse keynote at the Fintech Is Femme Leadership Summit, you’re in luck—I’ve decided to release the full live interview as a special episode of Humans of Fintech.

This conversation with Dr. Angel Rich is too good not to share. We talk about how she reverse-engineered the credit system, why she refuses to wait for permission, and how she built a billion-dollar fintech on partnerships—not pitch decks.

Watch the full fireside chat live from our mainstage here. 

Meet two founders who are rewriting what leadership looks like—on their own terms.

In the debut episode of Fintech Mavericks (recorded live from Brex HQ in NYC), my co-host Drew Glover, co-founder of Fiat Growth, and I kicked off Women’s History Month with a conversation about scale, substance, and building with conviction.

Our guests:

We talked about what it means to raise capital while staying true to your mission, the emotional whiplash of startup life, and how to lead in industries where the default voice has never looked—or led—like them.

This conversation isn’t just a throwback. It’s a blueprint.

Join us every Thursday to keep up with fintech events!

I’ve been working on something special behind the scenes with our friends at Frich—and today, I finally get to share it with you.

Introducing: Career Creators—a new educational platform designed to show graduating students, professionals, operators, and entrepreneurs how to turn storytelling into strategy… and passion into deal flow.

I’ll be kicking off the session by breaking down my exact blueprint—how I went from journalism grad to building Fintech Is Femme into a creator-led media company with impact at its core.

Then I’m sitting down with the incredible Katrin Kaurov, co-founder of Gen-Z money app Frich, who used that very playbook to raise $2.8M and grow a 1M+ user community—no money, no network, no connections. Just vision, guts, and a game plan.

🎓 Hosted at Pace University, this one’s for the builders, dreamers, and doers rewriting the rules of work. Everyone’s invited.

Let’s build this era of work on our own terms.

We’re proud to partner with the 2025 Fintech & Insurtech Generations conference—where real innovation meets real impact.

Back and bigger than ever, #FIG2025 is the Southeast’s leading fintech and insurtech event, bringing together founders, operators, investors, and changemakers for two days of honest conversation, bold ideas, and future-focused strategy.

This year’s theme—Mission Possible: Operation Innovation—is all about building what’s next through collaboration, creativity, and the kind of leadership that doesn’t wait for permission.

If you’re serious about shaping the future of financial services, this is where you need to be.

Mark your calendar.

🎟 Use code FEMME25 for 25% off.

Who’s as excited as I am for this new album to drop later this month?

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📚 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.

⭐️ P.S. If you’ve read Fintech Feminists (or listened to the audiobook!), I’d be so grateful if you could take 30 seconds to leave a review or rating on Amazon here. Your support means the world to me. A million thanks in advance!

That wraps up today’s edition—thanks for reading! Until next week, keep innovating and challenging the status quo. See you Tuesday!

Love,

Nicole 💜