Most people learn about money during a crisis. I learned it at 12, because my dad made sure I did.
At 12 he taught me Excel. By 14 I had a credit card and a monthly budget. By 16 I was helping him prepare pitch decks and analyze financials for real deals. He ran his investment bank from home and brought me into it. By high school I was drafting decks with him at the kitchen table, and before I finished college I was in the room when his deals closed.
More than finance
He didn’t only teach me numbers. He taught me to write clearly, speak with confidence and hold my ground in difficult conversations. He never mapped out my career. He gave me the tools to build my own.
Still knocking on doors
Even with that head start, I still had to fight for seats at the table. Early in my career I agreed to sit in the corner of a conference room just to be in a critical meeting for a partnership I managed. Two quarters later, I was running those meetings. Most of those rooms had one or two women in them.
Why it matters to the founders I work with
Those early lessons in risk, cash flow and decision-making are the foundation of what I do today: helping founders, especially women, understand their numbers well enough to lead with clarity and confidence.
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