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Humans of Fintech: Daily Summaries Delivered
by Nicole Casperson
Humans of Fintech with Nicole Casperson is where the people building the future of money get real about what it takes to create meaningful change.Hosted by award-winning journalist and Fintech Is Femme founder Nicole Casperson, the show goes beyond headlines, valuations, and product launches to uncover the decisions, setbacks, ambitions, and lived experiences shaping fintech, business, and AI.Each episode features candid conversations with the founders, operators, investors, executives, and culture-shapers reimagining how money moves—and who gets to build its future. You’ll hear the stories behind the companies, the lessons behind the leadership, and the human realities behind innovation.Come for the ideas transforming financial services. Stay for the people courageous enough to build what comes next.Humans of Fintech is a Fintech Is Femme Original show.
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- 2 days ago21 min
The Power of Making Money Feel More Human
What happens when a theater kid, filmmaker, and lifelong storyteller finds her way into fintech? For Hannah Hughes, Chief Marketing Officer at Plaid, the answer is a career built around making technology feel more human.In this new episode of Humans of Fintech with Nicole Casperson , Hannah shares how growing up with money challenges shaped her relationship with personal finance, why she believes marketing is a form of modern-day art, and how fintech brands can build deeper connections by embracing culture, creativity, and community.They also explore the future of AI and financial services, why trust is the cost of admission, and why the next generation of leaders should lean into the things that make them more human. Her advice? Stay curious, invest in yourself, and just keep trying.In this episodeThe career journey that took her from theater and filmmaking to marketing at Apple, Airbnb, Affirm, and PlaidWhy fintech has the power to change lives in ways other technology sectors cannotHow marketing can serve as a modern form of art by supporting local creators and building communityWhy financial brands need more personality and a stronger connection to the people they serveHow Plaid is helping power the next generation of AI-driven financial experiences through its infrastructureWhy collaboration between fintech companies and partners can create stronger stories and shared growthWhy trust is the cost of admission when consumers share their financial dataHow the industry can approach agentic AI responsibly while giving consumers more control over their financesWhy the next generation of leaders should embrace AI, stay curious, and lean into the things that make them more humanWhat Hannah sees coming next for fintech marketing, financial data, and personalized AI experiencesThe importance of perseverance, problem-solving, and investing in yourself as a leaderEpisode chapters00:00 Highlights from the conversation01:00 Meet Hannah Hughes, CMO of Plaid02:34 From theater and filmmaking to product marketing04:00 Why marketing should support art and local communities05:30 Bringing personality and lifestyle into financial services06:30 Plaid's first integrated campaign: Innovation Needs Infrastructure08:30 Why fintech brands are finding new ways to collaborate10:00 Data, innovation, and the importance of trust12:00 The future of agentic AI and consumer financial empowerment13:30 Leadership advice for the next generation of fintech talent15:00 The future of Plaid's brand and marketing strategy16:30 Hannah's prediction for the future of financial data and AI17:45 Rapid fire: coffee, creativity, and morning routines19:00 The money lessons Hannah learned the hard way19:50 The leadership advice that changed how she approaches problems20:30 Success in three words: Just keep tryingAbout Humans of FintechHumans of Fintech, hosted by Nicole Casperson, Founder and CEO of Fintech Is Femme, goes beyond the headlines to explore the people, personal stories and leadership lessons shaping the future of money.Subscribe to Humans of Fintech on YouTube, Spotify and Apple Podcasts for more conversations with the people building the financial industry's future.
- 3 weeks ago34 min
Chime's COO on Scaling to 10 Million Members Without Losing the Human Touch
What does it take to scale a fintech company to millions of members without losing the personal touch that made it special in the first place?In this episode of Humans of Fintech, Nicole Casperson sits down with Janelle Sallenave, Chief Operating Officer at Chime, to explore the leadership decisions, customer experiences and personal lessons behind one of fintech's most recognizable companies.Janelle shares how Sunday afternoon financial lessons with her mother shaped her relationship with money, why she became fascinated with creating exceptional customer experiences, and what she learned during her career at Charles Schwab, Uber Eats and Chime.They discuss Chime's evolution into a public, profitable company, the importance of staying close to members as a business scales, and why even the smallest customer frustrations deserve executive attention.The conversation also turns to AI and the future of leadership. As technology takes on more tasks, Janelle explains why human judgment, taste and vulnerability are becoming increasingly valuable, and why leaders don't need to have all the answers.It's a conversation about building companies that last, protecting what makes them special and remembering the real people behind every financial transaction.This episode of Humans of Fintech is sponsored by Chime.In this episodeHow Janelle's mother taught her financial independence and the importance of understanding moneyThe career path that took her from management consulting and Charles Schwab to Uber Eats and ChimeWhy scaling a fintech company requires protecting its culture and customer experienceHow Chime keeps its members at the center of decisions, from executive listening sessions to individual support escalationsWhy small details can have an outsized impact on consumer trustWhat established financial institutions and younger fintech companies can learn from each otherHow AI is shifting the value of work from completing tasks to exercising judgment and tasteWhy vulnerability, adaptability and reverse mentoring are essential leadership skillsWhat Janelle hopes Chime's impact on financial health will look like in the years aheadEpisode chapters00:00 Highlights from the conversation01:00 Meet Janelle Sallenave, COO of Chime02:34 From consulting to building exceptional customer experiences04:34 The financial lessons Janelle learned from her mother07:54 Discovering your leadership superpower10:32 How Chime has evolved as it scales13:40 Keeping customer obsession and company culture alive16:01 The responsibility of serving millions of members18:18 Why leaders need to sweat the small stuff20:53 How trust is built when something goes wrong22:21 Fintech innovation versus legacy banking infrastructure25:59 Why AI makes human judgment and taste more valuable29:21 Vulnerability, change and the future of leadership32:04 The impact Janelle hopes to leave behindAbout Humans of FintechHumans of Fintech, hosted by Nicole Casperson, Founder and CEO of Fintech Is Femme, goes beyond the headlines to explore the people, personal stories and leadership lessons shaping the future of money.Subscribe to Humans of Fintech on YouTube, Spotify and Apple Podcasts for more conversations with the people building the financial industry's future.Sponsor disclosure: This episode is sponsored by Chime.
- Oct 14, 202626 min
She Spent 900 Hours Settling an Estate. Then She Built an AI Company. With Alexandra Mysoor
This episode of Humans of Fintech is sponsored by Alix, an AI-powered estate-settlement platform helping families navigate the process of transferring inherited wealth.Learn more about Alix: https://www.meetalix.com/The Great Wealth Transfer is expected to move roughly $100 trillion from older generations to the next. But there's a problem hiding underneath that enormous number.How does the money actually get from one generation to another?When someone dies, somebody still has to find the bank accounts, track down assets, navigate lawyers and financial advisors, deal with property and paperwork, and make sure the inheritance reaches the people entitled to it.And much of that work falls on women.Few people understand this better than Alexandra Mysoor, Co-Founder and CEO of Alix, an AI-powered estate-settlement platform that has raised more than $30 million from investors including Acrew Capital, Charles Schwab, and Edward Jones Ventures.Alexandra didn't set out to build a company around inheritance. It started when her best friend's mother passed away and Alexandra volunteered to help with a to-do list on the refrigerator.That simple promise turned into 900 hours of work over 18 months.What she discovered was a massive financial process that remained fragmented, expensive, and overwhelmingly manual. Families were expected to coordinate the work themselves, even as trillions of dollars prepared to change hands.In this episode of Humans of Fintech, Nicole Casperson sits down with Alexandra to explore how a deeply personal experience became a fintech company, why estate settlement is an overlooked piece of financial infrastructure, and how AI could make generational wealth more accessible to everyday families.They unpack why women disproportionately carry the burden of settling estates, the surprising connection between inheritance and financial inequality, and what Alexandra learned from making 189 pitches to raise her seed round.Alexandra also shares how an unexpected elevator encounter helped transform her fundraising journey, why she believes technology should solve fundamentally human problems, and what it means to build a company at a stage of life when many women are wondering whether it's too late to pursue their biggest ambitions.At the heart of this conversation is a question that goes far beyond estate settlement:What good is generational wealth if families can't actually access it?This is a conversation about money, grief, women's economic power, entrepreneurship, and the invisible work standing between families and the wealth they've inherited.Subscribe to Humans of Fintech for more conversations with the people building the future of financial services.YouTube Chapters / TimestampsIn this conversation, we dive into:00:00 Why generational wealth should be accessible to everyone00:38 Meet Alexandra Mysoor, Co-Founder & CEO of Alix01:32 The ambition Alexandra had before becoming a founder02:48 Why you don't need to see every step to pursue a big dream04:39 Motherhood, ambition, and finding your next chapter05:35 How Sallie Krawcheck's words shaped Alexandra's thinking06:30 The family loss that changed everything07:11 How a refrigerator to-do list became 900 hours of work08:14 Why settling an estate is so complicated09:37 The broken economics of estate settlement10:35 What Mozart taught Alexandra about an ancient financial problem11:48 The moment Alexandra decided to become a founder12:10 Black Wall Street and the meaning of generational wealth13:05 Why inheritance shouldn't require family-office resources14:00 The missing infrastructure behind the $100 trillion wealth transfer16:53 Building a fintech company as an industry outsider17:50 Why estate settlement is also a women's economic issue19:50 What 189 investor pitches taught Alexandra21:15 The elevator encounter that changed her fundraising journey22:45 Why human relationships still matter in the AI era24:02 Using AI to solve deeply human problems24:47 What's next for Alix<stron
- Sep 1, 202620 min
Why Storytelling Is Fintech’s AI Advantage With Angelique Strauss
In the age of AI, access to powerful technology is becoming universal. Standing out is not.When every company can build faster, automate more, and deploy similar tools, the real competitive advantage becomes much more human: a clear story, a trusted face, and a reason for people to believe in what you’re building.Few people understand the intersection of storytelling and growth better than Angelique Strauss, Founder and CEO of ScaleX.Angelique entered fintech after immigrating to the United States and experiencing firsthand how difficult the financial system can be to navigate. Building credit, purchasing a first home, planning for retirement, and moving money across borders were unnecessarily complicated—even for many people who had lived in the country their entire lives.That experience shaped her belief that fintech is not simply about better technology. It is about making the financial system more accessible and helping people understand how financial products can improve their everyday lives.In this episode of Humans of Fintech, Nicole Casperson sits down with Angelique in front of San Francisco’s iconic Painted Ladies to explore why storytelling has become essential infrastructure for fintech growth.They unpack why founders must become the faces of their brands, how trust changes go-to-market strategy in the age of AI, and why major business relationships are increasingly moving from virtual channels back into physical rooms.Nicole and Angelique also go behind the scenes of building FTW San Francisco, following the success of New York FinTech Week. They discuss what traditional conferences get wrong, why smaller and more curated gatherings can produce better business outcomes, and how the strongest fintech ecosystems are built through collaboration—not competition.Angelique also shares the fintech company whose go-to-market strategy has caught her attention, why access to capital remains painfully difficult for small-business owners, and how stablecoins could make global remittances faster and more affordable.This is a conversation about storytelling, trust, access, community, and what it takes to build a fintech brand people will remember in a world flooded with AI-generated noise.Subscribe to Humans of Fintech for more conversations with the people building the future of financial services.YouTube Chapters / TimestampsIn this conversation, we dive into:00:00 Why financial access remains unnecessarily complicated00:45 Meet Angelique Strauss, Founder and CEO of ScaleX01:41 Why fintech is being overlooked in the AI conversation02:36 Angelique’s immigrant journey into fintech03:22 Has fintech actually become more accessible?04:20 Why financial data may be fintech’s greatest moat04:53 In the AI era, features are no longer enough05:30 How founders can build a memorable brand06:08 Why fintech companies need a human face06:27 Trust as the defining advantage in AI06:53 Why major deals are moving back into physical rooms07:18 AI is making people crave more human experiences08:37 Why modern growth requires digital and physical touchpoints09:04 Where fintech’s AI future comes to life10:28 Why Angelique said yes to building FTW11:26 What traditional fintech conferences are missing12:00 Why smaller rooms can generate better business outcomes12:27 Building a room for fintech’s “closers”13:00 Why companies grow faster through community13:57 Creating content that goes beyond product promotion14:54 Personalizing the conference experience15:33 What makes San Francisco’s fintech ecosystem different16:01 Why fintech and big tech need each other16:42 What Angelique wants attendees to take away from FTW17:15 The fintech company everyone should be watching18:04 Why access to capital still fails small businesses19:01 The future of remittances and global money movement19:56 Building a financial system that works across borders20:28 Subscribe to Humans of Fintech👇🏼 SUBSCRIBE + FOLLOW HUMANS OF FINTECHYouTube:<a href="https://www.youtube.com/@humansoffintech" rel="noopener noreferrer" tar
- Aug 25, 202633 min
Can AI Make Financial Advice Available to Everyone? With Laurel Taylor
Student debt in America isn’t just a balance sheet problem. It can delay investing, homeownership, entrepreneurship, starting a family, and decades of compound wealth creation.Few people understand that better than Laurel Taylor, Founder and CEO of Candidly.Laurel founded Candidly after living the problem herself. She grew up believing higher education was the path to economic mobility, but she and her mother also experienced the long-term cost of financing that dream: years spent paying down debt instead of building wealth.That experience eventually led Laurel to help create what she describes as the 401(k) for student debt, enabling workers to pay down qualifying student loans while still receiving employer retirement contributions.But student debt was only the beginning.In this episode of Humans of Fintech, Nicole Casperson sits down with Laurel as Candidly celebrates ten years and enters its next chapter: building personalized, AI-powered financial guidance across debt, retirement, savings, college planning, and wealth.They unpack why traditional financial wellness is too fragmented, how workplace-connected data can create a powerful advantage for financial guidance, why enterprise AI requires a much higher trust threshold than consumer AI, and what happens when technology can finally help answer one deceptively simple question:What should I do with my next dollar?Laurel also reflects on a decade of entrepreneurship, fundraising through difficult markets, leading with kindness, and why founders sometimes need an almost irrational level of conviction to keep going.This is a conversation about debt, wealth, AI, trust, and what it would take to make personalized financial guidance available to far more people.Subscribe to Humans of Fintech for more conversations with the people building the future of financial services.YouTube Chapters / TimestampsIn this conversation, we dive into: 00:00 Why student debt is really a wealth problem00:51 Laurel Taylor and the $1.7T student debt challenge02:10 10 years of building Candidly02:42 The problem Laurel saw before the market did04:33 Why the name “Candidly”?05:24 Inventing the 401(k) for student debt06:23 Building wealth while paying down debt07:45 How AI changes financial guidance09:21 Why trust is becoming fintech’s defining advantage11:20 Candidly’s enterprise distribution model13:00 The “sacred truths” of enterprise AI14:58 Why financial institutions need customer-facing AI16:17 You don’t get to simply declare yourself AI-native17:25 Why fragmented financial wellness is broken18:00 Building personalized AI financial guidance20:40 Moving fast when the margin for error is zero22:25 Turning financial guidance into action24:55 What 10 years taught Laurel about leadership26:39 The irrational conviction founders need28:40 The responsibility of reaching millions of workers29:14 Why Laurel still defines success as kindness31:21 Kindness is not the same thing as being nice33:22 What’s next for Candidly👇🏼 SUBSCRIBE + FOLLOW HUMANS OF FINTECHYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@humansoffintechApple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/humans-of-fintech/id1600731457Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3zA6yUb3D7I5ZRbehlsdX7?si=42f10417f6e44983For more fintech news, founder stories, and FTW updates: <a href
- Aug 17, 202631 min
AI Is Making Software Easier to Build. So What Still Creates a Moat?
AI is making products easier to build.So what actually separates the companies that win?In this episode of Humans of Fintech, Nicole Casperson sits down with Drew Glover, Co-Founder of Fiat Growth and General Partner at Fiat Ventures, at the Golden Gate Bridge to unpack the next phase of fintech in the AI era.Drew argues that as software becomes easier to replicate, the strongest moats left are data, distribution, storytelling, and community.The conversation explores why fintech may be uniquely positioned in the AI economy, why every scaled technology company eventually starts looking like a fintech company, how founder-led marketing is replacing faceless B2B brands, and why the companies sitting on decades of proprietary financial data may become some of the most important players in AI.Nicole and Drew also go behind the scenes of FTW: San Francisco, September 29–October 1, and discuss why the next generation of fintech events should feel less like giant trade shows and more like curated rooms where executives, founders, investors, and operators can actually build together.Because in the AI era, technology may be easier to create.Trust, distribution, data, and community are not.Subscribe to Humans of Fintech for more conversations with the people building the future of financial services.In this conversation, we dive into: 00:00 What still creates a moat in the AI era?00:54 Drew Glover returns to Humans of Fintech01:13 Why fintech is missing from the AI narrative01:59 Every fintech company is becoming an AI company03:54 Why financial institutions have an AI data advantage04:19 Build vs. partner: the legacy fintech dilemma05:57 Is proprietary financial data the real moat?07:11 Why fintech still struggles to look “sexy”08:41 Drew’s unconventional path into fintech10:48 Financial inclusion after the DEI boom13:43 The B2B fintech storytelling problem14:48 Why B2B brands now need mass-market storytelling15:50 The rise of founder-led marketing17:41 “Data and distribution are the only moats left”18:43 Why storytelling still gets founders funded18:53 What FTW: San Francisco is building20:00 Big Tech × Fintech in San Francisco21:06 Why curated rooms create better business23:33 Fintech company Drew is watching24:28 Why Drew joined FTW: San Francisco24:48 Community as a moat25:22 What’s broken about traditional conferences27:57 Drew’s final takeaway: “I can’t do it alone”👇🏼 SUBSCRIBE + FOLLOW HUMANS OF FINTECHYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@humansoffintech Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/humans-of-fintech/id1600731457 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3zA6yUb3D7I5ZRbehlsdX7?si=42f10417f6e44983 And for more fintech news, founder stories, and FTW updates:Fintech Is Femme: https://www.fintechisfemme.co/
- Jul 1, 202622 min
Building Trust Into the Fintech Product with Current's Josh Stephens
Live from New York: a special mini episode recorded at the Solo Resilience SummitNicole Casperson sits down with Josh Arjuna Stephens, SVP of Product at Current, for a sharp, on-the-ground conversation about what it actually takes to build financial products people trust — and use — at scale.During this special live recording of Humans of Fintech at the Solo Resilience Summit in New York City, Josh and Nicole dig into the evolution of financial infrastructure, the role of agentic AI in product development, why trust has become part of the product itself, and what product teams are most underestimating right now.🎧 Hit play to hear how today's builders are designing the next generation of financial products — with trust, speed, and compliance all in the same room.
- Jun 24, 202634 min
Growing Global with Fundbox’s Rina Jariwala, Katy Ryan of Orrick, and Ontop’s Sergio Cordoba.
Live from Las Vegas: the Fintech Penthouse is back!Nicole Casperson sits down with guests Rina Jariwala, Chief Operations Officer at Fundbox, Katy Ryan, Partner at Orrick, and Sergio Cordoba, Chief Acquisition Officer at Ontop. During this special live recording of Humans of Fintech at Fintech Meetup 2026, the group discusses’ what it takes to expand past your home market and how compliance, infrastructure, and trust play a role in it.🎧 Hit play to learn how today’s leaders are scaling across borders and shaping a more connected financial future.
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About Humans of Fintech
Humans of Fintech with Nicole Casperson is where the people building the future of money get real about what it takes to create meaningful change.Hosted by award-winning journalist and Fintech Is Femme founder Nicole Casperson, the show goes beyond headlines, valuations, and product launches to uncover the decisions, setbacks, ambitions, and lived experiences shaping fintech, business, and AI.Each episode features candid conversations with the founders, operators, investors, executives, and culture-shapers reimagining how money moves—and who gets to build its future. You’ll hear the stories behind the companies, the lessons behind the leadership, and the human realities behind innovation.Come for the ideas transforming financial services. Stay for the people courageous enough to build what comes next.Humans of Fintech is a Fintech Is Femme Original show.
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