The Power of Mother/Daughter Duo To Celebrate Courage to Advance Women in Fintech
Sarah Howell (left) is SVP Partner Programs at Infinant and her daughter, Lauren Houpt, is Fintech Program Manager at Alloy Labs.
By Sarah Howell and Lauren Houpt
Being in a male-dominated field, we both have recognized how vital it is to surround yourself with confident, courageous women. Technology, specifically financial technology (fintech), is a career where many women occasionally find themselves being the only woman in the room. This can feel frustrating and intimidating, so we’re thankful and relish in a renewed passion for the industry every time we have the opportunity to connect with courageous women in fintech.
We’ve discussed many examples of courage being exhibited throughout our careers and have narrowed it down to three categories where we’ve witnessed it churning the industry: curative, contagious, and cyclical courage.
As Eleanor Roosevelt said, “Nobody can make you feel inferior without your consent.” Feeling inadequate or insecure is something we do to ourselves; it’s not something others can force us to feel. So when we’re in a situation that could incite insecurity, we intentionally celebrate either our courage or the courage of others in how we use our gifts to move organizations forward. This way, celebrating courage is curative for jealousy and insecurity.
The discipline of celebrating courage creates a contagion that can inspire everyone to greatness. We both have made a habit of identifying courageous and inspiring women in fintech. One example is a female CEO who regularly admits she doesn’t know what she’s doing. Her courage to admit this gives us the courage to accept new challenges, even when we don’t have a clear path to success.
By creating a culture of bravery and surrounding yourself with courageous women early on in your career, you can help yourself become a mentor to others. Then, the women that you begin to mentor will, in turn, both inspire you and help you discover your unknown talents; hence courage is cyclical both on an individual and industry level.
“By creating a culture of bravery and surrounding yourself with courageous women early on in your career, you can help yourself become a mentor to others.” — Sarah Howell, SVP, Partner Programs, Infinant; and Lauren Houpt, Fintech Program manager, Alloy Labs #PowerToChangeStories”
Sarah Howell is Senior Vice President of Partner Programs at Infinant and Lauren Houpt is Fintech Program Manager at Alloy Labs. https://www.infinant.com/meet-us/ ; https://www.alloylabs.com/