In 2026, the most ambitious women aren't just climbing the ladder. They're building their own. Besides working a corporate job, they’re using their creativity to build something of their own. Polly did exactly that. As someone who grew up both being obsessed with maths and arts, she thought she had to choose - until she decided: "I can do both." Her TikTok bio says everything about her: Mindset of a Wall Street Girl, Looks of a Vogue Girl, Ambition of a Unicorn. Iconic.

A bagel chain from Connecticut is now worth $300 million.

Tiger Global joined the list of investors backing PopUp Bagels, following an earlier investment from growth equity firm Stripes, which helped scale the company from a single location to 29 stores across New York and surrounding areas.

So why are sophisticated investors pouring money into a business that sells bagels?

Because they're not investing in bagels.

They're investing in a repeatable growth machine.

The breakfast economy is booming

While previous generations spent money at bars, younger consumers are increasingly spending on coffee, breakfast and social food experiences.

Morning routines are becoming a lifestyle category of their own, making breakfast one of the fastest-growing segments in food and beverage.

Built for the internet

PopUp Bagels mastered something many restaurant chains struggle with: creating hype.

Every week brings a new limited-edition cream cheese schmear.

Collaborations with brands like Oreo and Guinness create scarcity and social buzz, giving customers a reason to come back again and again.

In a world where attention is scarce, they've turned breakfast into content.

Quality that scales

The biggest challenge for food chains is maintaining consistency as they expand.

PopUp solved this early. The dough is produced centrally and shipped to stores, where teams only need to bake it fresh. The result: the same fluffy bagel experience whether you're in Connecticut or Manhattan.

For investors, that's a dream. Strong quality control + simple operations = easier scaling.

The real bet: 300 stores

The company plans to open 300 locations by 2030.

And that's exactly where Tiger Global comes in.

The firm has previously backed brands like Erewhon and Levain Bakery, helping turn local favorites into nationally recognized names. They're betting that PopUp can follow the same playbook.

What you see on LinkedIn:
Nine years in investment banking
Promoted from Analyst → Associate → VP → Director
Successfully executed over $40bn of deal volumes
Loves to pursue entrepreneurial adventures
Having completed Y-Combinator's start-up school
Founder, Wall Street Girls Club (WSGC)

What you don’t see:
That she chose finance deliberately not because it was initially her passion, but because she was smart enough to use it as the platform to build the life she actually wanted.

The girl who made a strategic bet on herself.

Polly grew up in suburban London. Private school, thanks to a family that sacrificed a lot to get her there, which meant she was always quietly aware of what she didn't have compared to the people around her.

That awareness didn't make her bitter. It made her hungry.

Her two best subjects? Maths and art. Her flow state? Filling sketchbooks, designing clothes, living in creativity. When fashion and finance both came knocking, she made a cold, clear call at 18:

"I knew the level of life I wanted. Finance could pay for it. So I chose finance and I'd feed my creative soul another way."

Climbing the ladder - her way
The early years were a steep learning curve. Analyst, Associate, VP - each level teaching her something new. How to delegate. How to own her work. How to walk into a client meeting and command the room.

She was always top quartile. Always moving forward.

But the Director promotion? That one was different.

Director is where the system starts to push back. Only 13% of IB directors are women.

She had her eyes on the prize, she wanted to increase that 13% and become a director herself. So she ran her own campaign. Built her case. Went directly to every member of the panel across the world. Sat down with each of them and told her story: her deals, her leadership, what she'd deliver at Director level. She made the yes easy before the room even convened.

The result? A unanimous yes.

"Promotions are campaigns, not waits. If you're not selling yourself, someone else is selling against you."

The rejection that changed everything
A few years earlier, Polly had been going hard after private equity. Final rounds, every time. And every time, they hired someone else.

She could have kept chasing. She didn't.

"Screw it. I'll build a business that one day they can buy."
That was the real turning point. Not the Director title, but the decision to stop trying to fit into rooms that didn't want to make space, and start building her own.

WSGC was born from that moment. Part creative outlet, part mentorship platform, part mission: proof that you don't have to make yourself smaller to succeed in finance.

Building the empire
The dream? Growing the WSGC into a full media company. Newsletter, podcast, docu-series - and long-term, a fund. Polly doesn't just want to help women get into high-powered jobs. She wants to help them get out when they're ready, and fund the next generation of women who are done settling.

She lives by seasons, not balance. This year? Career and business. She's all in.

"You can be feminine and formidable. You can have the high-powered job and still be fully yourself. You shouldn't have to sacrifice one for the other."

Polly’s advice for women on the climb
💡 Promotions are campaigns. Build your case, go to the decision-makers directly, own your narrative before someone else does.

💡 Confidence compounds. You build it by proving things to yourself - small wins, showing up, stacking your own evidence. It comes from within.

💡 Take care of the whole person. Body, mind, learning. You can't show up like a force if you're running on empty.

💡 You don't have to choose. Creative and analytical. Feminine and ambitious. Corporate and founder. In 2026, you get to be all of it.

💡 Live in seasons. Balance is a myth. Pick your focus, go all in, then rotate.

Follow Polly's journey through WSGC - mind of a Wall Street girl, looks of a Vogue girl, building an empire: @thewallstreetgirlsclub

💜 Role Models - the real stories. Because behind every big win is a moment where someone chose themselves.