The career advice you never knew you needed, straight to your inbox.
This summer, we're getting smarter — and not just about AI, money, or negotiation.
Being smart at work, and in life, isn't only about chasing money. It's about knowing yourself, feeling comfortable in your skin, in your job, in what you bring to the table, without feeling overwhelmed.
Let me explain.
I'm the oldest of four. Classic oldest-child syndrome: everything has to be perfect, I feel responsible for everything, and I hate failing. So I taught myself a simple rule: just work harder, and the rest will follow.
Except hard work isn't always the answer.
About a year and a half ago, I hit a wall. Building Female x Finance, my partner moving to LA, getting married in two months, living 50/50 between two cities, working until 2am in Amsterdam, waking up at 3am in LA. I'm used to working hard, but at this point I was so overwhelmed I felt like I was getting nothing done at all.
So I went to a coach. That one hour every two weeks changed everything. I started to understand where that quiet "you're never doing enough" voice was really coming from.
I learned that I was working hard but getting nowhere, because I wasn't letting myself focus on what I'm actually good at and what gives me energy. And working hard is fine, as long as it energizes you.
So beyond learning about AI, building wealth, and how to show up at work, let's use this summer to zoom out. Ask yourself the honest questions: What gives me energy? What drains it? Who am I, actually — not just what do I do?
Because a clear mind helps you focus and hold your ground. A strong body carries you through the long hours. And when those two are steady, building real wealth — money, yes, but also freedom and the life you actually want, stops feeling like a fight.
Work on yourself first. The rest gets easier.
Smart Girl Summer
While everyone else clocks out this summer, this is your season to turn ambition into action.
Over the coming weeks, we're filling your inbox with the tools that actually move the needle: the podcasts worth your commute, the books worth your beach bag, the AI tools that save you hours, and the trainings and platforms that sharpen your edge.
The best part? The tips come straight from women in the industry, the ones who've already figured out what works.
What’s happening this summer
Summer is here, but that doesn't mean we're not meeting. Yes, we are also slowing down and taking that well deserved vacation, but for those who are staying in the city, we’ve got something for you:
FxF Run Club - 11km 🇳🇱
We started at 5km and we’re already at 11! Welcome to The FxF Run Club: where ambitious women come together to build more than endurance.
Join our run club and get a free ticket for the NN Dam tot Damloop.
FxF in Frankfurt!! 🇩🇪
We are landing in our second city in Germany with a fun evening combining networking with wine tasting.
Open for students and Young Professionals.
The AI Lab Training 🇳🇱
Become the AI champion your team needs. Over two intensive days, you go from understanding what AI really is, to working with it on your own finance tasks, to leading the AI conversation inside your organisation.
You can use your L&D budget for this training.
A sculpt workout? We’re in 🇬🇧
We are partnering with BEYOND to launch their new studio to our community in London! Sculpt your body. Scale your network.
This is an intimate, curated evening exclusively for Associates and above. Because the best connections happen in the smallest rooms.
You Asked, We Answered
Introducing: You Asked, We Answered — our new section where we take the career questions you keep sending us and answer them with no fluff, honestly, and always anonymous.
Q: "I'm two years into my role at a bank and I keep getting praised for being 'reliable' and 'a great team player' but the men around me are getting staffed on the visible deals. How do I change that without coming across as pushy?"
FxF: First: Careers in finance aren't built on performance alone, they're built on sponsorship, someone senior spending their political capital to put your name forward in rooms you're not in. And sponsors don't pick the most reliable person. They pick the person whose ambition they know, because backing you is a bet, and nobody bets on someone whose goals they have to guess. So the work is making your ambition legible.
Three moves:
Ask for the deal, specifically. Go to whoever staffs and say: "I want to be on the next [X-type] transaction. What do I need to show you first?" This does two things: it signals ambition, and it converts vague praise into a concrete bar you can clear. If they can't name one, that tells you something too.
Build the record before you need it. A short monthly note to your manager: what you delivered, what it meant for the client or the number. Not bragging, but documentation. When staffing or review conversations happen without you in the room, this is what gets quoted. If it's not written down, it didn't happen.
Study the path, not the advice. Find the woman one or two levels up who got the staffing you want and ask her how — who advocated for her, what she asked for, what she stopped doing. Generic advice is cheap; her map of your building is not.And "pushy"? Men asking for deals are called ambitious. You're allowed the same word.
Got a question you'd never ask out loud? Career, salary, office politics, money, send it in. Always anonymous. 👉
How to be Smart about your Career
Lara el Sabbagh spent 13 years on a career she wasn't happy in. Then she walked into Finance and made it to Director in six years.
On paper, her academic life looked perfect: PhD in Mathematics in Paris, postdoc at Warwick. In reality? "Research is lonely. I needed to build things." So at 31, she made the call most people are too scared to make: she started over. No finance knowledge. Basic coding. Just six months of weekends spent teaching herself markets and Python.
And even then, she told the recruiter she wasn't ready. His answer changed everything: "Every time I speak with a woman, she says she's not ready. Every time I speak with a man, they say they are. You are ready. Let's go." Eleven hours of interviews later, the offer was unanimous.
Today she's Head of Credit Strats at Bank of America — and she made VP to Director in three years instead of the usual five. Not despite starting late, but because of it: those 13 years of breaking down impossible problems became the exact edge nobody else on the trading floor had.
Lara is proof that the "late start" isn't a liability. It's what makes her exceptional.
If there's anything you're missing or want to see more of, hit reply. We read every message.
