The career advice you never knew you needed, straight to your inbox.

I've never been someone who overthinks a decision.

I've never mapped out five different scenarios or waited until I had all the answers. My default setting has always been: start, trust your gut, and figure it out along the way.

That instinct is what made me co-found Female x Finance.

Leo and I had an idea, and I just knew it was going to work. So we started.

Leo built our first website from scratch. I cold-booked meetings with firms that were completely out of our league. Some of those first conversations were painful. One person literally laughed in my face.

But that's the thing about learning by doing.

You improve. You adapt. You show up better the next time.

And eventually, it worked.

The first clients came in. The community started growing. New opportunities appeared that we couldn't even imagine when we started.

For a long time, learning by doing was our greatest advantage.

But last year, I had to admit something to myself: The mindset that got us here won't necessarily get us where we want to go next.

Building a company becomes different when the stakes become bigger.

Questions start showing up that don't have obvious answers.

How do we build AI into everything we do? How do we create systems that scale beyond our own capacity? How do we run campaigns that grow faster than we can manually manage? How do we lead a growing team without losing the culture and values that made people want to join us in the first place?

And while you can learn all of that through trial and error, there's a cost to figuring everything out yourself.

Sometimes the most ambitious thing you can do isn't to work harder.

It's to learn faster.

That's why over the past year we've invested heavily in ourselves. We've sought out advisors. Had countless coffee chats with people who have already built what we're trying to build. Read books. Listened to podcasts. Hired people who know more than we do.

Not because we stopped believing in learning by doing.

But because we realised that growth requires both experience and perspective.

I see the same thing happen with many women in our community.

In the beginning of your career, growth feels automatic. Every project teaches you something. Every year brings new opportunities.

But eventually the learning curve starts to flatten.

The women who keep accelerating aren't necessarily the smartest or the hardest-working.

They're the ones who keep investing in themselves. The ones who stay curious. The ones who actively seek knowledge instead of waiting for experience to teach it to them.

And that's exactly why we created Smart Girl Summer.

Not because summer should be a time to work harder.

But because it's the perfect moment to become sharper.

While everyone else is switching off, you're switching gears.

Reading the book. Taking the course. Learning the skill. Having the conversation. Building the confidence.

Throughout the summer, we'll bring you a series of powerful insights, career advice, AI tools, money lessons, and real stories from women who are building exceptional careers.

Are you ready for it?

Summer is around the corner. Lock in now, build your network, and make your next career move before everyone disappears on holiday.

Most people think promotions come from working hard and waiting to be recognized.

They don't.

When we spoke to Polly Helva, an Investment Banking Director

who built her career from intern to leadership, we learned that career growth is rarely about effort alone. 

It's about strategy.

One of her biggest lessons? 

Promotions don't start when you sit down for the conversation. 

They start months before. 

The people making decisions about your future should already know your strengths, your impact, and the value you bring. The women who move up fastest don't wait to be noticed - they actively shape how they're perceived, build relationships with decision-makers, and make their achievements visible.

Visibility isn't a personality trait, it's a skill. And being excellent at your job is only the starting point.

The women who accelerate their careers track their wins, build relationships intentionally, know their market value, and aren't afraid to advocate for themselves. Because in finance, the best opportunities rarely go to the person who works the hardest. They go to the person whose impact is impossible to ignore.

And one piece of advice we wish more women heard: always take the call from recruiters. 

Not because you need a new job, but because you need information. Recruiters give you a real-time view of what the market values, what skills are in demand, and what someone would be willing to pay for your experience. 

The best salary negotiations aren't based on feelings, they're based on data. The more informed you are, the stronger your position becomes.

May was a big one!

FxF officially landed in Munich (our very first event in Germany 🇩🇪), and we laced up for the launch of our FxF Run Club. Safe to say: we're just getting started.

For our students, Taco Technical Twednesday was back on the menu. An evening packed with Investment Banking prep, ambitious women, tacos, and margaritas. Because networking is simply better with guac. 🌮

For our young professionals, we gathered at the beautiful offices of ADC Consulting, where CEO Emilie Colker shared the career lessons, bold moves, and unexpected turns that shaped her journey to the top.

In total, we brought together 200+ ambitious women this month. And if May was any indication, June is going to be even bigger.

See you at our the next event! 

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