S3 Ep6: Women, Money and Financial Confidence with Yasmine El Mehairy

So much of the conversation around women and money focuses on gaps — pay gaps, pension gaps, investment gaps and funding gaps.

But what if the deeper issue is also about confidence, exposure, access and invitation?

In this episode, Mary is joined by Yasmine El Mehairy, entrepreneur, educator and fintech leader, for the first in a three-part mini-series exploring women and finance.

Yasmin shares her journey from computer science in Egypt to entrepreneurship, fintech and financial education in the UK. She speaks honestly about building and closing businesses, losing money through poor financial advice, navigating identity and difference, and why women need to see themselves as investors far earlier than many currently do.

This is a conversation about money, but it is also about agency, self-belief, role models, risk, privilege, and creating more choices for women.

Connect with Yasmine on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/yasmineelmehairy/

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 ✨ Produced by Mary Gregory Leadership Coaching

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Hello and welcome to She Leads Collective Podcast. I'm Mary Gregory and I'm so glad you're here. This podcast is a space for honest conversations about what it really means to lead as a woman today and how we can all show up with more courage, care, and clarity. You'll hear from inspiring women, powerful allies, and bold truth tellers who are changing the game not by playing tougher, but by leading smarter, softer, and stronger. Hello and welcome to this week's episode of the She Lee's Collective Podcast. So much of the conversation around women and money focuses on gaps, pay gaps, investment gaps, funding gaps. But what if the deeper issue is something more subtle? A lack of access, yes, but also a lack of confidence, exposure, and invitation into the world of finance and investment. My guest today is Yasmin El Mahari, who has built a career right at the intersection of strategy, product, and financial systems, from venture-backed startups to global financial institutions. But what makes this conversation particularly interesting is the path that Yasmin has taken. From computer science to media to fintech, across countries, cultures, and identities. And through it all, she has a growing conviction about one thing that women understanding and owning their financial lives is not just empowering, it's essential. Yasmin is also an entrepreneur, an educator at Said Business School at the University of Oxford, and someone who brings both sharp thinking and real humanity to this conversation. Yasmin, thank you so much for joining me. Thank you for having me, Mary. It's a pleasure and honor. Oh, it's an honor to have you, I can tell you. You have had a fascinating career history. So quite varied. You've been you studied computer science, media, fintech. What would you say is the common thread that connects it all for you?

SPEAKER_00 2:11

I think the common thread that connects it for me is simply when there's a problem I want to solve it. Um I chose computer science because I felt there was um again at the time, um, back in Egypt, uh, choosing computer science as a woman was not the traditional career path. And and that felt like something that needed to change. Uh, choosing entrepreneurship again as a woman was not the typical choice. That was something that needed to change. Um, I think building things, fixing things, including women in finance, is really what draws me. Let's change what's broken.

SPEAKER_01 2:55

And what I hear is that you from a very young age took courageous decisions, you went against the status quo.

SPEAKER_00 3:02

Uh, I think yes, there was a point in school where they called me Miss Objection, and that's like in my primary school.

SPEAKER_01 3:09

So you have a bit of a rebellious streak then. Yes, I guess so. Yes. So you took the conscious decision to move to the UK. What was behind that decision and what were you seeking?

SPEAKER_00 3:22

So that was a very interesting point in my life. At this point, I had exited one business, so basically selling our company to a competitor, which was considered a win. At the same time, we had an another company that was clearly going towards liquidation administration, so it wasn't doing well. Um, I looked around me and didn't find anything worth pursuing. And I'm not going to wrap up my life after one company, right? So at that point, I decided um there must be more. There must be more to life, more, more, more to give. Um, at Egypt looked like it had reached the ceiling for me. Uh, it wanted to spread beyond that. Um, yet I'm very close with my family and very uh connected, like very, very close to my parents. I speak to my mom twice a day, not twice a week. So I needed criteria to decide which location I wanted to be in. Um, and the UK stood out for many reasons. I wanted somewhere which is basically headquarters. I didn't want to be yet a small country that ran by uh, you know, um ideas or perspectives coming from somewhere else. So UK stood out in that front in terms of Europe being the headquarters of many uh organizations. I wanted something that was big on innovation, I needed somewhere where I spoke the language. Um, I do speak English. Um, I wanted somewhere where I had a bit of a network to start with. So I've done two master's degrees in the UK, so I thought that was a good starting point. And I had family and friends. Um, not a lot, but like a good starting point. And the final point was basically I said I wanted something, a five-hour radius flight from Cairo, so that I can reach my family should they need me. Um, so that was the UK. Um, and then there was the whole question about so how do you come here? I I at that point I didn't have a British passport, so just coming to the UK was not an option. Uh, I applied to a scheme called uh Global Talent Scheme. Um, to be honest, when I applied, it was called Exceptional Talent, and I used to like it better, it made me feel more special, but fine, would work with global. Um, so I applied to that program, which meant I came here sponsoring myself. I didn't need a company to sponsor me. Um and the funny part is that I got my acceptance uh during uh lockdown. So my passport was actually stuck in the visa processing office for six months. And then I came here to the UK, arrived in September 2021, uh, for my documents to be lost in the main. So I got stuck in the UK for three months, not being able to move anywhere because I was looking for my documents. Some would have taken it as a red flag or a sign to move back. I looked at it as a challenge and hey, I need to do this. So that was my attitude.

SPEAKER_01 6:28

Great, great, very positive attitude that you took to it all. And it's interesting how bureaucracy can hold us up in so many ways. Yes, but but you're here now, exactly. And you've described yourself as someone who feels privileged. How has that shaped how you see opportunity and responsibility?

SPEAKER_00 6:46

Um, I think it starts from how we define privilege. So I was very lucky that I grew up in a family that were very keen on investing in our education. Education was key. So from very early on, we were sent to um privately paid schools. Um it's a different system, so I wouldn't use the term private schools as they are here in the UK, but basically, uh schools where my parents had to pay a lot of money uh to get us to speak English and Arabic equally well. Um so that was one thing. Um again, I came from a place of privilege because of this level of education and my parents' support that I could get scholarships to study in the UK for uh two master's degrees. And when I say two master's degrees, most people give me the look of you spoiled brat, right? Two master's degrees. But but then again, I come from an academic family. My my teacher, my parents both teach at university, so it was a it is a it's a thing we do, right? Um, so on that stage, on that front, I would consider myself very privileged. Again, I I have a certain privilege which is which has two sides to the coin. So on one hand, I am immune to prejudice. So people would have prejudice against me because of the way I look or the way I sound or the way or just being female or just being brown or just being anything, and I'm just immune. It doesn't break me like it does most people. So I would say it came to play as a privilege because I was able to carry on forward, whereas others had to sit back, but at the same time, it lost me the empathy, right?

SPEAKER_01 8:29

That you get. So you've had to learn to be empathetic for those that are struggling.

SPEAKER_00 8:34

Well, not me lacking empathy, I lost the empathy of other people who want to see you.

SPEAKER_01 8:41

Ah, okay, I get it. Yeah, so it's the other way around that people because they saw you as somebody privileged, they didn't have any empathy for where you were. Okay, interesting then. And what about responsibility? What responsibility comes with that privilege, do you think?

SPEAKER_00 8:57

Because I think the we're not in the word wrong, right? At the end of the day, you don't live in a bubble. And you and for you to be given a better future uh in a way, it means that you have to work for it. And working for it means that you have to put all the talents and privileges and life experiences that you have towards goals that you believe in and to empower others and help them take a step forward from where they were just by having access to people like you. So I always say, like, my personal goal or motto is I want to give um a role model for people who had no role model. Growing up, it wasn't that easy. Yes, I have my parents, everybody's feels that way about their parents, and my parents are fantastic people. But if I were to say, which female entrepreneur encouraged me to take that step, none. And and I feel that when you don't have a role model and you don't have representation, then you don't have ambition. And when you don't have ambition, then you end up in a losing cycle. And I think as a response, the the responsibility that comes with all the blessings that I've been given in life is to push forward, is to show that yes, it may not be easy, but we could do it, and maybe I can do it alone, but we can do it together.

SPEAKER_01 10:19

Yeah, I love that, and I love that what you're saying because you are a very strong role model actually for entrepreneurship and for a woman living in a different culture and living so successfully as well. So let's move on then to talk a bit more about entrepreneurship, because there are lots of things that get talked about it, but the reality may well be very different. So you found a DJ, and what drew you into building something of your own? It sounds like you've built things in Egypt already of your own, but in the UK, you you built DJ. Tell me more about what drew you towards building that.

SPEAKER_00 10:55

So um I think this is the interesting part, which links the story about finance and the story about entrepreneurship in this space, because again, DJ was a platform that was supposed to empower women financially. And the story goes: when I exited Super Mama, my first company, and had a sum of money, I literally didn't know what to do with it. Um, we're not taught what to do with money. I mean, if if you look at the advice that women give each other through the generation, it's about how to save and spend less, not about how to grow your wealth. So, and again, as a religious Muslim, I was keen on things being haled or sharia compliant or basically in accordance with the rules uh of the Islamic finance, which limits the pool. Or at that point, I thought it limits the pool, um, which I later discovered that that is not true, and this is myth, they tell people to scare them off and whatever. But let's set that on the side. So, anyway, what really happened at that point was like I didn't have any resources, I was given wrong information, I lost a lot, a lot, a lot of money. And when I say a lot of money, I will tell you that I was given advice in 2011, uh, sorry, in 2019 to change my money from US dollars to Egyptian pounds. Two years later, uh, the Egyptian pound devaluation happened, which meant that overnight I lost half my net worth because I was given wrong advice. So point being, nobody should have to go through this. Um nobody should have to see their hard-earned cash, their life saving, because while this was not a saving, it was a bet. I worked really hard for this to happen to lose that overnight over bad advice. Oh goodness me, it's that must have been absolutely so shocking and upsetting. Exactly, devastating, let's use that the word correctly. Um, so at that point, what I thought about was like this shouldn't happen to anyone. Um, people should be educated about you, like about money. And I thought it was an individual problem. Uh well, maybe no one in my family works in finance, maybe people with people in their families that work in finance do better. Or, but then I realized that actually friends of mine who work at banks again are making wrong decisions when it comes to money, or are not making any decisions where it comes to money. And then I you you know, you just start the conversation and you always hear the stories who and who whose husband left her with nothing, although she was paying half the mortgage, who and who who was at a situation where she couldn't even leave work because she was living paycheck to paycheck. And these are people you love, admire, and respect. Um and they are successful women in their own capacity, they just were not educated about this major part of their lives. And again, I found something broken. I wanted to fix it.

SPEAKER_01 13:53

Of course. But before we go into that, what did you learn about yourself as you went through that experience of losing your money, but also trying to set up your business and then eventually your business not working out?

SPEAKER_00 14:07

So there are two parts to your question. There's the part about losing the money, which is the personal part, but then there's the part about the business part, the business not working. And both of them are devastating and heartbreaking and still take a lot to recover. But with the personal money, it was it was rage, in all honesty. Like I wish I could say it better, but it was rage, it was pure rage because some economics, economists somewhere, decided that the Egyptian pound isn't worth it, and and that's you know, my sweat and blood. This is my tear, this is my effort. Um, and this is all I had. But again, this is me sitting here from my privileged London apartment and complaining about my excess cash, where some people are not able to find their daily meals all over the world for in places of conflict. So, again, I think a bit of perspectives help you see things. So that's on one hand. The part about the business not working, and and perhaps, like you said, the reality versus narrative of entrepreneurship. It we only see the positive stories online, the unicorns, the leave what you're doing now, build your own thing now, go for it. But the reality is nine out of ten businesses feel. And and nobody talks about that, and nobody talks about the emotional aspect of it or the psychological impact that it has on you or the toll it leaves on you. And I wouldn't say this is privilege, I'd say this is hard work, but I've surrounded myself with an amazing community of entrepreneurs that come from similar or different backgrounds where we support each other, we have meetings, we have WhatsApp groups, we talk to each other, we help each other through it. So even before I took the decision that, or as I was taking the decision that apparently we have to, it it's a very it's one of the hardest decisions one can ever take is we have to close down now. I had had a few conversations with people that were not keen on the decision itself, were rather keen on me being in a good place and a supported place to be taking this decision. And and and yes, I am blessed to have them, but I worked hard to build this.

SPEAKER_01 16:16

Yes. So there again, there's a theme that comes through my conversations on this podcast, which is the power of network and having people around you that you trust that that you will support them, but they support you, as well as a real mutuality there. I you're also reminding me, and this is I was a conversation recently at the IOD where they were talking about women in entrepreneurship. And again, this is a cultural element here that in the UK, it isn't so okay for your business to fail, that there's a lot of shame attached to it, versus if you're in the US, it's kind of the normal thing. Just, you know, if you're an entrepreneur, you're gonna run several businesses and quite a few of them are gonna fail until you hit the one that'll be a massive success. So they're much more pragmatic about it. Do you feel that's it? That's that's what you experience being in the UK and and your business not working?

SPEAKER_00 17:05

So it I find it very interesting. When when I first started my first startup in 2011 out of Egypt, we were part of an accelerator program in Denmark uh called uh Startup Bootcap, which has branches, including here in the UK. And we've had mentors flying in from the UK and flying in from Europe and flying in from the US. And at that point, we realized that Europe, including the UK, are maybe 10 years behind the US, and Egypt is 10 years behind that. So you can imagine the shame back home. Um, I'm actually dreading, I'm traveling back home in a few days, uh, back home being Cairo, uh, with a failed business. And this is my first trip with a failed business. So there's a lot to do with that, and I feel it's not normalized. It should be okay. You should not be afraid of failure if you're ever going to succeed, because it holds you back. And and when you think about athletes, you know, everybody loses a match at some point in their life. Even the best athletes, the best tennis players, the best runners, the best, the best, the best, they've lost to someone and they're not shamed. So why are we shamed for for trying hard and then life not working in the same direction?

SPEAKER_01 18:19

Because it isn't about not letting it define you. Because I'm sitting here talking to you, and you're still a hugely successful woman. You just have a business that failed. It, you know, it's like it's having that that perspective on it, I think.

SPEAKER_00 18:33

But you know what, Mary, sometimes it doesn't feel this way. Like a lot of time you look in the mirror and you have the imposter syndrome with of if I if I was good enough, it would have worked. Um, who am I if I'm not an entrepreneur? You know, like these are questions that I have to remind myself to get over every single day until I figure out my next steps.

SPEAKER_01 18:52

This is a very interesting conversation. So we're covering all sorts of different aspects I didn't expect to come up. But yes, you have to manage yourself so enormously as an entrepreneur to keep yourself going and keeping, I would call it your ego, but some people call it your imposter, but that that's part of your ego from my perspective. But managing yourself to keep that at bay. And I suppose that's a bit of a myth, isn't it? Around businesses. A lot of people look at entrepreneurship and think, oh, I'll be an entrepreneur and I'll have freedom. What did it actually what does it actually feel like day to day?

SPEAKER_00 19:23

It it is anything but freedom. Um, because I think it's freedom from the society construct of what a job should be like. Like in your head, the definition of job is boss, and most of the time they're angry and annoying. Um, fixed hours, which you'd like to get away from, and potentially no expectations for growth. So you're you're you have salary brackets to move up for. In reality, um, as an entrepreneur, you you're not like you're not only accountable to one person, one boss, you're accountable to everyone, your stakeholders, your users, your everyone, everyone, everyone. You really answer to everyone. Um, there's no such thing as a work-life balance. Um, I I I I don't know about people who claim they have it, bless them. Um, I've never had that. Um you throw yourself all in. You go all in, otherwise it won't work. If you wouldn't do it, who would do it? It needs to be done. And then and then, yes, there is potential for the Nike swoosh in terms of growth and money and salary and stuff, but this only happens to what 1%. Um so it it's not, I think it's not the freedom that should motivate you. In my views, it's it becomes an obsession for fixing problems. If you fall in love with a problem that bad, that's when you that's when you want to become an entrepreneur to fix it.

SPEAKER_01 20:55

And you love fixing problems. I can really see how you get caught up in it. And I'm wondering also then, you know, with with the businesses that you've had and the challenges that you've had when those businesses haven't worked, what have you learned about risk and letting go?

SPEAKER_00 21:11

These are two heavy topics each could be covered in a separate podcast episode. Maybe we need to bring you back. But let's try and do a summary version. So on risk, um I think in theory, uh, again, specifically in finance, high risk, high rewards. But high risk, high rewards over time, right? So not every time you will take a risk would work. And I think this is the reality of it, and that's why it is risky. Some people are risk averse by nature, uh, as in it doesn't naturally come to them to take risks. Uh, some are the opposite, and I feel I I belong to this bucket of people who get too excited by something new. And something broken that the thrill just blinds us from the risks of it happening. Now, does this mean we don't know there are risks? No, we know that there are risks, they're just not stifling enough that we give up. So that's on risk. On letting go, that's a whole beast of its own. Um and I think and I think nobody learns the spectrum or the scale of letting go, except when you've had to do it more than once in different parts of your life. And I think letting go is very hard. Um sometimes we put a strong empowered face, but deep inside we're holding on to the same things that we're trying to advocate against. And I think that I think it's the key to freedom. That's that if we're looking at freedom, is letting go of things that hurt you and things that hold you down. Um but equally, um, you cannot not let go fully, because if you let go fully, then you let go of part of the things that made you who you are. Um, and I know that sounds very zen and very chilled and very wise. I'm not that person, I'm still learning to let go of different things, but I think I yes, I'm relating it to strength.

SPEAKER_01 23:17

So you could say there's a strength in being able to control things and make it happen and be the one in charge, but then there's a time where that gets overplayed, and you have to learn to let certain things go. For example, a leader learning to delegate, for example, when they're used to doing it all for themselves. That is a major breakthrough in their business usually and in their time and their well-being. Because if they don't let go, they're going to burn out eventually.

SPEAKER_00 23:41

Absolutely. And as you mentioned, it is a strength to know to let go of the things out of your control.

SPEAKER_01 23:48

Yes, got to learn to do that. I want to move us on to talk about women money and the investment gap because that's the main reason that I invited you here today. And I know you've got lots of wisdom to share around you here. You've spoken about your time at City Venture that opened your eyes to the gap for women in finance. What was it about that that stayed with you?

SPEAKER_00 24:09

What did you see that stayed with you? Um, I think the City Ventures per se opened my eyes to the world of finance as a whole, not specifically women in finance. And I think as a result of that, it's when I started looking at what I don't have or what I lacked. Again, the story of not finding enough information to make financial decisions. Um, and I think, and you know what? Coming to your point about the power of a network, um the the best financial decisions that I've made were made in a network of women. So, again, back in Cairo, I was having a conversation with two friends. One had lost her father, so had a bit of inheritance, and one had just let uh was let go of a job um with a big severance pay. So the three of us knew that we had money, but nobody talked about how much. Which in and of itself is a good step that you talked about money, but then we still had our prejudices, we can't share exactly how much. Anyway, point being, at that point, Zina said, I had kids, um, I believe in real estate, so I'm going to buy an apartment for each and install it over time, so pay mortgage over time, and then the rest of the money, you tell me what to do with it. And then Raoya said, Um, well, my sister works at a private equity firm that has a new program for small tickets. Maybe we can all look into that because they're sharing compliant, we trust them, my sister works there and so forth. And I said, Well, these are all good. I'm I'm game, I'd like to go with that. But personally, I'm a startup founder. I'd like to help startups, so I'd like to leave some of my money on the side to you know be able to invest in small projects or small businesses. And then the three of us thought, you know, with the situation and with where we are in life and stuff, we'd still like to get premium um service at the bank. So we'd still like some of it to be put in a savings account at the end of the day. And we did that, and we built the excess sheet that tells you where to go. Now, this changed like again when I started thinking, let me build something, this came to mind because it told me one thing. It told me that community that there's nothing that beats the support that women give each other in a community or in a word of mouth's perspective, and it also tells me these were very successful women and they struggled, and we had to sit together to do it. What about the less successful ones? What about the ones what about the lady that works at the supermarket and just gets by? Or what about the housewife who has no income of her own and yet she needs to still save towards something because you never know what's going to happen. So I think all these come together to make you think it's broken. Someone needs to fix it. And by the way, I was not the only one fixing it. There are amazing projects out there fixing it, and I and there is like in all by all means, let's give them a shout out. Female investor doing a fantastic um job teaching women how to invest and how to take care of their money. Propel are doing an amazing job. Uh, your Juno are doing an amazing job teaching women how to VestPod, amazing uh conferences as well, but it's not enough. Because I've mentioned four entities, how many women are out there? So there's just there's a huge gap between where we should be and where we are today.

SPEAKER_01 27:40

And do you feel that gap, does it lie with the access to support, confidence, education, or something more systemic?

SPEAKER_00 27:49

I think it's partially systemic, partially economic, and partially cultural. So, regardless of where you come from, and unfortunately, immigrants and people of ethnic minorities are affected further because we come from countries with built-in beliefs. So you not only have to change the beliefs, but you also have to get to the next level in order to be on par with the less privileged who still have to work their way up the food chain. So, cultural gaps like in many, many, many cultures, the whole women are not good with money, men are supposed to be the main breadwiner. And whether they are or they aren't, it's not enough. So women still have to work but have less access to the pay. And we've all been hearing those interviews about the manosphere and all those amazing uh um misconceptions being sent that the woman's place is at home, even today in 2026, right? Um, and the man should be the primary provider and she should leave everything behind. Imagine generations growing up with this mindset. Where do you leave women? So, this is one thing, and that's cultural. The second thing is access, and it ties back to culture, but it is its own problem because men would sit at the pub, and one would show off and say, I've got this amazing uh opportunity, or I made that much money as a way of showing off that they've done a great decision. Where women, again, the media and the direction and the narrative being presented to us is safe. So I would tell you about a sale, but I wouldn't tell you about a financial product. So accordingly, it's it's it's it's it's a self-fulfilling prophecy. You don't you don't know, so you stay away, so you don't know what you don't know, and you keep on missing. So again, that's potentially access. And and then the third is the economics of things. So the pay gap, the pension gap, the all sorts of gaps that and and and the one that hits me hardest is assuming you've done everything right, you've done everything, you've worked hard, you've maximized everything. Women get paid something like 25 to 40 percent less than men, I think, in the latest statistics, and tend to live, sorry, women tend to have by the end of their work service 25 to 40 percent less pension. Again, putting in mind the maternity gaps and and and and the less pay and stuff, but tend to live five to ten years longer. So you're ending up with less money in your most vulnerable years.

SPEAKER_01 30:29

So I'm hearing there are a whole host of reasons why women aren't necessarily investing and being more savvy around their finances, and yet we've already talked about the fact that these are women who have a lot of agency already. They're not women who, you know, you mentioned women who may be at home and don't know about these things and haven't got their own money coming in, but we're also talking about career women who may be leaders in organizations and they still aren't savvy around their investing. How can we help women as a whole take more control over their finances and have more agency in this area?

SPEAKER_00 31:06

So I think the one thing I like to do in events and the event where we met, Mary, um, one of my colleagues, not myself, is you ask women, are you investors? And most women would say no, right? But then you bring it back to the details. And that's a proven trick, right? You ask them, do you have a mortgage? They would say yes. Do you ask them, do you have a pension? They would say yes. You ask them, do you have an ISA? And they would say yes. And then you'd say, My dear, you are an investor. Now look at to yourself with that perspective. And I've had this conversation with a magnificent woman, uh French living in the UK, and she was like, you know what? I never thought of myself as an investor. The next time I met her, she's like, and now that I do, I started investing more aggressively. I've been doing it all along. I just didn't see myself as someone who's financially savvy. So it's it's just, I think it's like wearing glasses. You've seen it all along, you just need it clearer. So I think if I'm telling, if I'm saying one thing to women, you're good. You just need to be better, just take charge.

SPEAKER_01 32:17

Okay, so demystifying what exactly investing is, where's where somebody already got some investments, and then also learning how can they do that more? Exactly. How can they, yeah, how can they keep developing that and growing that? Very powerful. So, for women that are listening today, and maybe they feel a bit disengaged or even intimidated by their finances. And I can so relate to that. There's been times in my life where I'm just like, oh, I don't even know where to start here. What do you think is the first meaningful step that someone could take?

SPEAKER_00 32:49

I think the first meaningful step is an honest audit with yourself. You have a date with yourself, drink whatever you want to drink. Do you want to have a cup of tea, a cup of coffee, a beverage of your choice, just you and your Excel sheets? Write down what you own, what you owe, and where you want to go. And I think this exercise by itself will open your eyes to any gaps available. The next step is taking it a step deeper. Is what you own minus what you owe going to lead you to where you want to go or not? And with that, you start building. So, what do you have to do to get there? Is it paying your mortgage faster? Is it I don't know, remortgaging? Is it actually no, it's it's not mortgage at all, it's investing because I want something else completely. Is it your pension? Do you need to put more money to your pension? You have so many tools available to you and so many tax benefits available to us here in the UK that we do not make enough advantage of. So just start by an financial audit with yourself, and and this is your starting point. If you were to ask me what's the next step, if you found yourself in a situation where you have what what an individual would consider um a largish sum of money, and and I I meant an individual would consider because this is a subjective thing. So what you may think is large enough is very different to me. Look for a financial coach or a financial advisor that would just help you through the basic steps of what is available to you in your specific case. The difference between a coach and an advisor is an advisor is a certified regulated entity that can only advise on things that are certified or regulated. So they will never advise you to put in crypto, for example. A coach, on the other hand, is kind of comes more with a psychological aspect, it's a behavioral thing. If you feel that you're too much of a risk-averse person, that you can't get yourself to invest, that person would be able to get you there. So they would work with you like hand holding. And you know what? Even if these two are not available to you, look to someone you consider financially savvy and ask them for their input. It may not be perfect, but it would be a starting point.

SPEAKER_01 35:11

And I think I think that's very good advice because also there are so many things on offer or available. You know, for example, if you're employed, your employer's um contribution to your pension, for example, taking advantage of that, um, the tax benefits of that, all sorts of things. I know when I was younger, I didn't have a clue about. So there's something about making sure, whatever age you are, that you're aware of all the different um things that are available to you. And it doesn't take much, you don't have to save, you don't have to suddenly start saving a thousand pounds a week. You could save 10 pounds, 20 pounds a week as a starting point.

SPEAKER_00 35:47

Um again, and it's a shameless plug. So while DJ itself didn't make it, our social media accounts are still there, so both TikTok and Instagram, and we have tons of videos on basic stuff. With lots of information, lots of information on all sorts of types, all types of investing, your pension, your ISAs, everything, specifically for the UK audience.

SPEAKER_01 36:07

Really great. That's a really good resource for people to check out. So let's move on a bit further then, because I want to talk a bit more about you and about your identity and and uh your sense of power and belonging, being an Egyptian Muslim here in the UK. You bring a really rich identity to your work, Yasmin. You're working as an Egyptian Muslim woman here in the UK in financial systems. How do you think that shaped how you lead and show up?

SPEAKER_00 36:37

I think it always like by definition, coming in that space, you're expected to see the what's it called, uh, man in finance, blue eyes, six five, you know, the whole uh a certain look for the people that work in that space. So by definition, regardless if I was man or woman, uh just being Egyptian Muslim in itself, uh, you become a minority. Add to that hijabi, you know, woman, then like you're less than the 1%. So it puts a lot of pressure on you proving to everyone that you can do it and you can do better. So it means that you have to work harder just to exist in the playing field, let alone leveling it. But it also means that you are more empathetic and more supportive to others of all sorts of backgrounds that do not fit in the box. And oddly, you'd find that people from different spectrums become allies in wanting to push forward against the monotony, right? So I think while it gives us uh a weaker starting point, it gives us a stronger starting point into leadership.

SPEAKER_01 37:51

That's a great way of looking at it, and in fact, you said you don't want to tell a hardship narrative because I think you know sometimes when we are um the minority in the room, we it it might be easy to feel victim in that space, and you're very clear you don't want to share that hardship narrative. Could you say more about that?

SPEAKER_00 38:10

I I think it's not that I don't want to share it because I want to hide something, but to me, there are two ways of looking at everything: there is the feeling sorry for yourself version, or the what are you going to do about it version. So I enter a room, I'm the only one of me. I'm the only one that looks like me. There are two versions standing in the corner with your non-alcoholic drink and feeling shy and embarrassed, or going and standing there in the middle and smiling at people, and then someone smiles at you back. Both are uncomfortable. The question becomes, and then what? So I'm all for. Listen, it doesn't mean that I didn't have hardships. I've had hardships of all sorts. Like I can't even begin to list what happened to me just in 2026, right? But again, there are two ways of looking at it. Am I going to feel sorry for myself and curl into a ball and sit in a corner, or am I going to do something about it? And I always choose to do something about the truth. Not because of anything else, except that if I don't do my best, then I don't deserve good things happening to me. And there is the whole, are you a complainer who would just sit around complaining? Life has been tough, life has been hard, it's not fair, or are you going to make it fair? So that's that's my argument, that's my narrative. That's the very powerful as well.

SPEAKER_01 39:28

And what does it mean then? Because we talked about your privilege earlier on. So, what does it mean to hold both privilege and difference at the same time?

SPEAKER_00 39:38

It's it means that nobody likes you. Uh, the privileged, uh the less privileged would look at you as privileged, so why are you complaining? And the and then you don't fit in the perfect look and feel, so you're not there either. It means that you're outside every single minority box because you have certain things. Um, so you can't play on that. It means again you have to work harder for everything because you need to break all taboos, right? Um, but it also means that you have very you are very self-aware of what you are and what you aren't, and where do you sit in the food chain.

SPEAKER_01 40:17

Well, and that again, that's a huge strength to have that self-awareness as well. And just the way you talk about your difference and and your whole perspective on this is just so empowering, not not just for yourself, but I think for others to hear.

SPEAKER_00 40:31

I hope so. I hope so. I my ambition is like the reason I share is because again, I'm no exception. There are many of me, except that we don't know that we exist, so you know, let's come together. Fantastic.

SPEAKER_01 40:44

Okay, so let's look forward into rewriting the narrative around women and their relationship with money. If we were to fast forward 10 years, what would you hope would have changed in how women engage with money and investment?

SPEAKER_00 41:00

I would hope that women start early to acknowledge that they are in charge. I f I always find it fascinating when people who are at uni or just out of uni asking me what how to start investing, and I find it fascinating because she's still studying, right? But she's doing this part-time job and she's still living with her parents, for example, so she has a bit of money that she can do something with. This is strength, this is power, and the younger generation are so much more powerful than we were when we were their age. So if in 10 years those 20-something year olds in their 30s, while they are on maternity leave, potentially, their money is working for them in the background, building their pension, building their retirement plan, that's perfect. That's good for it.

SPEAKER_01 41:52

And what role do you think organizations, education systems, or leaders need to play in that shift?

SPEAKER_00 42:00

Oh, a lot. Someone I really admire, Louise Hill from Henry, uh Go Henry. They're building education for kids to start learning about money, and they're doing a phenomenal job. Now, um, but that's one organization doing it in private. Why aren't we doing it in schools? So let's start early, let's start teaching early. And then in organization, well, we haven't learned as kids, but now we're working and we're putting the majority part of our days in those organizations working. Leaders have a responsibility to help us go forward, to help us learn more. Why aren't you throwing financial literacy events? Why aren't you inviting a financial advisor to help your small team of five? Right? Why not? I don't see a reason why company drinks is more important than your financial future.

SPEAKER_01 42:55

Very good, very good. I might add actually, you mentioned uh big starting young and and and teaching financial literary in school. One of my guests coming up, Jane Brewer, actually is the CEO of To Be Enterprising, and that's exactly what they do. They they have partnerships with big firms actually, who then fund them going into schools to run sessions for young children, which is fantastic. Perfect. Yeah, yeah. So it is happening. Great to hear. Finally, then, what's one belief about money you think women need to let go of?

SPEAKER_00 43:27

But it's a man's thing. Please. It's not a man's thing, it's your thing. It was a man's thing when they used to spend on you. Now you're spending on yourself, you're earning on yourself, you're working hard. Why is it a man thing?

SPEAKER_01 43:42

Great, thank you. And this is such an important conversation, Yasmin. I just want to say thank you so much for joining me. This is not just about money, it's about agency, it's about confidence, and it's about creating choices for women as they run their own lives and take advantage of the opportunity to vote. To them as well. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you for having me, Mary, and it was lovely talking to you. Thank you so much for listening to the She Leads Collective podcast. If this episode resonated with you, follow the show or share it with a friend and leave a quick review below. Or leave us a comment. Change happens through conversation, so let's keep this one going. Listen out for the next episode and join me as we keep lifting the lid on the stories that matter. Take care and keep leading with heart.