Thamina Stoll Believes Women's Financial Independence Sets A Direct Path Towards Gender Equality And Inclusive Economic Growth
Give us your best elevator pitch!
My purpose in life is to be a hype woman for other women. I'm particularly passionate about women's financial health because I genuinely believe that women's financial independence sets a direct path towards gender equality and inclusive economic growth. As I always like to say: A wealthy woman can walk out of (almost) every room she feels uncomfortable in and create opportunities for other women along the way. As a multi-passionate entrepreneur, I support women to build wealth for themselves and other women through my podcast, my roles as startup advisor & board member, and the community of women investors I'm building.
Learn more about Thamina’s work on Give Her Dollars — click here!
What motivated you to become an entrepreneur & take your career in the direction you did?
When I started college, I actually thought I was going to be a journalist, a sports reporter to be precise. I'm a trained radio reporter and host, and to this day, my all-time favorite professor is journalist Bill Adair, Founder of the Pulitzer Prize-winning fact-checking platform PolitiFact. My professional aspirations completely changed when I got exposed to innovation and entrepreneurship classes at my alma mater, Duke University - it made me become really curious about the world of tech, venture capital, and building companies from scratch.
After graduation, I decided to join LinkedIn to learn everything there is to learn about business and B2B sales & marketing, and I'm really glad I did. But as far as I can remember, I was always a multi-passionate entrepreneur and self-starter at heart who had a million things going on at the same time. Eventually, I will be turning my sincere passion for women's advancement into my full-time profession, and I'm getting closer with each day that passes.
When did you consider yourself a success? Did you ever have to deal with the imposter syndrome?
I used to talk about imposter syndrome a lot - especially as someone who's frequently the youngest and only foreigner/non-native English speaker in the room. And while I agree that women should focus on increasing their self-confidence, the problem I have with imposter syndrome today, after years of activism and introspection, is the fact that it isn't a lack of self-confidence that is holding women back. It is systemic discrimination and bias that is holding women back, specifically women whose identities intersect with other marginalized social dimensions, such as race, sexual orientation, religion, ability, socioeconomic status, and so on. So when we keep convincing every woman out there that she suffers from imposter syndrome, we direct our view toward fixing women, rather than addressing the root cause, which are the many systemic barriers women still face today.
In regards to when I started to consider myself a success, I always like to say it's similar to financial success - because small and big wins compound over time. Moving abroad at age 20 and never looking back has forced me to leave my comfort zone over and over and over again, and that was a huge accelerator for my professional success and personal growth.
What is the most important thing when it comes to goal setting? Any hacks?
I'm a firm believer in visualization techniques. When I want something, I start creating images of myself having achieved said goal in my head and really lean into that image. I start imagining the types of conversations I would have, how I would feel at that moment, and even sensory experiences such as smells and tastes. Once those images are in your head, they're really difficult to shake off so I automatically find myself in a place where the chances of me actually working towards that goal increases significantly.
