The Short Cut:

A quick fire chat about working life with Gemma Young.

At the heart of the Nurture Network is the power of sharing experiences. From breakthrough career moments, to best ever advice, how to deal with stress and the women that inspire them.

The Short Cut designed to bring you a snapshot of our members’ working lives. Today we’re speaking to Gemma Young, Chief Growth Officer at TechPassport and Founder of Women of FinTech.

Tell us about your breakthrough career moment

I don’t know if there was a breakthrough moment as such, but a constant hard work ethic. I worked so many hours at the beginning of my career, which created a strong base for me to build my career on. When I set up Women of FinTech there was a breakthrough moment in realising that I loved to help others in their careers and seeing the power of a community all helping each other.

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever had?

I’m a big reader and the advice I found best was from a book rather than a person. Paulo Coelho has been a pretty big influence on my thinking for a period of time. The simplicity with which he describes the concept of ‘The Favour Bank’ is something I really like to use at work.

For me the favour bank is not about monetary or even tangible deposits as that wouldn’t be looking at the whole picture. It is more about Karma – help others and it will come back to you in some form and this is how I built Women of FinTech where everyone in the community takes and gives what they can.

Have you ever felt held back as a women?

Not held back as I’m competitive so I in some ways the things I have been told as a woman have made me fight harder to get where I am and prove them wrong, but I have heard some terrible things in my career, like ‘wow imagine what a man could have done in your role if you did that’.

How do you protect your mental health in moments of pressure?

Time for myself whether that be going for a walk, reading, anything that takes your mind away.

Do you have any hobbies to keep you busy in your spare time?

My partner and I have six kids between us so spare time is a fantasy, ha ha ha…

I feel empowered when…

…I help others. The satisfaction of helping someone is like nothing else.

The world would be a better place when…

…we have equality.

The woman everyone should know about is…

Layla White is literally changing the way banks onboard FinTechs. She has seen that the current process is so long and costly that it is killing startups and innovation and has come up with a way to solve this and is driving it forward with the backing of nine of the biggest global banks.