The following post was written and/or published as a collaboration between Benzinga’s in-house sponsored content team and a financial partner of Benzinga.

Benzinga wraps up its month-long focus on female trailblazers in fintech with our 4th edition of Women in FinTech, a special edition discussion panel series hosted by Jordan Roberston. While Benzinga loves to help all people gain knowledge and education they can leverage to reach financial security, we chose to zero in on some of our more admired women in fintech to celebrate Women's History Month and the launch of Women in FinTech -- Investing Resources for Women.

Benzinga welcomed Kathryn St. John of Trading Central, Dr. Barb Provost, founder of Pursestrings and Kathryn Van Nuys, Head of Global Fintech at Amazon Web Services to this edition of the show. 

The Guests

Kathryn St  John 

Kathryn St. John is the head of User Experience at Trading Central, a global FinTech company specializing in data analysis used to enrich the decision-making process people go through when investing. 

Kathryn began her career after completing a degree in computer science, which would lend itself tremendously to her success. Her initial role was at a small start-up building chart recognition from scratch, which was acquired by Trading Central in 2016 and is now one of the most trusted investment brands in the world.

Dr. Barb Provost 

Dr. Barb Provost is the founder of Pursestrings, a financial platform tailored to meet the gap between existing institutional financial products and the unmet financial needs of many women. 

Her experience in financial industry consulting revealed an overall pattern: women are an overlooked market, even though they're worth 20 trillion dollars and contribute much to the economy and beyond. And aside from that, many women are also unsure of how to take control of their own financial future and security.

Dr. Provost created a model that provides women with resources that allow them to make informed financial decisions. The platform also connects users with a wide array of financial experts -- like realtors, lenders, investors and financial planners -- who have experience and expertise working with women.

Kathryn Van Nuys

Kathryn Van Nuys is Global Head of Fintech at Amazon. She's part of a start-up organization at Amazon Web Support, or AWS, that works to assist start-ups from start to finish through building, launching, scaling and growing their operations. 

Kathryn's specific role is supporting FinTech start-ups globally and addressing and finding solutions to the unique challenges they may have.

Working in Male-Dominated Industries

While each of our guests work in different industries, they all have one thing in common -- the fields they work in are traditionally male-dominated.

Jordan asked Kathryn Van Nuys if working in a male-dominated industry gave her any unique skills to help her excel and she said the following:

"When I was at Lehman and on a trading desk and one of the very few females there, I think what I've always just done is really be myself. And I remember...there was some pressure or need to act in a certain way, to act more masculine, you know, less female, and I've always just sort of embraced my skill set...really listening, being a good communicator, being very responsive, the ability to manage multiple stakeholders. And that's really helped me earn trust. So using my people skills has really helped me."

When asked if she ever felt intimidated by working in trading and investing, Kathryn St. John broadened the scope to feeling intimidated in general in any industry and said, "I think people encounter all sorts of moments where they may feel a bit intimidated...I get energized sometimes by things that feel like a bit of a challenge, but I just lean back to honing your skill set and focusing on what you know."

She continued, "I think working with founders has really shaped that sort of attitude to say that your contributions and your skillset matters, and we're really counting on you to make a difference and to apply those skills to the problems of the business. So it shifts your orientation to focus on being productive and I think that's one of the great things about working with founders is that what really matters is the success of the business."

Finding Inspiration

Dr. Provost spoke about what inspired her to found Pursestrings, saying, "I would see women, you know, bagging my groceries...and they were of retirement age and so, I really stepped back...did the deep research and thought, how is the industry serving women? And it turned out, they're the least sympathetic to women."

She continued, "And women are not prepared for their financial future, so I saw a huge gap. Women would tell me, when I talk to a financial professional, they don't even look at me. And I was just dumbfounded by that...so, I knew there was a huge void here, and yet, women are such a powerful market."

The Appeal of the FinTech Industry

Kathryn Van Nuys spoke about the transition into FinTech. During the financial crisis of 2008, Kathryn moved on from Lehman Brothers into the start-up space, moving to London for her new role. She said, "So another lesson I always learned was to always seize opportunities and take on ownership. So I saw an opportunity...and by building relationships and earning the trust of the senior leaders, ended up building out and owning a team for that business."

Kathryn continued, "I think what I loved about it was that start-up element. I was able to come in, work hard, see an opportunity and get to wear a lot of different hats and manage a team, and learn a ton. So that made me really want to stay with start-ups. I saw that FinTech had that nice combination of start-up, a lot of autonomy, a lot of opportunity...but also brought my experience in finance in, so I was able to leverage my past experiences to come into FinTech."

What Advice Do You Have for Businesses or Platforms Who Want to Attract More Women?

Dr. Provost responded and said, "Women really love value...one gentleman said, do women not buy long-term care because it's too expensive? And I said, have you looked at what someone will pay for their purses, their face creams, their shoes...women will spend money on what they feel is of value to them and will help them with their busy, busy lives and busy, busy schedules."

She also said, "So, price is not always the first consideration when women are making purchasing decisions. They want to know, is this a good decision, I don't want to have to make this decision twice. Is this of value to me? Will this help me in my daily life? How will it help me and what is the service that is being provided, because women really value service as well."

Advice from the Guests

When asked what the first step would be for someone interested in getting involved in trading and investing, Kathryn St. John said, "The importance of just jumping in and taking a risk...you learn a lot just by getting some exposure and getting started. And there's ways for people to get started with limited risk. To take a position, my daughter, when she was 11, she bought her first stock in Hershey's...so, you know, you can get involved and when you get involved, you almost can't help but learn."

Jordan asked Dr. Provost, "What is the first step for someone to take if they want to become more financially literate?" 

Dr. Provost responded by saying, "It all comes with understanding your own finances...it's really understanding the money that's going into your household and the expenses going out and just start with the basics. Reach out to Pursestrings...it's about educating yourself and not being afraid."

When asked what someone who wanted to follow in her footsteps should do, Kathryn Van Nuys said this:

"I think learning as much as you can about the space. FinTech is pretty broad...and so educating yourself about the space and figuring out what's most interesting to you. Learn a lot from meeting people, asking questions, attending meetups...obviously that's quite challenging right now. I think getting a sense of the stage of the company you're looking at...understanding what your risk profile is to understand what kind of companies you'd be interested in."

Looking Back -- and Forward

The 4th edition of Women in FinTech concludes Benzinga's celebration of Women's History Month and our panel discussion series with women leading the charge in all sectors of finance, technology and the space where they meet.

As the wage gap grows narrower and women become more educated and engaged with their personal finances, Benzinga will continue to be a resource for all people to take control of their money and make it work for them. Check out our Women in FinTech -- Investing for Women resource page to continue or get started on your financial journey. And don't forget to check out Benzinga Pro, where thousands of users get the news, data and insights they need to make informed financial decisions everyday. 

The preceding post was written and/or published as a collaboration between Benzinga’s in-house sponsored content team and a financial partner of Benzinga. Although the piece is not and should not be construed as editorial content, the sponsored content team works to ensure that any and all information contained within is true and accurate to the best of their knowledge and research. This content is for informational purposes only and not intended to be investing advice.