STYLISA FoundHers Notes: Five Conversations. Five Financial Truths. What FoundHer FundHers Is Teaching Me.
- Lisa Maynard-Atem
- 7 hours ago
- 4 min read
When I launched FoundHer FundHers, I knew it needed to exist.
What I didn’t fully anticipate was what it would do to me. FoundHer FundHers sits within STYLISA FoundHers as the finance arm of the platform. It is the branch that looks directly at money. Not just funding rounds and headlines, but the deeper mechanics of financial literacy, confidence, ownership and protection. Yes, many of the women I interview are founders.
But what is becoming increasingly clear is that these conversations are not only for women running businesses. They are for women navigating careers. Women managing households. Women rebuilding after setbacks. Women planning exits from corporate roles. Women starting again. Women raising daughters.
They are for girls, too. Because money shapes choices long before we label ourselves entrepreneurs.
Over the past five interviews, I have noticed patterns. Different sectors. Different stages. Different levels of visibility. Different lived experiences. And yet, five clear financial truths are emerging.
1. Confidence with money is built, not inherited
Financial confidence is not an innate trait. It is not reserved for those who studied economics or grew up around wealth. It is developed.
Some of the women I have interviewed were exposed to financial conversations early. Others had to teach themselves from scratch. Some entered finance professionally. Others learnt through uncomfortable mistakes. None of them simply “had” confidence. They built it through exposure, repetition and decision-making.
That lesson applies whether you are negotiating a funding round or negotiating your salary. Confidence with money is not about bravado. It is about understanding.
And understanding is available to all of us.
2. Financial literacy is foundational, not optional
One of the clearest patterns is this: financial literacy underpins stability.
Understanding income protection. Understanding pensions. Understanding how investing works. Understanding debt. Understanding tax. Understanding how money flows in and out of your life. These are not niche topics for high-growth founders. They are life infrastructure.
If you are employed, you need to understand your pension.
If you are self-employed, you need to understand your buffers.
If you are raising children, you need to understand long-term planning.
If you are starting over, you need to understand rebuilding.
The women I have spoken to who are most grounded financially are not necessarily the highest earners. They are the most informed. Clarity reduces fear. Avoidance multiplies it.
3. Protection is power
Five years ago, I had never heard of income protection. Now I see it differently. Planning for uncertainty is not pessimistic. It is strategic.
Income protection, emergency funds, insurance, long-term savings, these are not just financial products. They are tools of stability. And stability is freedom.
This matters for founders, yes. But it also matters for the woman working in a corporate role who would like the option to leave. It matters for the woman navigating health challenges. It matters for the woman supporting family members.
Protection planning is not fear-based. It is future-facing.
4. We have to normalise talking about money
The women I have interviewed speak about money calmly.
They say the numbers. They discuss growth. They talk about risk. They explain returns. Without whispering. Without performance. There is a cultural tendency to treat money as either taboo or trophy. Neither is useful.
If we want more women confident in finance, we have to make the conversation ordinary. Accessible. Understandable. FoundHer FundHers is not about sensationalising funding rounds. It is about demystifying the system.
That demystification benefits founders. It also benefits women in employment. Women considering investing. Women teaching their daughters about money.
Financial literacy should not be an insider language.
5. Money is deeply connected to identity
Perhaps the most nuanced truth is this: money conversations are rarely just about money.
They are about upbringing. Culture. Migration. Corporate experiences. Care responsibilities. Trauma. Ambition. Value systems. How we think about money is shaped early. Often unconsciously.
Some women I have spoken to have had to unlearn scarcity. Others have had to unlearn over-responsibility. Some have had to unlearn the idea that they should not be “too ambitious” when it comes to wealth. Financial growth often requires identity growth.
And that identity work applies whether you are building a seven-figure business or simply deciding that you deserve financial independence.
What FoundHer FundHers Is Becoming
When I launched this strand of STYLISA FoundHers, I wanted to create a space where women could speak honestly about finance. What I can see now is that FoundHer FundHers is becoming something broader.
It is becoming:
A growing library of real financial conversations.
A bridge between storytelling and strategy.
A space that normalises money literacy across life stages.
A resource not only for founders, but for women and girls learning to navigate financial systems.
Going forward, I want to go deeper. More on pensions, exits, investing, income protection, policy and access to capital. More on how women from underrepresented backgrounds navigate systems not designed with them in mind.
Not in abstract theory. Through lived experience. Because financial literacy is not a founder-only skill. It is a life skill. And if we are serious about equity, about independence, about expanding what is possible for women and girls, then we cannot avoid the money conversation.
Five conversations in, I am clearer than ever. FoundHer FundHers is not just about spotlighting women who have built impressive things.
It is about building financial fluency. Across generations. Across roles. Across starting points.
And that feels like work worth continuing.
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