WORKWEEK

According to Forbes, the “Next Steve Jobs” isn’t another man with a bland wardrobe. 

It’s a Black woman named Angel Rich who is disrupting the fintech industry as an international champion of financial literacy and equity. 

This is her story. 🧵🔥

Angel Rich is a global icon, literally. 

She has been named one of the Top 5 Global Icons of the Most Influential People in the African Diaspora by the United Nations and is the first Black American woman to land a partnership with one of the 3 top credit bureaus.

Before Angel became the international pioneer of financial education she is today, playing ball with some of the BIGGEST players in our space, she was a young girl growing up in Washington, D.C., who knew from the age of 6 that she would be in finance.

She attended college at the University of Hampton and graduated with honors and a bachelor’s in marketing. 

Then she went on to study at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing where she studied Chinese business culture and language.

After her education, it was time for Angel to start flexing the skillset she had been building in bigger and bigger ways. 

To kick things off, she founded a company called CreditStacker, the first financial literacy mobile game on the market.

The response to the app was truly unbelievable. 

CreditStacker became the #1 education application across 14 countries and was named the best financial literacy product in the country by The White House, Department of Education, and JPMorgan Chase. 

UM, GET IT!

Angel founded her 2nd company WealthyLife (where she still sits as CEO), to serve as CreditStacker’s hub, supporting operations for millions of users worldwide.

And you can see why millions are playing. It’s basically Candy Crush to improve your credit score.🍭

Angel’s passion for helping increase financial literacy in underserved parts of the world quickly led to her next project.

In 2016 she founded Black Tech Matters ✨

It’s a social impact organization creating diversity in STEM by connecting students, entrepreneurs, and other pros. The organization is dedicated to investing more than $30M in companies led by Black founders.

But Angel still needed to finish making her-story.

Just five years later, she founded her next company: 

Credit Rich App, in partnership with credit report agency Experian, making her the first Black woman to secure such a partnership with a central credit bureau. 

LFG BABE 😍

CreditRich is a fantastic example of how leaders like Angel bring humanity into fintech. 

It’s designed to provide an easy, low-cost way for users to round up spare change, pay their bills intelligently, and enhance their credit scores.

Tech for the people. 🙌🏽

The fintech is also the 1st Black woman-owned neo-bank. 

It targets all communities with an amplified focus on Millennials, Women, Veterans, and Black Americans.

Angel and & her co-founder Courtney Keen signed a deal with VISA last year, debuting the CreditRich Visa debit card. 💅🏽✨

Angel is a top-tier baddie in every sense, but one of the things that struck me most about her was this TED Talk titled: “Be a Trojan Horse — The Power of Being Underestimated.” 

You see, Angel’s favorite book is the Iliad. How come? 🤔📖

Because “whether you’re too Black, too white, too big, too tall, too short, too bald, or whatever it is,” there is power in being underestimated.” 

Angel says be that Trojan Horse. 

In her words, with “Patience, guts, grit — when the time is right, I will take those walls down.”

According to Angel, the true lesson of the Trojan Horse is the power of being underestimated. 

Being in an industry where you feel you don’t belong can be challenging.

But the truth is, the movement for a more diverse and inclusive industry is already here. 💗

In Angel’s words, 

“Don’t worry if they’re still underestimating us. We want them to. They don’t realize it, but they’re already surrounded by Silicon Valley to Hollywood.” 

And now, even in our credit reports, thanks to our guardian Angel. 😇