The Power of the Ask

From Romania to Fintech Leader: Mara Cristina Tache’s Inspiring Journey to Empowering Women

• Lisa Zeiderman, Savvy Ladies Board Chair, Managing Partner at Miller Zeiderman LLP, and Precious Williams, Savvy Ladies Board of Directors, CEO/Founder of Perfect Pitch Group • Season 2 • Episode 1

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Join us this month on the Power of the Ask Podcast as we sit down with Mara Cristina Tache, co-chair of the Savvy Ladies Junior Board and a leader in the financial technology industry. Mara shares her inspiring journey, from growing up in Romania with a love for books and early exposure to technology to navigating the challenges of a male-dominated field and leading a global team. She discusses the values that drive her leadership, including financial literacy, diversity, equity, inclusion, and ethical AI.

Tune in to hear about:

  • From Student to Leader: How learning and diverse experiences shape a leader.
  • Ethical Tech, Inclusive Finance: Mara’s commitment to building a financial world where everyone is successful.
  • Leading With DEI: Championing diversity, equity, and inclusion, including LGBTQIA+ advocacy, in fintech.
  • Kindness and Mentorship: Empowering others through support and guidance.

Vulnerability and Opportunity: How asking for help opens doors to growth.

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Mara Cristina Tache Bio:

 As the Co-Chair of the Savvy Ladies Jr. Board, Mara Cristina Tache is deeply committed to enhancing women's financial literacy and supporting their financial independence while addressing economic and racial disparities. She was honored with the Excellence in Mentorship Award at the 2023 Savvy Ladies Awards Benefit Gala for her significant influence as an emerging leader in the financial services sector. With over 12 years of experience in the payments industry, Mara contributes to employee-led business resource groups that empower women leaders and advocate for LGBTQIA+ equity. Her dedication to diversity, inclusion, and financial education has a lasting and profound impact on her community.

Important Links:

Lisa Zeiderman (00:06.256)

Hey ladies, welcome to the Power of the Ask podcast, which helps you get what you need financially and personally. We are so glad that you're here today. My name is Lisa Ziderman. I am managing partner at Miller Ziderman, and I am one of the co-hosts with my dear friend, Precious Williams, killer pitch master and CEO of Perfect Pitch Group. Hey Precious.


Precious LaTonia Williams (00:28.599)

Hey Queen Lisa, yes everybody. Hey, hey, hey. It is your girl, Precious Williams. And along with my cohost, Lisa Ziderman, we're so pleased to welcome you back to another exciting episode of the Power of the Ask podcast.


Precious LaTonia Williams (01:40.139)

And as you all know, on the Savvy Ladies podcast, we love to give you a little flavor, a little background on our guests. So today's guest is Mara Christina Taki. She is the co-chair of the Savvy Ladies Junior Board, and she's deeply committed to enhancing women's financial literacy and supporting their financial independence while addressing economic and racial disparities. She was honored with the Excellence in Mentorship Award at the 2020-23 Savvy Ladies Awards Benefit Gala.

For her significant influence as an emerging leader in the financial services sector. With over 12 years of experience in the payments industry, Mara contributes to the employee led business resource groups that empower women leaders and advocate for LGBTQIA plus equity. Her dedication to diversity, inclusion and financial education has a lasting and profound impact on her community. Mara, it is such a pleasure to have you with us here today.

Why don't you tell us a little bit about your journey and what led you here to us today?


Mara Cristina Tache (02:41.063)

Absolutely. Hi, Lisa. Hi, Prashu. So, so good to see you. And thank you so much for having me. What brought me here? First and foremost, the absolute privilege to cross paths with the savvy ladies and getting a chance to be in their inaugural junior board class.

And meeting all of you ladies as well, and really finding a community that we know we're working together to help a lot of women in this country. And not just that, whoever accesses Salvi Ladies website, very, very much near and dear to my heart, and very, very excited to have that chance to talk with you today.


Lisa Zeiderman (03:32.528)

So Mara, what experiences or influences from your early life shaped your interest in technology and finance? So give us some insight there.


Mara Cristina Tache (03:44.584)

So I grew up in Romania in Eastern Europe. In both my parents, I've been very lucky to grow into a house that always had a lot of books. So I grew up with a lot of books and I think this instilled in me that curiosity. Both my parents have the most diverse set of things that they're interested from history to art to sports to anything basically, even though sometimes that has no connection to their actual job that they did. And I think it really drove me into that, just be curious about anything and everything. And there's, it's, think a lot, since I was a kid, I learned there is something about knowing stuff. I think it helps you as well relate to other people along the way or understand how the world works. And they've really allowed me to do that.

And they've really allowed me to feed into that curiosity. And, you know, more specifically to tech. in Romania, I grew up with technology and computer science actually was a thing when I was in fifth grade, and that's about 11 years old. My parents moved me to a school that had a program around that. I saw a computer first time when I was 11. And we did probably like six or seven hours a week.

In just looking, even though we were like three or four around the computer. And I think it really like sparked that curiosity from all of us. It's like, what is this thing and what does it do and how does it work? I also, I definitely use my mom's access at work to internet for my schoolwork. And I remember always thinking that my mom finds the most random things on the world. And I was like, how do you do that? So I think I learned the benefit of internet and tech quite early. So again, very, very much understand privileging that I know not everyone gets access so early in their life to that kind of technology and that kind of a support from the school system. And on the finance side, I grew up with my mom being very transparent about money, even when I was a kid.


Mara Cristina Tache (06:09.162)

I, for the first few years of my life, she raised me as a single mom and she was very, very transparent into, no, I cannot buy this thing and this is why, or you cannot go in this trip and this is why. She has a, one of her core belief is that you talk with kids the way their adults don't do the jiggle jiggle kind of a thing to them. And because otherwise they will never learn along the way.


Mara Cristina Tache (06:35.838)

As to why you did certain things or why you took certain decisions. Don't treat them as you will treat another person with respect and trust and all of the above. And I think because she was so transparent with me, it allowed me to understand a bit more early what it means. And also kind of the power behind knowing where your money is and what it happens to it. It gives you a level of freedom and independence that I wanted to have it on me for myself. It's the Romanian society is still very patriarchal and it's still very much even though men and women all work. It's a bit of a leftover from the from the communist period till 89. So it was expected for everyone to work but it's still kind of the finances were always in the the hand of a man and I don't want that.

I grew up with, I don't ever want to be dependent on someone else. It's just, it's, I think I've seen too much of that. I've seen what it does. I've seen the kind of the invisible ties that it has to someone doing what they wanted to do. And I think that's when I was like, no, I'm not, I'm not doing that. I'm just going to have my own thing. And I, would I share it is all about partnering and all of that? Yes. But I do not want to.

Be tied due to money, not be able to make a decision that it's what's best for me because I don't have the control and I don't understand what happens with the things that I worked hard for it. That's the other thing. It's like you put all your blood and sweat into it and someone else manages it. No, not my kind of world.


Lisa Zeiderman (08:24.016)

Good for you. Good for you.


Precious LaTonia Williams (08:25.037)

I'm feeling that. I'm feeling that network in St. Louis, You have such an interesting background and it's great to hear how you first, how you grew up with books and then you were able to see a computer at such a young age and even though was like three or four of y'all huddled around this computer. I'm really impressed with the fact that you work in financial technology and that is your career.

What are some of the challenges that your educational background or your background in totality prepared you for the challenges that come with working in financial technology?


Mara Cristina Tache (09:02.476)

I mean, I was very, because I did have access to this technology. think along the, I got a very deep interest in math and computer science. I do love my numbers. I did learn and I do want to kind of call it out the fact that being into numbers and computer science doesn't mean that you don't have the people skills or the artistic or the creativity and the innovation.

That sometimes is required in today's working environment. Somehow, for years, I was told that, unfortunately, from the educational system, not so much from my parents. And I'm so happy I learned that. And I want for anyone else to think of it. One doesn't exclude the other one. The biggest, one of the best mathematicians in Romanian history was an amazing poet.

And to me, remember that so clearly as those two don't have to be excluding each other. And the reason why I'm saying this is we can learn so much in school. And of course, I was very, very much privileged to learn a lot in technology and math and all of that. And went to school through scholarships and did my master and my MBA and all of the above.

And I got those opportunities. And it's more about the, it's so much more than the technical knowledge. think even today with the internet and all this online things, you get the access. But I think what I learned is because I did get a chance to go to school in four different countries. I learned that educational system is so different and at different levels and the way people teach and the way people kind of try and transmit the information is so different. And that helps me today a lot. I work in a global company and being able to understand that, you know, communicating with someone in India versus Brazil versus St. Louis is a completely different element to it. And it's mostly because of the educational systems that they want through it and the society and the cultural.


Mara Cristina Tache (11:24.878)

Differences that we all have that then kind of come into how we are and how we communicate at work and how we work. It's so much more than the schools that we go through it, it underlying so much and everything else around it. So those being able to like experience that, being able to see and go through a university and a school that is probably, I don't know, if you would put it on their international ratings, I don't know, school, 4,000 and something maybe, you know, looking at my university in Romania, which I learned a lot from it. But then I got to see in the US an Ivy League school. So seeing all those elements of it prepares you in different ways for when you do get into corporate.

And the people that you get to. So I think it teaches you where I'm going a lot more about creativity and people and communication and adjusting to surprises. I Lisa and I were talking a while back, it's like someone just dragging you on a call and you're like, surprise. And I know I've learned that through school and I learned that through my education and through kind of figure it out as you go because you got a bootstrap quite a bit in Romania.

Using a lot of assets when you go into a school like in the US. So having all of that, gives you view of different people in different ways in which, and it doesn't make it better or worse. I think that's the other one. I don't think my education in Romania was better or worse than the one in the Ivy League and the other way around. It's so much more about the human side and what you actually learn and what you take from there.

Of course, access to facilities and computers and all of that would always put people ahead of the other ones. But it also, what do you do with it? We have a saying in Romania that God will give you bread, but he wouldn't put it into your basket. I'm not sure like an English or American saying equivalent to that, but I see education that way.


Mara Cristina Tache (13:43.702)

You have access to it. Of course, that's already a critical step in front of many people worldwide. But what you do with it, it kind of holds on to each one of us.


Lisa Zeiderman (13:54.318)

I think it's something.


Precious LaTonia Williams (13:54.739)

It sounds like you're adaptable. All those experiences being adaptable, being able to see the connections and the threads that run between it. Because I know in corporate America, there are so many challenges and it seems like each one of these educational institutions and experiences has prepared you. So go ahead, Queen.


Lisa Zeiderman (14:14.746)

So I'm gonna say a few things. So first of all, Maura, you are right. So I'll share with our audience, okay, that yesterday I had, I've been on trial and I had a meeting for Savvy Ladies with this very big organization. And I decided that Maura would be great to have on the meeting. But I didn't of course tell her until what, like a few hours before that she was jumping on this meeting. And I think we just sent her a link and said, on on. And then she had to just think on her feet.


Mara Cristina Tache (14:21.325)

Okay


Lisa Zeiderman (14:43.504)

Because I didn't have the time, frankly, in my day to actually even speak to her about the meeting. So there she was in the meeting and it was about thinking on your feet, which I think is the key to life. Cause you can't really, everything can't be pre-planned and rehearse. Like sometimes you just gotta like just jump in and think on your feet. So that's what happened to Maura yesterday. So that's he was alluding to. And I will also say, that is the bread and the basket, is it kind of like you can take the horse to the water, but you can't make him drink? Yeah, so you can take the horse to the water, but you can't make him drink. So I think that that is that analogy expression. But I'm sitting here and I'm listening, and I want you to be able to tell our listeners, first of all, what exactly you do in financial technology, okay? Because I really wanna hear that. And then basically,


Precious LaTonia Williams (15:14.263)

That's I'm thinking queen!


Mara Cristina Tache (15:14.827)

Yes, yes.


Mara Cristina Tache (15:19.469)

Yes.


Lisa Zeiderman (15:39.088)

you know, what led you essentially to this particular role, how'd you get it? Okay. And how have you actually made it a success story, which you have, there's no question about it. And then what milestones were for you as you went along your path to get to where you are? Because you're, look, you're fairly young, okay? And, you know, I'll share it with you three, so I can say this now. And,


Mara Cristina Tache (16:02.059)

Yeah


Lisa Zeiderman (16:07.824)

Precious has just had her birthday. She may want to share or not, okay, but happy birthday. Well, Precious is 46, but I would say, I really want to understand what is like this financial technology? What do you do?


Precious LaTonia Williams (16:11.597)

46?


Mara Cristina Tache (16:12.175)

Woohoo!


Precious LaTonia Williams (16:23.191)

Come on Queen.


Mara Cristina Tache (16:25.146)

So I currently lead a global team of 13 people as of about two days ago. So very, very excited for that. What we work on it is how do we, our customers to our company start using our products in a very simplified way. Now tying it back, I think what we were talking about technology and the


human side of it and tying the connection. Something that sits at the core of what my team is doing is what is the customer experience? How do we drive towards the best customer experience that it's inclusive of all kinds of customers? You can be a smaller one, you can be a huge large corporations. There are different needs and different technology needs when we're tying it to technology. There are different knowledge.


There's a different speed at which you want to do things. I also work in a very highly regulated environment. So we also need to keep safety, security, trust at the center of it. So it's very, very important to do all of that while we're trying to make it smooth and fast and something that in the end, it's a good experience. And it's something that then further you want to continue to work with us.


because it's all about the small or big business. It's always about what everyone else is saying about you. So it's very, very important that reputation and that trust element that someone will have while you're trying to stay ahead of all your competitors. It's very interesting to me, especially with how technology has been evolving is


You you used to have certain industries that had one to two players and now the barriers of entry with technology, with AI, with God knows what else is going to come in the next years are really, dropping and are really challenging the players who've been there for 56 years. And I always say competition is the best thing for innovation and the best thing for getting ahead and for thinking creatively.


Mara Cristina Tache (18:45.555)

And how do you use technology in a way to do all of that? So that's in a sense of what my team does and what I'm very privileged to have them to partner on it. How I got here? About 12 years ago and a bit. I was a fresh graduate out of my master. I've never worked in a corporate before. I've only done NGO work.


I truly believed in nonprofit and in giving my time and the way I could help. I worked very much in education for probably 25 years at this moment. I'm very passionate about it. I remember I went to the interview and I mean, we were graduate students. So it was just, you know, there was a set of jobs.


dad, we all interviewed for the same ones and they were kind of matching us. And in my head, I was like, what do I know how to do? And I was like, well, some computer science and I don't want to be a, know, and, and I'm not an engineer by, by trade. I'm very much on the business applicability of technology. And the first thing I was like, I know how to do lists. And I know how to keep track of them. So I think that would be great as a project manager. That was my.


kind of my area of it. was like, I don't know anything else to do. And it grown from there into, I'm still at the same company 13 years later. The reasons are for, I always felt like I'm growing and learning something new every single day. Is it terrifying that every single day you're like, shit, I did not know that. Yes.


It fits my personality in the way I want to grow my career. And all my milestones along the years have been out of pure curiosity. Out of, I'm just going to give it a try. It's okay. I don't know about this, but someone is like, who wants to do this? And I'll be like the first one to raise my hand. I was like, I'll give it a try. What is the worst? My mom used to say when I was a kid, what is the worst thing that can happen? And she was like, you'll get a no.


Mara Cristina Tache (21:08.558)

or it would fail, but it's a number on it. You know, especially when you're so much at the beginning of your career, you don't really do that much damage, let's all be honest. You know, it's something that, you know, it can be mitigated. So it given me the opportunities, I started actually in Belgium, my job, and then a few years in on the concept of what could happen.


They would say no, I applied for a scholarship in the US. So I came in and I got my MBA here. And then I was like, I'll stay, we'll see. Again, on the, just give it a try. If it doesn't work, it doesn't work. I know I'm coming again from a privileged element of, I knew I could fail because worst case scenario, if I failed in US, I could go back to Belgium. If I failed in Belgium, I could go back to Romania.


Precious LaTonia Williams (22:05.046)

Yeah


Mara Cristina Tache (22:05.266)

If I failed, it was kind of like, I'm always a plan B, C, D, E, F kind of a person. So I always had it in my head. was like, if this doesn't work, what do I do next? And I think it goes a bit back to why I got into finance because I was independent and I had my freedom. I knew I was responsible for myself and I put my own guards into if this fails, I have my...


And also, I'm incredibly lucky. I have a family that is really supportive. And my parents always said, just go do your dreams. Don't worry. We got you. And because I knew they always got me, I knew I could do things that I was afraid of or that I knew that might not work out. I had managers along the years and amazing mentors. About probably four out of five were women.


who told me don't play small, just give it a try, who pushed me to, so find, was so lucky to find amazing mentors around the years who've always pushed me and they were the right mentors at that period in my career. And I think that's where also we need to realize that, that sometimes mentors are for a period of time, for that period of our career, and it's okay if you outgrow them.


at some point it happens. And maybe sometimes you never all grow them and you always learn from them. But I think my curiosity and keep on getting different jobs, staying curious, raising my hand, move to US and this is how it kind of went. And then I would say the third element was having a strong network.


someone at work says that if you want to find someone in the company, just go and ask Mara, she will know someone around. I know that is from my mom who I used to go to her work when I was a kid. She wouldn't have with whom to leave me. So would just be behind her desk, sitting in the corner doing my homework kind of a thing. And she knew everyone.


Precious LaTonia Williams (24:27.446)

Hmm.


Mara Cristina Tache (24:28.289)

She was respectful to everyone. always tell me, you need to be respectful from the cleaning lady to the CEO. Always. And I think that allowed me in my career to be able to build genuine relationships with people and not just because I need them for a job. That is the, you know, cause sometimes people kind of just go for, well, I want to meet you because I want a job.


And that is very much convenient in that moment. I never did it for that. And I think genuine connections and genuine looking for people to you learning from them is I think what allow me for a lot of opportunities to open and for people to say, Hey, you should do that. Or what about that? Or, and in the same time, if people care about you, they give you feedback and that's how you grow.


Lisa Zeiderman (25:25.284)

That's true, yeah.


Mara Cristina Tache (25:26.303)

because if, if they don't care about you, then they won't give you the feedback. and that then you don't grow as much as you go to them and you're like, can you give me feedback? If they don't trust you or they don't care about you, they wouldn't be fully genuine. So I, to me, that was, I know it absolutely helped me that network, to get through the various career journeys and also go through the difficult moments when you kind of screw it up and you're like,


What do I do now? And then you go to the people that you trust and you ask them and you admit. That's something that my dad has always admit when you've made a mistake, half of it is forgiven.


And the other half, the people around you are gonna help you fix it. So I think there were some of the principles that just somehow along the years have opened a lot of doors for me from that perspective.


Lisa Zeiderman (26:25.422)

I'm going to just jump in for one second and I will say for those who are listening and who are just starting out in the workforce or getting themselves together in the workforce, I will say going to your mentor or going to the people who you're working for and asking them for feedback is so important because it's one of my main issues is like, first of all, you should want FaceTime with the people that actually you're doing the work for.


and you should be asking, how am I doing? What can I do better? And that is gonna be so appreciated and so important. And getting that FaceTime and inserting yourself essentially to get it is really important in growing and in moving ahead. So good for you.


Mara Cristina Tache (27:18.04)

Yeah. And Lisa, to that one, it reminds me of something someone told me the other week and I forgot about this is, it's your own responsibility, your own career. Is nobody's else job. Is nobody's else job to get your promotion. Is nobody else's jobs to get you recognized. If you do not do the effort, like you said, ask for the feedback. If you don't put in the work, if you don't build the relationships.


Lisa Zeiderman (27:34.393)

Right.


Mara Cristina Tache (27:47.082)

If you don't raise your hand when you're like, I don't know what this goes on. Or if you're not the one who you got to open your own doors. Of course, I do know in, in unfortunately, there's people in people around the world. And I think sometimes you, you hit closed doors, but that doesn't mean that don't just don't stop doing it because nobody else is going to do it for you. And unless you ask for it, then you'll.


Unless you ask for it, the answer will always be no. If you ask for it, the answer might be yes. But you didn't ask for it, so...


Precious LaTonia Williams (28:24.695)

Maybe.


Or even if it's a no, you can be like Ariana Grande, thank you, next, next opportunity. Thank you, next. And Mara, what I'm hearing from you and also from Queen Lisa, when I think of savvy ladies, I think of us as a group of women, whether it's the board or the junior board, we're made up of leaders who are committed to a unifying vision, a financial empowerment for women. And I am so blessed because Mara, I've been in situations where all I could do was ask.


Mara Cristina Tache (28:31.82)

Yeah. Yes. Yeah.


Precious LaTonia Williams (28:57.533)

Do It Afraid, and Queen Lisa has worked with me on a number of things that I've been afraid to do and has encouraged me along with the Savvy Ladies Board. So I have a couple of questions for you. Do you consider yourself a leader?


Mara Cristina Tache (29:13.879)

Yes.


Precious LaTonia Williams (29:15.149)

And when, if you can think of a time when you saw yourself or really felt like, you know what? I am a leader and it doesn't have to be with the title. Can you share with us a moment you realize in some situation, whether it was chaotic or not, I am the leader and I'm ready.


Mara Cristina Tache (29:27.392)

Mm-hmm.


Mara Cristina Tache (29:40.413)

the first one that comes into mind because you did say hectic. And, yes. So, I was working on a, on a project, with, about 98 % probably men. And, who are a lot more experienced than me.


Precious LaTonia Williams (29:44.981)

Music created in chaos a lot of times, like who's going to, who's going who's going to elevate and like, let's get it.


Mara Cristina Tache (30:09.073)

who also were, all of them that were American. was the only non native. So sometimes language can, can feel a bit, you know, you're restricting yourself because you're just like, I'm not being native here. And, I remember this one call we were getting very close to a launch. was like, if I'm telling you it was under like a lot of pressure, was, there were a lot of money on the, on the line.

And I was traveling to actually I was traveling to St. Louis and I had to because of traffic, we were in the car and I had to start the call without my computer in my face and like in front of me, knowing the presentation without knowing who is even on the call. I was also responsible to run the whole call, take the meeting minutes, keep the dates, like all of it. And we're still in traffic in the car.

I joined in with my phone. Funny enough, I think I was in a Tesla and I couldn't figure out how to get out of the car because the handle wasn't the normal one. And when you're like stressed, you're like, I don't know what to do here. And then my boss in the back, my phone dropped as I was trying to get out of the call. So she pulled her headphones, put them into my, into my ears as my, she picked up my other phone. So all of this is happening while I'm having multiple executives on the line for my company.


Precious LaTonia Williams (31:17.197)

You're a-


Lisa Zeiderman (31:20.698)

that button.


Mara Cristina Tache (31:39.012)

multiple executives from the customer about three days before the launch. So it's like everything is tied rope. And I remember we walked into the airport and I put the computer on the garbage can and I was like, I don't care. This is my office now. This is happening. I need to do this call and this needs to happen. And I remember I finished the call other than the fact that you were like,


that was quite the adrenaline. My boss was like, wow, how like she knew and she was one of my biggest support and still is. And you all know her as Queen Dana, as you can imagine of her. Yes. And I remember got to the gate and then met our executive I think a day later. And he was like, that was a great call.


Precious LaTonia Williams (32:23.783)

Yes we do! Yes we do!


Lisa Zeiderman (32:24.784)

We're shouting out to you!


Mara Cristina Tache (32:38.211)

And we explained to him everything that happened. And he's like, for a second, I did not know all of that was happening.


He was absolutely, when we were telling him this whole story and finding out there was a third person with us in all of this. So she could actually say these two are not lying. And that was the moment when you, you feel it, that everything you've worked for it. It's, there, it's happening and you can do it. In, the moment of high stress, in the moment when you doubt yourself in the moments where you were just like, wow, I, I, I did all of that.


And that was, you know, seven years ago. And I still to today is such a point of, of pride to me because it's, knew how I knew what it took to get there. and I knew that I was probably a leader even before that. I just didn't believe in myself. and I was lucky enough to, to have Dana as my boss and as my mentor. So she was, she was pushing a lot of seeing that in, in myself.

But it's in the small moments, Precious. I think it's in the small moments when we're the leader or you're the people who look out for us. If you're the person that everyone in your family comes to you, even though you might not be the head of the household, that means probably you're the leader. If you're the person in, even like I remember in school, I was responsible for like gathering money for like trips.

I was already a leader in that moment because I had the schools, you know, trust that I won't run away with the money. The parents who, you know, like the parents of the kids who are like, Maya will take it and the trip will happen. And, and I think I was, I don't know, 14, 15, but those are the small moments that I think we all get them. We're just being told that usually leaders are someone who's on TV, someone who's in the newspapers, someone who.


Precious LaTonia Williams (34:24.826)

Yeah.


Mara Cristina Tache (34:46.447)

is being told is the leader or has a fancy title. There's a lot of people who have fancy titles or are on TV or in newspapers or whatever who are so far from being the leader that I we need to recognize the first in ourselves and then take a really close look to the outside.


Precious LaTonia Williams (35:08.845)

That's why I asked you that question. said, without titles or anything, I'm reminded of Dr. Martin Luther King quote, I'm paraphrasing, but leaders and those with integrity, it really comes out in times of chaos and challenge and controversy, not when things are good. And so you rose to occasion. And I Dana was sitting there right there the entire time, like, I'm not going to say anything. You do this. And that's when a leader is recognizing another leader and said, step into your greatness. So thank you, Queen.


Mara Cristina Tache (35:39.738)

Thank you.


Lisa Zeiderman (35:41.488)

So Maura, here's my question. So this is a time of great concern about security and compliance. And this is certainly a very rapidly evolving landscape that we're in in terms of innovation and tech. And I guess I'm going to ask you, how does your work address those challenges? And particularly with AI.


Mara Cristina Tache (35:48.829)

Mm-hmm.


Lisa Zeiderman (36:10.704)

How are you dealing with all of that?


Mara Cristina Tache (36:15.065)

It's, think, and this, you know, I think AI is just another technology. think we've had this kind of challenges of, of trust and security and safety and before. I think it's very important to, to be, and we talk a lot about being responsible and ethical about it. It's, it's at the core of just the industry that I work in. If you're not getting trusted in your


you are not functioning. And to be a partner to anyone in this world, you need to be trusted and to be a network of connections. And I think that goes at the human side as well. Just be trusted, you know, be safe and secure for the people around you. We talk a lot about the ethical sides of AI. And there's a lot of elements of


How do you make sure, and I know there's a lot of discussion on how do you make sure AI doesn't increase the discrepancy that sometimes exists today from an inclusion perspective? You know, of course, you you in New York or myself in New York, you know, will benefit from AI because we got a computer, we got internet and it's so much faster and we're all see highly educated. We know who to give our data and not to give our data.


And I think we're even then you're susceptible to a lot of bad actors who try to use AI and who'll try to, we all know the, know, the, the schemes that sometimes happen around the world. But I think some of the communities that are already not included into the system of this or have access to this technology are even more at risk because of it. Is how do you make sure that you give an equitable access to everyone in a way that you're not causing the challenges? I think your stories even on like facial recognition and if everyone remembers from a few years ago when if you are not white, everything else, it kind of like threw it on on a loop.


Mara Cristina Tache (38:37.097)

So I think those are elements of it that we've learned before. I think we need to apply them in AI and I think we're just at the beginning of it. There's so much more to all of it. But something that I was reading about is how do you use AI in an inclusive way? I think there's fascinating use cases as small businesses getting more data and insights for themselves or


getting a better credit worthiness when you're being assessed for a credit line, especially when you're talking, I think, you know, in US, the credit structure is a lot more defined and it's a lot more, or the data and analytics to get a lot more. But when you're going into a country somewhere in South Asia or in Africa or in Latin America, it doesn't matter.


It is a lot more restricted. It's not as wide open to everyone. even, you know, kind of data on your credit history is not the banks don't necessarily or the financial institutions don't necessarily have as much access to it. So how do you start, you know, grabbing all this data and use it again into a way to provide inclusiveness? think my one of my favorite examples, which


I grew up as well in Romania with this. Sometimes the stores in very small villages, you go to the store and they have a notebook that they write, you know, they keep a count of it. And at the end of the month, or when you get your, your money or your paycheck, you go to them and you give them basically what everything you bought throughout that month, an element of trust. And, know, you, it's that element of community, but all that data, when you go as a small business owner to.


Precious LaTonia Williams (40:06.306)

Yep.


Mara Cristina Tache (40:28.288)

a bank or to anyone to give you a loan, they don't have access to that. So how do you include all that data? How do you include AI and not just AI, like data in general, because in the end, AI is based on data, is how do you give access to all of that and make it in a way that it's inclusive and it's not discriminating against these communities who just do things differently than what we think they should be doing differently? Another example I was reading is like,


beekeepers, which are very small to like know insights of the weather or, you know, kind of the movement of the bees. There things that, you know, as if you're a bigger corporation or, you know, that's your, you know, I don't know how many thousands of bees you got, then it makes a lot of sense. But if you're a small one that, you know, you make a few pots every quarter, but that's the money that you get.


for your own family. And most of the times you're the only breadwinner. It's really, really hard. I think even more with climate change and with all these other challenges, it makes it even harder for the small businesses and for the small micro maybe businesses to take a look at it. So I do think AI has benefits in that area. But again, we got to use it in a responsible, safe, ethical, secure for them and not for


someone to take advantage of that and then use it in the detriment of those communities because then the discrepancy is even bigger. And I think it's hurting economies around the world. If you don't include people into the financial system, everyone is hurting because in the end is the more people you have, the better the system and the better the services and you're spread around more users than your


Total addressable market, thinking of a business perspective is so much larger if you're including everyone that should be included, plus bringing in all the benefits that come with the financial system or any other, I don't know, weather.


Precious LaTonia Williams (42:43.885)

Mara, you smoking hot tonight. Like I had a follow-up question and you just answered it. I'm just gonna take this to the back and let Queen Lisa ask another hit it Queen Lisa. Why aint no? Cause I know when my next question is, girl, she hit two words, said, bam, I meant two on one stone.


Lisa Zeiderman (42:53.686)

You're gonna be quiet. my god.


Lisa Zeiderman (43:00.827)

This is a curse. This is an absolute curse. Okay. I know that that that something is brewing there. So, Samara, you have been recognized for championing LGBTQIA plus equity, diversity and financial education. How did you incorporate these values into creating a meaningful and a lasting change in your community, especially during these times? What is it that you're doing?


Mara Cristina Tache (43:33.837)

First thing, I'm part of Savvy Ladies. That is the first most important thing. And I talk to everyone about it because everyone should be using it. It doesn't matter. Education is power. I go back to my curiosity and always learning. It's been coming up quite a bit, Lisa, and I'm glad we are in the last, I would say, months and weeks.


Lisa Zeiderman (43:36.463)

Yeah!


Precious LaTonia Williams (43:37.293)

It's my turn now!


Mara Cristina Tache (44:03.275)

It's not, you know, there's a lot of, I think, changes around the world, not necessarily just in the US. I'm seeing it quite a bit in Europe and where I still have a very strong community of friends. I think there's things coming out of COVID or things kind of, I think there's just a mix of the world at this moment. The most important thing is creating a safe space to talk about it, even when we disagree.


It doesn't, we need to be able to have constructive discussions and debates and in a way that we're being safe and respectful. And we're opening up to what are we, most of the times people are, what are you afraid of? Cause behind all of it, it's, it's a fear of something. What is that fear of and what's going on and what's, is it a valid one? Is it an induced one? It's so,


Especially with my friends, it's been a lot of talks, a lot of safe spaces. It's been a lot about also taking care of ourselves. Sometimes it can, and I learned that quite a bit through COVID, and I'll use it as an example, as I was trying to.


I think I was trying to keep track at some point about seven countries on how many cases, because I do have friends and family in like so many places that it just, the level of overwhelm that I had, and I didn't realize how much it was hurting me, but allowing and talking about that mental health, I think in the spaces of so much change and so much going on is allowing to be inclusive.


to people and how everyone reacts and how everyone is perceiving because it's their own. Everyone has a different journey throughout their life and everyone will experience the news in different ways. It would get triggered by different things. You cannot assume we all react the same way. For some of us, certain news might be more scary than the other ones, which is okay.


Mara Cristina Tache (46:21.638)

talking about it and being open and understanding that we need that we need to take care of ourselves. We need to care of our communities. I think some of us are would like to to kind of try and save everyone. But, you know, the plane, you know, the airplane instructions are put yourself your mask first and then put it for everyone else. So it's been a lot of that. It's.


It's take care of your own immediate community and be open, be safe, be listen out and find ways in which talk with people that you don't agree with. It is very scary. I think it is ways in which you can do it if someone else is around you as well. So it is an element of safety you can create for yourself.


Again trying to understand what's going on behind the scenes and sometimes you might not sometimes you might agree to disagree your values are not the same but The fact that you had that discussion it allows people to feel like they're hurt And it follows them that they're there at least someone is listening out That I think that's the first immediate step is make sure you listen to people and don't assume


I think we all, it's very easy to, one of my biggest pet peeves in life is when people say generalize. It absolutely drives me insane into, and I'll use myself, all Romanians do this, all women do this, all Eastern European do it. And it's, and I'm like, I'm a human, I'm an individual lumping me with everyone else. We do have underlying cultural elements, which are together. Absolutely.


But my life journey versus another friend of mine was born and raised and went to the same school. It's not the same even between twins. It's proven that they don't look at the world the same, even though they were literally identical from a DNA perspective. But their life journey or the friends they encounter or someone said something. And I think trying to not lump everyone into one and being kind and respectful and


Mara Cristina Tache (48:47.18)

and trying to generally understand one person by one person, I think is the best you can do. And those are the guiding principles that have allowed me to try and do better by the people around me.


Precious LaTonia Williams (49:07.733)

I know that's right. Well, I wanted to say, so I've been thinking about how to ask this question and I very rarely ask it. Queen, you've dropped so many, Queen Mary, you've dropped so many gems in terms of leadership and your educational background and preparing you for, you know, your career in financial technology and being a resource and showing up and showing out for others. My question to you.


is what do you want to leave as your legacy to the younger generation?


Mara Cristina Tache (49:48.399)

Ooh.


Mara Cristina Tache (49:52.343)

my gosh.


Mara Cristina Tache (49:56.902)

You know the first word that comes into mind is kindness?


I think there is, and I'm trying to think of my grandparents and my parents and kind of things that they've left with me. And I was very lucky to be raised by two people who I consider to be my grandparents, even though they weren't blood grandparents. But...


They raised me with such so much kindness. And I know each of the of the cousins are bad. Like, I know we're doing that to the world and we're we're kind of, you know, propagating to the best that we can. And I think they'll be very I think they will be very proud. And I think I will be very happy to continue that legacy of theirs to to be kind.


kind and respectful. It's something that probably will be my choice.


Lisa Zeiderman (51:07.568)

Okay, so this is it. This is the question we ask all the guests. So, Maura, why is the power of the ask crucial to women, especially financially? And you alluded to this a little bit earlier.


Mara Cristina Tache (51:26.29)

Um, cause if you don't answer, if you don't ask the automatic answers, no, um, or you don't get it. So it's. nobody else is going to do it for you. I think that's the, it's, it's in your power. You, you, you got it. And that's the other thing is like, so many of us are afraid to ask it because we're afraid of the answer.


But probably in our own heads, we already have 250 versions of that answer and how we would react to it. I know. Back to generalizing, but I feel like a lot of women do that. And even when we ask it, we already know the answer. I think we just ask it sometimes for validation. So I would be controversial into sometimes maybe don't ask, just do it, because you know the answer.


Precious LaTonia Williams (51:59.415)

Thank


Mara Cristina Tache (52:21.767)

So it would be in a way of like, just do it. And I'm not coding any brand, kind of trust them on that one. And ask, it's so important to ask for help. And it's because you just cannot know it all. It's impossible. Nobody's perfect. Nobody knows it all.


It just doesn't exist. The perfect doesn't exist. And having that community to help you and to really kind of look at, I need help or I need this or it's not, someone told me once, I don't know if they quoted from someone else is actually asking for help is a sign of strength. It's not a sign of weakness. And I know personally it's taken me a lot of years to ask for help.


Precious LaTonia Williams (53:12.887)

Come through.


Mara Cristina Tache (53:21.097)

because again, we're going back to Miss Independent over here. you, nobody does it alone. You have a community, you have a support system, and they're just there to let you be great. They're not there to take away from your greatness. And I think maybe that's why sometimes we're afraid to ask for help or to just kind of ask because you're like, what if someone thinks I'm weak?


No, they're just that's that's a system that allows you to to show the best that you are in the best version of yourself. And unless you ask you, you don't get the you don't get that kind of a support system to be able to then do the things that you want to do.


Precious LaTonia Williams (54:10.349)

Mara, when I tell you we are so grateful, Queen Lisa and I are so grateful that you're our guest today on the Power of the Ask podcast. You've been an amazing guest. You've been so good. You've been like Beyonce dropping the mic moment. made Queen Lisa's office just go dark multiple times. Why didn't I tell you?

Keep coming back to the Power of the Ask podcast co-hosted by me and Queen Lisa. We're on the board of Savvy Ladies and it gets better and better and better and better. We're bringing you the type of guests that are bearing what it took to get them to where they are and what it means to be financially empowered. they, everyone didn't come from money. You're going to make mistakes.

But at least in learning from these Queens journeys, you can see you are not alone and the sky really is the limit. So tell a friend to tell a friend to what? Tell a friend, subscribe to the Power of the Ask podcast. And again, it is our pleasure to be in your homes, in your office, in your car, sharing the best women's stories for financial empowerment and giving the world so much more of what we can do. Propelling forward. Thank you all so very much.


Mara Cristina Tache (55:23.743)

Thank you.