Money 20/20 is a multi-day event where over 400 speakers and leading companies discuss the evolution of the Fintech industry. The itinerary included important conversations on Open Banking, embedded finance, crypto, the metaverse, regulation, and global innovations. Prominent speakers such as professional tennis player Serena Willams, CEO of OnlyFans, Amarapali Gan, and our very own head of JPM’s Global Payments, Takis Georgakopolous were set to take the stage to deliver powerful messages.

I recently accepted a Vice President Product Manager role on the Wholesale Payments, Global Clearing Market Management team at J.P.M. After accepting the offer, I wanted to reflect on the adventures that have led me to this pivotal moment. First, the cookie-cutter trajectory I imagined for my career path was quickly abandoned early after graduating college.

A sharp pain seared my throat and continued to the center of my chest. The source of the pain? A breathing tube the diameter of a vintage half dollar that was coerced down my throat to assist my breathing. As my brain registered information from my ears, I could faintly make out voices of nurses whispering to each other. I closed my eyes trying unsuccessfully to ignore the pain of the breathing tube. Tears rolled down my cheeks and fell silently into the pillow. Tears. A clear sign of life. I had survived an emergency open heart surgery.

Is there a playbook that governs how to move through the loss of such friendships while simultaneously grappling with the physical, mental, and emotional tolls of lockdown measures, social distancing, and rising infection rates?… I’ve learned the hard way some friendships are only meant for a season and that a global pandemic has the potential to dramatically shift, for better or for worse, the course of a friendship.

These vibrant strawberries came to fruition because a farmer made a conscious decision to plant seeds and cultivate them. As I walked through the vast farmland with my family in tow, I think about what seeds in my own life I want to plant and cultivate.

While enforcing strict social distancing measures are necessary to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, as the government begins the arduous task of distributing financial relief funds, it is imperative to include market women in these plans.

In celebration of International Women’s History Month, I organized “Vulvas and Vulnerabilities”, an event focused on women’s reproductive health. My mission was to create a safe space where women could lean in, open up, and discuss their relationship with their bodies, vaginas (or should I say vulvas), pleasure, periods and everything in between.

Growing up in Harlem, I spent most of my Saturday afternoons running food errands with my mother. Our daily meals were hearty, with stews and soups filled with assorted meat and fish that are rarely found in a traditional American grocery store. So, on Saturday afternoons, we would venture beyond the Yankee stadium straight to the Grand Concourse in the Bronx, where our favorite African market is located. The Bronx houses the largest enclave of Ghanaian immigrants in New York City, and on a typical day, you could hear residents responding to greetings in “Twi”, a popular African dialect from Ghana.

It was a real hot girl summer in July and I was taking my lunch break. The sun was sweltering against my back as I maneuvered my way from 43rd and 6th to 23rd and 7th. I covered about 20 blocks in less than 15 minutes bypassing New York City tourists that seem to come in droves, especially during the summer months.