For the longest time, Gabriela thought she would go into fashion marketing. It all changed when she found NerdWallet.com in college and learned all about the early players in a new wave of innovation for personal finance. After college, she joined a marketing agency to expose herself to different industries. Right after, she ended up at American Express and later Goldman Sachs initially marketing credit card products and later building software and critical infrastructure. "The common theme throughout my career was constantly pursuing my curiosities and treating each role as an opportunity to grow and develop new skills – even if it initially felt like drinking from a firehose", Gabriela says. She took a break in her career in 2020 to attend Wharton and pursued an MBA. "While I loved my job, I knew I had finally built a resume that would allow me to be picky with the types of products I worked with and that meant building products to help working-class, immigrant communities across the US build foundational wealth. "While there, she started working on Miren.
Gabriela Ariana Campoverde, is the CEO and Founder at Miren, a software solution that helps financial institutions track their investments in low to moderate income communities for the Community Reinvestment Act regulatory exam. "There are just five of us at Miren right now, and it has been an incredible journey building the team and creating a culture. We are mission-driven and prioritize creating value, building with empathy and staying curious", Gabriela shares.
Gabriela is proud to be working in and impacting FinTech because Miren is truly committed to financial inclusion. Gabriela adds: "My biggest frustration with fintech is that the bottom 40% of Americans are still underserved. Today, that is changing with companies like Propel, Forage, Even, Guava, and Sunny Day Fund. I grew up in a working-class, immigrant community in Queens, NY and I often think about how income mobility could be more likely if we build products with the unique needs of these communities. We are making this new wave of fintech serving low to moderate income communities an even bigger one!"
More on Gabriela
Where you currently live: Astoria, NY
Hometown: Astoria, NY
Favorite hobby: Salsa Dancing
Favorite part of your day: Morning commute to the office
Favorite show to binge: The Kardashians
A quote that inspires you:
"Where there’s a will, there’s a way". This proverb was on a banner in the taekwondo studio I attended as a kid. It always reminds me that with enough determination and hustle, you can find a way to attain a goal.
Daily Diary
Monday:
7:00 am: Get up and get a 20-minute YouTube workout in. I love Caroline Girvan’s HIIT series. During quarantine, I became a huge fan, and they are great for a sweat session when you have a busy day.
7:30 am: Hop into the shower and get ready. My favorite part of every morning is getting to use eye gels. I am obsessed with Good Molecule’s Caffeine Energizing Hydrogel Eye Patches. They are amazing for a busy week, and I take them with me even when travelling.
8:00 am: Drop off my dry cleaning!
8:30 am: Head to the office. I have a 30-minute commute via the subway, and it is just the right amount of time to listen to The Daily and sneak in some pump-up songs.
9:00 am: On Monday’s I usually start the week with a coffee or virtual coffee chat with a fellow founder. Monday’s are always lengthier but this is a nice way of kicking off the week.
10:00am: Meetings, networking, and working sessions with anyone from a leader in the Community Reinvestment Act industry to a Banking executive to my team.
12:00 pm: Do a short walk around the neighborhood my office is in right before picking up a salad for lunch. I always try to make sure I can get to 10K!
1:00 pm: More meetings and then catching up on maintaining my CRM. I am trying to stay organized, so Monday I have a block of time to force me to prioritize this.
6:30 pm: Wind down, get my last emails in, get ready for tomorrow by glancing through what meetings I have.
7:30 pm: Head home! My mom is also in NYC, so we made dinner together. Kale salad, chicken and rice. We are very practical women!
9:00 pm: I have one last class left for my engineering masters, so I work on homework on nights and weekends. I can concentrate better late night, so if there is any programming I need to get done, it typically happens at 9pm at the earliest.
12:30 am: Head to bed to get a good night’s rest!
Saturday:
11:30 am: After a long week I really like to prioritize a recharge on Saturday, so today I am sleeping in and not feeling guilty about it. I run errands around the house, work on personal emails and get ready for the day.
1:00 pm: There is nothing more that I love about the weekend than sipping on a coffee and a fantastic pastry. I meet up with a friend at Librae Bakery for coffee, and we feast on pastries while catching up. We go for a walk since it’s a nice day.
4:00 pm: I head home for a pre-dinner nap and recharge
7:00 pm: Dinner with friends from business school. We catch up about everything under the sun!
9:30 pm: Unfortunately, I need to run home to do homework but it is not too bad. I make it feel like a Saturday night by blasting some Bad Bunny while doing work.
12:00 am: Since it’s the weekend I treat myself to a late night Hulu show. I just started watching The Mindy Project.
1:00 am: Head to bed!