FinTech Female Fridays: Meet Stella Li, Lead Product Manager at BILL

Stella Li's path into FinTech wasn’t conventional and that’s exactly what makes it powerful. “I began my professional journey at BILL working in market research after graduating with a psychology degree, where I developed a strong foundation in understanding customer needs and behaviors,” she shares. That foundation quickly evolved as she moved into product marketing, then into product management, a bold transition that allowed her to marry her analytical skills, customer insights, and side-hustle passion for mobile apps into a career focused on real-world impact.

Now a Lead Product Manager at BILL, Stella leads BILL’s mobile platform teams with a vision to make financial operations more accessible, intuitive, and human. “While mobile often takes a backseat in FinTech conversations, I’ve positioned our mobile solutions as essential gateways to financial management,recognizing that for many businesses, these devices have become their primary financial tools.” Her work isn’t just about product functionality, it’s about reshaping how businesses interact with financial technology and empowering users wherever they are.

What sets Stella apart is her unwavering focus on people. “I challenge myself by staying deeply connected to customers’ experiences, prioritizing their needs over business metrics alone,” she says. She doesn’t shy away from complexity she dives in with empathy and rigor. “Curiosity is key to innovation. While many leaders are focusing on adding AI magic to the product, I believe what truly matters is understanding what AI can do for users to really resolve pain points practically.” Her approach is deeply intentional and unapologetically user-first.

This year, Stella is especially energized by the evolving FinTech landscape: “What excites me most about FinTech this year is witnessing the meaningful integration of AI beyond the hype… The rise of embedded finance continues to blur industry boundaries.” She’s watching as tools become more specialized, more inclusive, and more user-driven. With vertical-specific solutions and democratized development, she sees an industry that’s finally meeting customers where they are, something she’s long advocated for.

Stella has had to push through moments of doubt. One piece of advice she carries with her: “As women, we often battle impostor syndrome, but remember, you always have options and your voice matters.” It’s a lesson that’s transformed how she shows up in rooms, no longer just listening, but leading with purpose. “What began as deliberate effort has evolved into an authentic professional presence, confirming that our diverse voices strengthen FinTech’s ability to serve all customers.”

Her leap into product management was the best decision she ever made, “Being in the driver’s seat of product development has proven incredibly energizing,” she says. And she credits a former manager who encouraged her to take on a role she wasn’t sure she was qualified for. That push changed everything.

“Believing in yourself isn’t just positive thinking , it’s actively creating learning systems that transform weaknesses into strengths through deliberate practice and authentic collaboration.”

Stella’s story is a powerful reminder that great products don’t start with features, they start with people. And great careers often begin when we lean into what makes us different, not what makes us fit in.

More on Stella 

Where you currently live: Irvine, CA

Family at home: 2 chubby cats who refused to lose weight

Hometown: Shanghai, China

Favorite hobby: Pilates & hiking

What is the most important lesson you have learned from a mistake you’ve made in the past? 

The most valuable lesson I've learned from past mistakes is that effective communication requires deliberate redundancy and confirmation, not just transmission. Early in my career, I assumed that sending an email, mentioning something in passing, or dropping a Slack message meant I had adequately communicated important information, only to discover later that critical details were missed or misunderstood. I've learned that true alignment requires creating multiple touchpoints across different channels, following up a conversation with written documentation, confirming understanding with direct questions, and establishing clear expectations about response timelines. This practice of overcommunication has transformed my effectiveness as a product manager, ensuring that cross-functional teams remain synchronized on priorities, timelines, and deliverables throughout complex projects. Beyond professional benefits, this principle has improved my personal relationships by reducing assumptions and creating space for clarification before misunderstandings escalate into problems. The extra effort of confirming understanding and establishing shared meaning has consistently proven more efficient than dealing with the consequences of misalignment, making overcommunication one of the highest-return investments of time and attention available to us.

Do you have any productivity hacks? 

My productivity hack that consistently delivers results is transforming "downtime" into learning opportunities by listening to industry podcasts while performing routine tasks like commuting, exercising, or household chores, effectively completing two valuable activities simultaneously. For busy periods, I leverage AI podcast summarization tools to quickly extract key insights from multiple sources, keeping me informed without sacrificing precious time. What keeps me deeply motivated is my fundamental belief that true understanding comes through hands-on experience. I learn by building and participating in different kinds of hackathons, which feeds my curiosity about fintech innovations and creates a self-sustaining cycle of motivation. My approach to work-life balance centers on quality through intentional presence: when working, I focus completely on delivering excellence, and when resting, I disconnect fully to recharge. I've discovered that multitasking works brilliantly for pairing mechanical tasks with mental stimulation but never when it compromises the quality of either activity. This integrated system of continuous learning, hands-on exploration, and deliberate focus allows me to maintain both peak professional performance and genuine personal fulfillment without sacrificing either.