3: How tech company CFO, Elaine Paul’s career and family values have been shaped by her early lessons in financial literacy.

Banking On Girls

My guest today is Elaine Paul, the Chief Financial Officer of Lyft, where she oversees their finance, accounting, and treasury functions. Prior to joining Lyft, Elaine served as the Chief Financial Officer of Amazon Studios and holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a B.A. in Economics and History with Distinction from Stanford University.

In this episode, Elaine discusses her childhood influences, and the mindset that she has always held, to not rely on others for her own financial security. She emphasizes how important it is to have an appropriate dialogue around money with your children at the family table and advises us to make money an unemotional topic, in a non-gender biased way. When it comes to role models, children should ideally see both parents as financially literate.

Elaine’s important money lessons include: living within your means, saving, and giving back according to your values.

She provides a timely warning that if you are not talking about money at home, your children are potentially being influenced in adverse ways through social media.

In wrapping up the conversation, Elaine cautions us that we must prepare our girls to be able to provide for themselves and that women MUST be financially articulate because it is a critical life skill.