Episode 62

How to build a career you love And be in-demand in 2025 | Monica Millares

Are you feeling that growing pressure of becoming irrelevant in today's fast-paced FinTech landscape? In this episode, I'm going solo and I'm sharing my battle-tested career development framework - the exact approach that has helped me stay ahead in an industry where yesterday's innovations become tomorrow's table stakes.

I'll show you how to transform that fear of irrelevance into your biggest advantage, building a strategic career plan that keeps you at the forefront of FinTech innovation.

Key Insights:

  • Why traditional goal-setting fails and how strategic development planning leads to lasting career growth
  • The power of being the driver of your career instead of letting circumstances control your path
  • How to identify and leverage growth opportunities in industry, company, and team
  • The importance of building distinctive capabilities that make you irreplaceable
  • Why visibility planning is crucial, especially for women and introverts

We cover:

(00:00) Welcome to 2025: Why Strategic Planning Beats Goal Setting

(01:00) My personal story: From Big Banks to FinTech Startups

(02:45) The Power of Creating Your Own "Practical MBA"

(04:02) 1: Being Strategic About Your Direction

(06:00) The Importance of Clarity in Career Planning

(07:03) Exercise: Permission to Dream Big

(09:07) Being Honest With Your Self-Assessment

(13:15) 2: Following the Growth

(14:53) Identifying Growing Industries and Companies

(16:00) Analyzing Trends and Their Impact on Your Role

(19:26) 3: Building Your Capabilities

(20:29) Developing Your Value Proposition

(22:14) The Power of Unique Combinations

(24:03) Creating Your Visibility Plan

(26:00) Common Mistakes to Avoid

(27:10) Action Steps for Implementation

Take Action This Week:

  1. The Dream Exercise: Give yourself permission to envision your ideal career without constraints
  2. Growth Audit: Assess your current skills against where you want to be
  3. Value Proposition: Create your unique combination of skills, experiences, and personality traits

Follow for more insights on building successful careers in FinTech and strategic professional development.

👉 Connect with Monica

—

Disclaimer: This episode does not constitute professional nor financial advice and does not represent the opinion nor views of my current, past or future employers. The guest has agreed to record and release our conversation for the use of this podcast and promotion in social media.

Next Episode All Episodes Previous Episode

About the Podcast

Show artwork for Purpose Driven FinTech
Purpose Driven FinTech
Building & Growing FinTech Products With Customer & Commercial Impact

Listen for free

About your host

Profile picture for Monica Millares

Monica Millares

Monica advocates for financial safety for all. She is the Product Principal at BigPay, where she leads Product and Design. As part of the founding team, Monica led building BigPay’s product from zero to one, to multi product line, and international expansion. Her leadership shaped the culture and ways of working to grow from startup to scaleup. BigPay has over 1.4 million customers, and has presence in Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand.

Monica has almost 20 years’ experience in Financial Services. Prior to BigPay, she was one of the first joiners in UK’s challenger Tandem Bank, where she focused on building credit cards from scratch. Previously she worked in leading Financial Services brands like Visa, Barclays, and a Mexican Development Bank.

She sits on the Board of PayEd, and is recognised as Singapore’s #Fintech65 Product Leaders and Women in FinTech. She’s been multiple times speaker at the prestigious conference Money2020 and shared stage with JP Morgan, Standard Chartered Bank, Konsentus, and Money2020’s Rise Up. Her commitment to innovation and financial inclusion resonates in her podcast “Purpose Driven FinTech” where she explores how FinTech’s can have 10x more impact.

Monica has a background in Engineering and a Master’s Degree on Analysis, Design, and Management of Information Systems from the London School of Economics.