An Interview With Candice Georgiadis
“If you can dream it, you can do it.” I wrote these words on a card and displayed it on my bedroom desk at age 12. It has pushed me through many obstacles in my life journey, and to this day it is still my core belief. It is my dream that through technology everyone can access the financial services that he or she needs. I am working to make that dream come true through Happy Mango.
As a part of our series about women who are shaking things up in their industry, I had the pleasure of interviewing Kate Hao.
Kate Hao is the Founder and CEO of Happy Mango. She founded Happy Mango to bring greater transparency to credit reporting. Kate’s training in fundamental financial analysis enabled her to develop a forward-looking consumer credit assessment algorithm that lay the foundation of the Happy Mango Score computation.
Kate was previously the Treasurer of the broker-dealer subsidiary of Morgan Stanley, where she worked for over 12 years across various functions. While working as a bond trader during the 2008 crisis, she recognized the limitations of existing consumer credit reporting systems, which provided information about a problem only after the problem has occurred. Her training in fundamental financial analysis enabled her to develop a forward-looking consumer credit assessment algorithm that lay the foundation of the Happy Mango Score computation.
Kate’s executive experience in managing large teams and complex projects ultimately led to her decision to bring her idea forward and form Happy Mango. She earned an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BA in Accounting from Albion College. She is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA), Certified Public Accountant (CPA), and Financial Risk Manager (FRM).
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell our readers what it is about the work you’re doing that’s disruptive?
Financial service companies pursue wealthy clients because that is where the money is. Meanwhile, according to the Federal Reserve, “40% of Americans do not have $400 in the bank for emergency use.” These individuals need financial services that help them manage, not cash, but cash flows. However, they are often considered too risky or too costly to serve. We believe today’s financial industry is missing a great revenue opportunity. Happy Mango has built an online platform that makes it prudent and profitable to deliver financial products that are uniquely designed for serving the 40%.
In today’s parlance, being disruptive is usually a positive adjective. But is disrupting always good? When do we say the converse, that a system or structure has ‘withstood the test of time’? Can you articulate to our readers when disrupting an industry is positive, and when disrupting an industry is ‘not so positive’? Can you share some examples of what you mean?
Our modern economy is built through creative destruction. I believe every industry will be disrupted and every disruptive force has a positive side and a negative side. Humanity is still adapting to the disruptive force of the Internet. With the power of the Internet, we can deliver affordable loans from a community lender in South of Bronx to anyone who has a smart phone, enable a financial coach in Florida to craft personalized advice for her clients in Colorado, or generate a clear and complete personal financial analysis for anyone who strives to improve her financial health regardless how much money she has in her bank account.
We all need a little help along the journey. Who have been some of your mentors? Can you share a story about how they made an impact?
I have been truly fortunate to have had many mentors who have positively influenced my life. There are simply not enough words to talk about all the people who have been instrumental to my career. I will talk about my father who has advised and inspired me throughout my life. My father was born in a rural Chinese village to parents neither of whom had spent a single day in school. Yet he became a renowned doctor and the leader of a prestigious medical university. Throughout his career, he always believed he could become better by seeking out insight and inspiration from different people and varied situations. When I started my career at an investment bank, I was disappointed that while others in my peer group got line operation jobs in trading or banking, I was assigned a role in divisional management staff. My father explained what a unique opportunity it was to have a bird’s eye view of the full operation and persuaded me to embrace the role. That broad experience has been instrumental in my current job as the CEO of Happy Mango.
In your opinion, what are the biggest challenges faced by ‘women disruptors’ that aren’t typically faced by their male counterparts?
Founding a company, championing a new idea is hard for anyone. It is more challenging for women simply because there have been so few women recognized and celebrated as pioneers or disruptors. Even today male founders far outnumber female founders. That said, the number of female founders is growing quickly as we build on the work of the female role models who preceded us. And the women disruptors of today will further inspire and encourage generations of future disruptors among our younger sisters, daughters, and granddaughters.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
“If you can dream it, you can do it.” I wrote these words on a card and displayed it on my bedroom desk at age 12. It has pushed me through many obstacles in my life journey, and to this day it is still my core belief. It is my dream that through technology everyone can access the financial services that he or she needs. I am working to make that dream come true through Happy Mango.
How can our readers online reach you?
https://www.linkedin.com/in/katehao
https://www.happymangocredit.com/
This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for joining us!
Female Disruptors: Kate Hao of Happy Mango On The Three Things You Need To Shake Up Your Industry was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.