Thamina Stoll

Thamina Stoll is a Women’s Advancement Advocate, B2B Marketing & Sales Whiz, Content Creator, Speaker, Personal Finance Coach, Startup Advisor, and Angel Investor.

As Senior Client Solutions Manager at LinkedIn, Thamina is supporting a Fortune 30 client with their digital marketing strategy. She recently joined the Global Leadership Team at Women@LinkedIn as the youngest member in the company’s history. As former Host of the Femme Hive Podcast, she has been helping thousands of women globally become better advocates for themselves at work and beyond. In 2022, Thamina founded Give Her Dollars and launched the Give Her Dollars Podcast to help women build wealth for themselves and other women. Her work has been featured in the likes of Thrive Global, Create & Cultivate, Authority Magazine, Nasdaq, and across several podcasts. In 2022, FOCUS Magazine recognized Thamina as one of Germany’s “100 Women of the Year”, fellow honorees include the President of the European Commission and Germany’s Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs. Thamina graduated cum laude and with distinction from Duke University with a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science with a focus on Women’s Studies, Policy Journalism & Media Studies, and Innovation & Entrepreneurship. She’s currently serving on the DukeNY Women’s Forum Executive Committee and resides in New York City.

What is your typical day, and how do you make it productive?

I usually wake up around 7:30am and usually try to spend the first 30-60 minutes by investing in myself. So I either read a few pages in a book, catch up on my newsletters, or listen to a podcast. I’ve been trying to reintroduce meditation and gratitude journaling into my morning routine, something that really helped me stay grounded during the early days of the pandemic, but I’m not gonna lie, it’s been challenging to turn it into a habit again. I usually start work between 8:30 and 9am and a while back, I made the conscious decision not to take any business meetings before 10am or after 4pm so I could focus the first and last 1.5 hours of my day on chunking out my most important tasks. I’ve become a lot more mindful of trying to avoid too much context switching but when you’re a multi-passionate entrepreneur at heart who is juggling a demanding 9-5 with several side hustles, that’s oftentimes easier said than done.

How do you bring ideas to life?

I definitely suffer from “shiny new object syndrome”, something that is quite common for entrepreneurs. So I can dive deep into new topics and ideas rather quickly and become almost obsessive with learning everything about it. I have a new business idea almost every week, and I enjoy talking through them with my support system so I get their initial feedback. If I believe something is worth pursuing more seriously, I try not to overthink it and focus on ruthless execution. I love executing and getting things done.

What’s one trend that excites you?

Women-only membership communities, specifically the ones that are built to support women grow their wealth or their businesses. A lot of my work centers around helping women build wealth for themselves and teaching them how they can leverage their financial resources to pay it forward to other women, for example through Angel Investing. As someone who is part of several women-led communities, I can personally attest to the immense benefits of creating and holding space for women where we can support one another in our aspirations. There is a lot of power in women coming together to engage in intentional and judgement-free conversations about the shared experiences of womanhood.

What is one habit that helps you be productive?

Protecting my calendar and setting boundaries.

What advice would you give your younger self?

I would tell her to continue showing up as her most unapologetic self and to let go of toxic people. By showing up authentically every day and always going the extra mile, she will unlock opportunities she couldn’t imagine in her wildest dreams. Her hard work and determination will pay off. I would also tell her to learn about the power of compound interest and start investing a lot earlier.

Tell us something you believe almost nobody agrees with you.

Women should be paid more money than men. We live longer. We get worse mortgage and loan conditions. We are charged more for personal care products. We are more likely to be forced into a caregiving role, further limiting our ability to earn and invest money. That impact is obviously even more significant for women whose identities intersect with other social dimensions, such as race, ability, religion, etc. Paying women more would set a path toward true financial gender equity.

What is the one thing you repeatedly do and recommend everyone else do?

Creating visibility for women and their work.

When you feel overwhelmed or unfocused, what do you do?

Go to the gym and ideally take a yoga class. I’ve recently gotten into Yin Yoga in addition to my Vinyasa practice, which is a lot slower and regenerative and I absolutely love it.

What is one strategy that has helped you grow your business or advance in your career?

Building my personal brand both internally at my 9-5 and externally. At the beginning of my career, I really focused on proving myself and showing my internal stakeholders that I am willing to go the extra mile. I also invested a lot of time and energy in building meaningful relationships with them to allow my coaches, mentors, and sponsors to become invested in my success. Additionally, I got involved as a leader in my office’s Women@ Employee Resource Group. All of that allowed me to win organization-wide awards and raise my profile so I would be on the radar of leaders. Once I was close to becoming eligible to apply for a new, more senior role, several hiring managers started reaching out to me instead of the other way around and I have since received offers for every single role I’ve interviewed for, both internally and externally. Being visible externally through speaking engagements and being active on social media, mainly LinkedIn, has also attracted a lot of incredible opportunities and relationships.

What is one failure in your career, how did you overcome it, and what lessons did you take away from it?

I wouldn’t call this a failure but I was suffering from depression early in my career and wish that I had spoken up about it earlier. I felt really lost after graduating from college in 2017 and trying to establish a new sense of identity that was not tied to being a student anymore. I didn’t know what role I wanted to play in this world and how I would get closer to finding my purpose because our academic careers don’t equip us with the tools or capacity for deep introspection that are necessary in order for us to get closer to finding answers to these existential questions. For a long time, I was suffering in silence and asking for help could have put an end to it earlier. Being a depression survivor, I now have a completely new appreciation for life, including the small things, such as watching a beautiful sunset, sipping on my favorite beverage, or the smell of fresh flowers.

What is one business idea you’re willing to give away to our readers?

A boutique consultancy & agency to help corporate employees build their personal brands to attract both internal and external opportunities.

What is one piece of software that helps you be productive? How do you use it?

I couldn’t live without Canva anymore. It is one of the few services I genuinely enjoy spending my money on. I’ve been using it since I was in college and it just keeps getting better and better. Their Co-Founder and CEO, Melanie Perkins, is a genius. I use Canva for all my social media content creation, I created my Give Her Dollars logo in there, my podcast cover, stickers, presentations, and more.

What is the best $100 you recently spent?

I love nothing more than using my money to invest in and support women. My friend and role model Tijen Onaran recently launched her own lipstick, so I obviously had to get a couple of those. Another friend and role model, Mirijam Trunk, recently published her first book, so I got a copy of that. My dear friend and inspiration Jasmine Anouna, Founder of The Bloom, just launched her membership community, so I purchased 6 months worth of membership. I believe that should add up to about $100. Could I have gotten all of of those items for free if I had asked? Very likely. But I’m not a fan of loved ones asking for a “family & friends discount” because our biggest supporters should not only support us emotionally but also financially, especially when we’re talking about supporting female founders/entrepreneurs, authors, and small business owners.

Do you have a favorite book or podcast from which you’ve received much value?

As a podcast host myself, I’m obsessed with podcasts. Some of my favorite ones are “The Two Percent” by Anu Duggal, Founder of The Female Founders Fund, “Financial Feminist” by Tori Dunlap, the Founder of Her First $100k, “the bossbabe podcast” by Natalie Ellis & Danielle Canty, Co-Founders of bossbabe, and “Archetypes” by Meghan Markle.

What’s a movie or series you recently enjoyed and why?

I recently discovered “Harlem” and couldn’t stop binging the first two seasons. As an immigrant who moved to New York City a little over a year ago, I love watching all movies and shows that take place in NYC, especially the ones that feature female protagonists and female friendships. “Harlem” is giving “Sex and the City” vibes but luckily in a more realistic and diverse way. SATC’s “white female utopia” narrative obviously doesn’t work in 2023 anymore and even though I, as a white woman, will never fully understand what it’s like to be a Black woman, I am glad popular culture is becoming increasingly more representative of reality. Through “Harlem” I learned about the concept “Black Joy”, which I hadn’t come across before, so I really appreciate that this particular show is allowing me to learn and grow as an ally.

Key learnings:

• Thamina is passionate about women-only membership communities and believes in the power of creating and holding space for women to support each other in their aspirations.
• She believes that women should be paid more than men to achieve true equity, citing various factors that impact women’s earning and wealth creation potential.
• Thamina thinks it is important to create visibility for women and their work, and to support them financially, especially when they’re loved ones.
• Building her personal brand both internally and externally in a very intentional way has helped Thamina advance in her career and attract new opportunities.