^{This article originally appeared on Business Insider.}

Psst! How much was your bonus?

On Wall Street, your end-of-year paycheck can often indicate your standing at work. Yet, knowing where your bonus pay ranks compared to peers is not so simple.

In an effort to shed some light on Wall Street pay trends, recruiting firm Prospect Rock Partners surveyed more than 900 investment bankers about their 2024 salaries and bonuses.

The survey was conducted between December 1, 2024, and February 28, 2025, using Prospect Rock’s banking industry contacts. It’s the third year Meridith Dennes, the firm’s managing partner, has conducted it.

“It’s always been so cryptic,” Dennes told Business Insider about the Wall Street compensation structure. “The whole point of the survey is that compensation is much more nuanced than what people talk about.”

Related: How Much Do Tesla Employees Make? Internal Docs Reveal the Surprising Salaries of Elon Musk’s ‘Hardcore’ Staffers.

Survey respondents included bankers from all ranks, from analysts up to vice presidents and managing directors, and across a multitude of coverage groups, and firms.

Prospect Rock Partners gave BI permission to publish select slides from its full survey. The results shared here suggest that so-called elite boutique banks (think Evercore, Lazard, and Centerview) saw total compensation increases of between 11% to 68% across all roles. Total pay for associates at elite boutiques rose an average of 31% for first-year associates and 33% for second-year associates. Managing director compensation at elite boutiques jumped from about $1 million in 2023 to over $1.7 million in 2024, an increase of 68%.

These bonus insights come as Wall Street waits with bated breath to see whether the M&A rebound many industry experts predicted for 2025 will fully materialize or fizzle out.

“There’s so much uncertainty — geopolitical risk, the impact on the private sector of DOGE cuts, tariffs, and the interest rate environment — which can cause a lot of turmoil in the market,” Dennes said.

The investment banking hiring surge that started at the end of 2024 continues, however, Dennes said.

“I, as a recruiter, am seeing an increase in job requisitions coming in, but it’s much harder to find talent than what people want,” she said. “More companies who haven’t used recruiters in the last two years are coming out of the woodwork now.”

2024 compensation overview

^{2024 comp across all levels Prospect Rock Partners via BI}

This portion of the survey gives the average 2024 compensation for survey respondents at all investment banking levels.

The most junior employees — first-year analysts — averaged a base pay of more than $110,000. The data also suggests that most analysts earned a bonus that equaled about 50% of their base pay in 2024.

Higher-level bankers — vice presidents and up — generally earned bonuses equal to or higher than their base pay. The biggest gains went to group heads, who are usually managing directors and partners. They saw average bonuses of more than $1.7 million.

What bulge-brackets are paying associates

^{Total average bulge-bracket comp, 2023-2024 Prospect Rock Partners via BI}

Bulge-bracket firms are the largest banks, which tend to handle the biggest deals and, therefore, have the largest investment banking teams. These firms tend to include Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley, and Citigroup.

Associates are the second-most junior rank at an investment bank after analysts. This chart shows that associate-level survey respondents who work at bulge brackets earned between $176,000 and $221,000 in base pay for 2024. They reported higher bonuses in 2024 over 2023.

What middle-market banks are paying associates

^{Total average middle-market comp, 2023-2024 Prospect Rock Partners}

Middle-market bankers tend to focus on smaller clients, often those with annual revenue of under $1 billion. This cohort included banks like William Blair, Piper Sandler, Oppenheimer, and Baird, Dennes said.

The average 2024 base pay for associate bankers at these firms was lower than at bulge brackets — but not by very much. The average 2024 bonus for each position was even more for this cohort than for survey respondents who work at bulge brackets.

What ‘elite boutiques’ are paying associates

^{Total average elite boutique comp, 2023-2024 Prospect Rock Partners}

Associate-level bankers who work at “elite boutiques” take the cake for the highest average 2024 base pay and bonus, reporting higher numbers than their peers at bulge brackets and middle-market firms.

Elite boutiques are considered the top-tier boutique banks that can compete with the big firms. In 2024, Evercore, Centerview, and Lazard, for example, snagged top 10 positions on the league tables for both global and US M&A advice, according to M&A tracker LSEG.

Survey respondents from this group work at firms like Evercore, Centerview, Lazard, PJT Partners, and Moelis.

More details on ‘elite boutique’ pay

^{Prospect Rock Partners}

These banks tend to focus solely on investment banking versus larger firms, which may have consumer banking and asset management services. Some boutiques also focus on deals within a specific sector, like media, telecom, or healthcare.

That means they often have stronger execution abilities, said Dennes, and therefore higher fee income per banker on their leaner teams.

“One of the most significant findings is the clear correlation between increased compensation in 2024 and recovering deal volumes,” she wrote in an overview section of the survey’s findings. “This recovery appears most pronounced at elite boutiques, where compensation is directly tied to deal performance and revenue generation.”

Pay by industry group in 2023 & 2024

^{Compensation for level-two banking associates by coverage area Prospect Rock Partners}

Second-year associates, whose 2024 comp is described in this section of the survey results, are bankers who have been in the field for anywhere from two to five years, depending on whether they started in investment banking as an analyst or were hired out of an MBA program.

The largest group of respondents in this group described themselves as M&A generalists. The survey says this cohort averaged $187,000 in base pay and about $134,000 in bonuses last year.

Other well-paid associates in this group worked in business services, restructuring, and DCM.

Some overall comp is down from years ago

^{Average total comp and its changes Prospect Rock Partners}

The report shows how average comp has changed since 2022. In some cases, it wasn’t for the better, like for vice presidents and managing directors.

For context, global dealmaking hit more than $3.16 trillion in 2024, which is up 10% over 2023, but still lower than 2022 volumes of $3.45 trillion, according to deals tracker LSEG.

Related: Microsoft’s Salary Guidelines Were Leaked — Here’s How Much New Employees Make

According to a new report from Business Insider, Meta keeps internal block lists of anyone who has worked at the company and is ineligible for rehire.

Former employees can make the list even if they have a record of good performance, the outlet notes.

Five former employees, including two managers, told Business Insider that Meta keeps track of former employees who violate company policies or are underperforming and gives them a “non-regrettable attrition” tag. Managers could reportedly add former employees without documented performance problems to “do not rehire” lists in “minutes” by “just filling out a form.”

Nearly 4,000 workers were impacted by what Meta said was performance-based cuts earlier this year.

While getting on a Meta block list may be as simple as completing a form, getting off one is more difficult.

According to Business Insider, one senior Meta engineer blocked from being rehired was told by a hiring manager that even a sign-off from a vice president wouldn’t change their status. Another hiring manager said they had yet to see someone get off a list and have a chance to interview at Meta again.

The number of former employees on Meta’s block lists was unclear.

Related: Meta Confirms It Is Doubling Executives Bonuses to ‘Motivate’ and ‘Reward Them’ a Week After Layoffs

Two employees impacted by Meta’s 11,000-person layoffs in 2022 told the outlet they had a history of earning “Exceeded Expectations” on their performance reviews, but discovered they were labeled “ineligible to be hired” by Meta HR when re-applying for different roles through third-party staffing agencies.

Related: Meta Says It Has Fired 20 Employees For Leaking Information: ‘We Expect There Will Be More’

In response, a Meta spokesperson told Business Insider that several factors determine whether an employee is eligible to be rehired, including “the last rating prior to separation and any other recent performance signals” and how the employee left the company (“policy violation, performance termination, voluntary resignation, etc.”).

Meanwhile, Meta’s block lists don’t appear to be the norm throughout the industry.

Laszlo Bock, Google’s head of people operations from 2006 to 2016, told BI in a follow-up story that he has “never seen” a formalized, “large scale, systematic approach” like Meta’s.

“I’ve never heard of anything like this,” Bock wrote in a LinkedIn post about the block lists.

Meta had 74,067 employees as of December 2024.

Related: I Got Laid Off at Meta Despite a Glowing Performance Review. I Went From Crying in My Room to Launching My Own Business — Here’s How.

Last month, it was announced that defense technology startup Anduril Industries will take over Microsoft’s $22 billion contract to make high-tech goggles for the U.S. Army. The company has also recently revealed other defense contracts in the $200 million range each.

Now, it needs employees to make it all happen.

Anduril, which was founded by Palmer Luckey (who created the Oculus VR and sold it for $2 billion to Facebook in 2014), has been targeting cities with large populations of young tech talent, like Boston, Atlanta, and Seattle, for its unconventional recruitment campaign.

Spotted in Boston @anduriltech pic.twitter.com/RDxELv5Pho

— Ari Wagen (@AriWagen) February 24, 2025

The campaign says “Work at Anduril.com” with a “Don’t” placed over the top in a spray-painted, street-art-like font. The ads use various mediums around the cities, especially in key public transportation hubs. In Boston, for example, the ads look like graffiti on the T (Boston’s subway system).

Australian site Defence Connect called the campaign “kooky” and wrote that its staff initially thought Anduril had been hacked. Last year, Anduril Australia announced it was building a manufacturing facility in the country, the outlet noted.

In response to the ads and their viral appeal, Anduril’s Vice President of Marketing Jeff Miller told the Boston Globe: “Anduril is not for everyone. That’s the point.”

The stunt has worked, at least on the mega job site, LinkedIn, where it has been posted about several times.

Anduril currently has 711 open positions on its website.

Related: Elon Musk’s xAI Is Reportedly Set to Hire Thousands of ‘AI Tutors’ With Pay Up to $65 an Hour

In the ever-expanding concrete jungles of metropolitan cities, space is a luxury — a commodity sought after with relentless fervor. Yet, amid towering skyscrapers and sprawling developments lie overlooked gems: small urban spaces with untapped potential to yield extraordinary financial returns. With innovative strategies and entrepreneurial ingenuity, these modest pockets of land can be transformed into thriving economic engines, benefiting not only their developers but also entire communities.

Maximizing returns through innovation

For entrepreneurs, innovation is the cornerstone of unlocking financial prosperity in compact urban spaces. Micro-businesses, co-working spaces and pop-up ventures have revolutionized how we perceive and utilize small spaces. Parking lots, for example, are no longer just static vehicles for income but can double as event spaces, electric vehicle charging hubs or even seasonal markets.

From my time working with smart cities solutions provider companies like Roker and other parking technology and operations enablers, I’ve witnessed firsthand how reimagining parking infrastructure can yield multifaceted revenue streams. In one initiative, underutilized parking areas were repurposed into EV charging stations, generating a 25% increase in annual revenue while supporting green energy initiatives. Similarly, partnerships with local businesses to host pop-up retail stores in unused parking bays created a vibrant community hub, attracting foot traffic and increasing local business sales by over 40%.

Related: Hidden Gems: 15 Unexpected Ways to Grow Your Retirement Nest Egg

Financial viability: Is it worth the investment?

For any entrepreneur, the burning question is: What’s the ROI? Let’s break it down with numbers:

• EV charging stations: Reports suggest that urban EV stations can generate significant monthly revenue per charger in high-demand areas.
• Pop-up shops: Short-term retail spaces in busy locations have been known to command monthly rental rates ranging from $500 to $5,000, depending on foot traffic and location.
• Community events: Repurposing a parking lot into an event venue can net substantial revenue per event, depending on scale and sponsorship.

Such financial insights show that with modest initial investments, overlooked spaces can yield exponential returns, making them highly lucrative for entrepreneurs willing to think outside the box.

Lessons from global transformations

Across my career, I’ve had the privilege of working in regions like the United States, Australia, the U.K., Singapore, Malaysia, the Gulf countries and Canada, each offering unique lessons in urban transformation.

• In the U.S. and Canada, adaptive reuse projects have been pivotal. From transforming disused warehouses into tech hubs to repurposing parking lots for food truck parks, these regions demonstrate how innovative thinking can turn underutilized spaces into thriving economic zones
• In Asian cities, limited land availability has led to the rise of vertical farming and rooftop gardens. One notable project is the transformation of urban spaces into thriving urban farms, promoting sustainability and generating significant annual revenues.
• The Gulf countries excel in maximizing utility, with parking areas hosting pop-up markets during festivals, generating substantial revenue while fostering community engagement.

These global examples demonstrate that the entrepreneurial possibilities for small spaces are boundless, especially when aligned with local market needs and cultural nuances.

Related: Worried About the Market? Here’s How Warren Buffett, Ray Dalio, and Harvard University Protect Their Portfolios

Sustainability and community impact

The potential of small urban spaces isn’t limited to financial returns; they’re a vehicle for fostering sustainability and enhancing community connections. Repurposing areas for urban farming, green roofs and eco-friendly initiatives attracts investors and builds goodwill and loyalty within communities. For instance, transforming an underutilized parking lot into an urban garden can increase surrounding property values by up to 15%, benefiting the local economy while promoting green living.

In my experience at working with multiple parking companies and with many parking operations, we successfully introduced community-centric events in urban lots, from farmer’s markets to fitness classes, which revitalized neighborhoods and brought in consistent revenue streams. These initiatives bridged the gap between profit-making and community-building, proving that entrepreneurs can achieve both.

To unlock the hidden financial potential of small urban spaces, entrepreneurs need a strategic framework:

1. Assess the space: Identify overlooked spaces with high foot traffic or strategic value.

• Conduct a thorough spatial analysis using GIS (Geographic Information Systems) tools like Google Maps to identify overlooked areas with high foot traffic or strategic advantages.
• Evaluate zoning regulations, accessibility and proximity to key amenities or transportation hubs.

2. Innovate the use: Think beyond conventional uses — what unmet needs can this space fulfill?

• Identify unmet community needs. For instance, in urban areas with limited green space, consider creating micro-parks or urban gardens.
• Incorporate multi-functional designs — transform parking lots into EV charging stations, Amazon Lockers, etc., during weekdays and food truck hubs on weekends.

3. Calculate ROI: Conduct feasibility studies to evaluate potential returns versus investment.

• Use financial modeling to compare potential revenue streams against investment costs. For example, forecast revenue from hosting pop-up shops or EV charging fees and balance it with setup and maintenance expenses.
• Include potential tax benefits and subsidies for sustainable or community-focused initiatives.

4. Engage the community: Foster local support by aligning projects with community interests.

• Host public consultations or surveys to gather insights and build support. Projects aligned with local interests — like farmer’s markets or fitness classes — often see higher adoption rates and long-term success.
• Collaborate with local businesses and organizations to share resources and costs, creating mutual benefits.

5. Sustain and scale: Develop models that are scalable and sustainable in the long run.

• Implement modular designs that can be expanded or adapted based on demand. For example, start with a few EV chargers and scale up as adoption grows.
• Focus on sustainability by integrating renewable energy sources, such as solar panels and promoting environmentally friendly practices.

Related: 4 Passive Income Investment Strategies That’ll Free Your Time and Peace of Mind

Conclusion

The financial opportunities hidden within small urban spaces are vast and waiting to be seized. By harnessing creativity, leveraging global best practices and focusing on sustainability, entrepreneurs can transform these overlooked areas into engines of economic growth and community vitality. With the right mindset and approach, the smallest of spaces can yield the largest returns — proving that in the world of urban innovation, size truly doesn’t matter.

Social media is one of the most powerful marketing tools available to small businesses and entrepreneurs. Currently, 84% of all consumers check out a brand’s social media page before making a purchase, resulting in about 20% of all sales coming directly through links from social media. For this reason, entrepreneurs often prioritize getting as much visibility on social media as possible. One of the most effective ways to accomplish this is by creating viral content and taking advantage of emerging trends.

The challenge with trends is that they only create a very short window of opportunity, lasting just a few days or weeks. These trends can be difficult to spot when they are just warming up. Most brands that try to capitalize on trends do so when the trend is fizzling out and don’t get the most benefit. Companies that can jump on the leading edge of a trend can significantly improve their ability to be prioritized by the social media platform’s algorithm and gain massive momentum from going viral. This can result in thousands, if not millions, of additional views to your post or social media profile. A single viral post can completely change the trajectory of your business’s long-term success.

Related: What Are the Next Big Trends in Social Media Content?

1. Leverage social listening

Catching the beginning of a new trend can be challenging. While these trends appear to come out of nowhere, they often start with subtle rumblings across social media. Leveraging a social listening strategy can help your company identify topics or terms that are becoming increasingly popular across social media and online forums. By recognizing these early indicators, you can more accurately predict what themes are primed to explode across social media. There are numerous social listening tools that companies can use to quickly and effectively analyze online discussions to spot potential trends.

You also want to pay attention to what’s happening in pop culture or with industry leaders. Influencers and industry leaders in the space can often stimulate widespread discussions of a specific topic, especially when they are controversial. When they speak, people listen.

2. Copy the trend, but be original

One of the biggest challenges with social media today is that brands prioritize participating in a trend over the quality of their content. Because trends don’t last long, many companies sacrifice creativity in exchange for speed. This often results in boring replicas of posts made by other creators. While you might get some additional traffic from joining the trend, social media users are more likely to scroll past your post if it’s just a regurgitation of thousands of other similar posts. Instead, focus on bringing a fresh take on the trend to your brand and tailor it to your specific target audience. This will improve the chances of your post going viral.

3. Understand the trend and align with your brand

Many trends come with an underlying cultural meaning for very specific demographics. For this reason, it’s important to understand the context of a trend. Misinterpreting a trend can lead to major PR issues and damage your brand’s reputation. It’s best to try and avoid sensitive or controversial topics unless you feel confident navigating these waters. It’s always best to err on the side of caution rather than risk damaging your brand reputation by posting something that creates negative publicity.

Not every trend is a good fit for your brand. It’s best not to force it. If a trend doesn’t align with your overall brand strategy, it might be better to let it pass and look for the next opportunity.

Related: Capitalize on Trends But Stand Firm on Your Identity

4. Platform-specific design

Each social media platform is different. Identifying a trend will only get you so far. You’ll need to make sure you craft content that is appealing to the type of audience on that specific social media platform. For example, Instagram tends to favor video and visual content, while success on Twitter may rely more on a solid hashtag strategy. You may need to customize your social media posts for each platform individually.

5. Use hashtags thoughtfully

Hashtags are a great way to tie your social media posts to trending topics. However, you want to be thoughtful about how you use hashtags. Using hashtags that are not relevant to your post can cause your social media account to be penalized by some social media algorithms. In addition, adding a bunch of irrelevant hashtags can make your post appear spammy to end users.

6. Know when to call it quits

Trends can disappear just as quickly as they emerge. While you do want to jump aggressively on trends that you want to pursue, you also need to know when it’s time to move on. Continuing to post on trends that have passed can make your brand appear out of touch or outdated. In many cases, it may be best to remove old trend-inspired posts once the traffic begins to taper off, as it might cause more harm than good keeping them up.

Related: What Small Businesses Can Learn from Yelp’s Trend Tracker

Trendjacking has the potential to create online success for any small business if done correctly. This can be a very challenging strategy to master. A study by Stanford University found that the probability of a social media post going viral is one in a million, so don’t feel discouraged if your first attempts don’t launch your brand into the stratosphere. Don’t be afraid to experiment with different approaches and find out what works best for your business.

Business growth expert and investor Candy Valentino was born to teenage parents in small-town Pennsylvania. Her family lived in a trailer park and relied on welfare and government assistance for much of Valentino’s life, and when her father lost his job as a mechanic, he had just $200 to his name. When Valentino was five years old, her father negotiated a deal to start his own small business in a basement garage.

^{Image Credit: Courtesy of Candy Valentino}

“From [that] time until I was 16, I got dropped off at that little auto mechanic shop every day while my dad fixed cars and welded metal and did all of the things that you do in a greasy, grimy garage,” Valentino tells Entrepreneur. “Instead of learning dance or soccer, I learned about small business. I answered the phones, typed on the typewriter and interacted with clients. I grew up inside a small business.”

So Valentino was well-equipped to handle the day-to-day of entrepreneurship when she decided to start her own business at age 19. Although Valentino had considered being the first in her family to attend college, she read a book that said she didn’t have to pursue an expensive education to be successful — and make a lot of money.

Related: 9 Side Hustles to Make Money Fast

“I  wish I could say [my initial motivation was] super inspiring,” Valentino says, “but the only reason I wanted to start a business when I was younger was because I didn’t want to be poor. I wanted to have a different environment. I wanted to have nice things, a beautiful house, all the stuff that you see on TV.”

It was the late ’90s, and the Small Business Administration was looking to fund women entrepreneurs. In the decade leading up to that point, women in business had experienced quite a turnaround: Until 1988, women couldn’t receive a business loan without a signature from a male relative.

Valentino’s very first business idea? A spa, inspired by her first visit to one on a trip to New York after high school graduation (her first time out of the state). Someone had given her a gift card. Not only was the spa a relaxing, nice-smelling place to be, but it also appeared to be good business, attracting a steady stream of customers. Wouldn’t women everywhere love this? Valentino thought. I should bring this back to my small town.

Valentino pitched her idea to the SBA, and the panel, which included five women out of its six members, decided to give her a loan. “ I often think that was a little bit of a divine moment,” Valentino says, “because they had experienced all of these [barriers in business] that I didn’t, and they gave me a loan.” Valentino had 45 days to get the business up and running; she had just enough money to open the doors and hire some people.

Related: 70 Small Business Ideas to Start in 2025

The spa was a success, and Valentino continued to pioneer in the space, laying the foundation for an impressive business career spanning more than two decades. To date, the self-made millionaire has started and sold two companies, helped build businesses across industries, founded the nonprofit Heal Animal Rescue and established a cash-flowing real estate portfolio. She is also the host of The Candy Valentino Show and a bestselling author, most recently of The 9% Edge: The Life-Changing Secrets to Create More Revenue for Your Business and More Freedom for Yourself.

“ I basically became the CFO inside of my company without a degree.”

One of the most important keys to so much growth and success, according to Valentino? Being willing to work harder than anyone else, especially in the early days.

“Even when you don’t have all the right answers, even if you don’t know what to do in the beginning, to be successful at anything, we have to have the courage to commit and the fortitude to continue,” Valentino says. “We have to care more about our dreams than the opinions of other people.”

However, launching a business is one thing, but sustaining it — to avoid becoming one of the many that fail — is another. Maintaining a business’s momentum requires an entirely different skill set, Valentino says.

Related: 10 Growth Strategies Every Business Owner Should Know

“ Grit is what got me started,” Valentino explains, “but financial acumen is what got me to continue. And it’s the only thing that got me to exit twice. The one thing that will separate you from everyone else is your ability to lead the company as it relates to revenue and profitability.”

Lack of revenue, funding and profit is why the vast majority of businesses fail, Valentino adds. Fortunately, Valentino loved math and digging into her business’s finances: accounting, taxes and P&Ls — “all of the boring stuff that nobody else wanted to do.” So, she tackled those tasks and hired employees for everything else.

“ I basically became the CFO inside of my company without a degree,” Valentino says. “I developed the habit [of considering], What do I need to pay attention to? What numbers inside of my business are talking to me? What data and metrics do I need to learn? That shifted everything. That’s when we went from just a small business that was successful to scaling and setting ourselves up to exit.”

Related: What’s Next For CFOs? Why Their Evolving Role is Critical in Today’s Environment

“She became a real-life example of what it’s like to be bold [and] lead in a male-dominated space.”

Valentino has also learned a lot about leadership over the years — inspired, in part, by several women leaders. Like many girls growing up in the late ’90s, Valentino says she heard an all-too-common career question: “Do you want to be a teacher or a nurse?” That’s when she started looking up to women leaders like Mary Kay Ash, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Oprah. She recalls printing out quotes from them and taping them up in her bedroom.

As Valentino entered the business world herself, one of her most significant personal mentors was a woman named Anne Degre.

“She became a real-life example of what it’s like to be bold [and] lead in a male-dominated space,” Valentino says. “She was in manufacturing, which I later got into, and even though our stories were very different — she was born into a very big company, and I had to build it — it was still eye-opening to see how she navigated spaces that men sometimes didn’t want her to be in.”

Related: What Meaningful Mentorship for Women Employees Should Look Like

Since Valentino started her first business at 19, her early leadership style primarily involved following the “golden rule,” treating others as she wished to be treated. However, as the teams Valentino led grew from 20 employees to 30, 50 and beyond, she saw the value in another kind of leadership: being kind and strong.

“Both can exist,” Valentino says, “the ‘and’ is what’s important — being kind, understanding and expecting greatness. Most people who work for me would say that I expect greatness not just from them but from us and the entire organization. When we [accept] mediocrity, the company is not going to achieve what it can.  Seeing people for who they are, even when they don’t see it themselves, is critically important — [as is]  calling them up into that higher version of themselves.”

“ I knew exactly what I was talking about so that nobody could rattle me.”

As a woman in business, one of the biggest challenges has often been — and still is — getting people to take her seriously from the start. If she walks into the room with a man, it’s not uncommon for people to assume that she’s in a supportive role, she says. When Valentino was younger, the assumption bothered her more. Then, she started to see it as a “superpower,” an opportunity to come prepared and set the tone.

Related: Jessica Simpson’s Billion-Dollar Secret: ‘Being Underestimated Is a Superpower’

“ I knew exactly what I was talking about so that nobody could rattle me,” Valentino says, “and within one conversation, they knew who was in charge. It made me better. It made me sharper than some of the men that I interacted with because they had the advantage of just walking into the room and everybody assuming that they’re the boss and they’re going to do whatever they say. And sometimes, they weren’t as prepared as me.”

There’s still a lot of room for growth when it comes to supporting women in business, Valentino says. She notes the need for more women professionals in finance, venture capital and private equity. If a woman is interested in breaking into those fields, it’s time to double down and understand she’s more than capable, according to Valentino.

Related: The Odds Are Still Stacked Against Women in Business. Here’s How Young Women Can Defy Them.

“[It’s about] knowing  that you have done some of the hardest things in your life,” Valentino explains. “Figuring out finances in your business is really nothing [compared to] having a baby handed to you that you have to walk out of the hospital and raise. Let’s be real: That’s way more difficult.

“Sometimes women underestimate their power because they think, Oh, I didn’t have this experience, or They’re not taking me seriously,” she continues. “But it’s us not taking ourselves seriously enough to command the rooms that we walk into — that’s where the greatest level of growth still lives for women today.”

This article is part of our ongoing Women Entrepreneur® series highlighting the stories, challenges and triumphs of running a business as a woman.

Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, 41, has joined forces with former rival Kevin Rose, 48, to revive Digg, a social and link-sharing website Rose founded in 2004 — it was divided up and sold for parts to Betaworks, LinkedIn, and The Washington Post in 2012. The two intend to infuse the new Digg with AI content moderators, a move not yet implemented by Reddit.

The Digg of 2004 allowed users to share links that others could “digg” and upvote or “bury” and downvote, creating a place for trending news. Users could comment on links too, with the most popular content ending up on the homepage.

In its heyday, Digg attracted 40 million monthly unique users, but after a 2010 update removed the “bury” button, users revolted and left the site in droves, leading to its demise.

Ohanian and Rose announced on Wednesday that they are relaunching Digg as a mobile-first platform, with invites to the new Digg rolling out to users in the coming weeks. The webpage for Digg’s reboot shows that over 175,000 people have signed up to get early access to it at the time of writing.

Related: You’ll Never Achieve Work-Life Balance — and You Shouldn’t, Reddit Co-Founder Alexis Ohanian Says

According to Bloomberg, Justin Mezzell, a product designer who previously worked at Code School and RevenueCat, will be Digg’s new CEO. Ohanian and Rose will serve on the board of directors.

The team bought Digg’s domain and assets from Money Group for an undisclosed sum, and have received investments from Ohanian-founded venture capital (VC) firm Seven Seven Six, as well as True Ventures, a VC firm where Rose is a partner. They declined to disclose how much they had raised, per Bloomberg.

^{Alexis Ohanian. Photo by Patrick Smith/Athlos/Getty Images for Athlos}

Plans to revive Digg started when Rose reached out to Ohanian last year with the idea of a new Digg that could use AI to help fight spam and moderate content. According to The New York Times, Rose determined where AI could help Digg by spending thousands of dollars on targeted ads on Reddit, a comparable platform, to ask moderators about their biggest challenges.

“These moderators are pouring their lives into this,” he told The Times. “We think we can do it better.”

Rose told The Verge that he envisions Digg using AI for “everything from an AI agent that converts your entire sub-community into Klingon,” a fictional language in the Star Trek universe, “to another one where you don’t allow a certain type of profanity and that’s automatically auto-moderated.”

Related: Here’s Why Reddit Turned Down an Acquisition Offer From Google in Its Early Days, According to Cofounder Alexis Ohanian

Ohanian, who served on Reddit’s board until 2020, stated in a press release that AI will take on the background “grunt work” of fighting spam and filtering through content on Digg while human moderators focus on “building real connections.”

“I’m all in on this chapter,” Ohanian stated.

Digg is a direct competitor to Reddit, a $30 billion company with 101.7 million daily active unique users as of its February earnings report. Reddit has made AI a priority, signing a $60 million deal with Google in February 2024 that allowed the tech giant to train its AI on Reddit content and following up with a similar deal with OpenAI in May 2024.

Reddit has a built-in moderation system called AutoModerator that automatically goes through posts to check to see if they violate community policies. Though the platform introduced an AI-powered safety feature in March 2024 to detect online harassment, it does not yet have AI agents working as moderators and has not stated if it is working on implementing them, per Business Insider.

Related: ‘Faster, Smarter, and More Relevant’: Reddit Tests AI That Combs the Site For You

As of 2023, one in three Americans had a side hustle. From picking up an extra job in the gig economy to igniting an exciting entrepreneurial venture, millions of people started side hustles, and Black women were part of that wave. One cause of the side hustle boom was the rising cost of living and the need to counter the effects of inflation. Nearly one in four Americans depended on their side hustle earnings for their everyday expenses.

While side hustles have helped many people get by with their everyday needs, they’ve also helped build Black wealth, especially amongst Black women, who have been one of the fastest-growing groups of entrepreneurs in recent years. Nearly one in three Black women have taken up part-time work or a side hustle alongside their full-time job — and this is (in part) a result of the pay disparity. While pursuing a side hustle, many people of color have suffered from a lack of work-life balance, or work-life blend, as I often say in my diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) consultancy. Ultimately, are side hustles helping or hurting Black women in their pursuit of entrepreneurship and fair pay? I’d say it’s a mixed bag.

Related: Why Paying Women An Equal Wage Helps — Not Hurts — Your Business

Black women aren’t expected to achieve equal pay until the year 2227

According to the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, Black women earn only $0.61 for every dollar earned by a man, and it’s estimated Black women won’t reach pay equity until the year 2227. You read that right — over 200 years from now. Their research is linked to the low job quality options that Black women are afforded. But they’re not the only group still struggling for equal pay. Asian-American women earn $0.85 for every dollar a man earns, Native-American women earn just $0.58, and Latinas earn only $0.53. The numbers are shocking. But what’s not surprising is the need for women to supplement their income with side hustles.

Barriers to equal pay for Black women

One of the biggest hurdles for pay equity is related to pay discrimination. Many Black women face pay discrimination in the workplace because of unconscious bias and their employers’ perceptions of their capabilities based on race and gender. Consequently, Black women are often paid less for the same work done by a white and/or male counterpart. Another barrier is the secretive nature of salary transparency, which prevents workers from discussing their earnings and comparing and contrasting pay differences.

There’s also a devaluation of what’s been called “women’s work,” or occupations dominated by female workers, such as child care. In general, “women’s work” has been devalued across the economy for centuries, with women consistently earning less than their male counterparts in more traditionally male-dominated professions.

Occupational segregation plays a huge role as well. Black women carry an additional burden of living at the intersection of gender and race. As a result, they’re highly underrepresented in male-dominated fields like construction and manufacturing and in high-earning professions like chief executive, physician or finance. Currently, only 1.4% of Black women occupy C-suite positions in industries like these.

Related: After Her Unexpected Layoff, This Founder’s Love of Fragrances and Self-Care Helped Her Cope. Now She’s Disrupting the Fragrance Industry.

Black women are turning to side hustles to pay themselves a fairer wage

There are numerous examples of minority business owners who have not only started side hustles to earn a few extra dollars every month but have effectively scaled their side hustles to full-time roles. For example, Cassiy Johnson started a print-on-demand business through Etsy and scaled it to $800,000 in annual revenue in 2020.

What’s even more powerful is the impact that minority-owned businesses have on the overall economy. Black business owners in the United States reportedly own 3.5 million businesses and employ more than 1.2 million people. Therefore, Black-owned businesses have helped employ more people than previously thought. Its ripple effects have helped individuals who may have faced various types of systemic racism in the workforce to focus on building wealth for their own families instead of building wealth for a large company. For many people, starting a side hustle that turned into a sustainable business has elevated their family’s wealth trajectory in meaningful ways.

Related: How to Build Wealth Through a Side Hustle

Unequal pay has harmed the mental wellbeing of Black women

Like with all new businesses, working around the clock can cause many people to experience higher stress, increased risk of burnout and potential mental health challenges. Black women entrepreneurs are just as affected by mental health challenges as anyone else. Unfortunately, one report has shown that people of color, in general, experienced worsening mental health because of the pandemic and disproportionate barriers to mental health resources. In addition, the fear of failure and imposter syndrome can also hold entrepreneurs back from achieving their business goals and create roadblocks for their mental wellbeing. On top of wearing multiple hats in their businesses, Black entrepreneurs, in particular, were denied loans nearly twice as often as white business owners. All that said, starting a side hustle while working a full-time job — and trying to scale with loans and other capital — can be a mental and emotional challenge for entrepreneurs, especially Black women.

Final thoughts

While side hustles have had a powerful positive impact on Black women, they’ve also had their drawbacks. The median net worth of Black households increased by 60% between 2019 and 2022, and other promising trends were found in Latino, Asian and immigrant communities partially because of side hustles. Building wealth has become even more accessible for Black women than in previous decades. Side hustles have helped in that regard. But with the toll taken on mental health and the stress of not acquiring the capital necessary to scale, not everyone has been able to thrive in their side hustle. The rise of Black woman-owned businesses is only increasing. However, the more we can pay Black women a fair wage in their pursuits, the better our economy and communities will be.

Every CEO is familiar with the saying, “Time is money,” and the philosophy that wasted time impacts the bottom line. With this in mind, business owners often strive for maximum efficiency, evaluating every wasted minute, every redundant task and every distraction that hinders growth.

The problem is that most strategies that aim to increase efficiency neglect one critical aspect: that people are humans, not robots.

The best productivity approach doesn’t simply optimize time and speed — it works with human nature. That is, our natural tendencies to get distracted, be forgetful and feel unmotivated.

Time blocking and automation tools help, but they aren’t the full solution. Here are some human-focused processes to increase your productivity that actually work.

Related: 4 Simple, Research-Backed Ways to Increase Your Productivity

1. Set your goalposts

Tasks can feel demotivating if they aren’t tied to a tangible, meaningful outcome. Setting goalposts for what you’re looking to accomplish, in what timeframe and for what reason will help you stay motivated to achieve the end result.

Think about it: Your New Year’s resolution to work out more likely wasn’t driven by a desire to clock in at the gym but to achieve your goal weight, feel healthier, reduce pain, etc. Similarly, the work tasks on your to-do list likely emerged with the thought of achieving specific goals in your business.

To improve productivity, tie each of your activities to a desired outcome, whether that’s generating new business, reducing overhead costs, saving time, improving product quality, etc. Then, any task that isn’t tied to a tangible outcome may be a viable candidate to be cut from your list of priorities.

2. Create a distraction-free zone

There are many reputable studies that analyze the correlation between work environment and productivity. For instance, a study conducted by researcher Miikka Palvalin found that changes in work environment can negatively affect one’s ability to focus and be productive.

On the flip side, a distraction-free workspace helps facilitate focus, productivity and better time management.

Now, whether you work from home, at remote locations or at an office, there are likely a few ways that you create a distraction-free zone. Even small adjustments — like minimizing clutter, controlling noise or setting boundaries with coworkers and/or family — can have a substantial impact on your ability to perform at your best.

It can be helpful to create a designated work area (especially if working from home) to signal to your brain that it’s time to focus. Opting for an ergonomically sound setup can help mitigate physical discomfort, which can also be distracting. Also, some studies suggest that plants and natural lighting can improve mood and focus!

Related: 6 Ways to Make Your Business More Efficient

3. Get honest about repetitive time wasters

A significant source of stress for entrepreneurs is not using time efficiently and then running out of time to complete the tasks that matter. We’re all vulnerable to getting caught up in “busy work” — repetitive, time-wasting tasks that add little value and distract us from our bigger goals.

The key to overcoming this challenge is recognizing where your time is being wasted and taking deliberate steps to eliminate, delegate or automate those tasks.

First, do an “audit” of your time, tracking your daily activities and how long they take to complete. I like using a tool like Toggl to log my time throughout the day. You’ll be surprised how much time is spent on miscellaneous tasks, unnecessary meetings and checking emails.

Next, take stock of which tasks are consuming the most time, whether these tasks move you closer to your goals (or not) and whether they are better off being delegated or automated.

This ties into the Pareto Principle, wherein you identify the 20% of tasks that drive 80% of your results — and then cut out the rest. If a task doesn’t require your direct involvement or input, it may be delegated to someone else on your team, batched and automated or eliminated completely.

4. Don’t overcomplicate, automate

Today’s business owners have more tools than we know what to do with when it comes to streamlining business processes, automating tasks and freeing up time. While it may require some ramp-up time to put the system in place, doing so will save you loads of time in the future.

If you’re not a process person, I highly recommend tasking someone on your team (or hiring a consultant) to build the system for you. It’s well worth the investment.

You first need to determine what can (and should be) automated. Map out your current workflows, identifying the tasks required, the tools or team members required and any inefficiencies in the process. It can be helpful to create a visual flowchart of each process in your organization.

For example, say you want to streamline the lead intake process, which previously relied on the manual effort of your sales team (to call, record and follow up with leads). A new, automated process might look like:

• A visitor lands on your website and fills out a contact form

• This triggers an automatic lead capture in your CRM

• The system assigns a lead score and segments the prospect

• This sends a personalized follow-up email

• Your sales team is notified if the lead meets high-value criteria

In this way, you all but eliminate the need for manual effort by you or your team, all lead information is effectively captured, and no opportunities slip through the cracks.

There are many ways to reduce stress and increase efficiency in your business, just so long as you identify the gaps, set realistic goals and depend on the strength of your team. This gives you more time to focus on the work that matters and strike that enviable work-life balance.

Related: How Inefficient Processes Are Hurting Your Company

Michael Bloomberg, 83, topped the list of Americans who donated the most money to nonprofits last year, according to the Chronicle of Philanthropy’s Philanthropy 50 list for 2024. It was the second year in a row that Bloomberg led the list.

Bloomberg gave $3.7 billion to charitable causes in 2024 in support of the arts, education, public health groups, and city government improvement programs. He made his contributions directly and through his charitable organization Bloomberg Philanthropies.

One sizable donation Bloomberg made was a $1 billion grant to Johns Hopkins University in July 2024 to cover the cost of medical school for students.

Related: MacKenzie Scott’s Nearly $20 Billion in Donations Has Had a ‘Transformative Effect,’ According to a New Study. Here’s How.

“I’ve never understood people who wait until they die to give away their wealth,” Bloomberg told the Chronicle in an email. “Why deny yourself the satisfaction? I’ve been very lucky, and I’m determined to do what I can to open doors for others and to leave a better world for my children and grandchildren.”

^{Michael Bloomberg. Photographer: Lionel Ng/Bloomberg via Getty Images}

Five other individual donors or couples joined Bloomberg in giving away $1 billion or more last year. They were: Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings and his wife Patty Quillin (second on the list), Dell Technologies founder Michael Dell and his wife Susan Dell (third), Warren Buffett (fourth), Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan (fifth), and retired pediatrics professor Ruth Gottesman (sixth).

The bulk of the donations went to funds that supported causes like scientific research and education. Gottesman made a move similar to Bloomberg’s by donating $1 billion to the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in Bronx, New York in February to make the medical school tuition-free as of August 2024.

Related: Former Pediatrics Professor Donates $1 Billion, Makes Albert Einstein College of Medicine Tuition-Free

The top 50 donors on the list gave a collective $16.2 billion for philanthropic causes in 2024. The median amount they gave was $100 million.

Paychex founder Thomas Golisano was the eighth most generous donor on the list, giving away $500 million in 2024. Most of his donations, or about $400 million, were no-strings-attached contributions to over 100 nonprofits in New York and Florida. One of his areas of focus is organizations that support people with disabilities.

Former investment banker K. Lisa Yang (wife of Broadcom CEO Hock E. Tan) was the 34th donor on the list. She gave away $74.5 million this year, mostly to MIT and Cornell University. In February, Yang gave $35 million to Cornell College of Veterinary Medicine’s Wildlife Center to support wildlife conservation.

Venture capital investor Michele Kang (No. 28) donated $84 million in 2024, giving $4 million to the USA Women’s Rugby team.

The Philanthropy 50 ranking has been running for 25 years. In that span of time, Buffett has been the biggest donor, giving away $49.4 billion.

Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates were second overall, giving $34 billion together, while Bloomberg, Jeff Bezos, and Elon Musk were third, fourth, and fifth respectively in overall charitable contributions.

Bezos committed $10 billion in 2021 to the Bezos Earth Fund to protect nature and fight climate change while Musk has donated around $7 billion since 2020 to his organization, The Musk Foundation, which supports renewable energy research and science and engineering education.

Related: ‘Unexpected Funding’: Paychex’s Founder Donates $85 Million to 41 Nonprofits. Here’s Where the Money Is Going.