Aug, 2025
Rethink Inclusion in Finance: Why Inclusive Design Is the Smartest Bet in Fintech – Samantha Lee
“If you don’t have diversity in lived experiences, we’re going to start to perpetuate by an infinite magnitude the inequalities that already exist in the system.”
We met Samantha at Money 20/20 Bangkok and knew we had to bring her onto the show. In this conversation she challenges assumptions, surfaces hard truths, and shows how inclusive design isn’t just ethical – it’s smart business.
In this special conversation, we dig into:
✓ What gets missed when there’s no diversity at the decision-making table
✓ The danger of designing for “ideal” users instead of real, messy humans
✓ Why chasing hype without asking the right questions leads to fragile solutions
✓ Practical ways fintech teams can build better, more thoughtful innovation from the ground up
Whether you design products, build policy, lead teams, or care about fairer systems – this episode will make you rethink how finance gets built.
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About The Forward Podcast: Rethink – When the old answers don’t fit, it’s time for new questions.
Rethink is a new season of the award-winning Forward Podcast built around slowing down, questioning assumptions, and sitting longer in the problem stage – before rushing to solutions.
Too often, businesses cling to what they know, hiding behind the old “this is how we’ve always done it” line. It’s the fastest way to kill diversity of thinking, new ideas, and meaningful change.
This series is about rethinking what’s broken: outdated products, workplaces stuck in the past, leadership resisting change, and tech that no longer serves the people using it.
In each episode, we sit with rethinkers: founders, creators, strategists, and innovators, who are challenging norms and building better ways forward. From redesigning shopping experiences to making digital finance more accessible, we explore how slowing down to ask better questions leads to stronger, more human-centered futures. Because solving yesterday’s problems with yesterday’s solutions won’t get us where we need to go.
Slow down. Look closer. Build better.
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