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Who Are You and What Is Your Background?
I’m the Founder and CEO of Empify, a fintech company on a mission to democratize financial education. I’m a former Wall Street analyst and a proud graduate of Howard University. Early in my career, I managed money for the ultra-wealthy and soon realized that the everyday person deserves to know and get exposed to what I saw our wealthy clients do. Even with insider knowledge, I faced financial setbacks, including getting evicted from my apartment after leaving Wall Street. That experience humbled me and opened my eyes to the deeper issue: people don’t need just information—they need empowerment. Inspired by my father, who instilled in me the values of financial stability, I created Empify to help others take control of their financial futures and build generational wealth.
What Is Your Business and When Did You Start It?
I founded Empify in 2017 to help bridge the gap between financial institutions and everyday consumers. Empify, the merging of the words empower and modify, offers practical, engaging, and inclusive financial education to help the 99% build the lives they envision. Our flagship product, the WealthBuilders Community app, is often called the “Netflix of Finance.” It is a membership-based platform featuring courses that range from investing in the stock market to planning for retirement and even building your estate plan. Members gain access to live Q&As, curated events, digital resources, and a library of on-demand tools designed to demystify money. What makes Empify unique is our intentional focus on overlooked and underserved communities. We’ve partnered with schools, prison systems, corporations, and nonprofits to reach the everyday person who never got the chance to learn how to build wealth at school or at home, offering boot camps, live Q&As, and in-person events. We’ve helped tens of thousands become first-time investors and have reached users in over 20 countries. Our members, often beginner and brand new investors, have invested over $11,000,000 in the stock market together. In 2024, our work earned us a spot on Inc. Magazine’s 5000 list of fastest-growing private companies. However, I’m most proud of seeing people, many for the first time, truly believe in their ability to build wealth.
What Was Your Professional Situation Right Before Starting the Membership Site?
Before founding Empify, I was working on Wall Street – working with multi-millionaires and billionaires –managing high-net-worth portfolios. Although I had what many would call “success,” behind closed doors, after transitioning from a career in finance to a full-time entrepreneur, I struggled with personal finances. After leaving my job, I was evicted from my apartment due to overspending and a lack of long-term planning. That wake-up call showed me that making money isn’t the same as understanding how to invest in yourself and properly manage the money you have. That’s what sparked my mission: to give people the tools to build wealth intentionally, not just survive paycheck to paycheck.
How did you get the idea to start this particular membership business?
The idea for Empify emerged from my exposure to true wealth on Wall Street and my own financial transformation. After leaving Wall Street and experiencing personal financial struggles, I realized that many people share similar fears and misconceptions about money. After speaking at local schools and community centers, I saw firsthand how many people felt overwhelmed when it came to money. They believed they were destined to struggle financially, and that’s when I knew I needed to build more than just a program; I needed to create a movement. Empify became that movement: born to provide financial education that is approachable, culturally relevant, and focused on helping people create lasting change. The membership model has allowed us to scale our programs and resources around the world. It allows us to deliver value consistently, build community, and guide people through their wealth-building journey step by step.
What Was the Major Challenge You Faced in Starting or Scaling It and How Did You Overcome It?
One of the biggest challenges was learning how to meet people where they are and shifting their mindset into what is possible. At Empify, we truly believe that everyone has the power to write the next chapter of their life, and with the right tools, education, and support, we all can obtain whatever we desire. Wall Street taught me this, and this is what we instill in the customers we serve. ” Mistrust of financial institutions is real, and at Empify, we understand it; however, we push our members and those we serve in spite of it. I had to earn that trust by being transparent about my own journey, including the mistakes I made despite working on Wall Street. We started by going where others wouldn’t, into schools, prisons, and community centers, to teach financial literacy in a way that was relatable and empowering. Through coaching, live Q&As, online classes, in-person events, and creating content that spoke directly to people’s fears and concerns, over time, we built a community of people who believe in their ability to invest, save, and build wealth.
What Was Growth Like Over the First Couple of Years?
Empify saw powerful momentum in our first few years. From a grassroots operation to a global movement, we’ve empowered millions of individuals, the majority of whom are first-time investors. The impact was felt through not only individual financial success stories but also partnerships with over 100 organizations, including major corporations and schools. By focusing on transformation over transactions, our community grew rapidly through word of mouth, social media, and testimonials from people who finally felt seen in the world of finance. In 2024, our efforts were recognized nationally with a spot on the Inc. 5000 list, but the real win was seeing lives changed and watching our members invest $11,000,000 collectively.
What Was Your Specific Strategy for Growing It and How Did You Implement That?
Our growth strategy is rooted in community, credibility, and education. Empify wasn’t built from a boardroom. I built it in classrooms, prison auditoriums, and from the heart. I started by teaching wherever people would listen. From there, I expanded to corporate partnerships with companies like Accenture, Google, and Wells Fargo, offering tailored financial education programs to employees and organizations. I also leveraged the personal brand of Ashley M. Fox to amplify our message through media engagements like CNBC, Yahoo! Finance, Inc. Magazine, and podcasts. By sharing my own story, I built a loyal community, which ultimately fueled our scalable growth.
How Much Money Is the Business Making Now and What Is the Revenue Mix?
Over the past 4 years, Empify has grown 2,660.4%. Empify has helped its users invest over $10 million collectively, with strong recurring revenue from our membership-based model. We also surpassed 4,000 financial education classes taught in 2024 and delivered a 20-week curriculum to 180 Empify graduates, who collectively invested $4,600,000 and generated six figures in passive income. Our income streams include individual subscriptions to the WealthBuilders Community app, corporate training contracts, and institutional education programs delivered to universities, schools, and government agencies. Corporate partnerships and B2B training continue to grow, making up a significant portion of our revenue. While we’re financially thriving, our core metric for success is still impact—how many people are investing for the first time and building wealth for their families.
If You Were Advising Someone on Starting a Similar Company Today, What Would You Tell Them Is the Key Area to Focus On and Which Strategy Should They Use to Address It?
Focus on trust. You’re not just teaching finance, you’re rewriting people’s narratives about money. Start by meeting people where they are, both emotionally and physically. Use storytelling, your own and others, to connect and inspire. Don’t worry about being flashy; be consistent and authentic. Offer free content to build value and credibility while partnering with organizations that are already embedded in your target communities. Leverage social media to show real wins, not just theory. Most importantly, build with empathy. People want to know you’re not just selling a product, but instead, helping them change their lives for the better.
What’s Next for You?
We’re deepening our focus on family wealth education. We’re launching new programs for parents and their children to learn about money together. We believe that building generational wealth starts at the dinner table. We’re also enhancing the WealthBuilders Community app with personalized learning and more accessible resources and launching chapters around the world. International expansion is on the horizon, and we’re building new partnerships with financial institutions to further scale our mission. My goal is simple: to make financial empowerment so accessible that it becomes the norm, not the exception.
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