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What do you do when your job drops you into the center of a global financial crisis?

That’s where Sophia Bantanidis found herself – helping craft post-crisis banking reforms at the UK’s financial regulator. The experience shaped how she thinks about risk, regulation, and building more resilient systems.

Today, Sophia works at Citi’s thought leadership division, where she explores the forces transforming financial services, from disruptive tech to global market shifts. In this episode, Sophia talks about her career journey, how AI could reshape compensation models, and why it’s so important to vet any job – especially your first one.

01:31 Writing Rules for Executive Pay During the 2008 Crisis

06:24 Early Aspirations and a Diverse Upbringing

09:36 A Terrible Day One At Work

11:53 Vet Potential Jobs and Built a Network

16:41 From the Frontlines: AI and Compensation

20:33 Reflections

Links:

Sophia Bantanidis on LinkedIn

Suchi Srinivasan on LinkedIn

Kamila Rakhimova on LinkedIn

Mayowa Jolayemi on LinkedIn

About In Her Ellement:

In Her Ellement highlights the women and allies leading the charge in digital, business, and technology innovation. Through engaging conversations, the podcast explores their journeys—celebrating successes and acknowledging the balance between work and family. Most importantly, it asks: when was the moment you realized you hadn’t just arrived—you were truly in your element?

About The Hosts:

Kamila Rakhimova is a fintech leader whose journey took her from Tajikistan to the U.S., where she built a career on her own terms. Leveraging her English proficiency and international relations expertise, she discovered the power of microfinance and moved to the U.S., eventually leading Amazon's Alexa Fund to support underrepresented founders.

Suchi Srinivasan is an expert in AI and digital transformation. Originally from India, her career includes roles at trailblazing organizations like Bell Labs and Microsoft. In 2011, she co-founded the Cleanweb Hackathon, a global initiative driving IT-powered climate solutions with over 10,000 members across 25+ countries. She also advises Women in Cloud, aiming to create $1B in economic opportunities for women entrepreneurs by 2030.

Mayowa Jolayemi is a second-year Associate at Boston Consulting Group (BCG), where she focuses primarily on projects related to education, economic growth, and workforce development. She earned her B.A. in Economics from Harvard University, concentrating her academic work on economic development in West Africa, particularly in education and women's workforce empowerment.

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What A Global Financial Crisis Taught Me, With Citi’s Sophia Bantanidis