Tiffany James is a Haitian-Jamaican American from Brooklyn, New York. Tiffany is a graduate of Rutgers University, where she earned a degree in computer science. Her professional journey began working as an event manager when she noticed she hated the tech culture for women.
In 2020, Tiffany founded Modern Blk Girl, the largest digital platform designed for women of color to build wealth through investing in the stock market. A self-taught stock enthusiast, Tiffany invested $10,000 in the stock market and built a million-dollar portfolio. In two short years, Modern Blk Girl has generated millions while also educating women of color on how to invest. The first-of-its-kind platform has helped thousands of women of color earn more than $3.5 million in the stock market. Its mission is to get 500,000 Black women in the market, while growing into one of the largest online platforms for women of color to build wealth.
Tiffany has been featured in Bloomberg, Fox News, Business Insider, and Afrotech and has collaborated with Forbes, The Motley Fool, and more.
Tiffany is also the recipient of the Rising Star Award for The Motley Fool's 2022 Women in Investing Awards.
Tiffany's Investing Style
How many years of investing experience do you have? 1-5 years
What is your investing risk tolerance? Medium-High
What is your portfolio size? 1-10 stocks
What are your favorite investing sectors? Consumer Discretionary and Information Technology
When did you get started in investing and why?
I started investing in 2016 when my mother brought me to a “Fix Your life“ conference and stocks were mentioned as a way to build wealth for yourself.
Can you tell us a little bit about your relationship with money at an early age?
I was definitely one of those reckless spenders who ruined my credit just to buy a used Honda car that I crashed three months after purchase. I spent money as if it was going out of style. Money management came later in my life.
What has your journey been like as an investor? What are some of the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Believe it or not, confidence was the hardest thing for me. In my Caribbean-American household, investing was essentially looked at as a gambling. Fast-forward to an adult who is able to create my own narrative, [and] pulling the trigger for some of my biggest trades and investments gave me huge anxiety.
With so many new or younger investors dipping their toes into investing, what’s the best advice you have for someone who may be looking to start investing or who may be newer to the industry?
Educate yourself and ignore the hype. Leave the Reddit and Twitter forums alone. A lot of people create bots to support their thesis if they are bullish or bearish on a company, so many of the stock market comments on Reddit and Twitter are fake.
Find an amazing educator, learn their craft, then become your own boss when it comes to your investment decisions.
What are three things that really excite you about the future of investing?
1. More people who look like me are investing.
2. The beautiful investment opportunity that comes out of bear markets.
3. More Black and brown families will have generational wealth and assets to pass down.
What scares you about the future of investing?
1. The hate the SEC has for retail traders will eventually make it hard for Black and brown people to get into the market.
2. People will invest too deeply in cryptocurrency and forget about foundational investing (i.e., stocks).
Who are some leaders in the investing industry you admire and why?
Beyond popular belief, I’m a big fan of Chamath Palihapitiya. He has an eye for innovation but also for mankind that I truly admire.
What are some of your favorite educational resources (books, podcasts, websites, etc.) that you’d recommend for investors of all ages?
Of course, Modern Blk Girl. We are a one-stop shop for all digestible investing advice. Besides MBG, Earn Your Leisure is great, as well as CNBC.
How do you feel about cryptocurrency as an investment?
I love crypto for investors who have investments already going with a six-figure net, [but] not for the new investors.
What’s one quote or saying that inspires or challenges you?
“It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish.”
Anything else to add?
Modern Blk Girl Crypto is coming soon. We plan on educating women about crypto in the most simplistic way possible. Stay tuned.
