Discover how faith operates as the most powerful currency for Black women entrepreneurs, transcending systemic oppression and financial limitations to unlock divine wealth, purpose, and unstoppable potential.
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Influential Woman · Social Entrepreneurship
Lady Farley
CEO, FPI Network LLC
Ny &, NJ 11692
1Article published
1Award received
In Conversation
Lady Farley for Bold. Brilliant. Unstoppable.
Read the transcript
Lady Farley: The light that you bring to places and people who were in a dark space at one given time.
What does being an Influential Woman mean to you?
Lady Farley: Hi, my name is Lady Farley and I am the CEO of the FPI Network, founder of the 100 Women Strong Movement. A lot of people ask me, what does it mean actually to be an influential woman? Is that in numbers? How do you measure being an influential woman? And I thought about it and the one thing that makes me very happy to report that being an influential woman is not about who's counting or who's keeping record, but it's about the people who turn around the stories and the lives that you helped to shape, and I am so pleased to know that many lives have been shaped not just by myself or my life because it's not about me, it's about the women and the efforts that we all put in. As a community, so I enjoy to meet students that I tutored over 15 years ago, to see them in the street with their families, and they stop me and say, Hey, did that you changed my life? And not only did you change my life, but the people that you connected me to continue to pour into my life. So With that being said, what makes an influential woman is not really the numbers, the records, the accolades, it's not all of that, it's not all of the showmanship, it's the lives that you change, it's the stories that you help to reshape. It is the light that you bring to places and people who were in a dark space at one given time. So being an influential woman is more about your light. Than about how bright the stage is, Lady Farley.
What's one piece of advice you would give to younger women chasing their dreams?
Lady Farley: Chasing a dream. I feel like we are all chasing a dream. I don't think that being a dream chaser begins at an age or ends at a certain age. I think that we're all chasing a dream, and one thing I like to advise, people who are younger people, even older. I happen to speak to mature women more than than not, but I always say that the road to chasing a dream, that road is so broad, it's not narrow at all. It's broad, and it seems like everyone people you don't know, anyone you could imagine is on that road and they're chasing a dream, but that really doesn't have anything to do with you and your path. So in my belief and in my practice of becoming successful, I tell everyone the dream, that road is all about the from here to there theory. Now, you're probably saying I've never heard of that before, you haven't because it's, it, it's something that I have come up with, I've quantified in my advice to other people. From here to there consists of you not looking back all the time. And not worrying about what's ahead all the time, but it's about being in the present. It's about being in the moment and executing your right to be present in the moment, to appreciate everything that is happening, not against you, not to you, but for you in the moment. From here to there is a journey, and if you just rush the process, you'll find that getting here from here. Will be tricky if you're running, if you're stumbling, if you're falling, but if you take your time. Take your time and just enjoy where you are, knowing that you're going to get there. You're gonna get there and don't worry if you're on that road, you meet someone who says to you, I have the same dream as you. No, they don't. There's only one you, and only you are capable of dreaming the dream that you dream, and only you are capable of maintaining your peace, not missing out on the joy while you go from here to there. The dream will never die as long as you stay the pace and stay the road and keep the faith.
Full transcript available
Her Story
About Lady
Lady Farley is a dynamic social entrepreneur, speaker, and community architect based in Brooklyn, New York, dedicated to advancing Black women, strengthening underserved communities, and building pathways toward generational wealth. As the founder and Chief Executive Officer of FPI Network LLC, she leads initiatives focused on empowerment, education, and economic mobility through faith-centered leadership and strategic networking. Her work is centered on helping individuals and communities move from survival to structure by transforming vision into sustainable, long-term impact. Her professional life begins at 3:00 AM, driven by a mission to reach teachers across New York City and support students in gaining meaningful career perspective. By 7:00 AM, she is often in contact with 15 to 20 women, coordinating efforts to connect professionals with students who are uncertain about their career paths or future in education. Her daily work includes collaborating with educators, engaging community leaders, and organizing book drives and “book hunts” to provide resources for children who lack access to reading materials. She describes her journey after years on Wall Street, where she witnessed how Black women were often required to fight for space in environments where access and information were limited, reinforcing her belief that information is power and must be shared and reclaimed for underserved communities. One of her most meaningful accomplishments includes revitalizing a struggling library in Brooklyn, New York, where increased library card registrations and student participation in programming have reflected renewed community engagement. Having grown up using libraries as a place of escape and inspiration, she considers this work deeply personal and transformative. Lady Farley continues to dedicate long hours—often working until midnight—to advancing educational access, community development, and leadership opportunities, embodying a lifelong commitment to ensuring that others have the resources, support, and knowledge needed to thrive. As a dynamic speaker and a leader in women’s empowerment, she equips audiences with the tools to move from survival to structure—transforming vision into sustainable impact. Known for her bold voice and faith-centered leadership, Lady Farley delivers messages that challenge systems, ignite purpose, and activate legacy.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Lady
01What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute my success to my faith. In 2021, I had a triple brain aneurysm, and even while I was in a coma, the women in my organization came together, praying for me and sending out their best regards. That has carried me so far. My faith lets me know that if I give up, somebody else is going to suffer - children in my community are going to drop out of high school if I give up. So the faith is the thing that gives me that energy to keep going, even when I get out of bed tired. It's the faith that gives me that recharge.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best career advice I ever received was to cover your backside (Investments). My instinct is normally to give people a hug, to offer a shoulder, but that's not the route to go, even when your heart bleeds for people; because the truth of the matter is that people have learned to use a sad story to con people and be evil by trapping people into litigation.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
My advice to young women entering this industry is to stay grounded, work hard, and never underestimate your own strength. There will be challenges along the way, but resilience, determination, and authenticity will carry you further than you can imagine. Put on some sweatpants and some sneakers, fight like a girl, and don’t be afraid to take up space, use your voice, and pursue your goals with confidence and passion.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
The biggest challenge, which also creates more opportunity, is that DEI diversity, equity, and inclusion is public enemy number one right now. That in itself just makes me want to create more opportunities. If you pull it back, then we have to create it, period. We have to do it. Those limits have become our stepping stones.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
My personal life and my work life are blurred there's a thin line between them, so my values are the same across the board. I don't want to do anything to anyone that I wouldn't want someone doing to me. I really try to keep that as a moral ethic that runs through the thread of my whole community and my organization. I try to have some dignity, be honorable, and protect people as much as I can.
Her Content Hub
Articles by Lady
Faith is the Currency of Tomorrow
Faith Is the Currency That No System Can Confiscate: Why Black Women Entrepreneurs Are Inherently Wealthy
Systemic oppression has always been more powerful than money—not because money lacks influence, but because oppression is designed to control the conditions in which money can be earned, used, or multiplied. It shapes access, opportunity, safety, and mobility. It determines who gets to build wealth and who must fight simply to survive.
For Black women—especially those navigating re-entry, domestic violence, poverty, or generational trauma—the system was never built to honor our brilliance or reward our labor. And yet, we rise. We build. We create. We lead. We heal.
Why?
Because God gave us a form of wealth that no system can confiscate: faith.
Faith is not a soft concept. It is not passive. It is not abstract.
Faith is currency—the most powerful currency an entrepreneur can hold.
1. Systemic Oppression Controls the Rules, Not the Spirit
Money can buy resources, but systemic oppression controls:
- Who gets hired
- Who gets funded
- Who gets believed
- Who gets protected
- Who gets access to capital
- Who gets punished for the same mistakes others walk away from
This is why two people can have the same amount of money and live two completely different realities.
Oppression is not about dollars—it is about manipulation and control by design. It is about creating barriers that money alone cannot break.
But faith?
Faith breaks rules.
Faith breaks ceilings.
Faith breaks generational patterns.
Faith breaks the belief that we are limited to what the system allows.
2. Money Can Run Out—Faith Cannot
Money is fragile:
- It depreciates
- It inflates
- It gets spent
- It gets stolen
- It gets denied
But the wealth God placed in Black women—and in women as a whole—is indestructible.
It does not expire and can be passed down as a legacy.
It does not lose value unless you give it up.
It does not depend on approval, so do not seek it.
Faith is the only currency that grows under pressure.
The more life tries to break you, the more valuable your faith becomes.
This is why marginalized women—women who have survived incarceration, violence, poverty, and systemic neglect—often become the most powerful entrepreneurs.
They have learned to build with nothing but belief.
And belief is a resource that cannot be repossessed.
3. Faith Is the Currency of Today’s Entrepreneurs
In today’s world, entrepreneurship is not just about capital—it is about conviction.
The entrepreneurs who thrive are not the ones with the biggest budgets, but the ones with:
- Vision
- Grit
- Creativity
- Resilience
- Spiritual grounding
Faith is what allows a woman to:
- Start a business with no investors
- Launch a brand with no blueprint
- Serve a community with no recognition
- Keep going when the world says she should have quit
Faith is the currency that turns ideas into income.
Faith is the currency that turns trauma into testimony.
Faith is the currency that turns marginalized women into marketplace leaders.
4. God Made Black Women Wealthy—Before the World Ever Saw It
Your wealth is not in your bank account.
Your wealth is in your:
- Wisdom
- Story
- Resilience
- Anointing
- Creativity
- Calling
- Capacity to rebuild
- Ability to rise again and again
This is why we teach women that they were wealthy before they ever touched a dollar.
Because God placed something in them that no system can devalue.
Oppression may limit access, but it cannot limit identity.
It cannot bankrupt purpose.
It cannot foreclose destiny.
It cannot repossess what God has deposited.
5. The Future Belongs to Women Who Understand Their Spiritual Wealth
When a woman understands that her faith is her currency, she becomes unstoppable.
She stops waiting for permission.
She stops apologizing for her power.
She stops shrinking to fit systems that were never designed for her success.
She becomes a creator, not a consumer.
A leader, not a follower.
A builder, not a borrower.
And that is why your work matters, Abike.
You are teaching women to see themselves not as victims of a system, but as vessels of divine wealth.
Systemic oppression may have power—but it does not have the final say.
Money may influence the world—but it does not define your worth.
Faith is the currency that sustains, elevates, and transforms.
And Black women? We are wealthy—not because the world said so, but because God did.
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