I’m writing this newsletter to you on my birthday, July 28th. I know birthdays are special but mine is extra dear to me because I share it with my grandmother, my father’s mother.

Fun fact - when I was born, everyone implored my mom to name me “Marta” after my grandmother. But my mom held firm, insisting that I have to be my own person. She never really had a reason for “Ilona,” but here we are.

I’m going to Russia. My favorite way to celebrate has always been spending time with friends and family. When I was a kid, we would set up a huge table outside in my grandma’s farm garden, with a samovar providing tea all day long. I loved it.

What I also loved about those annual pilgrimages was seeing how much the U.S. would change while I was away. I often felt nostalgic, like I was stepping into a time capsule for three months. And when I came back, I had to re-learn a new society. It’s wild how much can shift in just one season. I remember one year, I completely missed the “Get Low” phenomenon by the Ying Yang Twins. Safe to say, my sophomore year of high school was a shock.

This time, I’m excited to see what has changed in the seven years since I last visited. As I got older, I noticed something curious. Before, I would come back to the U.S. eager to see what was “next.” But over time, I began to see how Russia was leading in ways the U.S. wasn’t. I saw global trade flows shift with my own eyes, especially as China came to dominate the import market in Russia and other emerging economies—long before that conversation reached the U.S.

So yes, this week’s newsletter is ostensibly about women’s sports, which I first wrote about over a year ago in Forbes. But it’s more than that. It’s about what happens when we revisit a topic, see it with fresh eyes, and step outside the comfort zone.

Special shoutout to my cousin Achylles for researching this week’s newsletter with me. His curiosity helped shape where the story ended up.

Women’s sports are having more than a moment - they’re undergoing a seismic change.

More than 600,000 tickets were sold before the first ball was kicked at this year’s Women’s European Championship. That number has already shattered the 2022 record and dwarfs the mere 240,000 who showed up five years ago.

Globally, the market for women’s professional sports is expected to hit $2.4B in 2025, up from $692M in 2022. Deloitte calls this the “growth engine” of the sports industry. Yet these numbers still come from a low base. And that is precisely the opportunity.

This is not just about sports. It is about the future of everything.

Women are reshaping demand patterns across digital banking, lending, investing, and healthcare. But much like in sports, we are still treated as an afterthought - an “add-on market” to the male default. Fertility apps and pink-washed budgeting tools are the fintech equivalent of handing out free tampons at the World Cup and calling it equity.

To build products that truly meet the moment, founders and investors need to understand what the women’s sports boom can teach us about product-market fit, audience building, and revenue growth.

Let me explain.

From sports stadiums to startups, women are showing up — as players, buyers, and decision-makers. More than 70,000 girls are now enrolled in Saudi Arabia’s school soccer league. In fintech, women now control more than 30% of global private wealth, and are the fastest-growing segment of small business owners in the U.S.

But here is the disconnect: product development, media strategy, and capital allocation still assume a male user by default. That is a mistake. The women’s sports surge proves what happens when you stop designing for men first.

And yet, even in the most visible arenas, the gap remains glaring. At this year’s All-Star weekend, WNBA players were paid just $2,575 to participate — compared to the $100,000 bonuses offered in the NBA. That discrepancy is not just about compensation. It reflects how women's talent and audiences are still undervalued, despite delivering on every metric that matters: growth, engagement, and cultural relevance.

Women are not a side market. We are the market.

Traditional sports bodies copied the men’s playbook for decades. Then, fans began creating something new. Today, women’s sports audiences are younger, more digital, and more likely to be parents. Engagement happens via streaming and TikTok, not sports bars and ESPN.

The same shift is underway in fintech and digital health. The female consumer wants solutions that meet her where she is. This can be anything between school drop-offs, shift work, or postpartum recovery. She wants flexibility, not friction. Accessibility, not authority.

Yet much of mainstream media still defaults to male-centric narratives, outdated formats, and distribution models that overlook how and where women actually engage. This leaves a massive gap - and an even bigger opportunity - for platforms that are willing to build with her, not just for her.

Mukesh Ambani paid $111M for a team in India’s Women’s Premier League. Bob Iger dropped $250M to acquire Angel City FC in LA. This kind of capital signals legitimacy. However, it is the fanbase that drives staying power.

Women’s sports fans are 60% more likely to bring their kids to a game. They build community online. They care about impact. Brands that want to capture long-term loyalty should be thinking the same way: less extractive, more relational.

That means centering trust, transparency, and education - not just selling tickets or merchandise.

Women’s sports are not just playing catch-up. New formats like 7-a-side tournaments, streaming-first leagues, and athlete-led governance models are breaking the mold. This is not about equality. It is about evolution.

The same applies to media.

Why replicate legacy formats built for cable and prime-time slots when younger, more diverse audiences are already building community on TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram? Why center coverage around male-dominated leagues when women’s sports, as well as their fans, are creating something entirely new?

Look beyond the “mini version” of the men’s game. There is white space to build a media ecosystem that reflects the modern fan, not yesterday’s audience.

If you are building in tech, stop asking “how do we market to women?” and start asking, “what does a female-first future look like?”

Women’s sports show us the roadmap:

The takeaway?
Women are not waiting to be included. We are building something better. The only question is who will catch up, and who will be left behind.

🎧 A new Money Memories aired last week. Mesh founder Bam Azizi opened up about his journey from Iran to embedding global finance into everyday platforms and how his personal money memories shaped his mission.

🎓 With student loan forgiveness and repayment back in the headlines, revisit my interview with Michael Lux, founder of Student Loan Sherpa. He breaks down what borrowers really need to know — and how to protect your financial health in a shifting policy landscape.

Listen and subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts, including Apple and Spotify.

📰 In my latest Forbes exclusive, I go deep with Twentyeight Health. The women’s digital health startup is evolving beyond birth control to become a one-stop shop - now including weight management, skincare, and virtual consults all in one platform. I was honored to be able to break this news, big thank you to the team at Needle PR for giving me this chance.

Tap in, subscribe, and share this with anyone looking to stay ahead.

If you are attending any of these upcoming events, let me know. I would love to find time to connect:

This week I asked you all about ARM mortgages, and thanks to your responses, I’ll be covering them on my IG! Follow @ilonaonthemoney if you don’t already.

📌World Athletics monitoring outstanding Grand Slam Track payments to athletes: I was really excited when this track league was announced, and was so bummed when I saw the quality of the racing coverage. No field events, bad camera work, and poor quality production. I’m even more disappointed that athletes aren’t getting paid. I sincerely dream for my two favorite sports, athletics and swimming, to have a wider audience base, and fear that this failure may have set them back another 5 years.

📌With Individual Home Buyers on the Sidelines, Investors Swoop Into the Market: The lede is a bit buried here, because it’s actually investors with fewer than 10 properties that make up the lion’s share of investors:

Till next week
⚽ Ilona