Navigating the fintech world as an Orthodox Jewish woman

Female leaders in fintech often feel that they are the only woman in a room. Miriam Sheril, who leads the US product team for London-based payment technology firm Form3, is even more in the minority.

“There aren’t many other women in the room who are also Orthodox Jews,” she said.

Women in the financial industry face countless challenges, from get representation in leading roles to obtain risk capital financing for the companies they lead. The restrictions of Orthodox Judaism—or of any religion that has rules or customs that affect work schedules, diet, and family obligations that may be unfamiliar to the general population—add layers of complexity.

Sheril received her bachelor of science in computational mathematics and a master’s degree in information systems. She spent 15 years in the Federal Reserve Banks system, most recently construction and design FedNow since its inception as head of core product manager, before joining Form3 in June 2022 to scale its US presence. As is customary in Orthodox Judaism, she married young — in her case, a month before turning 20 — and had a 10-month-old baby when she first interned at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

“I wasn’t interested in payments originally, just technology,” she said. “When I was at the Fed, I became a certifiable payments geek.”

In an interview, she talks about how she has overcome misconceptions about the role Orthodox Jewish women play in business both inside and outside her community, how she mentors other women to balance work and home life, and her tricks to avoid phrases that undermine a woman’s credibility.

How often do you meet other Orthodox Jews in fintech or at the Federal Reserve?

MIRIAM SHERIL: There were Orthodox Jewish women who worked at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, but not tons. It is difficult. Culturally, we marry young and have young children, and large families are the norm. The standard is anyway, pregnancy is nine months and maternity leave [takes] months. At the end of the day, the numbers don’t add up. If you have six children, you are pregnant six times and take six maternity leaves. Having a career and entering corporate America is not easy for a woman in my world, although I have many friends who do. At the New York Fed, technology is specifically a place where women in my community go.

Why do you think that is?

Within technology, there have been several opportunities for schooling that is flexible. You can get a computer science degree at night. Especially when I started in Form3, I heard how there are so few women in technology. Whereas for our society, if women are going to enter corporate America, they often start in technology.

What does it mean to often be the only Orthodox Jewish woman in the room?

That means you have to lay it out in advance and push it forward. I am a blabbermouth and share things all the time. Orthodox Jewish women cover their hair when they get married, so wearing a wig is a big deal. There are situations where I’ll be like, “Oh, I’ve got to go adjust my wig, I’ll be right back,” and people will be like, ‘What you?!’ I’ve learned over the years to be aware and that I shouldn’t assume everyone knows.

In New York, many people knew about the customs. But when I worked with people in [other cities] on FedNow I suddenly noticed this shift – they’ve heard of Judaism, but what exactly is kosher? You need a certificate, I thought it was just that you can’t eat pig? At Form3, the acceptance and conversations are so open, but there is much less awareness. I am lucky that I have never had a negative reaction. I always got, “Wow, that’s really interesting.”

I take off all the Jewish holidays. At the New York Fed, everyone knows about Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, the big ones. Then I go to the festival of Sukkot, which no one knows about, and there are two parts to it. There is a lot to explain. When I applied to Form3 and knew they were going to make an offer, I realized I shouldn’t assume they know I have to sign off early on Friday for the Sabbath in the winter. The culture at Form3 is fantastic. Many people ask, “Are you okay with questions?” They are super curious.

What kinds of false views have you corrected during your career?

I have to pay attention to food and [explain] that kosher is not the same as vegetarian. I have encountered questions like “You are an Orthodox Jewish woman and you are allowed to work?” That tends to be where I get most vocal – yes, we are allowed to work, and many women do. Someone once said, “Don’t you need more children?” as if it were a requirement. I thought, no, that’s not how it works. The woman can say whether she wants more children.

You have received very positive reactions. What can others do to increase the chances of the same?

Part of that may have to do with how you share things. I am not self-conscious about being religious. I was raised in an intellectual family, which makes me very open to intellectual conversations. It’s also fair to say, it’s not a topic I’m comfortable discussing.

Was it difficult to get accommodation in the Fed?

I’ve always had plenty of sleepovers at work. When the Fed offered me a job, the first thing I talked about was, what kind of external options do you offer? Back then, there was no full-time remote control. But I had a 10 month old as an intern. I usually went three days a week and worked from home two days a week.

The FedNow program was so busy and I worked very long hours, I had to be good at it. I would push things to the last minute on Fridays. I had to be stronger on my own to be like, you don’t have to be on that call, it will be dealt with or it won’t and you’ll deal with it on Sunday.

Where I have struggled with accommodation is in my community. My husband and I send our children to private Jewish schools and I have always noticed this trend of assuming that the mothers are at home. But I was naive to think it was only in my world. All the women I’ve talked to, Jewish or not, have the same problem. The world still doesn’t have room for the fact that both parents can work full-time jobs.

To give my husband credit, he’s always had to work with me, and he’s always wanted to. Not many men in my community are used to a woman [working full-time]. It has been interesting for us to navigate. Right now my husband carpools in the morning every day because I start early. Most of the husbands do not carpool.

How have you mentored women in your community about juggling work and home commitments?

It happened naturally. When I moved into my current community in Clifton, New Jersey, people would say my daughter is starting at Bloomberg, can she chat with you? I talk to them about how I’ve made it work. Another thing I guide people to do is to interview every other year anyway. You should know if you are marketable and what your salary offers might be. Every two years I used to update my resume and interview to see what was out there. For the first eight to nine years of my career, I always got a higher offer salary-wise, but I never got the flexibility of a remote schedule to match. With [three kids] I didn’t want to risk losing it. Now there is another conversation.

How have you changed the habit of underselling yourself?

I would constantly say in a meeting, “This is probably a stupid question” or “I’m so sorry, but can I just ask you….” But no men would say that, even when they said something stupid. I realized that we enabled this idea that maybe I’m not as much of a thought leader as the man sitting next to me. I noticed I was doing that on FedNow – where I wrote the requirements – until a woman pinged me to say you realize everyone in this room knows you know this better than all of us. I literally put a note on my computer to remind myself when I was in meetings, don’t say I’m sorry, don’t say “this is stupid”. Now it’s out of my language.