Behind the finfluencer: trajectories, sociabilities and the making of a personal finance academy in Argentina

In the modern economy, money is no longer just something we save in a bank or spend at a store; it has become a way of thinking about our entire lives. This shift, known as the financialization of everyday life, encourages people to view their daily choices—from buying a coffee to planning a retirement—as investment opportunities. To help ordinary people navigate this complex world, a new type of guide has emerged: the financial influencer. These are individuals who use social media to teach budgeting, investing, and wealth management, often building massive followings by speaking directly to their audiences. For years, observers have assumed these figures rose to power simply because they were good at using digital platforms, arguing that their authority comes from their ability to capture attention online rather than from any formal training. However, a closer look at how these businesses are actually built suggests a different story, one where the path to becoming a financial guru is paved with traditional corporate experience, university degrees, and deep connections to the banking world.

A recent study by sociologist Clara Ines Otermin Browne challenges the idea that financial influencers are self-made digital stars who succeeded solely through social media savvy. Instead, the research traces the history of a specific Argentine company called Mujer Financiera, which teaches women how to manage their money and invest. By following the career paths of its founder and key partners, the study reveals that the company's success was not a spontaneous viral moment but the result of a long, structured journey through established institutions. The researcher found that the people behind the screen were not outsiders learning to speak the language of finance; they were insiders who had spent years working in large corporations, studying business administration at top universities, and navigating the specific networks that fund new technology companies.

The story begins with Sabrina Castelli, the founder of Mujer Financiera. Before she became a public figure, Castelli was a certified accountant and business administrator who had studied at the University of Buenos Aires. Her early career was spent working for major multinational firms, including the global accounting giant KPMG, where she audited large investment banks. She later worked in the finance and sales departments of technology companies serving the energy and real estate sectors. This background provided her with a deep understanding of how large financial institutions operate, a knowledge base that she would later use to build her own company. The study shows that her transition from a corporate employee to an entrepreneur was not a leap into the unknown but a move within the same world of business management, just shifting from managing a department for someone else to managing her own venture.

As Castelli began to shape her idea for a financial education platform, she did not start from scratch. She entered the established ecosystem of startup support, which includes government programs, university incubators, and private investment funds. In 2018, she participated in a training program run by the Universidad de San Andrés, a private university known for its business school. This program, designed to help new businesses grow, taught her how to pitch her ideas to investors and how to structure her company as a technology startup. Through this network, she gained access to government funding programs intended to support small businesses and promote financial inclusion. The study highlights that these resources were not given to just anyone; they were channeled through specific institutions that acted as gatekeepers, selecting candidates who fit a certain profile of entrepreneurial potential.

The company grew by bringing in partners who filled the gaps in Castelli's expertise. As the business moved from simply creating content to building a digital product, she recruited a co-founder who had worked in the user experience departments of major banks. This partner helped design the app and website to make them intuitive and easy to use, a critical step in making financial tools accessible to people who had never used them before. Later, as the company planned to expand into offering actual investment advice, it brought on a chief financial officer who had spent his entire career in the finance departments of large retail chains and banks. These changes in leadership were not random; they were strategic moves that aligned the company's internal skills with its external goals, ensuring that the business had the necessary corporate and financial knowledge to operate in a regulated market.

The research also uncovers the legal and financial structures that made this growth possible. The company was formed under a specific type of corporate law designed to encourage startups, which allowed it to raise money by selling shares to investors in a way that was not possible for traditional small businesses. This legal framework was part of a broader government effort to create a venture capital industry in Argentina, a system where private investors fund new companies in exchange for a share of their future profits. The study notes that the company's ability to secure funding from international organizations and private investors relied heavily on its ability to present itself as a solution to a national problem: helping women gain access to financial services. By framing their business as a tool for social inclusion, the founders were able to tap into a network of support that included government grants and international development funds.

One of the most significant findings of the paper is that the "influencer" persona is actually a byproduct of this deeper, more traditional process. The study argues that the visibility Castelli gained on social media was not the cause of her success but a tool she used to secure the funding and partnerships she needed to build her company. The authority she commands online is not derived from her ability to go viral but from the formal credentials, institutional connections, and corporate experience she accumulated over years of work. The social media presence is simply the public face of a business that is deeply embedded in the structures of the financial world. The research suggests that the figure of the financial influencer is not a new kind of expert who has replaced the old ones, but rather a new way for established financial professionals to communicate with the public.

The paper concludes that the rise of personal finance academies is not a spontaneous phenomenon driven by the internet, but a result of the steady expansion of finance into all areas of life. These companies are built on a foundation of university education, corporate training, and government policy that has been developing for decades. The people who run them are not outsiders looking in; they are insiders who have learned the rules of the financial game and are now teaching others how to play. The study shows that while the message they deliver is packaged in the language of social media, the machinery behind it is the same machinery that runs the banks and investment firms. This perspective changes how we understand the financialization of everyday life, suggesting that it is not a sudden disruption but a gradual process where the tools and logic of finance are woven into the fabric of daily existence through the work of people who have spent their careers mastering those very systems.