In this episode, I interview Valkyrie Holmes, founder and CEO of Faura. Valkyrie and her female co-founder are working at the intersection of climate, insurance, and technology. Valkyrie’s journey is incredibly impressive - from working at NASA, to engineering for SpaceX’s Falcon team, and now leading a female-founded startup tackling the insurance crisis of natural disasters. She shares how insurance plays a crucial role in society’s resilience, and why it’s time to rethink traditional risk models. Instead of just identifying high-risk properties, her company is pioneering solutions to make them more insurable, offering underwriters actionable insights grounded in climate science.

Valkyrie also shares the power of putting yourself out there, and why young people shouldn’t wait to chase big opportunities. She opens up about the importance of visibility for women in leadership in niche and interesting industries, especially STEM, and her commitment to helping other women and young founders. Like many, Valkyrie didn’t plan to work in insurance, but it has become an industry she loves and respects, and she is here to make it better in more ways than one.