In this concise interview, Professor Pete Alexander hosts Nidhi Daga, Director of Product Marketing at WePay (a JPMorgan Chase company), who also balances roles as a mother of two, a social entrepreneur, and a laundromat owner. Nidhi explains why she loves fintech: it fuses the traditionally slow-moving banking sector with fast‑evolving technology, enabling seamless B2B2B2C transactions that empower small businesses worldwide. She illustrates this with a personal Etsy purchase that relied on fintech infrastructure. Nidhi recommends Daniel Kahneman’s Thinking, Fast and Slow as essential reading, sharing a shopping‑cart anecdote that demonstrates how anchoring and fast/slow thinking influence consumer decisions, and how marketers can nudge behavior. Her core leadership advice is to cultivate intellectual curiosity—treat projects as experiments, ask “why” and “what if,” and stay flexible to fail and pivot. She recounts her first job as a patient coordinator and office manager at a small clinic, where delivering smiles to patients sparked her passion for customer service and set the foundation for her career shift into healthcare and later fintech. The episode closes with a brief invitation to connect with Nidhi via LinkedIn.
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This is Professor Pete Alexander with the Winning at Business and Life podcast, where business leaders share their insights. It is 6 questions in 7 minutes because successful business leaders are busy and rarely have more time to spare. So let's get to it. Question number 1: In a few sentences, please tell me who you are and what you do.
Sure. Before that, congratulations on increasing popularity of the podcast. I love the format. And I'm humbled to be on the podcast today. My name is Nidhi Dhaga. What do I do? 4 things. I'm a mom of 2 young, highly curious boys. I'm Director of Product Marketing at WePay, a JPMorgan Chase company. I'm a social entrepreneur. And I'm a laundromat business owner.
Nidhi, it's so great to have you on the show, and I really appreciate all the kind words. Question number 2: What's the best thing about working in your industry?
So as you know, I transitioned from healthcare, like a long-term healthcare veteran who transitioned into a fintech industry. Fintech industry is that nexus of banking, financial industry, which has lacked innovation. It's like the slow-moving behemoth. And then you pair it with highly fast evolving technology. And I get to converge them to shape how value transaction, how trade, how commerce happens every day. And that's fascinating to me. For example, I was placing an order for face mask, which in my mind is the new fashion accessory these days. And for my kids, I wanted it personalized. So I went on Etsy. And placed an order. So with this, I was able to reach to the small business owner who is running their business in Montana from their home through this Etsy platform. I'm able to do a value transaction, and behind the scenes within BPAY or with fintech, we get to power those transactions, right? So I think that's the fun part for me. I get to shape, I get to create these trades and transactions And that's fascinating. I also am intrigued by the complexity of fintech. Like, I thought healthcare was complex. Fintech is even more complex. Like, the business model we have is B2B2B2C, and you just have to think of so many stakeholders and the regulations and the compliance. And all of this magic needs to happen. The money needs to exchange hands, and all of this needs to happen seamlessly and flawlessly. And I love that complexity.
Oh, I love that too. And it's the opportunity too, as you describe it. I hadn't thought of this, but it's the opportunity for these small businesses to be able to do business with people from pretty much all over the world that they wouldn't have had that opportunity to do without the fintech. Am I correct?
Yeah, totally. So we are like breaking down these boundaries and borders, right? Like now we don't think about placing an order online and maybe someone's shipping, sitting in India or China or Vietnam is sitting, shipping those goods and services to us. So yeah, it's amazing. And the cool part is there is so much innovation that needs to happen in this space and this is just the beginning. So I'm sort of excited to see where FinTech industry goes and how it evolves.
That's really neat. Me too, actually. Question number 2. 3. I have a fictitious book with all the answers for business. What chapter would you think most companies should read?
Well, I'd love to get a copy of that book. Looks great. Um, I love to read, so this one is hard for me. I would recommend Thinking Fast and Slow from Daniel Kahneman. Um, book offers chock-full of simple but profound psychological, behavioral, and economic examples and insights. That help you make better decisions. Great example, I was on Amazon last night looking for something and then this recommendation comes up of a product that I don't need, but it had $10.99 as a price crossed off and it said $7.99. So they were playing with my psychology there, right? Like $10.99, they anchor me on that price and then they make me feel like, wow, I'm getting a big deal with $7.99. And my fast brain, right, my fast thinking, which is more like just go mundane, just go with the gut, I added it to the cart. And then I paused and my slow brain got thinking, do I need it? I have like 5 similar tools like that in my kitchen. Um, so my slow brain sort of helped me in making that decision making and removed it from the cart, which I'm glad I did. But it's sort of crazy how Fast and Slow Thinking comes in everyday life. And I, as a business leader or a product marketer or as a product builder, I want to use these concepts to nudge the— nudge and influence the consumer behavior. And that's what I like really about this book, how I can take these examples and use them in my day-to-day life.
I love that. It's such a great example that you gave that all of us can, uh, can relate to. So thank you for that. Question number 4, other than the generic work harder, have a great attitude and care for customers. What advice or insight would you give to other business leaders?
I'm a very simple girl, so you will see that. Be curious. After getting lots of experience within an industry, I found myself getting complacent, and I feel like sort of my fast-thinking brain takes over. And I force myself to be curious. I always ask why, what if, how might we solve this problem, What am I missing? I learn something new every day. I challenge my brain and I'm amazed on how much fun it can be. I think of my projects as experiments, right? When you create a hypothesis, run an experiment, learn and pivot. And what I have found is this intellectual curiosity actually has made me a more flexible thinker, which I really appreciate. So I can think fast, I can experiment, I can fail. I'm definitely taking more risks than I used to because I'm not afraid of failing and I know I can pivot. So with intellectual curiosity, like the world, I think someone said, world will always be full of magic and wonder. And I believe that. And I would hope that other business leaders embrace that.
I love that. And it's actually that curiosity that you're talking about. It just opens up the world of possibilities too. Am I correct on that?
Yeah, totally. Like, everything is so amusing. Like, you look at it from a different perspective.
I love it. I love it. Question number 5: What other business leader like yourself would you like to acknowledge and invite to be on my podcast?
So I've been fortunate and I've been inspired by so many business leaders. I have a long list, so I will have to follow up and send that to you via email if that's okay.
Absolutely, I appreciate that. And our final question, question number 6, please tell me about your first job.
This one is tricky for me. So the first, I was fortunate to get a consulting job out of my undergrad campus interviewing process. The first job I actually ended up doing was not the consulting. I found myself working in a small clinic as a patient coordinator And then I became the office manager there. And it's the simplest thing that gave me the most satisfaction, which was putting a smile on patients' face as they walked out of the clinic. And that's where I decided I'm gonna pivot and move into healthcare. And I learned a lot, customer service, how to help people, things that gave me satisfaction. So yeah, it was wonderful. And I did inform the consulting firm that I'm not going to show up. So I did let them know. But it was an amazing journey. I'm glad that first job helped me in shaping my career quite a bit.
And it sure sounds like you made a difference to those patients by having them leave with a smile on their face, because that, that, that makes a big difference to, to, to people, especially if, if they've gone to the clinic for something scary.
Yeah, definitely. And it gives you purpose in life as well, which was really important, especially coming out of undergrad where it's like, it's amazing, you know, things you can explore and do. And I'm glad I found a mission there.
Oh, I love it. So Nidhi, thank you so much for being on the show. How can people find you?
Um, LinkedIn is the best way to reach me. Um, so I know you will connect it on the profile, so, um, Yeah.
Perfect. Well, this is Professor Pete Alexander with the Winning at Business and Life podcast. For more insights and ideas, please go to LinkedIn, YouTube, Facebook, or iTunes and search for the Winning at Business and Life podcast. Thanks for listening.
