[imagesource: Instagram / @nomadictechie]

Meet Lucy Guo, the second richest self-made woman under 40.

Forbes recently ranked her as such after she managed to crack the male-dominated world of tech and gather a sizeable net worth of $440 million.

Let the name-dropping commence.

Other “self-made” stars on the list include Taylor Swift, Rihanna, Maria Sharapova, and Huda Kattan, with Kylie Jenner on top as the richest – albeit dubiously so.

Guo is a bit cooler, though, to be fair. I mean, she didn’t even recognise David Beckham in the lift up to her $6,7 million apartment at the One Thousand Museum in Miami.

But most of all, unlike some of her peers, she actually seems genuinely self-made.

Remember Alexandr Wang, who holds the distinction of being the world’s youngest self-made billionaire at 25 (net worth: $1 billion)?

Yeah, Guo helped him along. Together, they co-founded start-up tech company Scale AI in 2016, which according to South China Morning Post, is currently valued at $7,3 billion.

 

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A post shared by Lucy Guo (@guoforit)

Guo’s tech-savvy has helped her reach incredible heights, which is all the more impressive when you consider that her parents never really wanted her to enter that tech world in the first place:

Guo learned how to code when she was in second grade. While some parents might encourage their children to pursue what they love, this was not the case for Guo, whose parents are both electrical engineers.

Her mum in particular dissuaded her from entering tech, since it is difficult for women to be successful in the field.

But to be wealthy, one must willing to take risks and determined, no matter what others say, right?

Guo went on to study computer science at Carnegie Mellon and then dropped out to pursue a Thiel Fellowship, founded by PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel.

The fellowship gives $100 000 to young people who want to “build new things instead of sitting in a classroom” according to its website.

Guo began making waves after working at the Q&A website Quora and becoming Snapchat’s first female designer, all before eventually making Scale AI a thing:

Guo left Scale AI in 2018, the year she and Wang made it onto Forbes’ 30 under 30 list. She still holds a six per cent stake at the company.

She also has a stake in the venture firm Backend Capital, and another of her tech start-ups called Moment.

Oh look, she’s even visited Cape Town:

 

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A post shared by Lucy Guo (@guoforit)

In February, she also posted photos and videos from Kruger National Park:

 

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A post shared by Lucy Guo (@guoforit)

I can only imagine that she gets some major drive from her parents’ disapproval, who are also not a fan of the fact that she is bisexual:

In a TikTok video, she said, “I have to come out to my parents earlier than expected because I have to create a trust fund for them, ASAP.”

She then showed a screenshot of her telling her dad that she likes both men and women. But the replies indicated that her dad isn’t pleased with her decision to come out.

Whatever feelings she might have about that, she appears to channel them into vigorous and continuous exercise:

Strauss Zelnick might be touted as “America’s fittest CEO”, but it seems that Guo may give the executive a run for his money. She once recorded a three-hour HIIT video on YouTube to show her endurance.

 

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A post shared by Lucy Guo (@guoforit)

She also apparently likes to add runs between 16 and 32 kilometre runs into the mix, working out for a total of 5,5 hours in a day.

There’s no stopping her.

[source:scmp]