Against All Odds: How Finance Content Creator Neha Nagar Went from a Village in UP to Finding Fame

On Neha Nagar’s Instagram page, you’ll find her confidently breaking down financial jargon, decoding mutual funds, and making complex financial decisions relatable to the average, middle-class Indian. With over two lakh followers, a growing team, and industry recognition to her name, she’s become one of the most trusted voices in the personal finance content space. But the little-known bit is that her story is one of defying the odds. Neha’s journey began in a small village in Uttar Pradesh, where girls were rarely encouraged to study beyond school, let doll out financial advice.

“Girls being encouraged to study was a far-fetched idea. Among my cousins, and in my extended family, no woman had ever worked formally,” she said.

Starting in an environment like that, Neha is now an inspiration for her entire village.

Girls being encouraged to study was a far-fetched idea. Among my cousins, and in my extended family, no woman had ever worked formally.

Today, she’s a full-fledged entrepreneur, a mother, and a trailblazer for women in finance. She has defied all odds, and notions of ‘women and finance don’t go along’ to build an empire. She has braved taunts, negativity, and trolling, to chart a career on her own terms, which is rooted in truth and resilience.

Her introverted personality has given way to a chatty, easy-going personality, who warms up to anyone she’s speaking to. However, getting here was a road laden with multiple challenges, comments, questions and hurdles.

Switching Schools, Switching Worlds

Neha’s formative years were full of shifts and changes that left a lasting impression on her personality.

For the first part of her life, Neha, the oldest of three siblings, studied in a government Hindi-medium school. In her village, barely anyone took studying seriously. “They’d finish class 12, at best, and then get married or get into farming, or small businesses,” she said.

When she was about 11 or 12 years old, her father decided to shift to Ghaziabad, and then put the children in an English-medium school.

In her older school, people would address each other as ‘behenji’, but in her new school, that wasn’t the norm. She encountered moments of isolation. “Once I asked someone what a projector meant,” she recounts. “They explained, but then they went and sat somewhere else.”

After scoring well in Class 10, Neha’s father enrolled her in a more prestigious, well-known school, one that was worlds apart from the ones she’d attended before.

He earned little, around Rs 1000- 2000 a month, but wanted to secure his children’s education. He was well-intentioned, and his labour has paid off, with all three siblings doing well for themselves now.

But the constant shifts, from village to city, Hindi-medium to English-medium, government to private, had left little room for stability for Neha. “With so many changes, my confidence never really had a chance to be formed,” Neha says, with a faint, wistful smile.

With so many changes, my confidence never really had a chance to be formed.

Fighting to Work: Being the First Girl from Her Village to Formally Earn

During festivals or while visiting her grandmother’s house, she’d routinely hear, “You’ll have to get married soon.” It was well-intentioned, but plagued Neha, as she feared she’d have to stop pursuing her career if she did.

Neha decided to focus on her studies instead of paying heed to the people around her. She eventually decided to clear the CA examinations but was unsuccessful, despite multiple attempts.

“The pressure was extremely high. Never before had people had higher expectations from anyone in the family, nor had so much money been spent on someone’s education before, let alone a girl’s education,” she said.

She decided to work at a BPO to raise money to fund her MBA. “Even to work, I had to put up a brave fight,” she sighed

A couple of odd jobs later, she completed her MBA from Indraprastha College. In this phase, she tried a range of hobbies, from featuring in a commercial to acting gigs to dance competitions, and even participating in a beauty pageant!

Through placements, she landed a job with IIFL Wealth, where she learnt all the fundamentals of wealth management, the stock market and more.

From Finance Graduate to Finance Creator

She was around 24, flourishing well in her new job, when her parents were very keen on getting her married. Through an arranged marriage system, she met her now husband, Deepak, who was a CA, and supported her working post marriage.

In her in-laws' family, too, no woman had ever worked. Navigating a work-life balance in a system that had never seen a woman step out for work was a new challenge.

It was her curiosity to try new things, and an insatiable hunger for more that kept her going. She eventually left her job to build a new platform, Taxation Help. It was a one-step platform for any queries regarding taxation, from GST to ITRs. They’d outsource when needed, and do it in-house when they could.

She wanted her husband to start making online content, based on the queries she’d get regularly, but he wasn’t interested. So she started herself on TikTok. Her third video blew up. That’s how the content creation journey started, and there was no looking back. TikTok shut down in a couple of months, and then she shifted to Instagram.

She was among the first few Indian women to speak about financial products, crypto, insurance, and wealth-building. “There were creators like Rachna Ranade ma’am on YouTube, and some others doing motivational content, but nobody was doing short-format content around finance,” she added.

Her content was simple, inclusive, Hindi-first, and practical. It clicked with the audience, and lakhs of followers started pouring in. Within just six months, she’d reached the milestone of six lakh followers. Brand deals, event invites, and more followed.

“I looked at it from a business point of view,” she explains. “Content creation isn't just creativity. Its distribution. Helping with distribution. And we earn from that distribution.”

Her brother was managing her, and eventually, together they started a finance creator management company, called DigiWhistle.

Content creation isn't just creativity. Its distribution. Helping with distribution. And we earn from that distribution.

Even though she enjoys the business side of things, her heart lies with content creation.

Dealing with Visibility: From Trolls to Responsibility

Initially, when she started, people would troll her and comment on ‘everything.’

“They used to comment saying things about everything, ranging from my eyes, nose, pronunciation, and clothes. It felt like people were out there just to spew negativity,” she said, sounding a bit riled up.

But that’s reduced now, with many female creators entering the space.

However, there is an overarching perception that men understand finance better, which persists, and she’s felt that sometimes at meetings and events.

Another added aspect of her job is being responsible, as financial advice for people can have far-reaching implications.

She picks brands she endorses with a lot of caution, and only after they’ve passed through many levels of checks.

Becoming a Mother

Through the interview that we conducted with her at her home in Greater Noida, her daughter, Siya, crawls and waddles around her. She often breaks off her train of thought to instruct her househelp to feed her daughter or change her clothes.

She’s deeply invested in everything her daughter does. She describes the motherhood journey to have been “difficult, challenging, but also beautiful”.

But in the beginning, it wasn’t as easy. She opens up about her experience of postpartum depression, and said, “The day my daughter was born, I just started crying. For no reason. For hours,” she says. “Everything had been okay during pregnancy, but something switched after delivery. And three days later, I was shooting again.”

It was shooting and making content that brought her pure joy.

It was when Siya turned six that motherhood became a more demanding role. It was the responsibilities that followed that finally led her to take a break, to focus on her daughter. She’s now slowly returning to content creation after being a “full-time mother” for a year.

She now derives the most joy when people walk up to her in malls or when she attends events to tell her how her content has helped them.

In her village, she’s quite the hero. “People have started looking up to me. If anyone wants to pursue a career, join a course, or apply for a job, their parents suggest that they speak to me first. Two other girls from her village are pursuing careers now,” she said. “It sparks hope among other women.”