PRESS RELEASE > Female-led Stiletto Staircase Prepares High School Students for “Real” World

Wish you’d learned about money before you left high school? That’s what female-led financial education start-up, Stiletto Staircase, is aiming to do.

“If someone had told me how expensive and complicated life was after school, I’d be in a much better financial position now” admits Stiletto Staircase founder, Ayalah Gelnay. “High school students aren’t equipped with the financial literacy and life skills to prepare them for their future. I want to change that.”

Stiletto Staircase exists to give high schoolers practical tools and tips to prepare for adulthood. They cover a variety of topics from understanding superannuation and how credit card interest works, to the best ways to buy your first car without going into debt, repaying a HECS loan, and savings strategies.

The financial education business was founded by mum of three, Ayalah Gelnay, after being made redundant from her senior sales role at News Corp during Melbourne’s first lockdown in 2020. "COVID-19 presented me with the opportunity to formalise a financial literacy business that I’d been working on behind the scenes.”

Ayalah continues, "At News Corp, I couldn't believe how many of the junior staff didn't know what a group certificate was for. One team member had accrued a $1,000 eTag bill as she didn’t know she needed to pay to use toll ways! It was then I identified that financial basics are skills that everyone needs regardless of socio, economic or cultural background."

It was during her 13 years in media, where Ayalah mentored junior staff on financial basics, that the idea for Stiletto Staircase was born.

Stiletto Staircase offers customised workshops to match the needs of each school. "A lot of time, energy and research goes into each workshop as we tailor the content. Some schools have us in the classroom every fortnight.” Ayalah continues, “The students love it because we make it interactive with games, prizes and relatable scenarios.” And the students agree, with a year 12 student from Shelford Girls' Grammar in Melbourne’s south stating, "This was a great workshop [Goals, Superannuation and HELP Loans] and helpful for me to gain financial confidence."