How power actually moves for people trying to get ahead.
Who gets capital and who never sees the term sheet. What tight money does to real lives. Which rules quietly choose winners. Where influence sits when force isn't on the table.
Money, power, and mobility
Power moves quietly. Learn the moves.
Wages stall. Capital concentrates. The rules quietly pick winners. Force was never an option for most of us, but soft power is: narrative, alliances, reputation, and the discipline to keep climbing. This room teaches how money and power actually move, and the moves that get you ahead inside that system. One selfish question for every member: how do I not lose the next decade?
- Outer game
How power moves: capital, wages, rates, rules, and who they quietly favor.
- Inner game
Your moves: unlock your algorithm, harness your alchemy. Repeatable recipes for how you think, decide, ask, and show up.
- Ask Alani
Answers from Nicole's library, cited to the exact piece. Not a chatbot's guess.
The room
Two games. One question.
Every member is here for the same selfish reason: to not lose the next decade. Getting there means reading how power moves, then making your own. Both games, played at once.
Your soft power moves. Unlock your algorithm, harness your alchemy.
Recipes for the engineering mind and the spiritual mind, so you rewire how you show up while the board changes. Mental models you can repeat. Discipline that survives scarcity. Presence that asks without shrinking.
One recipe Before any ask, write the three reasons they'd say yes and the one reason they'd say no. Walk in and say the no out loud first. The engineering mind does the list. The spiritual mind does the walking in.
Two lenses run through every pillar: who stays standing, and who holds the room without holding the power.
Ask Alani, in this room Illustrative preview
- Why did wages stop climbing for people like me, and what changed?
- Who is still getting funded this year, and what do they have in common?
- What does a rate hike actually do to someone with a small business and a mortgage?
Every answer cites the pillar, the piece, and the moment it came from.
Five moves
Five pillars. Each one reads the board, then makes a move.
Take them in order. They run from why you're stuck to who decides the rules, and from habits to soft power.
Read: how power moves Move: your soft power move PublicFree to every member PremiumFull depth for premium members
- 1
Why you're stuck
PublicReadWhy wages and wealth stopped climbing for most people, and which forces did it.
MoveThe mental models and habits that lock you in, and the shift that unlocks a different path.
- 2
Who gets the check
PremiumReadWho still gets funded, who never sees the term sheet, and why the gap is widening.
MoveHow you pitch, who you know, and the presence to ask without shrinking.
- 3
When money gets expensive
PremiumReadRates, credit, and what tight money does to real lives and real startups.
MoveStaying clear and disciplined when scarcity hits.
- 4
Ladders that still work
PublicReadOwnership, skills, and networks that still compound after the old ladders broke.
MoveThe systems you can repeat, plus the meaning and discipline to actually climb.
- 5
Who picks the winners
PremiumReadRegulation and market design that quietly choose who wins, and how to read them early.
MoveBuilding your own leverage on purpose: the story people tell about you, the allies who show up, and the reputation that arrives before you do.
Inside
A library you can question, and a room that answers.
- 01
Read and watch
Nicole's essays, talks, and clips, sorted into the five pillars. Start with the one that describes where you're stuck.
- 02
Ask Alani®
Ask a question and get an answer from Nicole's library, cited to the exact piece and moment. If it isn't in the room, Alani says so.
- 03
Bring your situation
Each pillar has a channel. Post what you're facing and hear from members who are working the same problem.
- 04
Go premium for the moves
The deeper economics on pillars 2, 3, and 5, and the soft power move for every pillar, algorithm to alchemy.
Answers with sources
Every answer links to the piece and the moment. If it isn't in Nicole's library, Alani says so.
Messages with a purpose
No mass messages. Anyone reaching Nicole or another member explains why. You decide whether to connect.
Yours all year
Pillars grow as the economy shifts. Your questions, saved pieces, and channels stay where you left them.
Who's teaching the moves
Nicole Valentine sits where money, power, and mobility meet.
Markets, digital assets, AI in finance, access to capital, inclusion, and the rules that shape all of it. A law and capital markets background with a seat at the policy table. She translates how power and money move, for people who need to move with them.
- Now
- Senior Director, FinTech, Milken Institute Finance
- Policy
- CFTC Global Markets Advisory Committee, Digital Assets Market Subcommittee
- Network
- Goldman Sachs Inclusive Growth Corporate Network
- Before
- Debevoise & Plimpton (M&A, Securities). Cantor Fitzgerald (AGC, VP)
- Trained
- University of Virginia School of Law, JD. American University, BA
- Heard on
- CNBC, Forbes, Yahoo Finance
Soft Power Moves is Nicole's personal room. Views are her own and do not represent the Milken Institute or any organization she advises.
Membership
Start public. Go deeper when you're ready.
Public Free
- Pillars 1 and 4 in full: why you're stuck, and the ladders that still work
- Ask Alani across the public library, with citations
- A channel for every pillar
- Nicole's public posts and clips as they land
Premium Pricing announced at launch
- Everything in public
- Pillars 2, 3, and 5 in full: who gets the check, when money gets expensive, who picks the winners
- The soft power move for all five pillars, algorithm to alchemy
- Ask Alani across the entire library, including premium pieces
- First look at new pillars and room events
Force is loud. Soft power moves.
The room opens soon. Leave your details and you'll hear from Nicole the day it does.