Tiffany James, a 27-year-old African American woman from New York City, turned a $10,000 investment in the stock market into $2 million in just 2 years. Later, she founded Modern Blk Girl, which helps educate women with her investing strategies to help them build wealth.

In 2019, James was struggling with her student loan debt while making ends meet when she followed a coworker’s advice to invest in Tesla stock. The shares at that time were only $60 to $70 each. She decided to take the risk and started gradually investing $4,000.

James, who was then 25 years old, invested a total of $10,000 in long-term LEAPs, S&P SPDR exchange-traded funds, and the stock market, including Tesla and semiconductor chip stocks. Since then, she has grown her portfolio to 2 million dollars.

However, she noticed that the investment and trading community is still dominated by white men. James, who is a daughter of Jamaican and Haitian immigrants, aimed to change that by launching Modern Blk Girl. In this online community, she gives practical investing advice that is encouraging and accessible. With more than 225,000 women, she is happy to share her knowledge with others.

“If you educate a woman, you educate a village,” she told CNBC. “If a mom starts investing, she tells her kids.”

James advises those who want to get started to constantly get ready to invest and think broadly about where to put the investments. She also encourages women not to be afraid, saying that “investing is a necessity, not an option” and it will open doors to greater financial freedom.

“There are scarier things we deal with every day as women,” James said, emphasizing that by making money in the market, “We can live the lives we want to live.”