Ruby Asabor built a multimillion dollar empire at 22, spent the past four years investing and advising privately, and returned in 2026 to build in public.
Four arms. One holding company. Everything compounding quietly.
01
Investments
Angel investing and minority equity stakes in cash-flowing, operator-led businesses. Operator quality first. The portfolio is actively being built across multiple categories.
02
Acquisitions
Operator-led SMB acquisitions where Ruby's Impact provides the capital and brand while the operator provides the execution. Cash-flowing businesses that compound without requiring daily presence.
03
Advisory
Strategic partnership for founders and operators at critical inflection points. Application only. Real skin in the game on both sides. Advisory lives within the investments practice — not separate from it.
04
Media
YouTube, newsletter, and podcast — the public thinking layer of Ruby's Impact. Not content for content's sake. The distribution infrastructure that creates trust, deal flow, and advisory credibility.
The Ecosystem
Where to find the work.
01
Investments
Capital · Strategy · Ownership
Ruby's Impact deploys capital alongside strong operators. The portfolio is actively being built. LP co-investment and operator introductions handled privately.
"You helped motivate plenty of young Black women to be educated and paid. Welcome back Ruby."
YouTube — @kaseemrobinson
"Used to watch your videos in college. I'll be graduating as a physician next month. Your planner was unmatched."
YouTube — @thisisudoka4061
"Note takers are money makers is drilled in my head. The OGs gather here."
YouTube — @iamswaggymo
"Ruby your planner helped me make it to the dean's list and today I am on track to six figures because of your work."
YouTube — @crunchychats
"Been a subscriber since the college vlogs and now I have my doctorate and my own business."
YouTube — @seetheslay
"I first found you during a period of deep confusion. You became my first true mentor."
Community — Emmanuella
The Rise Letters
Inside the work. Weekly.
A weekly letter from inside the process — what the deals look like, what broke, what compounded. The thinking behind the decisions. Documented without the filter, every week.
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About
Ruby Asabor. The real story.
First-generation Nigerian-American. Built a multimillion dollar empire at 22. Spent four years rebuilding privately. Now building Ruby's Impact in public — advisory, investments, acquisitions, and media.
FounderInvestorCreatorAdvisor
Who She Is
Ruby Asabor is a founder, investor, and creator. Starting with just a camera documenting her college experience and wealth-building journey — after four years away, six businesses, millions of dollars, and a season of investing, advising, and rebuilding privately — Ruby is now back and ready to share.
BackgroundBiomedicine & Neuroscience
Angel InvestingUS · Africa · Middle East
Speaking100+ Colleges & Universities
YouTube200K Subscribers · Organic
Newsletter38K+ Readers
The Timeline
2016 — Age 19
Kean University, biomedicine, and a YouTube channel
Started a YouTube channel freshman year of college — college vlogs, Money Mondays, and honest content about figuring out money and ambition as a first-generation Nigerian-American student. A personal brand built before anyone called it that.
2017–2021
Money Mondays + First businesses
Weekly content around making, managing, and multiplying money. Documented the journey of building her first six and seven-figure businesses across e-commerce, dropshipping, and service-based businesses — what it actually looks like to be an entrepreneur and build from zero.
2019–2020
The Lavish Life Planner
The Lavish Life Academic Planner — sold 20,000+ copies worldwide. The first proof that the audience trusted her beyond content.
2020–2022
Lavish Life Academy
Built a full-scale education platform. 10,000+ students. 72 countries. Featured in Business Insider, Entrepreneur, and CNBC.
2022–2025
The private years
Closed LLA in April 2022. Spent four years investing, advising, and rebuilding from the inside out. Angel investing across the US, Africa, and Middle East. Advisory for seven, eight, and nine-figure companies.
2026
Ruby's Impact — built right this time
Advisory practice formalized. Investment portfolio in active development. YouTube returning. Newsletter publishing. Building in public with a complete architecture underneath it for the first time.
Ruby's Impact deploys capital alongside strong operators in businesses that align with the portfolio mission. Operator quality first. Mission alignment second. Financial metrics third. Every investment comes with more than a check.
The Ruby's Impact Fund
Started 2021. Investing in founders and operators.
The Ruby's Impact Fund was started in 2021 to fund and invest in founders and operators building businesses worth owning. Operator quality above everything else — the right person running the right business in the right market compounds quietly.
Every investment comes with strategic partnership alongside the capital — operational insight from a team that has built, scaled, and invested across multiple markets.
The portfolio is actively being built. Operator introductions and co-investment inquiries are handled privately via the contact page.
"The check is the smallest part of what gets deployed. Our team brings operational insight and strategic partnership alongside every investment."
What Our Team Brings
→
Operator-first evaluation — the right person running the right business in the right market
→
Strategic partnership alongside the capital — operational insight, not a passive check
→
Operator-first evaluation — the person running the business matters more than the category
→
Network of operators, capital partners, and institutional relationships in active development
Additionally — Advisory
For founders and operators who know something is in the way.
Ruby works with a small number of founders and operators at moments when the gap between where the business is and where it needs to be is clear — and the path through it is not. Her specific gift is diagnostic: she sees the architecture underneath the symptoms.
Not a coaching program. Not a mastermind. A genuine strategic partnership with real skin in the game on both sides. If the engagement reveals a business ready for capital, that conversation is on the table.
Who Advisory Is For
Three situations. One type of founder.
Ruby works best with operators who are talented, directional, and honest about what they don't know.
01
Stabilize to Scale
You have proven the model. Revenue is real. But the business runs on your personal effort rather than a system — and breaks every time you try to step back. This is the gap Ruby is trained to close.
02
Pre-Investment Readiness
You are raising capital and need someone who can tell you honestly whether the business is actually ready — what an investor sees when they look at your numbers, and what needs to be true before you put your equity in someone else's hands.
03
Post-Acquisition Operations
You acquired a business and the operational reality is more complex than due diligence suggested. You need someone who understands both the investment lens and the operator's perspective.
The Terms
Getting started is simple.
Ruby does not offer coaching calls by the hour or group programs. Every engagement is specific to one founder's situation.
01
Submit your application.
Fill out the form below so Ruby can understand where you are, what you are building, and what needs to change.
02
Discovery call.
If there is a fit, Ruby will reach out within two weeks to schedule a call. This is a genuine conversation — not a sales call — to determine whether the engagement makes sense for both sides.
03
Begin the engagement.
If the fit is confirmed, Ruby will outline the structure and terms specific to your situation. Every engagement is different.
Structure
Six-month minimum
Strategic sessions, operational review, deal evaluation, and direct access. The right amount of contact for the situation — not a fixed call count.
Selection
Application only
Ruby works with a small number of founders at any given time. Every applicant is reviewed. The fit has to be right on both sides.
Response time
Two weeks
Every application is read by Ruby directly. If there is a fit, she will reach out to schedule a discovery call.
Advisory — Apply
Work with Ruby's Impact
Applications reviewed on a rolling basis. Ruby responds within two weeks with either a next step or a clear no. All inquiries handled with discretion.
All applications reviewed by Ruby directly · All inquiries handled with discretion
Application received.
Ruby reviews every application personally. If there is a fit, she will reach out within two weeks to schedule a discovery call.
LP & Co-Investment Opportunities
Ruby's Impact sources and evaluates deals across multiple categories. Qualified investors interested in co-investing or participating as LP can express interest here. All conversations handled privately.
Express Interest
Received. Ruby will be in touch.
YouTube ·
Ruby returns. After four years.
Ruby returns to YouTube after four years away. Subscribe to follow the build in real time.
Latest Drop
Watch the latest video.
New videos publish regularly. Subscribe on YouTube to get notified when new content drops.
Ruby's channel is not a media brand with an editorial calendar. It is one person building in public — showing the thinking behind the deals, the decisions, the strategy, and the life alongside it. The content is the proof of concept for everything else Ruby builds.
What you will find on this channel is not produced for the algorithm. It is produced because the thinking is worth sharing — and because the audience that has been watching since 2016 deserves the unfiltered version.
01
Business & Investing
How Ruby thinks about building companies, evaluating founders, deploying capital, and identifying what is actually in the way of the next phase.
02
Wealth Building
The real mechanics of building wealth as a first-generation earner — not theory, not highlight reel. The decisions, the mistakes, the compounding.
03
Life Design
What it actually looks like to design a life alongside the work — the choices, the systems, the tradeoffs, and what it means to build something that serves the life rather than consuming it.
04
Building in Public
The portfolio, the advisory practice, the acquisition pipeline — documented as it happens. Not the polished version. The version that is actually useful.
By the numbers
Ten years. All documented.
200,000 subscribers built over a decade of consistent, honest content. An audience that has watched Ruby build in real time — through college, through the academy, through four years away, and back again.
What a decade of honest content actually produces.
"I watched you at 17 thinking 'I want to be like her.' I'm now 23, running my own company, and you're still the standard I hold myself to."
YouTube comment · Comeback Video
"I discovered you as a pre-med student who was broke and overwhelmed. I'm now a pharmacist with a six-figure salary and a brokerage account. You were part of that."
YouTube comment
"I have watched you since 2016. I have never been so proud of a stranger."
Ny Inniss · YouTube
"The fact that you came back with this level of clarity and intentionality is exactly what I needed to see. That you can reset and rebuild."
YouTube comment · Comeback Video
"You helped motivate plenty of young Black women to be educated and paid. Welcome back Ruby."
@kaseemrobinson · YouTube
"I've followed Ruby since college. I'm now 29, own two businesses, and have a seven-figure net worth. I credit her content with giving me permission to believe it was possible."
Community member · Long-term
Speaking
100+ engagements. Since 2017.
Guest lectures, panels, and keynotes at over 100 colleges, universities, and events since 2017 — including United Nations-adjacent work. Ruby speaks on first-generation wealth building, entrepreneurship, and designing a life by intention.
Topic
First-Generation Wealth Building
Topic
Entrepreneurship & Business Building
Topic
Intentional Life Design
Topic
Investing & Building Generational Wealth
From the desk of Ruby Asabor
The newsletter. The essays. The letters.
A weekly letter from inside the process — what the deals look like, what broke, what compounded. Not a newsletter. A letter. Raw, specific, real. 38,000+ readers. On Substack.
The newsletter. The essays. The letters.
Weekly. Honest. No filter.
Every week Ruby writes a letter — not a post, a letter — from inside the process of building the next chapter. What the deals look like in practice. What broke. What compounded. What changed. The kind of thinking that does not belong on social media.
This is where the full arc gets documented in real time.
A weekly letter from inside the process of building the next chapter. What the deals look like. What broke. What compounded. What changed. The full arc, documented without the filter.
38K+
Readers
Weekly
Every week
72+
Countries
Subscribe to The Rise Letters
"Building a portfolio of companies and a well-lived life — documented honestly, without the filter."
From a biomedicine student with an iPhone to a multimillion dollar empire at 22 — and four years of private rebuilding before the return. This is the unfiltered version of how it happened, and what it produced.
01
The Lavish Life Planner
2019 — 2022
Ruby could not find a planner that matched how her mind worked as a first-generation student managing school, money, and ambition simultaneously. So she built one while still in undergrad. The Lavish Life Academic Planner sold over 20,000 copies worldwide — entirely through word of mouth.
It was the first proof that her audience trusted her beyond content. A physical product, shipped globally, built on the credibility of years of honest YouTube content.
20,000+
Planners sold
Global
Shipped worldwide
"Ruby your planner helped me make it to the dean's list and today I am on track to six figures because of your work."
@crunchychatsLavish Life Planner
"Used to watch your videos in college. I'll be graduating as a physician next month. Your planner was unmatched."
@thisisudoka4061Lavish Life Planner
"I bought your planner freshman year and I just graduated with a 3.8 GPA and a job at a Fortune 500."
YouTube commentLavish Life Planner
"Your planner system is the only reason I passed organic chemistry. I tell everyone about it."
YouTube commentLavish Life Planner
"I've bought your planner three years in a row. First year got promoted. Second year started my business. Third year hit six figures."
Community memberLavish Life Planner
"I still have two of your planners. Your videos helped me get through college and get into professional school."
@JackieeLovee99Lavish Life Planner
02
Lavish Life Academy
2020 — 2022
LLA started as a $1 trial during the pandemic — a trading and financial education community built for people who grew up without a wealth roadmap. Within two years it had grown to 10,000+ members across 72 countries. Featured in Business Insider, Entrepreneur, and CNBC.
Ruby closed it in April 2022. The community it built remains one of the most documented cases of trust-based growth in creator education.
10,000+
Members at peak
72
Countries
"Lavish life academy changed my life. I'm so thankful for the foundation the academy established for me."
@tradingjourney6897LLA Alumni
"I first found you during a period of deep confusion. You became my first true mentor — and I never even met you."
EmmanuellaLLA Alumni
"You motivated me to apply to law school and start my own business simultaneously. I'm now a lawyer and a founder."
@chellyvinoLLA Alumni
"I joined LLA when I was $40,000 in debt. Two years later I was debt-free and had opened my first brokerage account."
LLA AlumniLLA Alumni
"YOU ARE MY FOUNDATION TO the intro of FOREX! I'm FOREVER GRATEFUL!!"
@syoungb5877LLA Alumni
"Been a subscriber since the college vlogs and now I have my doctorate and my own business."
@seetheslayYouTube · LLA Alumni
03
YouTube & The Return
2016 — Present
The YouTube channel started in 2016 — college vlogs, Money Mondays, honest content about building wealth as a first-generation student. It grew to 200,000 subscribers before Ruby stepped back in 2022. Ruby returned April 1, 2026. The comments on the comeback video make that clear — people who became doctors, lawyers, and engineers partly because of what they watched on this channel.
200K+
YouTube subscribers
38K+
Newsletter readers
10 yrs
Documented work
Apr 1
The return · 2026
"I watched you at 17 thinking 'I want to be like her.' I'm now 23, running my own company."
YouTube commentComeback Video
"I literally sent this video to every Black girl I know. We've been waiting for you to come back."
YouTube commentComeback Video
"I discovered you as a pre-med student who was broke and overwhelmed. I'm now a pharmacist with a six-figure salary and a brokerage account."
YouTube commentYouTube
"The fact that you came back with this level of clarity and intentionality is exactly what I needed to see."
YouTube commentComeback Video
"You helped motivate plenty of young Black women to be educated and paid. Welcome back Ruby."
@kaseemrobinsonYouTube
"I've followed Ruby since college. I'm now 29, own two businesses, and have a seven-figure net worth."
Community memberLong-term Community
04
Speaking & Events
2017 — Present
Over 100 speaking engagements since 2017 — guest lectures, panels, and keynotes at colleges, universities, and events. Ruby speaks on first-generation wealth building, entrepreneurship, and designing a life by intention. Including United Nations-adjacent work.
100+
Speaking engagements
Since
2017
UN
Adjacent work
Press Coverage
Documented. Independently.
Ruby's work has been covered by major business and finance media because the story was impossible to ignore.
Business Insider
Featured for building a multimillion dollar business from YouTube while still in college.
CNBC
Covered the Lavish Life Academy model — 10,000 members, word-of-mouth growth — as a case study in community-driven business building.
Entrepreneur
Profiled on building multiple income streams before 25 and the financial literacy gap Ruby's content was closing for first-generation earners.
100+ Colleges
Guest lectures, panels, and keynotes across the university circuit on wealth building and entrepreneurship for the next generation.
The Timeline
The full arc. Year by year.
From a freshman dorm room in 2016 to a private holding company in 2026.
2016 — Age 19
A biomedicine student at Kean University
Started a YouTube channel freshman year. College vlogs, Money Mondays, honest content about figuring out money and ambition as a first-generation Nigerian-American student.
2017
Money Mondays series begins
Weekly content around making, managing, and multiplying money. The format that built the financial literacy following. First speaking engagements at colleges and universities begin the same year. Ruby was still a student when the speaking circuit started.
2019
The Lavish Life Academic Planner launches
First physical product. Sold 20,000+ copies worldwide through word of mouth, while still in undergrad.
2020
Lavish Life Academy
Launched LLA during the pandemic. Built it into a 10,000-member community across 72 countries. Featured in Business Insider, Entrepreneur, and CNBC.
2021
Scaling and the cracks
LLA at its peak. The platform was growing. The infrastructure underneath it was starting to show its limits.
2022
The close
Closed LLA in April 2022. Gave the community advance notice. Refunded what needed to be refunded. Then stepped away from public life entirely.
2022–2025
The private years
Angel investing across the US, Africa, and Middle East. Strategic advisory for seven, eight, and nine-figure companies. UN-adjacent work. Building quietly.
2026
Ruby's Impact — built right this time
Advisory practice formalized. Investment portfolio in active development. YouTube returning April 1. Newsletter publishing. A complete architecture underneath it for the first time.
A Decade of Work
The impact. In their words.
From the first YouTube video in 2016 to 200K subscribers, 10,000 students across 72 countries, and 1,000+ business clients — this is what a decade of building without the filter actually produced. Doctors. Lawyers. Engineers. Six and seven-figure earners.
OG Community
Your story belongs here.
If Ruby's content, the planner, or LLA was part of your story — this is the place to put it on record. The impact archive is a living document. Submit your story and it may be featured here.
Story received.
Thank you for being part of this.
Stories may be edited for length. Your email will never be shared.
Speaking
100+ engagements. Since 2017.
Guest lectures, panels, and keynotes at over 100 colleges, universities, and events since 2017. Ruby speaks on first-generation wealth building, entrepreneurship, and designing a life by intention — including United Nations-adjacent work.
What Ruby Speaks On
The thinking behind the trajectory.
Ruby speaks from the inside of the work — not as someone who studied success, but as someone who built it, closed it, rebuilt it, and is building again. Every talk is specific, honest, and grounded in a decade of real decisions made in public.
01
First-Generation Wealth Building
How first-generation earners build, protect, and grow wealth without a family roadmap — and what changes when you become the blueprint.
02
Entrepreneurship & Business Building
From idea to seven figures — the real sequence, the real decisions, and what the highlight reel always leaves out.
03
Intentional Life Design
The difference between building the life you want and actually living it — and what it takes to design rather than react.
04
Investing & Generational Wealth
What angel investing, acquisitions, and equity stakes actually look like — and why ownership is the only conversation worth having about wealth.
By the numbers
A decade on the stage.
Ruby has been speaking at colleges and universities since 2017 — as a student, as a founder, and now as an investor. The audience changes. The honesty does not.
100+
Engagements
2017
Since
UN
Adjacent work
Now
Booking 2026
What the Room Says
After a decade of showing up honestly.
"I remember when I first met you at John Jay for the panel. I got married, about to graduate from a top law school."
@JehovahnieSaintRose · Event Attendee
"You are one of the most inspirational women I've ever come across in my life."
@TheFirstDyme · YouTube
"You have always given 'if I can do it, so can you' energy."
Gloria Cutter-Shore · LLA Alumni
Book Ruby
Colleges. Corporates. Keynotes.
Ruby is available for keynotes, guest lectures, panels, and corporate events. For event details, audience profile, and inquiry, use the contact form.
Format
Keynote · Guest Lecture · Panel · Workshop
Audience
Universities · Colleges · Corporate · Non-Profit
Contact
Get in Touch
For speaking, brand partnerships, press, operator introductions, and co-investment inquiries. Ruby reads every message.
To apply for advisory, please use the full application form on the Advisory page.
Ruby typically responds within 3–5 business days. For speaking requests, please include your event date and expected audience size. For brand partnerships, please include your brand's mission and audience profile. Alignment with values is required for all partnerships.
