Business

How Berite Labelle Is Translating Her International Modelling Career Into Acting Through Passion and Self-Care

Published

4 years ago

August 3, 2021

Moldovan-born beauty Berite Labelle has shed her chrysalis to emerge as an actor and writer.

For several years, Berite has deconstructed, redefined, and developed her modeling skills into techniques fit for an A-list actor.

The path from the catwalk to the film set is a walk of fame mastered by Hollywood legends including Grace Kelly, Nicole Kidman, and Noémie Lenoir. Naomi Campbell successfully transitioned to the small screen as an actor and performed brilliant comedy roles spoofing herself with perfect timing and delivery. Former model and Emmy Award winner Tyra Banks turned to acting and hosted her eponymous chat show. She also birthed an industry from her modeling career and today has a net worth of $90million.

Passion First

Berite’s passion for communication is at the core of her acting and writing ambitions. She aims for both movies and the stage.

Already established as a successful model in Europe, Berite’s vertical performance started in 2019 when she participated in the World Championship of Performing Arts competition in Long Beach, California. She entered the Spoken Model category and claimed first place. Propelled by her competitive success, she went on to study acting at the New York Film Academy on a partial scholarship. She also competed in dramatics and comic monologues performances in Los Angeles.

During her modeling career, she showcased luxury brands including La Perla and France’s Aubade lingerie house at The Four Seasons Hotel – Geneva, and luxury jeweler Faberge. She also walked the runway for Tiffany’s fashion week in Paris and represented hair giant Toni & Guy.

“At the same time as modeling, I joined a small theatrical company in Switzerland. I decided that it was my mission to become an actor. As well as working with the theatre company, I set about teaching myself English. Communication is key in acting, and the more languages you can communicate in, the better.”

Emotional Intelligence

Berite has acted in music videos and is working on a project where she serves two different roles of important historical women: the last Egyptian Ptolemaic queen Cleopatra and the Victorian English writer Mary Wollstonecraft. Berite is also writing scripts.

“I love communicating in different languages, as shown by competing in California. Today my overarching professional desire is about expression and interchange. I am inspired to communicate as an actor on a deep emotional level. To tell a story non-verbally,” says Berite.

“Acting demands a high level of emotional intelligence that is outward-facing and creative, but you also need to be able to run a business. As an entrepreneur, I am the founder and CEO of my entertainment company – Berite Labelle.”

It is hardly surprising that Berite pivoted toward acting. Adaptation and learning new cultures are hallmarks of her childhood. Born in the tiny former Soviet country of Moldova in Eastern Europe, Berite traveled the world with her Chadian father, who worked for the United Nations. Constant traveling meant new schools, cultures, and languages. Berite thrived until her father died when she was 14 years old. Her family decided to send the teenager to school in Paris, where she fell into bad company.

It took three years for the young woman to determine that she was the only person empowered to change her life. It was an epiphany that changed the course of her life, and she walked away from the shady side of teenage years. At 17 years old, Berite enrolled in a diploma course studying commerce to set a positive direction. As part of her education, she landed an internship with the exclusive Swiss watchmaker and jeweler -Bucherer est 1880. During this time, the young woman understood that her way forward was to become a model. She immersed herself in a sophisticated and creative life.

Dream Big

It was not the first time Berite considered modeling as a career. As a child, a colleague of her father predicted the little girl would become a model. The prophecy triggered Bertie’s lifelong love of fashion, and the little girl’s favorite entertainment was watching Fashion TV. She also took up ballet, which helped her modeling career bloom.

To this day, the entrepreneur continues to dance as both a way to express her creative energy, de-stress, and maintain her physical form. She has also performed in music videos.

Indeed, a successful modeling career requires strict discipline and self-care – two covenants are a must for a career as an actor.

“It is essential to stay in shape, so I still dance, and I also enjoy going hiking, and I practice yoga. Drinking plenty of water is great for your skin, and I have a routine for sleeping and looking after myself,” Berite explains.

“Selfcare is as much of a priority as self-love. When you develop your routine and perform it faithfully, you learn how to love yourself and properly care for yourself. Confidence is important in the world of entertainment. To take good care of others and to love them authentically, you must feel good about yourself. It helps if you never forget about your own needs and feelings,” she says.

Self Care

Berite is a great believer in reading for pleasure as self-care; “reading scripts, books and work-related material counts as self-care.”

Given that Berite is often exploring another person’s character, working on mastering accents, or running her business, she likes to check out of her dynamic workspace through meditation. She has also discovered a rich vein of joy by continuing her education with online acting courses with Acting Center in Los Angeles.

The final thread of Berite’s self-care regime is twice weekly hair and face masks, which she believes are well-earned breaks from a fully engaged life.

Business

High Volume, High Value: The Business Logic Behind Black Banx’s Growth

Published

6 days ago

June 16, 2025

Matthew Wiles

In fintech, success no longer hinges on legacy prestige or brick-and-mortar branches—it’s about speed, scale, and precision. Black Banx, under the leadership of founder and CEO Michael Gastauer, has exemplified this model, turning its high-volume approach into high-value results.

The company’s Q1 2025 performance tells the story: $1.6 billion in pre-tax profit, $4.3 billion in revenue, and 9 million new customers added, bringing its total customer base to 78 million across 180+ countries.

But behind the numbers lies a carefully calibrated business model built for exponential growth. Here’s how Black Banx’s strategy of scale is redefining what profitable banking looks like in the digital age.

Scaling at Speed: Why Volume Matters

Unlike traditional banks, which often focus on deepening relationships with a limited set of customers, Black Banx thrives on breadth and transactional frequency. Its digital infrastructure supports onboarding millions of users instantly, with zero physical presence required. Customers can open accounts within minutes and transact across 28 fiat currencies and 2 cryptocurrencies (Bitcoin and Ethereum) from anywhere in the world.

Each customer interaction—whether it’s a cross-border transfer, crypto exchange, or FX transaction—feeds directly into Black Banx’s revenue engine. At scale, these micro-interactions yield macro results.

Real-Time, Global Payments at the Core

One of Black Banx’s most powerful value propositions is real-time cross-border payments. By enabling instant fund transfers across currencies and countries, the platform removes the frictions associated with SWIFT-based systems and legacy banking networks.

This service, used by individuals and businesses alike, generates:

Volume-based revenue from transaction fees
Exchange spreads on currency conversion
Premium service income from business clients managing international payroll or vendor payments

With operations in underserved regions like Africa, South Asia, and Latin America, Black Banx is not only increasing volume—it’s tapping into fast-growing financial ecosystems overlooked by legacy banks.

The Flywheel Effect of Crypto Integration

Crypto capabilities have added another dimension to the company’s high-volume model. As of Q1 2025, 20% of all Black Banx transactions involved cryptocurrency, including:

Crypto-to-fiat and fiat-to-crypto exchanges
Crypto deposits and withdrawals
Payments using Bitcoin or Ethereum

The crypto integration attracts both retail users and blockchain-native businesses, enabling them to:

Access traditional banking rails
Convert assets seamlessly
Operate with lower transaction fees than those found in standard financial systems

By being one of the few regulated platforms offering full banking and crypto support, Black Banx is monetizing the convergence of two financial worlds.

Optimized for Operational Efficiency

High volume is only profitable when costs are contained—and Black Banx has engineered its operations to be lean from day one. With a cost-to-income ratio of just 63% in Q1 2025, it operates significantly more efficiently than most global banks.

Key enablers of this cost efficiency include:

AI-driven compliance and customer support
Cloud-native architecture
Automated onboarding and KYC processes
Digital-only servicing without expensive physical infrastructure

The outcome is a platform that not only scales, but does so without sacrificing margin—each new customer contributes to profit rather than diluting it.

Business Clients: The Value Multiplier

While Black Banx’s massive customer base is largely consumer-driven, its business clients are high-value accelerators. From SMEs and startups to crypto firms and global freelancers, businesses use Black Banx for:

International transactions
Multi-currency payroll
Crypto-fiat settlements
Supplier payments and invoicing

These clients tend to:

Transact more frequently
Use a broader range of services
Generate significantly higher revenue per user

Moreover, Black Banx’s API integrations and tailored enterprise solutions lock in these clients for the long term, reinforcing predictable and scalable growth.

Monetizing the Ecosystem, Not Just the Account

The genius of Black Banx’s model is that it monetizes not just accounts, but entire customer journeys. A user might:

Onboard in minutes
Deposit funds from a crypto wallet
Exchange currencies
Pay an overseas vendor
Withdraw to a local bank account

Each of these actions touches a different monetization lever—FX spread, transaction fee, crypto conversion, or premium service charge. With 78 million customers doing variations of this at global scale, the cumulative financial impact becomes immense.

Strategic Expansion, Not Blind Growth

Unlike many fintechs that chase customer acquisition without a clear monetization path, Black Banx aligns its growth with strategic market opportunities. Its expansion into underbanked and high-demand markets ensures that:

Customer acquisition costs stay low
Services meet genuine needs (e.g., cross-border income, crypto access)
Revenue per user grows over time

It’s not just about acquiring more customers—it’s about acquiring the right customers, in the right markets, with the right needs.

The Future Belongs to Scalable Banking

Black Banx’s ability to transform high-volume engagement into high-value profitability is more than just a fintech success—it’s a signal of what the future of banking looks like. In a world where agility, efficiency, and inclusion define competitive advantage, Black Banx has created a blueprint for digital banking dominance.

With $1.6 billion in quarterly profit, nearly 80 million users, and services that span the globe and the blockchain, the company is no longer just scaling—it’s compounding. Each new user, each transaction, and each feature builds upon the last.

This is not the story of a bank growing.

This is the story of a bank accelerating.