So this is how the youngest self-made female billionaire actually started? This is Luana Lopes Lara - born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - extremely disciplined childhood - trains ballet 8 hours a day for 8 years - attends the Brazilian Bolshoi Theatre School - excels academically - wins gold in the Brazilian Astronomy Olympiad - wins bronze in a national math olympiad - at 18 moves to Austria - becomes a professional ballet dancer - performs at the Salzburger Landestheater - after 9 months decides to quit ballet - becomes obsessed with technology and entrepreneurship 2014: gets accepted into MIT - studies Computer Science and Mathematics - later completes a Master of Engineering - researches at MIT labs including CSAIL - meets Tarek Mansour at MIT - both become obsessed with prediction markets 2018: they found Kalshi - regulators initially block the idea - a battle with the CFTC begins - multiple rejections - heavy legal costs 2021: Kalshi finally receives regulatory approval - becomes the first federally regulated prediction market exchange in the US - major breakthrough arrives with political markets 2024: Kalshi receives approval to list US presidential election contracts - the first federally approved election prediction market in more than 100 years December 2025: Kalshi raises $1 billion - company valuation reaches $11 billion - Luana owns about 12% of the company - estimated net worth: $1.3 billion - at 29 years old the former ballet dancer who became a billionaire in prediction markets.