I'm pretty sure Tesla is referring to her position vs her qualifications here. A company won't usually hire people into senior positions if their qualifications aren't adequate. It's then a case of the employee being promoted up the ranks in line with their performance.

It sounds like Tesla is saying she was promoted, even over others with higher qualifications, precisely because of her contributions.

In jobs that I've had over the years, I've also corrected mistakes made by more senior colleagues and made suggestions that they have not made. But I had no expectation to suddenly be paid as much or more than them.