Speaker, researcher, and founder. I study how the next generation is built around money, and I teach the people who serve them how to earn trust. Here’s where that comes from.
For most of my adult life, I could not understand why I had nearly crippling anxiety and avoidance around my finances. I had all the knowledge and education I needed around personal finance, but when it came to making the decision to buy a home or even looking at my bank account, I would do anything to avoid it.
Part of this, I later discovered, was due to an ADHD brain, but we also live in a world of increasing distrust and noise, which leads many of us to overwhelm and often a complete shut down.
Over half of consumers today are avoidant with their finances, and I am committed to helping them. I founded the education nonprofit, FirstHome IQ, and I have worked with thousands of leaders to help them understand the complexities of today’s modern mind facing financial decisions.
I apply the strategies I have learned from working with over 150 companies in helping them develop go-to-market strategies, and I pull from my background in social work, where I learned how to build trust with those who had lost trust in the system.
So, when you hear me speak about the TRUST Framework, or when you take the Built Like That quiz, know that it all comes from this story. It’s about using radical acceptance as a business strategy and building trust in a world that desperately needs it.
I worked predominantly with recent immigrants and the unhoused, both locally and some internationally. The biggest learning during my time in that role was the importance of building trust with traumatized or skeptical clients. I utilized a Trauma-Informed approach, which I have integrated into my speeches and consulting.
In 2012, I started a business with the mission of helping financial institutions better reach and serve young and diverse consumers through financial literacy and homeownership. In 2020, I sold Cultural Outreach to NAMMBA and continue to support their mission to support sustainable homeownership.
Over the past decade, I have performed a variety of consulting services, mostly focused on go-to-market strategies and research in young and diverse markets. I launched a children’s product from Palestine that is now in Nordstrom’s and other stores across the country. And among other businesses, I launched translation services in healthcare facilities and social services.
I worked on product, marketing and sales with fintech startups that either sold or remain profitable. And lastly, I have worked with many banks and lenders in improving their strategy to increase access and effectiveness in low-to-moderate income and BIPOC communities, resulting in increased loan volume and CRA compliance.
Echo Park, Los Angeles. A fourteen-year-old dog named Annie. A monthly horror movie club. Family in Oklahoma, where I grew up and still go back to as often as I can.
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