WEBVTT - Throwback Episode: Financial Hype Woman Berna Anat 0:00:00.120 --> 0:00:03.200 Hey, hey, bea fam mandra here. I just first want 0:00:03.200 --> 0:00:06.640 to say thank you so much. We have been overwhelmed 0:00:06.760 --> 0:00:11.800 by so many beautiful messages of support and condolences for 0:00:12.000 --> 0:00:15.800 Tiffany and the entire Alice and Smith family. Just in 0:00:15.840 --> 0:00:19.200 case you haven't heard, it's really difficult to even share this. 0:00:19.520 --> 0:00:21.159 I think it's the first time that I've said it 0:00:21.200 --> 0:00:24.920 out loud to you guys versus just a social media post. 0:00:25.000 --> 0:00:31.520 But last month, very suddenly and unexpectedly, Tiffany lost her husband, Jerelle, 0:00:31.760 --> 0:00:37.320 who you guys know better as Superman Jorelle. I can't 0:00:37.360 --> 0:00:40.960 even put into words how special a human this man was. 0:00:41.159 --> 0:00:43.440 If you've listened to our show for a while, it 0:00:43.479 --> 0:00:47.400 wouldn't take you long to realize just how special Tiffany 0:00:47.440 --> 0:00:51.440 and Jerell's relationship was. He will always be her Superman. 0:00:51.600 --> 0:00:54.600 He will always be an amazing father to his daughter, 0:00:54.720 --> 0:00:58.480 Supergirl aka Alissa. Thank y'all for your patience as we 0:00:58.520 --> 0:01:02.160 give Tiffany time to hear through this really difficult time, 0:01:02.320 --> 0:01:05.759 especially around the holidays. If you would like to send 0:01:05.800 --> 0:01:09.200 your support to Tiffany and her family, the best way 0:01:09.240 --> 0:01:12.480 to do that is to keep Jarrell's memory alive. And 0:01:12.520 --> 0:01:15.160 you can do that by making a donation whatever you 0:01:15.240 --> 0:01:18.720 can to one of two charities that were going to 0:01:18.800 --> 0:01:21.600 link in our show notes. That is United Way of 0:01:21.680 --> 0:01:25.280 Greater Newark and the Apostles House of Newark. Thank you 0:01:25.319 --> 0:01:27.800 again for all of your support. If you're unable to 0:01:27.800 --> 0:01:31.600 make a donation, that's totally fine. What we've asked everyone 0:01:31.640 --> 0:01:35.560 to do is just honestly check in on a neighbor, 0:01:36.120 --> 0:01:39.440 check in with your family, check in with a friend. 0:01:40.360 --> 0:01:44.480 Small acts of kindness were what Jarrell was all about. 0:01:44.920 --> 0:01:47.000 He was the kind of person who would call up 0:01:47.040 --> 0:01:49.440 friends and family in the morning every day to check in, 0:01:50.160 --> 0:01:53.720 drop in to fix someone's broken appliance just because he 0:01:53.760 --> 0:01:57.200 had a few extra minutes. He was a truly special, 0:01:57.680 --> 0:02:02.000 kind human being and he loved life, love loved his community. 0:02:02.440 --> 0:02:05.639 So if you want to keep Jarell's memory alive again, 0:02:06.000 --> 0:02:08.840 any small act of kindness in your community or with 0:02:08.880 --> 0:02:11.200 your loved ones is a wonderful way to do that. 0:02:12.120 --> 0:02:14.800 I really hope that we will be back soon. In 0:02:14.840 --> 0:02:18.960 the meantime, I hope you enjoy this throwback episode today's show, 0:02:20.680 --> 0:02:24.080 just to bring it back. Bring it back, Mandy, I'm 0:02:24.080 --> 0:02:28.360 shaking shrugging my shoulders back. Y'all, I'm really excited to 0:02:28.360 --> 0:02:30.520 share today's episode with you. This is one of our 0:02:30.960 --> 0:02:34.280 one of my favorite guests of twenty twenty one, the 0:02:34.320 --> 0:02:37.760 one and only Berna A. Natt. She's a finfluencer, yes, 0:02:37.840 --> 0:02:40.680 that's the thing, and Berna has made a career out 0:02:40.680 --> 0:02:45.560 of making financial literacy fun, accessible and approachable for more 0:02:45.760 --> 0:02:49.040 young people. Everywhere, Berna breaks down everything from paying off 0:02:49.080 --> 0:02:52.720 debt to enjoying your income. She is the financial hype 0:02:52.720 --> 0:02:55.640 woman that we all need in our lives. And if 0:02:55.680 --> 0:03:00.520 you haven't checked out her new podcast, Money Please with Betches, 0:03:00.600 --> 0:03:02.280 you have got to check it out. Go to betches 0:03:02.320 --> 0:03:06.360 dot com or download Money Please. Wherever you find podcasts 0:03:06.440 --> 0:03:10.400 like Brown Ambition. Without further ado, here is a throwback 0:03:10.520 --> 0:03:13.800 episode with our beloved co host Berna Annette. 0:03:14.360 --> 0:03:17.360 Hey Hey, Hey, ba fam Please follow us on Apple 0:03:17.440 --> 0:03:22.280 Podcasts and keep our audience growing. If your iPhone recently 0:03:22.400 --> 0:03:27.720 updated to iOS fourteen point five, head to Apple Podcasts, 0:03:28.000 --> 0:03:31.200 search for Brown Ambition and click on the plus button 0:03:31.600 --> 0:03:34.760 in the upper right hand corner. Do that and you'll 0:03:34.760 --> 0:03:38.640 be following our show Loop Woop. You can also follow 0:03:38.760 --> 0:03:43.600 us on Spotify on Stitcher or on the Amazon Music app. 0:03:43.880 --> 0:03:45.000 You wouldn't have to do all that them, you know, 0:03:45.040 --> 0:03:46.960 if you had to Android, But you know Apple, that's fine. 0:03:46.960 --> 0:03:49.520 It's fine. And now onto our show. 0:04:05.880 --> 0:04:09.920 Heyba fam Mandy. Here we continue this week with our 0:04:10.080 --> 0:04:13.160 summer co host series. And I have to tell you, guys, 0:04:13.240 --> 0:04:16.800 I have had the biggest social media crush on this 0:04:16.880 --> 0:04:20.560 woman ever since I discovered her page and ig earlier 0:04:20.560 --> 0:04:24.000 this year. And they say, don't ever meet your sheroes 0:04:24.080 --> 0:04:27.480 because you may be disappointed. But this was such a 0:04:27.480 --> 0:04:30.720 delightful conversation. You guys are going to laugh, you are 0:04:30.720 --> 0:04:33.960 going to be inspired, and you are going to go 0:04:34.320 --> 0:04:38.159 follow at hey Berna on all social media channels because 0:04:38.160 --> 0:04:40.520 you are going to love her, I hope as much 0:04:40.520 --> 0:04:43.080 as I do. So let me get to the point 0:04:43.080 --> 0:04:46.719 here and introduce today's guest co host. Her name is 0:04:46.760 --> 0:04:51.000 Berna Annette. Berna is an award winning financial hype woman. 0:04:51.400 --> 0:04:54.839 Yes that is a title, let's manifest it, which is 0:04:54.920 --> 0:04:57.640 basically her made up way of saying that she creates 0:04:57.680 --> 0:05:01.279 financial education media that lives at at hey Berna all 0:05:01.400 --> 0:05:05.640 over the Internet. After Berna slaid her fifty thousand dollars 0:05:05.640 --> 0:05:08.440 of debt, she saved up to quit life and has 0:05:08.480 --> 0:05:11.240 been traveling the world trying to make money fun again 0:05:11.320 --> 0:05:15.280 ever since. Berna is actually joining us today despite the 0:05:15.320 --> 0:05:17.640 fact that she is in what she calls a book 0:05:17.680 --> 0:05:21.000 writing cave. Yeah, she is working on her very first book, 0:05:21.360 --> 0:05:25.680 fourteens and young adults about slaying their own personal finance challenges. 0:05:26.160 --> 0:05:27.720 I am thrilled, So let me get out of the 0:05:27.760 --> 0:05:31.120 way of myself and get to this interview. Here is 0:05:31.279 --> 0:05:36.719 your co host for the week, Berna Annatt. Hey Berna, Hi, Mandy. 0:05:37.200 --> 0:05:40.680 This is so wild, Like I feel the same. I mean, 0:05:40.720 --> 0:05:44.360 Brown Ambition was my first favorite financial podcast. It still is. 0:05:44.760 --> 0:05:46.279 It's still the one that I recommend to people, and 0:05:46.320 --> 0:05:49.000 people are like, what's your most You're fit. I'm like, 0:05:49.040 --> 0:05:51.080 everyone's just stopped talking. It's brand Ambision and that's the 0:05:51.160 --> 0:05:53.520 end of the sentence. And so it's so wild that like, 0:05:54.760 --> 0:05:56.839 eventually in a couple days, I'll be hearing my voice. 0:05:56.839 --> 0:05:59.640 You just said my voice. That's so wild. I'm so 0:05:59.640 --> 0:06:00.760 so honored to be here. 0:06:01.200 --> 0:06:04.760 Well, hey Berna, so Berna, you describe yourself as a 0:06:05.000 --> 0:06:08.440 financial hype woman, which I'm so jealous of because that 0:06:08.480 --> 0:06:11.800 has got to be the best title in the history 0:06:11.839 --> 0:06:14.800 of personal influencers. What do you mean when you say 0:06:14.839 --> 0:06:16.280 you're a hype woman? What does that mean? 0:06:16.720 --> 0:06:19.000 Oh my gosh, that's completely made up, first of all, 0:06:19.000 --> 0:06:22.240 and so that should be just inspiration to anyone of 0:06:22.279 --> 0:06:25.400 any age that you can totally make up your job 0:06:25.600 --> 0:06:27.040 and just kind of if you bring it and fake 0:06:27.080 --> 0:06:29.320 it till you make it eventually cool, people will ask 0:06:29.360 --> 0:06:31.160 you to be on their podcast and they'll they'll say 0:06:31.200 --> 0:06:33.160 the words even if you just made it up, and 0:06:33.200 --> 0:06:36.080 I'll I it's a career, and suddenly it's a career. 0:06:36.400 --> 0:06:39.159 Very difficult to explain to my immigrant parents what that is, 0:06:39.200 --> 0:06:41.760 so they just think I work in money and communications. 0:06:41.800 --> 0:06:44.919 But financial hype woman is something I made up a 0:06:44.960 --> 0:06:48.039 few years ago because hype is one of the things 0:06:48.080 --> 0:06:51.159 I thought was missing from the financial world. So that's 0:06:51.160 --> 0:06:52.720 one reason I was like, I want more. I want 0:06:52.760 --> 0:06:54.920 there to be more joy, more hype, And by hype 0:06:54.960 --> 0:06:59.760 I mean energy, happiness, excitement, especially like there are no 0:07:00.839 --> 0:07:03.840 trumpets or foghorns that play when you do exciting financial things. 0:07:03.880 --> 0:07:05.640 A lot of these things that we do in our 0:07:05.640 --> 0:07:09.320 financial lives typically happen in like a dark, sad corner 0:07:09.440 --> 0:07:12.040 of the Internet or like us hunched over our phones, 0:07:12.080 --> 0:07:14.720 and so I wanted to bring hype energy, excitement so 0:07:14.720 --> 0:07:17.040 you feel encouraged to do things. And if you think 0:07:17.040 --> 0:07:19.840 about a hype woman on stage, typically a hype person 0:07:19.920 --> 0:07:24.240 on stage, they are behind the main performer or rapper 0:07:24.320 --> 0:07:26.640 or singer, and they're just like they're the person that's 0:07:26.680 --> 0:07:29.640 just bringing the energy while the artistic person's doing the art. 0:07:30.360 --> 0:07:33.440 And that's how I want people to envision me in 0:07:33.480 --> 0:07:36.360 their financial lives. Like you're the one in the front 0:07:36.360 --> 0:07:39.000 seat of your financial life. You're doing the earning and 0:07:39.040 --> 0:07:41.600 the paying and the bill paying and the goals. And 0:07:41.640 --> 0:07:43.040 I just want people to imagine me in the back 0:07:43.120 --> 0:07:46.400 like feel just like repeating things and dancing behind you 0:07:46.440 --> 0:07:48.800 in the back, like I'm keeping your energy yep. Like 0:07:49.200 --> 0:07:51.040 my purpose is to keep your energy up. And that's 0:07:51.040 --> 0:07:53.040 what I want to bring to the money world. 0:07:53.120 --> 0:07:54.720 I don't know how you have the stamina to do 0:07:54.800 --> 0:07:57.000 what you do on Instagram. If you guys don't follow Berna, 0:07:57.080 --> 0:07:58.880 you have to go to at Hey Berna on IG. 0:07:59.400 --> 0:08:03.240 I mean your comedic, your physical comedy is something truly 0:08:03.320 --> 0:08:06.800 special and the time, cause I know it's not always 0:08:06.840 --> 0:08:09.840 easy to you can be funny, but you tell stories 0:08:09.840 --> 0:08:12.600 with your humor, and you have a whole there's like 0:08:12.600 --> 0:08:15.040 a beginning, middle, and end to your Instagram content. And 0:08:15.080 --> 0:08:17.280 I know how much time and energy and thought must 0:08:17.280 --> 0:08:19.880 go into it. It is quite effective. 0:08:20.400 --> 0:08:23.080 Thank you, thank you so much. I found out that 0:08:23.080 --> 0:08:25.760 people really like it when I shake, I shake something 0:08:25.760 --> 0:08:29.760 for their financial wins. Do a little bit of chirking 0:08:29.760 --> 0:08:32.040 with what I got, which is not a ton, but 0:08:32.240 --> 0:08:34.880 I think people appreciate the effort. I know all of 0:08:35.480 --> 0:08:38.280 you and all of my other Internet creators out there 0:08:38.360 --> 0:08:40.520 understand that, like you have to sort of try out 0:08:40.520 --> 0:08:42.200 a bunch of different things and a bunch of different 0:08:42.200 --> 0:08:45.240 approaches to find what hits with your audience. And people 0:08:45.520 --> 0:08:48.319 love it when I make up dance move to their 0:08:48.360 --> 0:08:50.679 financial wins. And so that's probably the most entertaining thing 0:08:50.720 --> 0:08:53.600 you'll see on their aside from other like storytelling and 0:08:53.679 --> 0:08:55.200 videos and things like that. I like to move. I 0:08:55.240 --> 0:08:57.360 like to bring the bodily energy into it. 0:08:57.679 --> 0:09:00.040 I'm getting older now, I'm just wondering how you I 0:09:00.040 --> 0:09:02.120 ever like thrown it back out a back like you 0:09:02.160 --> 0:09:04.640 have more than one thrown anything out twisted something. 0:09:05.600 --> 0:09:09.160 I'm approaching that for sure, I will especially on weeks 0:09:09.160 --> 0:09:12.080 where I'm like, I haven't worked out for a long time, which, 0:09:12.120 --> 0:09:14.840 mind you, is most weeks. I'll do like my Friday 0:09:15.040 --> 0:09:17.520 financial wins, and all week and long, I'm like, I 0:09:17.520 --> 0:09:20.960 am so sore my thighs, my legs, my knees, like 0:09:20.960 --> 0:09:24.160 I try to do the mega Stallion knee kind of tricks, 0:09:24.679 --> 0:09:27.240 and what you see on camera, I look like I 0:09:27.280 --> 0:09:29.040 know what I'm doing, but no that immediately after that 0:09:29.040 --> 0:09:31.800 fifteen seconds cuts out, I'm on the floor. It's all 0:09:31.840 --> 0:09:33.959 for It's all for you. You know, it's all for the. 0:09:33.679 --> 0:09:37.040 The audience, don't don't. I mean, leg Day is very important. 0:09:37.640 --> 0:09:41.640 Megan the Stallions an athlete. Don't tell me nothing any differently, Okay, 0:09:41.720 --> 0:09:45.840 athlete truly truly, And we have been obsessed with her 0:09:45.880 --> 0:09:49.800 latest song, what's it called thought Something? My son loves. Wow, 0:09:50.320 --> 0:09:53.040 my son goes to dance when that song came on YouTube. 0:09:53.080 --> 0:09:54.520 I mean, I don't know how appropriate it was for 0:09:54.640 --> 0:09:58.240 He wasn't paying attention to the pictures, but he and 0:09:58.320 --> 0:10:00.600 I got down. He loves to tour. He's such a 0:10:00.600 --> 0:10:01.560 cute little show off. 0:10:02.120 --> 0:10:04.439 Good. It's like she's legg Day inspo and she's a 0:10:04.440 --> 0:10:06.680 full body inso for anybody, But I think everyone is 0:10:06.679 --> 0:10:08.440 now paying so much more attention to what their knees 0:10:08.480 --> 0:10:11.160 and thighs can do and admiring their bodies for doing 0:10:11.200 --> 0:10:13.800 those things because of Megan thee Stallion, Like she just 0:10:13.840 --> 0:10:16.080 revolutionized the way I look at my knees for sure. 0:10:16.600 --> 0:10:18.440 Yeah, I mean as someone who grew up. I mean, 0:10:18.480 --> 0:10:20.760 I'm biracial. My mom is white and I've told her 0:10:20.760 --> 0:10:22.839 this before. She knows and she might actually be listening 0:10:22.880 --> 0:10:25.360 to the podcast, So yay, mom, I'm talking about you again. 0:10:25.840 --> 0:10:28.079 But there were times when I was younger where she 0:10:28.120 --> 0:10:30.640 would say, like, do you really want to work out? 0:10:30.679 --> 0:10:33.360 Your thighs are already? You know you've got the thighs 0:10:33.400 --> 0:10:35.080 and you know you don't want them to get bigger. 0:10:35.120 --> 0:10:37.920 Do you meet? But that's the beauty standard, right. I'm 0:10:37.960 --> 0:10:40.120 not trying to make this episode about body image, but 0:10:40.440 --> 0:10:43.240 shout out to shout out to anyone trying to break 0:10:43.720 --> 0:10:47.360 norms and make us thick. Girls, you know, just feel 0:10:47.400 --> 0:10:49.360 like we don't have to change a damn thing, you 0:10:49.400 --> 0:10:49.800 know what I mean? 0:10:49.920 --> 0:10:52.280 Absolutely, not only do you not have to change it, 0:10:52.320 --> 0:10:54.920 but you can embrace it and shake it and show 0:10:54.920 --> 0:10:56.680 off what it is. Capable of and that's something that 0:10:56.679 --> 0:10:58.560 people can look at and be like, wait, mine can 0:10:58.600 --> 0:11:00.000 do that too, We can do that, we can go 0:11:00.040 --> 0:11:02.720 outside and do that. Absolutely, it just like turned it, 0:11:02.720 --> 0:11:05.360 It turned it all on. I mean, what I love 0:11:05.400 --> 0:11:08.120 to see is like Meg thee Stallion and every other 0:11:08.160 --> 0:11:09.800 performer out there being like, look what my knees on 0:11:09.840 --> 0:11:12.840 my butt can do, and people just like bowing down 0:11:12.880 --> 0:11:15.080 to her in the comments of being like not only 0:11:15.640 --> 0:11:19.240 incredible lyricsist, rapper performer, but like she has to be 0:11:19.320 --> 0:11:22.160 putting extra work behind her thighs and her legs, and 0:11:22.200 --> 0:11:25.360 then we're so much more appreciative of the muscle of 0:11:25.440 --> 0:11:28.000 the curve of everything that's there because I'm like, if 0:11:28.040 --> 0:11:30.280 I have more, I can shake more and mixes. It's 0:11:30.280 --> 0:11:30.720 a good thing. 0:11:30.840 --> 0:11:33.000 So and it's the work behind it. And I think 0:11:33.080 --> 0:11:35.040 what attracts me to your work so much and what 0:11:35.080 --> 0:11:36.880 I try to what I try to think about in 0:11:36.880 --> 0:11:39.880 my own content or my own you know, just being 0:11:39.880 --> 0:11:42.880 myself on social media is I just love people who 0:11:42.920 --> 0:11:46.560 are not afraid to be silly, not afraid to put 0:11:46.600 --> 0:11:49.679 themselves out there, not afraid to not take themselves so seriously, 0:11:50.160 --> 0:11:52.599 but who still do the work and I do feel like, 0:11:52.720 --> 0:11:54.840 especially in the personal finance where all there in you know, 0:11:55.320 --> 0:11:58.480 corporate America, when you talk about finance, it's often a 0:11:59.200 --> 0:12:00.960 you feel like you need to put on a different 0:12:00.960 --> 0:12:03.240 hat or use a different voice or like code switch 0:12:03.600 --> 0:12:05.880 to have those conversations. But I think what's so amazing 0:12:05.880 --> 0:12:09.000 about what you do is by being so approachable, by 0:12:09.000 --> 0:12:14.360 being so lovable and so freaking entertaining, You're immediately showing 0:12:14.400 --> 0:12:17.160 people this doesn't have to be all serious and doom 0:12:17.160 --> 0:12:20.400 and gloom like it can be hilarious. We can laugh 0:12:20.440 --> 0:12:22.719 at it, we can say the things, we can talk 0:12:22.760 --> 0:12:25.000 about our debt, and then we can twork about it 0:12:25.040 --> 0:12:26.280 and we can do the work at the end of 0:12:26.320 --> 0:12:26.640 the day. 0:12:27.480 --> 0:12:30.280 Yes, absolutely, for people like me who I'm by that, 0:12:30.360 --> 0:12:32.800 I mean people who are basically like fifteen to seventeen 0:12:32.840 --> 0:12:35.240 years old on the inside and always will be. It 0:12:35.320 --> 0:12:37.920 has to be hilarious, it has to be funny, or 0:12:37.960 --> 0:12:39.960 else it just it won't go down the same way. 0:12:40.080 --> 0:12:42.679 You know, we know all the books and the podcasts 0:12:42.679 --> 0:12:45.160 and the blogs that spell it out and have all 0:12:45.200 --> 0:12:49.160 the information, but I found myself needing to translate those 0:12:49.160 --> 0:12:51.680 things for myself, Like when I was learning how to 0:12:51.679 --> 0:12:53.320 get out of debt, and reading the books and all 0:12:53.360 --> 0:12:56.760 the things, I found myself literally going, Okay, what they 0:12:56.800 --> 0:12:58.719 mean by that sentence is if you just like put 0:12:58.720 --> 0:13:00.480 your booty on the thing and your role around is 0:13:00.520 --> 0:13:02.800 like when you're on the dance floor, like translating it 0:13:02.840 --> 0:13:05.400 into everyday stupid thing so that I could understand it. 0:13:06.000 --> 0:13:07.840 And then I realized I can't be the only one 0:13:07.840 --> 0:13:09.720 whose brain works like this. If I start sharing it, 0:13:09.760 --> 0:13:11.960 maybe people are into it. And I found that there's 0:13:12.120 --> 0:13:13.640 there's a space for that. There's a space for the 0:13:13.640 --> 0:13:16.720 serious stuff, but there's also a space for us in 0:13:16.760 --> 0:13:19.360 our children who like need to play with money in 0:13:19.440 --> 0:13:20.959 order to really connect with it. 0:13:21.240 --> 0:13:24.360 Yeah, well, talk to me about your background financially. I mean, 0:13:24.400 --> 0:13:26.800 I know you had some credit card debt, some student 0:13:26.840 --> 0:13:30.520 loan debt, not unlike most millennials. I'm assuming you're a millennial. 0:13:30.559 --> 0:13:32.200 Maybe you're as allennial. I don't know. 0:13:32.400 --> 0:13:35.200 I'm not thinking I'm like borderline millennial, as allennial. Someone 0:13:35.400 --> 0:13:37.120 called me jeriatric the other day. I was like, you know, 0:13:37.160 --> 0:13:39.280 whatever it is, I can still rock. 0:13:40.280 --> 0:13:43.199 I think I'm actually a geriatric millennial, which, you know whatever, 0:13:43.200 --> 0:13:45.360 I'll take it, but talk to me about your journey. 0:13:45.360 --> 0:13:47.680 When did it start for you? You were at Instagram before. 0:13:47.760 --> 0:13:50.760 You've been producing and doing entertainment media for a while, right, 0:13:51.240 --> 0:13:54.040 So everyone's got that moment when they say, I want 0:13:54.080 --> 0:13:57.440 to make this my life's work to talk about money 0:13:57.480 --> 0:13:59.480 and educate people. What was that like for you? 0:14:00.440 --> 0:14:02.920 Yes, Oh, my gosh. So I've been in kind of 0:14:02.960 --> 0:14:04.720 media my entire life. I grew up wanting to be 0:14:04.760 --> 0:14:06.400 a writer. I wanted to be the editor in chief 0:14:06.440 --> 0:14:09.439 of a magazine, and I like moved, you know, graduated 0:14:09.440 --> 0:14:11.480 from a journalism school, and I moved to New York 0:14:11.480 --> 0:14:14.880 and I internet a magazine. Hated it, hated it with 0:14:14.920 --> 0:14:19.320 a capital age. Still, though, you know, you find yourself postgraduation, 0:14:19.480 --> 0:14:22.680 especially in journalism and media. You're young, you're doing internships, 0:14:22.720 --> 0:14:26.280 broke as heck, and I found myself a couple of 0:14:26.360 --> 0:14:30.080 years of being freelance after leaving magazines, twelve thousand dollars 0:14:30.120 --> 0:14:33.760 in credit card debt and thirty eight thousand dollars about 0:14:33.840 --> 0:14:38.680 forty thousand dollars in student loan debt. And I had 0:14:38.720 --> 0:14:41.640 sort of always written off the excuse that, like, you know, 0:14:41.720 --> 0:14:43.880 I'm freelance, I'm in journalism, I'm broke. 0:14:43.880 --> 0:14:45.640 I'm young. I don't have to get my stuff together. 0:14:45.920 --> 0:14:48.680 What was really behind that was like a lot of fear, 0:14:49.120 --> 0:14:51.400 a lot of shame, never wanting to admit how much 0:14:51.440 --> 0:14:54.400 debt I had, and never wanting to look my debt 0:14:54.440 --> 0:14:57.720 in the eye. And basically, you know, I did end 0:14:57.800 --> 0:14:59.600 up getting a job at Instagram, moving back to the 0:14:59.640 --> 0:15:02.520 Bay Area where I'm from, and that was maybe a 0:15:02.520 --> 0:15:05.560 half step where I was like, Okay, okay, I'm starting 0:15:05.560 --> 0:15:07.880 to get money every other Friday, which is like what 0:15:07.960 --> 0:15:10.280 I think, It's an adult thing to do. And now 0:15:10.320 --> 0:15:12.600 this feels like God being like you no longer have 0:15:12.680 --> 0:15:15.720 no excuse to budget. I'm giving you money every other Friday. 0:15:16.200 --> 0:15:20.239 Do the thing I think. Hey, did I hit the Googles? 0:15:20.520 --> 0:15:23.800 Because you know, growing up again, first gen immigrant child 0:15:23.880 --> 0:15:28.400 of immigrants from the Philippines, they taught me very little 0:15:28.440 --> 0:15:30.960 about money. Taught me lots about like our culture and everything, 0:15:30.960 --> 0:15:33.160 but very little about money. And so everything I learned 0:15:33.160 --> 0:15:34.880 about money, I had to hit the Googles, just like 0:15:34.960 --> 0:15:37.440 millennials do when we don't know something, We hit the 0:15:37.440 --> 0:15:41.200 Googles as hard as possible. And I was learning stuff 0:15:41.240 --> 0:15:46.240 through blogs and YouTube channels and books and I started 0:15:46.240 --> 0:15:49.080 to create this thing that I called Felicia's Wallet. Now, 0:15:49.080 --> 0:15:53.560 at the time, by Felicia was at its peak, peak 0:15:53.600 --> 0:15:56.320 fit cultural phenomenon. Everyone was like by Felicia, by Filicia. 0:15:56.840 --> 0:15:59.080 And someone said something about, like, I'd love to see 0:15:59.080 --> 0:16:01.600 Felicia's passport because she's always saying by, like we're always 0:16:01.600 --> 0:16:03.200 saying bye to her. She must be going all over 0:16:03.240 --> 0:16:04.960 the place. And I was like, I'd like to see 0:16:04.960 --> 0:16:07.720 her wallet. How is she affording to say by all 0:16:07.760 --> 0:16:11.440 the time? So I started this like blank Google document 0:16:11.520 --> 0:16:13.800 where I put down everything I was learning about budgeting, 0:16:14.160 --> 0:16:16.400 everything I was learning about how to balance and figure 0:16:16.400 --> 0:16:19.320 out my paycheck, all of my financial moves every other 0:16:19.320 --> 0:16:21.280 Friday when I got my paycheck. I called that document 0:16:21.360 --> 0:16:24.040 Felicia's Wallet. I didn't show it to anybody for a 0:16:24.040 --> 0:16:26.560 long time, and then eventually I was like, let's just 0:16:26.720 --> 0:16:28.320 if I just kind of talk about it on my 0:16:28.360 --> 0:16:31.280 social media, which had no kind of following for anything, 0:16:31.920 --> 0:16:35.160 Let's just see what happens. I posted about the document. 0:16:35.240 --> 0:16:37.400 I remember it's like a boomerang of me scrolling through it. 0:16:38.120 --> 0:16:41.640 And the response to that was huge, and it wasn't 0:16:41.720 --> 0:16:45.520 just from my friends and family being like whoa budgeting 0:16:45.760 --> 0:16:48.880 money you're talking about out loud and like you haven't exploded, 0:16:48.920 --> 0:16:52.120 that's crazy, Like you broke the taboo, against the rules. 0:16:52.400 --> 0:16:55.240 But it was also such a huge response from so 0:16:55.320 --> 0:16:57.840 many people that that I didn't know, and especially so 0:16:57.960 --> 0:17:00.960 many women of color up in my comments and like 0:17:01.400 --> 0:17:05.200 most notably whispering in my dms, like you're a stranger, 0:17:05.520 --> 0:17:07.840 but you're the first person I've ever seen who is 0:17:07.880 --> 0:17:10.520 a woman and a woman of color to talk about 0:17:10.520 --> 0:17:13.280 your personal money life, admit that you have dead out loud, 0:17:13.640 --> 0:17:15.280 say that you've been messing up for many months. But 0:17:15.280 --> 0:17:17.639 here's that you're what you're learning. You're the first person 0:17:17.640 --> 0:17:19.280 in my life to actually talk about this, and it's 0:17:19.320 --> 0:17:21.679 it's changing my perspective. And that's when I was like, 0:17:21.960 --> 0:17:26.439 we got some something. There's something a little old me 0:17:26.640 --> 0:17:29.800 knowing nothing but no financial background yells from my corner 0:17:29.880 --> 0:17:32.359 of the internet, and the response was such an echo. 0:17:32.760 --> 0:17:34.720 That's when I was like, Okay, we got we gotta 0:17:34.720 --> 0:17:35.080 take this. 0:17:35.040 --> 0:17:37.159 Somewhere, We gotta take it somewhere. How do you go 0:17:37.240 --> 0:17:39.480 from that to now you're writing a personal finance book? 0:17:39.520 --> 0:17:43.120 What happened in between? And also, congratulations, This is when 0:17:43.160 --> 0:17:45.399 I dropped that little nugget you you're going to be 0:17:45.440 --> 0:17:46.359 a published author. 0:17:47.560 --> 0:17:51.199 Much so wild because this was the beginning, Like, this 0:17:51.240 --> 0:17:52.879 is what I wanted to be when I was super little, 0:17:53.480 --> 0:17:55.840 a writer, an author, and it's been a very long, 0:17:55.840 --> 0:17:58.760 windy road to get here. But basically, once I started 0:17:58.760 --> 0:18:01.520 sharing about Felicia's wallet, but I got the response from people, 0:18:01.520 --> 0:18:03.159 then I was like, Okay, all right, this is a thing. 0:18:03.200 --> 0:18:07.800 I started making videos, started making content, discovered something called Instagram, 0:18:07.920 --> 0:18:11.080 honestly discovered like Instagram boomerang, started shaking my butt for people, 0:18:11.920 --> 0:18:13.920 and we just started to build more and more of 0:18:13.960 --> 0:18:16.280 a community online of people who wanted to talk about money, 0:18:16.480 --> 0:18:19.359 wanted to talk about the absolute basics of money, but 0:18:19.480 --> 0:18:21.680 didn't want it to be what I like to say, 0:18:21.960 --> 0:18:25.199 Hella Mail, hell Apale, and Hella Stale. So much of 0:18:25.200 --> 0:18:27.520 what you see out there is Hella Mail, Hella Pale, 0:18:27.520 --> 0:18:29.920 Hella Stale. And so I just sort of built this 0:18:29.960 --> 0:18:32.520 gathering on people who were sick of that. And the 0:18:32.600 --> 0:18:36.760 book came about last year when I partnered up with 0:18:36.800 --> 0:18:39.560 an agent. Her name is Tavia from Biota. She's incredible 0:18:39.920 --> 0:18:42.520 other women of color who champions all people of color, 0:18:42.600 --> 0:18:45.440 artists I wanted to. I brought her on to sort 0:18:45.440 --> 0:18:48.520 of level up and help me manage like brand partnerships 0:18:48.520 --> 0:18:51.760 and things like that. And she's the one that was like, hey, 0:18:52.359 --> 0:18:55.000 this publishing house wants to do a money book for 0:18:55.080 --> 0:18:59.320 young people. You're basically a teenager walking around with paychecks. 0:19:00.240 --> 0:19:02.480 You do the thing, and that's that's where we are. 0:19:02.640 --> 0:19:05.720 And oh my god, Mandy, my first draft is due 0:19:06.200 --> 0:19:09.560 in like a month, almost a month exactly, so I'm 0:19:09.600 --> 0:19:10.600 losing my issue a little. 0:19:10.640 --> 0:19:12.800 Been supposed to be here right now, right like, I'm not. 0:19:12.720 --> 0:19:17.040 Even are you talking to me? I feel good you're Mandy? 0:19:17.359 --> 0:19:17.920 Are you kidding? 0:19:17.920 --> 0:19:19.959 This is brown ambition. I was just telling you right 0:19:20.000 --> 0:19:22.320 before we started recording that I'm in. I put myself 0:19:22.359 --> 0:19:24.600 in this thing called book Leave quote unquotes. I've been 0:19:24.640 --> 0:19:27.399 this like book cave. I wanted to focus on writing 0:19:27.400 --> 0:19:30.639 my book and make my book writing process really fun, 0:19:30.680 --> 0:19:34.680 really enjoyable, like lean on my savings and actually give 0:19:34.720 --> 0:19:37.320 myself the time to make the process really fun. And 0:19:37.359 --> 0:19:39.320 I promised myself I would not come out of book 0:19:39.359 --> 0:19:43.560 Leave unless it was like showstopper, incredible opportunity. And I 0:19:43.600 --> 0:19:45.440 remember you emailed me, I want to say, like a 0:19:45.480 --> 0:19:47.919 couple of months ago and I brought this. I have 0:19:47.960 --> 0:19:49.600 a business coach. I brought this to my business coach 0:19:49.600 --> 0:19:51.480