I don’t really want to throw shade, but let’s get an uncomfortable truth out of the way: The financial industry is overwhelmingly pale, male, and stale.
Ready for a fresh perspective?
LET'S GET STARTED!TBH, I didn’t get a great financial education from my parents, and I definitely didn’t learn about budgeting in school. Instead, I made it to adulthood before I had my “WTF moment” with money and realized I didn’t know all that much.
I had to teach myself how to positively think about my finances and make the right choices.
From that point, I decided I wanted to give back. My professional journey in the personal finance arena began in in 2009 Minnesota (traditional territory of the Anishinaabe and Dakota peoples), where I grew up and worked in personal finance for 10 years.
I saw that many people in the Twin Cities, including the LGBTQIA+ community, were lacking personable financial information so I decided to step in and launched Chillax Finance.
At first, my business was just me and my clients meeting in a coffee shop, chatting about how to fix up their finances.
After that, I found my way to the West Coast in 2018 and now I’ve set up shop in San Diego, CA (unceded Kumeyaay territory). Don’t worry if you’re not in California, though; I serve clients, whenever, wherever.
I absolutely love Shakira.
I love her so much that I founded the very first podcast dedicated to Shakira, called Shakipedia!
So to describe my approach to financial coaching and what I want you to experience when you work with me, I think I’d use my fave Shakira lyric to do it.
In her song Te Dejo Madrid, Shak sings:
“Los gatos como yo caen de pie.”
When I think about what that means for you and your finances, it goes something like this:
Cats Like Me Fall on Their Feet . . . and So Can You!
Financial Coach Certificate – Center for Financial Security – University of Wisconsin-Madison
Financial Coach Certificate – Central New Mexico Community College
Candidate for CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ Certification – CFP® Board
Financial Planning Certificate – University of Minnesota, Mankato
Four Directions of Financial Security Certificate – Minnesota Department of Human Services
Graduate Study in Gender and Women's Studies – Universidad Nacional de Colombia
B.A. in Spanish and Latin American Studies – University of New Mexico