In this episode I interview Amanda Godlweski.

We discuss her journey as a first-gen Latina and the intersections of her experiences in law, higher education, as a mother, and more. 

Amanda is the Founder of Mija Learns. A Latina and first generation attorney, she found herself navigating finances and entrepreneurship on her own. Now she's on a mission to educate professionals and entrepreneurs on how to build wealth and build business. With over ten years of experience as an entrepreneur and advising in both the public and private sectors, she shares her knowledge so that you can reach your potential and live your purpose.


Website: www.mijalearns.com
LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amandagodlewski/

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I was in the middle of editing another killer interview when it occurred to me that I'm celebrating 3 years of delivering a TEDx talk and writing the best selling book "Financially Irresponsible".

This episode was actually my first live streamed podcast episode and I talk about the gift of time, growth, and wisdom in my messaging over the years.
It's easy listening and reaffirming of the work I've done and continue to do in this space.
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To check out the TED talk you can visit : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31v3YdCd8YE
To check out my best selling book "Financially Irresponsible" you can visit: https://a.co/d/jdsz5gK
To subscribe to my Substack you can visit: RahkimSabree.substack.com

In this episode I get to take a break from stuffy "academia" and have a conversation with my friend from college Mel The Prophet.

What I really enjoyed about this episode is that it's super relatable content about finding yourself internally and stumbling on a path seemingly by coincidence.
Mel and I talk about:

• How he got involved in therapy
• His creative process and inspiration behind the music he makes
• Mistakes and lessons he wants to help others avoid or learn
• and more

He's got a lot going on from music to fitness and constantly shows up to demonstrate that it's "cool" to be yourself and to talk about your feelings.

His website: www.help1self.com
His Fitness brand is www.mixmatchtraining.com 
He's on Instagram at Instagram.com/meltheprophet

You can find his latest single "Lo Siento" at https://artists.landr.com/692531991249?

and his artist link at https://www.flowcode.com/page/meltheprophet

We're back with another action packed episode. 

In this episode I talk with Martha Menard, Ph.D. 
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Martha Brown Menard, PhD, has experienced financial trauma, and brings that perspective to her work as a behavioral research scientist and director of financial coaching for Questis. After a previous career in integrative health, where she also worked with trauma survivors, she is now pursuing her passion for helping others become financially healthy. She is a member of the Association for Financial Counseling and Planning Education and the Financial Therapy Association, and a first-generation college student.

She is open to connecting on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/marthamenard/

We discuss different topics around financial psychology including:

• Money expectations
• Money Shame
• Me being "the rich uncle" 
• What does "enough" look like for you?
• Retirement
• and more.

We also issue several shoutouts to Questis, The Financial Therapy Association, The AFCPE, Dr. Brad Klontz, and Saundra Davis.


You can find me on all social media @RahkimSabree (no hyphens, underscores, or periods), my website at www.RahkimSabree.com and  my newsletter "Overcoming Financial Trauma" at rahkimsabree.substack.com

This is my first solo episode since the intro and I thought this an interesting topic to approach with motivations coming from a Tik Tok video, the book turned series "American Gods", and my own life experiences. In this episode I break down the concepts of:

• Worshiping money
• Coveting spirits/Jealous
• The role of "luck" in my success
• and pursuing purpose attached to money
  
  

I hope you enjoy it and if you do please subscribe, like, share, and give me a little feedback. 

You can find me on all social media @RahkimSabree (no hyphens, underscores, or periods), my website at www.RahkimSabree.com and my newsletter "Overcoming Financial Trauma" at rahkimsabree.substack.com

Episode 2 was a BANGER! 

Episode 2 was a banger! I got to catch up with my personal finance bff Tiffany Grant.  Tiffany Grant is an Accredited Financial Counselor and award-winning personal finance blogger, podcaster, coach, and educator.  She has been featured on Yahoo Finance, CNBC, Essence, and Acorns as an expert on side hustles, business, and money.  Tiffany has helped many people become more in tune with their money by providing financial education in a down-to-earth and relatable format!   She graduated with a Bachelor of Business Administration and Management from the University of North Carolina at Pembroke.  In addition, she holds a Master of Business Administration from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.  Tiffany also holds the SHRM-CP designation and is a Lean Six Sigma Yellow Belt. She offers a variety of services and her hub for business contact is her website www.moneytalkwitht.com

Tiffany and I touched on a variety of topics from: 

• Her journey as a personal finance creator and coach
• To billionaire temper tantrums
• To separating your struggle from your identity
• Determining your values and allowing that to guide you​

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She can be reached on ALL social media @moneytalkwitht
You can find me on all social media @RahkimSabree (no hyphens, underscores, or periods), my website at www.RahkimSabree.com and my newsletter "Overcoming Financial Trauma" at rahkimsabree.substack.com
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In my very first episode I had the opportunity to interview Aja Evans! 
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Aja Evans is a board certified therapist, speaker and writer specializing in financial therapy. The truth is, money impacts every facet of our lives and has the power to shift how we feel both physically and emotionally. With an acute understanding of this reality, Aja’s expertise sits at the intersection of mental health and all things money. Her work has been seen in several media outlets including Bloomberg, NerdWallet, and Business Insider. In addition to media coverage, Aja has a quarterly column with Square. She is a woman on a mission to get people engaged in living their best lives while attuning to their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors around money.

​Aja and I talked about our distinctly different upbringings financially, being the representation we needed to see in the financial therapy space, the path to becoming a financial therapist and so much more!

You can find Aja on instagram at AjaEtherapy or on her website at www.Ajaevanscounseling.com

You can find me on all social media @RahkimSabree (no hyphens, underscores, or periods), my website at www.RahkimSabree.com and subscribe to my newsletter "Overcoming Financial Trauma" at rahkimsabree.substack.com

In this episode I introduce the podcast, the phrase "financial trauma", and my reasons for finally pressing "GO" on podcasting. This is a short one just to give you a taste of what's to come and I hope you'll subscribe and keep coming back for more. You can follow me @RahkimSabree on all social media (no hyphens, periods, or underscores) and subscribe to my substack at http://rahkimsabree.substack.com

Website -> RahkimSabree.com 
Book referenced : "Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome" by Dr. Joy DeGruy

Earlier this week I tweeted that “Black trauma has a direct relationship with Black spending, lack of saving, and aversion to investing” in response to a reflection I had on the Derek Chauvin trial, the killing of Daunte Wright, and the seemingly never endless assault on our senses with Black lives being extinguished. “If I don’t believe I'm going to live into my 20s, 30s, 70s, and 80s then why do I need to plan for the future? YOLO right?” I tweeted as a rhetorical follow up question while thinking of the work I do to empower and educate anyone and everyone on the importance of financial literacy. 



“What do you feel is the most important financial literacy subject?” I’m asked on a panel via Experian’s Twitter chat, “The most important subject is actually an often neglected one and that is cultural competence related to mindset”, I respond. It takes more than a financial education to break through the constant traumas associated with seeing people who look like you, Black people, assaulted and killed with minimal (and far too often nonexistent) repercussions. So I ask again, why should I invest, save, build credit, budget, and plan for retirement when my existence is not guaranteed to benefit from it? How do you convince a generation of young people growing up on YOLO (a popular acronym that stands for you only live once) that their Black life does indeed matter and that despite the many obstacles they will face it’s worth being optimistic and executing on disciplines like paying themselves first, investing in their ROTH IRA, or learning about how to build credit? You take a 3 step approach to helping to empower them. 

See Related: Here are 10 answers to why financial education is important


Acknowledge the trauma -- Refusing to acknowledge that race, culture, economic status, and lived reality influence how well someone will absorb financial education material is a sure fire recipe for failure. At best, you’ll have an engaged audience who don’t know how to apply the lessons to their current reality and at worst you’ll have a disengaged audience who don’t believe financial freedom is for them. By acknowledging the trauma and creating a safe space to discuss beliefs around money, how it should be used, and what are current views and reality around money you can get your audience to reveal the roadblocks in their mind around what financial success looks like. 

Representation -- By pointing to successful examples of individuals your audience can relate to via where they come from, obstacles, age, etc. You address the limiting belief that says “that’s not for me”. How many times are Black students exposed to Black financial educators they can relate to in comparison to the Dave Ramsey’s, Suze Orman’s, Robert Kiyosaki’s, and Tony Robbins of the world? Why aren’t the Farrah Gray’s, Daymond John’s, Sean Carter’s, Nasir Jones’, Tiffany Aliche’s, Ayesha Selden’s, or any other Black investors, financial educators, or financial success stories invoked? Representation says I see your obstacles and I raise you my drive to get it done and I have a blueprint for what that success looks like through these people.
See Related: Why representation matters in financial education efforts!!

Provide Solutions -- One of the most common remarks I hear when working with students, clients, or peers is “we didn’t learn this at home or in school”.  Sometimes we need to get into real world solutions for real world problems that don’t exist in a handbook or manuscript that tells you how to educate on finance. Providing solutions might involve active listening to the problems your audience has and giving them the tools they need to solve those problems or, at the very least, to see the light at the end of the tunnel. 

Black trauma, generational trauma, has shaped how we view money, use money, abuse money, and misunderstand money for far too long. It’s time for financial educators to face that trauma head on and take steps to empower Black lives. 

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