Favorite (inspirational) quote:

"The world is the great gymnasium where we come to make ourselves strong."- Swami Vivekananda
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What does being "financially healthy" mean to you?

To some, financial health is about accumulating wealth. To me, it is about something far more fundamental—dignity, opportunity, and freedom. It means not fearing whether I will have food on my plate or a roof over my head, and not seeing education as an unattainable privilege instead of a right. It means seeking medical care without hesitation, without ignoring symptoms, without bargaining with life itself over the cost of survival, without watching a loved one slip away simply because treatment was unaffordable. It means the ability to participate in this world fully—to learn, to grow, to rise above survival, to live with purpose. But above all, it means the power to give—to extend a hand without hesitation, to support others not from excess, but from a place of security and strength. Some may find this perspective stark, even bold. But I stand by every word of it. This is not an opinion; this is my lived experience and my truth. I do not reduce life’s vast potential to finances, but I cannot ignore the reality I have seen firsthand without financial security, potential remains just that—an untapped possibility, a dream deferred.
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What motivates you to be financially healthy?

Because I have lived on the other side—like countless others who never had the chance to voice it as I do.

I come from a household that adversely survives on less than $900 a year. I know what it is like to watch opportunities slip away—not because of a lack of talent or ambition, but because the cost of training, the price of entry, was too high. I have seen what it means to make choices dictated not by dreams, but by necessity. And yet, I am here today—the first in my family to step into college, to carve a path where none existed. But my journey does not stop at personal success. I have a dream, and that dream fuels me every single day. I dream of a life where I am not just financially stable, but financially empowered—where I can give back, uplift others. I dream of starting initiatives that fund education, of creating spaces where people can speak about finances, struggles, and aspirations without shame, of building networks that do not just connect people to opportunities but create them, of building a life that allows me to help others break free from the struggles I once faced.
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What is one of your main financial goals right now, and why?

Right now, my goal is clear: to create financial stability for my family by securing a steady stream of income through a job before I graduate. I see this as Phase 1 of my journey—the phase where I have worked deeply to gain the skills, knowledge, and resources that will allow me to stand firmly on my own. To create a foundation so strong that I never have to think twice about my next step. This is so that, once I have built this foundation, I can start Phase 2 of my life—the complete devotion of my life to working for something larger than myself. Because I want to turn financial health into service, privilege into purpose.