36 Random Facts About Me
Plus the childhood financial literacy lessons I learned...
If we are going to work together, it only seems fair that you get to know me a little better, right?
THE 80s
- I was born, but not raised in North Carolina.
- I ended up in the hospital with a serious concussion after a fall. I am convinced my quirkiness took off after that.
- I began taking piano lessons after an episode of Sesame Street.
- I learn the value of paying yourself first–with a $20 weekly allowance of which I had to save half.
- I cried every day the school bus drove past our house. My mom couldn’t take it anymore so fought for an exemption to let me start school a year early.
- I lived with my grandparents for a year. Grandpa and I watched 60 Minutes every Sunday and discussed the stories before I went to bed. I was 5. (I told you I was a strange child.)
- I moved to Japan where I would live for six years.
- I became a published poet at the age of 10. It wasn’t very good.
THE 90s
- My Dad printed up fake checks on our dot-matrix printer (look, I’m on the older side of the millennial label) and taught me to balance a checkbook at 10. I loved it.
- I attended 4 schools in 10 years.
- We moved to Hawaii and finally stayed put somewhere. Yes, I finished growing up in paradise.
- I started my “real” first job bagging groceries for tips only. The hustle began.
- My parents started a family investment club called Patience & Discipline. I learned how to buy stocks at 15.
I am more interested than I look in this photo. 🤦🏿♀️
THE 2000s
- Two weeks before my high school graduation, I had emergency surgery. I still walked across the stage.
- My first car was a brown Geo Metro. I used to valet park the heck out of it just to see the facial expression at the valet stand when girlfriends and I went out. #bougieonabudget
- I went to college at night and on the weekends. To pay rent and tuition, I worked in a chiropractor’s office full-time.
- I also worked every side gig available under the sun: phone book deliverer, bartender, event catering staff, FedEx operations admin at the airport, mystery shopper, USPS test mail deliverer (yes, this is a thing or at least it used to be), store product stocker, and more.
- I graduated with zero credit card debt and just $7K in student loan debt.
- I stumbled into the hospitality and events industry.
- I was a wedding planner for four years in Hawaii before switching to corporate events.
- I sold nearly everything I own, shipped my car to the California and went on a cross-county road trip.
- I moved to Washington, DC, took a pay cut, and barely made ends meet. Two roommates helped pay the rent and I went back to working catering gigs on the side.
- I switched employers a few times, increasing my salary with each new position.
- I traveled solo to Puerto Rico on a whim. My hotel was above a salsa club. I fell in love (with dancing, that is, and solo travel).
THE 2010s
- I got serious about investing.
- I bought a house. Just Me, Myself, and I.
- I traveled to 48 more countries, the majority of them solo.
- I got sick in the Sahara Desert, detained entering Russia, and pulled aside for an intense round of searching in Peru.
- But I also camped overnight in the friggin’ Sahara Desert, traveled the Trans-Mongolian Railway, and made it to Machu Picchu. #bucketlist
- I also discovered my passion for wine. Red, white, rosé, and port. I drink it all.
- I started helping friends with their financial plans and learning to invest in the stock market.
- I met my now-husband 15 minutes before walking down the aisle together at mutual friends’ out-of-town-wedding. He tried to add me on Facebook. I said I wasn’t interested in long-distance dating, having kids, or getting married. Yet, here we are six years later. Childfree and happy as can be.
- Diamonds are, in fact, not my best friend and I picked my own engagement ring. Let’s just get it right the first time, okurr.
- And while we are on the subject, I didn’t wear white either.
- Instead, I drew a sketch, bought fabric, and my mama sewed my wedding dress. Yes, we did THAT.
AND THEN COVID-19 HIT.
No longer in airports and on planes, I realized this was the perfect time to really focus on my passion and purpose of helping childfree by choice women just like me live a life they love…and can comfortably afford well into retirement.
Are you ready to grow your financial literacy and make bawse moves in your life?
And in other about me trivia...
- I’m an empathetic INTJ.
- I’m an Enneagram 1: The Reformer. Idealistic Type. I seek to improve the world via practical action.
- My Clifton StrengthsFinder top 5 are: Achiever | Deliberative | Analytical | Learner | Maximizer
- I love numbers.
- I also love finding solutions to challenges.
- I thrive on coming up with new ideas and immediately working up a plan of action.
- It’s like watching both sides of my brain light up at the same time.
- It also makes me good at coaching and working with you.
- I can’t snap my fingers to save my life.
- I haven’t had a TV in my bedroom since I was 22.
- I’m a Libra.
- My guilty pleasure is vanilla ice cream with chocolate syrup.
- I’m a firm believer that pineapple has absolutely no business on pizza.
- Crossword puzzles are my jam.
- I love breakfast for dinner…ideally with a mimosa.
- I’m allergic to seafood. Boo!
- My favorite season is fall.
- I hate wearing socks. I love Allbirds for this reason.
- I’m an ambivert (yes, it’s a thing. Ask Siri, Cortana, Google, or Alexa…tangent, this whole AI thing is getting ridiculous.)
- I love snorkeling. I hate swimming. I know. But swimming is work y’all, and snorkeling is fun.
- I’m a lifelong reader, highlighter, and margin writer of aha’s.
- I believe every great road trip begins with a tank full of gas and a 7-11 Slurpee.
(yes, at times, I’m a 7 year-old in a 30-something-year old’s body). - I’m obsessed with my two basenjis, Shelby and Toddy. I might love them more than my husband.
Whew chile, did you just read all of that? 👏🏿👏🏿👏🏿
If you’re still here and found any of this remotely interesting, we’d probably get along well!
But I get it, you probably want to make sure we would be a good fit before we start working together, amirite? I mean one doesn’t go from single to engaged overnight. Welllll, unless you’re on Love is Blind. #laurenandcamforever
So go ahead and grab a FREE copy of my 15-minute mini coaching session, Banish Broke Energy: Side Hustle Like a Bawse, for 48+ ways to boost your income while holding down a 9-to-5. Consider it my treat.
