I began my career in the financial industry, where I encountered individuals who did not protect themselves financially—leaving little money for savings and personal security. Likewise, I found that despite the growing need, personal finance curricula was not being taught in schools. I was inspired to address this education gap by founding Financial Beginnings in 2005 on the premise that it takes a community to create systemic change. I've been determined to run a nonprofit organization providing unbiased personal financial education, based on the belief that sound financial decisions are a result of early education. These decisions shape lifetimes; helping achieve goals such as higher education, retirement, and home ownership.Financial Beginnings expanded to serve both youth and adults, crafting custom programming to educate and empower K-12 students, as well as college students, low-to-moderate income earners, and Spanish-speaking participants. Financial Beginnings launched regionally in 2014 with the opening of a satellite office in the Seattle area, and nationally in 2017. Likewise, we created an online learning platform for accessing our materials in response to the pandemic in 2020. Our network of 2,500+ trained volunteers continue teaching our custom curricula in classrooms and online.