About Carmen

A decade ago, I was financially overwhelmed. I had just immigrated to the United States, had no credit history, and was carrying heavy debt. Even though I had a new job, I was still living paycheck-to-paycheck, underearning, and wondering what to do to improve my finances. I had no time to even think about my money with such a demanding job.

I struggled to rent an apartment and buy a car as I had no credit history. People told me to apply for department store cards and to start building credit history — only to find out I was denied each and every time. I was heartbroken, desperate and frustrated. The reality is that I was a hot mess and had no idea what to do to get out of it. The thought of even asking for help brought up so much shame.

After building endless spreadsheets over the years, I realized that budgets just don’t work. Trying to track every moving part when we are too busy is just too much and doesn’t account for life to happen such as job loss, death of a spouse, divorce, or needing to help out a loved one. The old way of doing money does not account for our humanness or personal life stories. So, I decided to take a completely different approach to managing money and began my financial healing journey.

As soon as I ditched the traditional financial advice, I started getting a hold of my money. I went to my boss and told him I want to be compensated fairly. When they pushed back I said, "you know my colleague sitting next to me makes $15K more than I do, that is discrimination." Soon, several pay adjustments came. I learned how to sell myself, negotiate job offers, and step into my power. I then learned how to use the power of 401K loans to reduce my high interest debt, figured out how to file my taxes in a way that saved me money, bought a house and sold it for profit, and kicked my family’s money story of living in poverty for generations to the curb. In a matter of two years I doubled my compensation, paid off all my debt and built a gold star credit rating.

If you’re ready to start taking control of your finances in a totally new way, I’d like to invite you to one of my free Make Your Money Grow consults, where we’ll work together to create a plan to start managing your money, differently.