My Why - The Story Behind TishTalks
My passion for financial literacy didn’t begin in a classroom or a boardroom. It began in my childhood on the West Side of Chicago.
I was raised primarily by my grandmother after my mother became disabled and was unable to care for me and my sister. My grandmother worked hard to create stability for our family. One of the things she was most proud of was her brick bungalow home, the place that represented safety, consistency, and the idea that no matter what happened in the world, we would always have somewhere to come back to.
That home came with a 30-year mortgage through NationsBank, later Bank of America, and I still remember the number because it became etched into my memory: $582 a month.
For years, my grandmother did everything she could to keep up with that payment. But in the 28th year of that 30-year mortgage, she lost the home.
Watching that happen changed something in me.
The idea of a stable home—something most people take for granted—suddenly became something fragile. Something uncertain. Something that could disappear even after decades of doing everything right.
From that moment on, homeownership stopped feeling like a guarantee and started feeling like something you had to fight to understand and protect.
That experience shaped the next 30 years of my life.
I became determined to understand the financial systems that affect people’s lives—especially the ones most families are never fully taught about. I immersed myself in learning everything I could about credit, loss mitigation, foreclosure prevention, debt management, and homeownership.
A Mission to Make Money Make Sense
Over time, that curiosity turned into a career. For more than two decades, I have worked in financial services, credit counseling, mortgage lending, and community education—helping individuals navigate the same financial challenges that once shaped my own family’s story. Along the way, I earned my Bachelor’s degree in Business Management and received recognition within the real estate and investment communities for my work in financial education and housing advocacy.
But my mission has always been bigger than a job title. It’s about making sure more people understand how money works before crisis forces them to learn the hard way. It’s about helping people build financial foundations that allow them to own homes, build wealth, and create stability for their families.
That mission ultimately led to the creation of TishTalks™, a platform dedicated to financial education, empowerment, and intentional wealth building. It also inspired me to write A Black Woman’s Guide to Saving Money, a resource designed to help women approach money with clarity, confidence, and strategy. Because I believe something deeply: Financial struggles are often not the result of a lack of effort. They’re the result of a lack of access to the right information. Through my work, my speaking, and TishTalks™, I hope to help change that conversation. Because when people understand money, they gain something powerful: The ability to move from survival to intention.
Why I Wrote A Black Woman’s Guide to Saving Money
For many years, I’ve worked with individuals and families trying to improve their financial situations—whether through credit counseling, mortgage lending, or financial education. One thing I noticed consistently was that many people weren’t struggling because they lacked ambition or work ethic. They were struggling because no one had ever truly taught them how money works.
Saving money, in particular, seemed to be one of the biggest challenges.
Many of the women I spoke with were doing everything they could to take care of their families, manage households, build careers, and still try to get ahead financially. Yet the advice they often received about money felt unrealistic, disconnected from their lives, or simply overwhelming.
That realization inspired me to write A Black Woman’s Guide to Saving Money.
I wanted to create something practical, honest, and empowering—a guide that speaks directly to women who are trying to build stability, create options for their future, and develop a healthier relationship with money.
This book isn’t about perfection. It’s about progress and intention. It’s about helping women see that small, consistent financial habits can create real change over time.
My hope is that this guide encourages readers to take control of their financial journeys, build confidence in their decisions, and recognize that financial freedom is possible when we approach money with clarity and purpose.
As I often say through TishTalks™:
Financial freedom begins when intention replaces survival.
TishTalks Mission
To make money management real, relevant and relatable to you, connecting financial education and wealth building.
“Financial freedom begins when intention replaces survival.”