Meet Tiyanna Washington
This month we would like you to meet Tiyanna Washington.
Hello Tiyanna! It’s so great to connect and talk with you. Please tell us about yourself.
I am an NYC based Licensed Social worker & Founder of Tspeaksnyc, a mental health and wellness company dedicated to impacting the lives of youth & women via mental health and wellness programming-creating communities of generational healing and resiliency.
As a youth and wellness-focused company, I’m always looking to connect with youth organizations and likeminded individuals in the mental health and wellness spaces. I conduct workshops both in-person & virtually, public speaking as well as 1:1 wellness coaching sessions. Topics include but are not limited to, stress management, coping skills, reducing anxiety-based symptoms, goal setting, self-care practices, self-love realization techniques, etc. Looking forward to connecting with all that come across this article.
That’s amazing, mental health and wellness is such an integral part of our lives and can be connected to financial wellness. When people are dealing with high amounts of debt, they are more likely to report health problems. A study shows that 29 percent of people with high debt suffered severe anxiety, compared with 4 percent. 23 percent had severe depression, compared with 4 percent. 44 percent had migraines or other headaches, compared with 15 percent.
Talking about money early in life can help build a healthy relationship with money. How would you describe your relationship with money?
As a kid, I always remembered wanting to have money not necessarily to spend it or purchase anything in particular but the idea of having it was always very important to me. I would set little financial goals for myself and once I achieved that goal, it felt like a really big accomplishment for me. I think growing up and knowing the narrative that existed about communities of color and wealth (or lack thereof) I didn’t want to fall into that narrative and I always told myself that I would make sure I had a little more than “enough” in my savings account. I held on to that belief going into adulthood-However, I’ve since transitioned my mindset to wanting to simply have money, to want to see my money truly grow, and having my money work for me.
Can you recall your first conversations about finances?
My first conversations about finance were definitely with my parents. My parents were always very open and transparent with me about money and finances. In elementary school, I knew what a paycheck looked like and I knew what my parents were bringing home. By the time I made it to middle school and had secured my 1st summer job, I knew what it meant to contribute to a household. Ever since I’ve been working, my parents always instilled this mindset of contributing to whichever household you live in-now some may agree or not agree with that philosophy but for me growing up it taught me the importance of understanding finances, contributing to a household, and budgeting at a really young age.
Do you have a financial guide or mentor? If so, how have they helped or supported you?
My parents are my financial guides because I admire how they were able to migrate to this country from the Caribbean, literally start from nothing, and create the lifestyles for themselves and their families that they were able to create. It was my parents that first introduced me to the thought of owning property and investing in real estate and the generational wealth that can come from that. My parents have instilled certain mindsets in me that I know have helped me to avoid a lot of financial pitfalls that often plague people in my age group.
What financial mistakes have you made? What lessons have you learned from them?
I think when it comes to financial mistakes I wish I had started to invest much earlier and been more of a risk-taker as it pertains to investing money. I think often in our communities we’re taught to hold on to money and I wish I had distanced myself from that train of thought much earlier and listened to my folks when they spoke to me about investing in the stock market and understanding the benefits of dividends and learning about Roth IRAs-information and guidance that we typically learn well into our adulthood, I was fortunate to be exposed to in my household growing up and looking back I wish I had listened to that advice much earlier on.
What, if any, financial conversations do you have with your peers?
I’ve noticed as I’m getting older my friends and I are having more open and transparent conversations about finances-particularly our savings goals, what we’re working towards financially, what our salaries are, how they compare across different industries, etc. Often times we don’t know what we can ask for (monetary speaking) when interviewing for a job because everyone is so worried about being secretive or not wanting people to know what their pockets look like. If I trust you and you are in my close circle of friends, I should be able to have that conversation with you-so if my girlfriend tells me that she was able to secure a $75,000 job in the field of mental health working at a school then when presented with the opportunity to negotiate, I now know what is fair and what I can reasonably ask for/expect to be paid.
How do finances show up in your relationship? Is it talked about? If so, what is being discussed?
In my relationship, we have what I’d call “healthy conversations” about finances. We have financial goals that we set for ourselves individually and also collectively as a unit. It helps us to stay focused on what we want for ourselves-not only our personal, individual, financial growth journeys but then also together as a couple.
Do you own any real estate? If so, how did you secure the down payment for your first home?
As stated previously, I’ve always been of a mindset to save whatever money I had coming in, so by the time my now-husband and I started to have conversations around settling down and deciding to own vs. rent, thankfully we had both been in a position where we had already been saving towards that goal it was an individual goal for the both of us to own, so once we decided to take that step together and transition into the next stage of our lives we pooled our money and resources together to use as a down payment towards our first home. We were blessed in that sense however it is a true testament to knowing the financial history and goals of the person that you decide to settle down with-ensuring that you both have a similar mindset when it comes to things such as owning vs renting and finances in general.
How much debt have you accumulated, if any? If so, how do you plan on becoming debt-free?
Like many of us, I accumulated debt when going to graduate school. While I was a student, I was also working and I knew when it came time for me to graduate, I did not want to have any debt looming over my head, so I made a goal for myself that within a year of graduating from graduate school, I would take whatever money I had saved up, combined with what I was able to earn while in graduate school and pay down my debt-and one year and a half later, I can thankfully say I was debt-free.
What advice do you want to share with our community about money and finances?
Not to be afraid to have conversations about finances and money, ask questions of folks that are in financial situations that you desire, that it is OK to want more than what had growing up- that it is OK to embrace luxury and you deserve to have nice things, as long as you’re doing it the smart way-always have something saved to the side for a rainy day because you just never know what’s going to happen. Lastly, identify sources of education for financial literacy because as adults there is no blueprint for financial freedom-we really learn these things along the way, so never be too close-minded to learning more about financial wellness.
If you want to hear more from Tiyanna, please connect with her below.
IG: @tspeaksnyc Website: www.tpseaksnyc.com
