It took hitting financial rock bottom for Sharita Humphrey to realize that she needed to get serious about money management.
“I had lost everything in the world that I owned,” Humphrey said. “I was evicted and eventually became homeless and not having an address for so long became my norm, but I knew that I wanted to change where I wanted to go.”’
Several years ago, she was staying in a rundown motel with her small two children while working an unstable job, the Texas native reached her breaking point and became determined to create a better life for her family.
Humphrey first started with the basics — reading books on debt reduction and credit to improve her financial literacy. In 2016, she then enlisted the help of Self Financial, Inc., a fintech platform that specializes in credit building. It was the jump-start the now-money mentor said she needed to rebuild her credit history in order to qualify for an apartment and begin reestablishing her financial future.
“I decided that I was going to be the one to break the cycle of financial lack in my family and be the trailblazer to create wealth for my family.
“The entire process that I went through was no walk in the park,” she told BankRate. “It took me several months to start to feel financially confident, but all of the hard work was worth it. My children and I moved into our new home, and I even secured a government job.”
The financial hardships that made Humphrey start from scratch turned her into a financial literacy advocate with the goal of helping others overcome money challenges. After serving as a government tax examiner and auditor, she pivoted her career toward teaching marginalized groups how to be better stewards of their money and establishing good credit, regardless of income level.
Read full story at Finurah here.
