Oriana Falkowski
My Story
My family and I went through a big transition in 2016. I had just completed my Master’s degree in education after being a stay at home mom to my 3 kiddos for 5 years; my husband and I decided that I would transition to working outside of the home and become the primary breadwinner for our family. I decided that I was going to to this as private contractor and not get a traditional W-2 job. I was excited to get out there to make money while having some autonomy over my work, but I was also terrified. Self-employment can be unpredictable and I wanted to make sure that not only were we going to be ok financially, but I was ready to thrive! Up until this point we had just been surviving. I was ready to feel in control of our money and wanted us to make progress towards our goals and financial security.
I knew I needed to do something different. I needed to figure out what steps I could take to make this happen, so I turned to Google! I started researching personal finance and soon fell down a deep rabbit hole full of information. I quickly became obsessed and started consuming information via books, blogs, and podcasts. I even taught myself how to listen double time so I could learn as much as possible!
Today:
- We feel in control of our money and our money is hard at work for our future.
- We feel confident in our ability to make decisions around money.
- We are clear about our future goals and we are making regular progress towards them.
- We spend in alignment with our values.
- We are teaching and modeling to our kids financial skills that will set them up for success in the future.
My favorite part about our journey is that it has allowed our family a lot of flexibility in our schedules to be available for our kids and we have been able to make our dream of traveling regularly with our kids a reality for our family!
After we started experiencing all these powerful changes in our lives, I wanted to share my new knowledge with anyone that would listen. As I did this, I started to realize that I was not the only one that was missing all this life changing information, after all, they do not teach this stuff in schools! This is how the idea of becoming a financial coach was born. I again turned to education and became an Accredited Financial Counselor, AFC® through the Association for Financial Counseling & Planning Education. I am also Certified Financial Education Instructor through the National Financial Educators Council and completed the Financial Coach Academy. I am continuously educating myself through financial summits and all things personal finance. I do the hard work so you don’t have to. My passion is to help you experience all the amazing benefits of having a plan for your money. Being in control of your money is a superpower and I want to share that super power with YOU!
When I am not nerding out on money stuff this is how I spend my time:
- I have 3 kiddos that keep me busy. You can usually find me driving them around to various activities or in the kitchen cooking for them.
- I love food and love to cook.
- We also love to travel and you can usually find us hiking in a National Park or finding the best homemade ice cream in the place we are visiting (so far ice cream in Hawaii is winning, and that view!)
- Music and dancing are one of my first loves. When I was young I dreamed about being a famous dancer. These days you can find me blasting Spanish music when I am in the car alone, cleaning the bathroom or having a dance party while I shower (I am really good at multitasking).
Mission:
My mission is to help other Latinas like me redefine their relationship with money so that they can manage their money in a way that allows them to live an intentional life based on what is important to them and their families.
About
Money Map Coaching
Vison:
I envision a future where Latinas can confidently make important life decisions based on what is best for them and their families and not out of fear of not having enough.
We believe that:
Personal Finance is Personal
Es personal
Our work together centers around what is important to you, taking into consideration the stage of life you are in. We believe that life is not static and your needs, goals and values will change as your circumstances change. Your plan and tools will be based on what works for you.
Money should be Accessible
Aqui se habla en arroz y habichuela
I believe that learning about money is for everybody and it is certainly for us, Latinas. We don’t need to be in a suit to talk, learn, manage money and build wealth. No need for complicated language or systems to be successful at managing your money.
We celebrate the journey
Paso a paso
Learning to change our relationship to money and managing it in a way that supports us is an ongoing journey. We celebrate every step of that journey, no matter how small. We believe that mountains are climbed one step at a time.
We find our Agency
We acknowledge that the systems are not set up to support us, but we work towards the belief and certainty that we always have the power to choose no matter the situation we are in. We choose the next best step (based on our values and circumstances) and we know that we have the power to make change, paso a paso.
We stay open and curious
We use our Resourcefulness
To get different results than what we currently have requires change. Change can be uncomfortable. When faced with that discomfort we choose curiosity over judgement. We explore the what ifs. As the firsts ones in our families to do many things we have develop an incredible ability to be resourceful, we tap into that to grow our ability to manage money in a way that serves us.