By Alondra Bodden
FIU Alumna Tonya Rapley realized her purpose after leaving a bad relationship; she ridded herself of an immense amount of debt and ended with increased savings and a much better credit score.
Rapley founded My Fab Finance in 2013, after becoming a Certified Financial Educator.
Fast forward five years, My Fab Finance is an award-winning personal finance site dedicated to helping millennial women change their money story and become their own “fabulous.”
Rapley actually struggled with math in college, failing statistics once, but what stood out to her the most was how dedicated her FIU professor, Dr. Laura Racer, was to helping her pass the class the second time around.
“I actually ended up getting a B in the class, and that to me just reiterated that no I wasn’t as bad at math as I thought, and just to not give up,” said Rapley.
This experience helped shape her to never give up, a necessary skill for an entrepreneur.
After graduating with a Bachelor’s degree in Public Administration, Rapley headed back to her home state of North Carolina.
“There weren’t that many service jobs so I ended up going to the private sector,” said Rapley.
Eventually Rapley moved to New York, where she got into a public/private hybrid sector non-profit called The Center For New York City Neighborhoods.
The job entailed facilitating workshops for homeowners, which was where her love for helping people with finance began.
“It was a journey that wasn’t intentional, and that’s something that’s important for students to think about,” said Rapley. “You may not get the job that you want right out of college, but it’s because its the job that’s going to lead you to what you should be doing.”
The idea of My Fab Finance was born during a 2013 trip to Paris and London with her mother and sister. At this time, Rapley had been blogging for fun for about six months.
“I thought to myself ‘You know what? There are people getting paid more than I do and they get to work from anywhere, most of them are people who create opportunities for themselves,’”said Rapley.
From then on, Rapley researched how to make a successful blog, put the work in, and by 2015 she resigned from her job to work for herself full time.
But sometimes with success, comes self-doubt.
“I had doubts because of my experiences with math, like ‘who would listen to a financial educator who struggled with math in college?” said Rapley.
She says that she had to find it within herself to be confident no matter what her, or anyone else said.
“Focus on your allies, rather than your enemies,” “Rally whatever support you can. Build a team around you,” she said.
When asked what she would go back and fix during her time at college, Rapley says that she wishes that she would have saved more instead of just spending.
Rapley says she hopes that students understand the importance of saving, so that they can start off on the right foot financially after college. Additionally she says to live within your means, and don’t take on debt you can’t afford to pay back.
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