We were lucky to catch up with Patrina Dixon recently and have shared our conversation below.

Patrina, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. So, let’s start with a hypothetical – what would you change about the educational system?

I believe personal finance education is an essential part of life. I also believe, like many other things taught in schools and are required credits before graduation, personal finance should be as well. For years I have been advocating for passing of legislation for personal finance to be a required course, as opposed to an elective, before each young person who graduates high school in the state I live in. Several states have been able to accomplish this and I am hopeful that will change it will be passed in CT as well.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers?

Patrina Dixon is a Certified Financial Education Instructor, International Best Selling Author, and Founder and CEO of It’$ My Money®. Patrina is also a distinguished 2018 One Hundred Women of Color Alumni. As an advocate for financial literacy and passion for serving her community she uses her company, P. Dixon Consulting, to offer money management strategies to individuals of varying ages. Patrina is shaping the spending and saving behaviors of her clients with a goal of guiding them toward financial freedom. Patrina also provides free financial tips and strategies on the It’$ My Money blog, through her podcast, The Money Exchange and YouTube channel called It’s My Money with Patrina Dixon.

Through her education received at the University of Hartford’s Barney School of Business and the disciplines she learned while achieving her Financial Management Certificate from Cornell University allows her to thrive at teaching the importance of financial independence. The It’$ My Money® journal book series and workshops allows Patrina to educate and enlighten youth and families on their finances. She is dedicated to molding the next set of financial leaders. Patrina is a wife and mother who resides in Connecticut. She loves traveling, faux frogs and sunflowers.

Patrina has had many wonderful opportunities on my almost 7 year journey. She has been featured in Black Enterprise, Real Simple, Business Insider and on Fox 61 several times and have my own local brand TV show titled:” It’$ My Money. Her clients include but not limited to AARP foundation, YWCA, Windsor and a Manchester Youth Services to name a few. She is a two-year speaker on the FinCon stage and a guest speaker for Plutus Voices, sponsored by The Capital Group. Just recently was named the Keynote Speaker for the YWCA Hartford Region’s annual Money Conference for Women.

Those that know Patrina well, know that she is walking proudly in her journey claiming – “It is my season”. She loves the work she does and is always humbled of the honor of being a 2022 Phenomenal Women in Business.

Her company have received several grants to hep sustain the work we are doing. They have also been sponsored by two different foundations to host financial events for the youth in the greater Hartford community. The impact that she and her team are able to make on young people have been amazing. They assess the attendees before and after the events, they come in know very little about the various aspects of finances and leave with a deeper understanding of the topics.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

As I am sure like many other businesses, the pandemic forced a pivot in my business. My primary business model was me physically going in rooms teaching personal finance and entrepreneurship workshops to groups. I traveled all over the world doing so from CT to Dallas to GA to Trinidad and Tobago and every place in between. I have done so in schools, college, universities, prisons, detention homes, business, churches and events. When the pandemic happened it all came to a complete stop. But I am trooper and knew that all I can do is control the controllable and I immediately begin learning how to use online platforms and modified some on what I did for a virtual audience and create online, evergreen courses. I had recently added a financial facilitator to the team so that we can do double the workshop than I could do alone. After it was all said and done that pivot was also the answer to being able to scale quicker. My prior thought on scale was acquiring It’$ My Money financial centers across the country and this situation and virtual and online move had me erase some of what I had on the white board and add course that would serve and provide impact to the community I serve. The courses are digital and come with lifetime access.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

That is a simple one, through valuable and entertaining content. Consistency also plays a factor. There is an area where I rely on those on my team they are way better at it than I am. I can take a decent selfie but some social media platforms require strategy and the keeping up with their algorithms. I don’t even try to understand it. I handle Twitter and for the most part the team handles the other platforms. They tell me what sort of poses they need from me or that I have to get snippet of video when I am in working in action or traveling the world and they work wonders with it. My followers across all social platforms are organic so my advice is not to focus on followers, focus on providing value, solutions to problems, being consistent and authentic and have call to actions in the captions.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.itsmymoney.info
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/itsmymoney_
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/itsmymoneyjournal
• Twitter: www.twitter.com/itsmymoney_
• Youtube: www.youtube.com/itsmymoneywithpatrinadixon
• Other: Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/itsmymoney_

Image Credits
Ewurama Hayford and Photography Ignite Images