We recently connected with Angenett Curry and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Angenett thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.
I was working as a Student Loan Coordinator at a community college in Fulton, Mississippi. Although I managed and balanced a 2 million dollar budget for the school every month, I struggled managing my own personal finances. I wanted a better life and I knew that I could have a life of financial freedom, I just didn’t know how to put the pieces together. I had to file bankruptcy in 2017 due to falling behind on my bills and not managing my money properly. During the bankruptcy process, I had to go through a series of financial literacy classes that taught me how to budget, save money and structure my life so I didn’t have to struggle. In the middle of the financial literacy course, I wondered why “financial literacy education is only mandatory after you’ve messed up your finances”.
I felt like this was a serious enough topic that needed to be addressed publicly. I knew if I had that question, there were many people in the world like me that wondered the same thing. I started researching money management websites and watching all the YouTube videos I could find on budgeting, saving and investing. I followed the budgeting advice and after several months, I had money left over to start saving. After about a year, I had saved up about $5,000. I was so excited and proud of myself. I started learning how to invest and opened my first investment account with Fidelity. I couldn’t believe how simple it was. All I had to do was set myself up on a system and follow the system every month. After I mastered financial literacy, I prayed and asked God to show me how to help others do the same thing. The next week after I prayed, I went online and applied for a business license and EIN number and started Prospective Vision Solutions LLC dba PVS Financial Coaching & Services.
Angenett, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
Angenett Curry, Operations Manager and Founder of Prospective Vision Solutions LLC, has been teaching financial literacy since 2016. She also has 8 years’ experience in educating college students and their parents on exploring the best financial options to pay for college. Angenett has conducted numerous financial literacy workshops at a college and community level. She specializes in money management, budgeting, student loans, financial aid, building credit scores, acquiring credit cards, and strategies on how to save and invest money wisely. Angenett has built her own automated platform on Honeybook for her financial literacy clients and has written the curriculum for the Financial Game Plan Packages, Adulting 101 Program, and the Young Adults Financial Literacy Books.
Angenett, is a known published author in her community and surrounding areas and has hosted a multitude of free financial literacy workshops in budgeting, saving, investing and credit repair. Angenett participated in the Co-Builders Business Pitch that started April 2022 and ended in July 2022. This was a rigerous 12-week program for small business. Out of 100 applicants she, along with 19 other businesses were chosen. The program provided funding and technical assistance with creating products and services to grow their business. Angenett was also selected along with 4 other recipients to receive $10,000 from the Mississippi Seed Fund for testing and developing her business products, marketing strategies, and exploring customer interactions.
Angenett recently acquired partnership with the City of Vicksburg. Angenett, will be providing free 90 days of credit repair services to all city of Vicksburg employees. She has also partnered with Vicksburg Park & Recreation to provide financial literacy education classes for ages 8-13. These classes will show them how to save, invest, and spend money responsibly. Angnett is also working with the Vicksburg Warren High Schools to provide Adulting 101 Financial Literacy education to 11th and 12th graders that will cover savings, investing, job security, integrity issues, and conflict resolution. Angenett also received 2022 Member of the Year from BOND in recognition of her outstanding leadership, hard work, and dedication to the organization.
Angenett is definitely the brains of Prospective Vision Solutions LLC and the business infrastructure shows it well. Today, Angenett is scaling the business for growth and positioning the company for acquisition.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
There have been several months that my business has not revenued a penny. It was depressing and frustrating. I honestly thought about closing my business and working full time. I cried to God many nights wonder how I was going to pay my bills and debt. Each morning, I would muster up the strength to try again and again. Every night before I go to bed, I thank myself for not giving up on my dreams. I keep telling myself……”there’s light at the end of this tunnel”. And so, I’m deciding to ride this train because I know there’s sunlight and blue skies in my future.
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
Oh my, where do I began? My parents died when I was 9. The four eldest siblings had to drop out of school and get jobs to take care of the younger siblings so we wouldn’t be wards of the state. There were 11 of us and I tell you it was tough growing up. All I remember knowing that we had to do whatever it took to bring money in the house. There was not a foundation of money management, so all we knew was to keep the lights on, food on the table, and rent paid. Our summers were spent in cotton fields chopping weeds from around the cotton plants.
I did not know anything about money management. I watched my brothers and sisters struggle and so that’s all I knew how to do. I struggled all the way up into my 30’s. I never saved money because I thought that was only for rich people. I made a lot of costly mistakes because of that mentality. Some nights I would cry myself to sleep because I knew that life wasn’t meant to be lived like that. I knew there had to be a better way!
My life didn’t change until after I filed bankruptcy. The lightbulb came on at that moment. I had to literally teach myself how to maintain a budget and save money. This is really hard to do for someone that never had to be disciplined with their money. Making yourself not spend money is toughest lesson but it’s also one of the most rewarding lesson’s in life. Once I mastered managing my money, all my other goals fell into place.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.prospectivevs.com
- Instagram: @pvsfinancial
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AngenettCurry1
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/prospective-solutions/
- Twitter: @AngenettCurry
- Youtube: @ProspectiveVisionSolutionsLLC
- Other: TikTok: @AngenettCurry248
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