We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Sha´Kreshia Terrell a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Sha´Kreshia, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?

Humble Hustle Finance´s mission is to empower individuals to take control of their finances and create a path to financial freedom through accessible and engaging financial literacy education. We believe that everyone should have the tools and knowledge to make informed financial decisions and achieve their goals.

The history behind our mission stems from the lack of financial knowledge I saw my parents have as a child. Our family always struggled financially. My dad was the breadwinner, and my mom was a housewife. Living on one income as a family of five was extremely hard.

My mom would often remind my sister and me to always keep good credit so that we would not have to live as we did as children. Although as a child I didn´t understand it, when I became an adult, I realized that as long as you had good credit, you had leverage.

I decided at the age of 19 that I wanted to start my credit line. I applied for a credit card but was denied to due to having ¨bad credit.¨ It hit me like a ton of bricks thinking that someone had stolen my information and abused my credit history. I thought from then on that I would forever have bad credit.

I did my research and discovered that it was reversible and cleaned up my credit report by myself. It was a case of mistaken identity by the credit bureaus, but it took tons of paperwork and time to correct. That journey led me into being intrigued by how money works, how credit works, and how there is a huge lack of financial knowledge in the black community. That led me to help others around me for a few years before turning it into a business.

Sha´Kreshia, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I´m Sha´Kreshia Terrell, CEO of Humble Hustle Finance. We are a personal finance platform that educates emerging adults on the importance of money management.

Before starting a business, I educated myself on money management and credit repair. I then shared what I learned with close friends and family. They suggested that I create a business surrounding personal finance. In 2014, after being tired of being in debt, my best friend and I got together and formed a plan to successfully pay off over 70k in debt. It was then that I decided to create Humble Hustle Finance. Since then, I have helped thousands of people fix their finances and credit!

Humble Hustle Finance is a consulting business for all things personal finance. We are ghostwriters for some of the top financial sites on the internet, and we create and or edit training courses. We also do freelance writing for our blog and other financial blogs out there.

I am most proud of being able to help others turn their finances around for the better. I never thought that I would be helping others do that. I literally eat, sleep, and dream about numbers and the subject of money! :) I love that I naturally help people feel comfortable enough to open up about their finances and what mistakes they may have made. It´s natural to be embarrassed and closed off, but after speaking with me within the first few minutes, our clients find themselves sharing their stories. I don´t gatekeep, and sometimes I may overshare, but I find that the empathy behind that is what helps others to open up more quickly.

Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?

I have read many books from Rich Dad, Poor Dad to Think and Grow Rich, to Get Good With Money. Though those are about finances, the book that has changed my entire perspective on life is The 12 Week Year by Brian P. Moran. After reading that book, I learned to create a plan and break out things that I needed to do in bite-size pieces, 12 weeks at a time. It has not only helped me become more intentional in my personal life and business, but it has also helped me double my business! I highly recommend that to any inspiring entrepreneur.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

A lesson I had to unlearn in life is that just about everything in life is fixable. Specifically noting back to my personal experience with money and credit. I thought I had to live with a bad credit score for the rest of my life. I felt I would never have anything of value because the credit bureaus were already showing that I was irresponsible even though it wasn´t me. I am glad that it bothered me so much so that I decided to google my way through fixing my financial situation, and since then, I have not looked back.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.humblehustlefinance.com
• Instagram: shakreshianicole
• Facebook: Sha´Kreshia Terrell
• Linkedin: Sha´Kreshia Terrell
• Twitter: ShaKTerrell

Image Credits
Chelsea Purgahn Autrey