Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Shay Cook. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Shay, 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?

Crusaders for Change®️, LLC’s (C4C) mission is to empower and equip people with the knowledge, skills, and tools needed to become financially free through financial counseling, coaching, classes, and consulting.

More about me and how I got here. There are 4 areas of why I am where I am today and that inspired me to start my own business: 1. My Spirit, 2. My Family, 3. My Education and 4. My Career.

Steve Jobs said during a speech in 2005 “You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backward. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever.”

1. Spirit (Connect the Dots (*) – Dot 2): * Military Spouse –> *Air Force Husband –> *2006 Turkey –> *Spirit spoke – “You will help my people with their finances”. I didn’t listen to my spirit at first. Too focused on getting a secure job.

Details: My spirit spoke to me back in 2006 while living in Turkey and told me I needed to help people in the area of finances. As mentioned, I initially didn’t honor or listen to my spirit, but the feeling of helping people financially would only grow stronger over the years.

2. Family (Connect the Dots (*) – Dot 1): *Growing up –> *my family was bad with money -> *I loved math & accounting -> *Alaska & Checks (story below) —-> *Met husband, he joined Air Force while engaged, got married, moved to Germany, 6 months later pregnant – struggled in the beginning

Details: As a child, I always loved to play school and teach my siblings or play store and use the cash register. I loved math and accounting. While stationed in AK (my dad is retired Army), I took my parents’ checkbook to school and wrote my classmates each a check. Of course, my parents found out and I got in a lot of trouble. (I always laugh when I share this story. I guess I was always meant to help people. 🤣)

While in college, I met my husband who joined the Air Force after we were engaged. We got married after a year of dating and went to Germany as newlyweds. We found out we were pregnant after 6 months of marriage. My daughter was born 1.5 years into us being married and I was only 22. I was very young but even more motivated to make something of myself after she was born. I was motivated to finish my Bachelor’s and obtain a Master’s, but I always had the inclination to want to start my own business.

3. Education (Connect Dots (*) – Dot 3): *Struggled financially, but I continued with my education -> *BS in Psychology and later *MS in Psychology -> *Goal mental health and not finances. – > *Later realized (connecting the dots), that understanding human behavior is super valuable when helping people with their finances -> *2008 obtain Accredited Financial Counselor (AFC) certification -> *2019 obtained Financial Fitness Coach (FFC) Certification

Details: I started college at UMBC as a computer engineering major, then changed to political science (but gave up on that after the Monica Lewinsky scandal), and then moved into Psychology. I ultimately obtained a BS and MS in Psychology, and really wanted to be a psychologist, but later realized that understanding human behavior would be super valuable in helping people with their finances.

4. Career (Connect Dots (*) – Dot 4): *Administration, fast food, retail, telemarketing, childcare, and 2 credit unions. *After Spirit spoke to me -> *I got a job with the Air Force –> * Fellowship to become AFC –> *I moved back to MD -> *Job to help people find resources -> I held several jobs with the Army (relocation, financial readiness, director) -> *Laid off 2011 -> *Obtained job with Coast Guard & started financial program for Coast Guard -> *2016 start business and in *2018 offered a contract with FINRA Foundation -> *Leave gov’t job and run business full-time.

Details: I’ve worked in administration, fast food, retail, telemarketing, childcare, and for 2 Federal credit unions. Shortly after my spirit spoke to me in 2006, I received my first federal job with the Air Force, was able to provide financial assistance to SMs and families, and was accepted into the FINRA Foundation Military Spouse Fellowship to receive an Accredited Financial Counselor (AFC) certification in 2008. I went from there to obtain jobs with the Army providing financial counseling, classes, and information/referral to SMs and their families to developing the Personal Financial Readiness Program for the Coast Guard.

Once I connected the dots, I realized how all my jobs and education, and many spiritual & family experiences were pertinent to my purpose of helping people with their finances through C4C.

I left my full-time, government job in 2018 to run C4C full-time. I have no regrets and don’t miss it.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Shay is a Christian (🙏🏾GodsPlan), Proud Black Woman (👑BlackGirlMagic), Leader (👏🏾Motivation), Wife (🇺🇸MilitarySpouse), Mother (👸🏾FavoriteGirl), Entrepreneur (💪🏾HustleHard), and SO much more (🙌🏾BlessingsOnBlessings).

As the CEO & Founder of Crusaders for Change®️, LLC (C4C), she focuses on providing financial counseling, coaching, classes, and consultation where people:
* PRAY – Providing members with the tools they need to succeed
* WORK – Increasing well-being, morale and productivity
* PLAY – Bringing personal finance education & assistance to places of fun

Crusaders for Change (C4C) Vision – Personal Financial Freedom for All.

C4C Mission – Empower and equip women, men, and children with the tools (knowledge, skills, etc.) needed to become financially free.

How C4C Helps/Goals:
~ Change behavior (i.e., spending, saving, …)
~ Get out of debt
~ Improve credit
~ Meet financial goals

C4C helps people, especially women between the ages of 25-50, single mothers, and couples reach their financial goals and ultimately a sense of financial freedom. We are not financial advisors or planners. As certified, accredited financial counselors, we assist people with changing their behaviors toward money management. As certified financial fitness coaches, we teach people how to align their values with their goals and be accountable.

We also provide fun & educational events like our Tickle My Money Bone! A Comedy Event (Pending Trademark – TM), the Dreamers & Doers (TM) Wellness Retreat, the Community Financial Empowerment Series (CFES) (TM) which includes our trademarked Money Goals Matter®️ program, and more.

C4C won the Central Maryland Chamber’s Minority-Owned Business of the Year award (2020) and the NAACP Anne Arundel County Branch’s Small-Business of the Year Award (2021).

How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?

C4C was started with personal funds and a business (Credit Union) credit card. I am proud to practice what I preach and made sure my personal credit score was always great to excellent. This credit score afforded me the opportunity to obtain approvals for business credit/capital, whether a credit card, line of credit, or loan. As the business grew, I paid the credit off. As we all know, you need to spend money to make money, so I have had to borrow more recently to sustain the growth of the business. But, being fiscally responsible helps.

C4C educates its clients on the value of good credit, responsible borrowing, saving, and more so that when they are ready to start a business they can. We also help those entrepreneurs who have already started a business and need help improving/repairing their personal finance situation which ultimately is important to growing their business as well.

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

I’m not sure I would say it was pivoting, just being open to other’s opinions and obedient to my spirit, or both.

As shared before, when I started C4C I thought it would be centered around just helping people through financial counseling, coaching, classes, and consulting where people Prayed, Worked, and Played. But, when new ideas presented themselves, I was anxious but open to trying something new. Whether it was our Yahweh’s Money podcast shown to me by the Spirit in 2020 but started in 2022 after one of our team members inquired about starting a podcast. Or, during a NAACP Anne Arundel County – Economic Empowerment meeting when the Chair asked about holding a financial literacy event and I had just watched the Tiffany Haddish series – They Ready! – and thought we could do something similar around money and would go on to hold the first Tickle My Money Bone! A Comedy Event in April 2021. Or, creating the Community Financial Empowerment Series for one organization but taking flight with another. The list goes on. I have learned to be open and flexible and let God and the Universe do the guiding.

Learn more about Yahweh’s Money here – https://www.crusaders4change.org/yahwehs-money

And, Tickle My Money Bone! A Comedy Event here – https://www.crusaders4change.org/tmmb

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.crusaders4change.org
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/crusaders4change/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Crusaders4ChangeLLC
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/crusaders-for-change-llc
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/Crusaders4Chang
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@crusaders4change