The Boujee Banker with Raquel Curtis

Raquel is a mother of three. Budgeting saved her household and learning to invest secured her family's financial future. Raquel also has a podcast! Check out her new book "Mastering Your Money Mastermind".   

Connect with Raquel on Instagram! 

Transcript

The Boujee Banker

Raquel: [00:00:00] If you are the person who listens to all the podcasts, watch all the YouTubes and are a character or creature of listening, but not implementing change that don't just listen. Do don't just watch at

Jared Easley: welcome to starve it outside of your host, Jared Heasley and joining me today. Is the bougie banker I've got Raquel. Her podcast is living bougie and balance for kale. I don't deserve to be chatting with you, but you've lowered your standards. Hang out with 

Raquel: me. Thank you. I'm really excited. How are you doing?

I'm behaving. And, 

Jared Easley: uh, so let's just start out for people that don't know you Raquel they're like, I don't know where kale shame on them. Tell them let's fill them in. W w what do they 

Raquel: need to know? Sure. So my name is Raquel. I'm known as the bougie banker, and I'm an international money management coach.

I've had the pleasure after losing my job to [00:01:00] COVID as a banker, to actually being able to impact the lives of women all over the world, really digging into the relationship with money, making what that picture looks like, clear for them and helping them gain clarity and control. 

Jared Easley: Wow. So we're here in Austin, Texas.

Tell us why you're in Austin. And what is, uh, what, what are you hoping to gain from this 

Raquel: experience? So I'm in Austin. Anthony Oneal told me I should be here. Um, so it's my first year officially in business since you know, December 3rd, 2020. So this whole experience is new for me. It's my first time at con and I feel like a freshman in high school.

I am just like, oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. I'm meeting all these cool people and all these great. So, what I hope to gain is just connections and really just networking with the right people. So not only me, I'm able to grow my brand, but as well as maybe help other people grow. 

Jared Easley: So I'm sure there's people listening who had some challenging experiences through the [00:02:00] pandemic.

We know that that is also been the case for you. Tell us, take us back. Uh, things were good until they weren't. What was that like? Uh, tell us that story. 

Raquel: So I loved my job. I loved having the benefits and I loved helping people. And for me, the transition really happens on December 3rd, that me and my manager, she asked me to come into work early that day.

And I'm thinking they just need help. Unfortunately, there wasn't anybody else there, but the two managers and they asked me to sit down with her at her desk. I've had a similar experience. Yeah. She slipped me a stack of papers. Now I never been fired before, so I didn't know what exactly was happening. I just knew it.

Wasn't good. I thought I was in trouble. And so. She told me that the company had to make some decisions based off of what was going on with the pandemic. They let go of three bankers that day in the branch. And I just remember like snot nose crying because I really loved what I did. And as I'm driving home, I'm like, you know what, I'm just going to keep doing what I've been [00:03:00] doing.

But the effects of that is I have three daughters. So losing your job in December, you're thinking I have Christmas coming up. Thanksgiving just ended, you know, we just had this holiday and that cost money. Now, what am I going to do? So my decision was, I'm not going to fold. I'm going to press forward and I'm just going to keep doing what I've been doing.

I've been blessed and I'm really thankful to have the drive that I have, because I feel as though for most people, this pandemic has been crippling, but I feel as though, if you can take your situation and just grab it by the, put in a choke hold and just say, you know what, I'm not going to let this break.

And then that's what I did. And so I'm here now. 

Jared Easley: Yeah. And I have been in that situation then December of 2013, pretty much the same day, same thing, 10 people got, let go. I was one of the 10 and driving home. I'm just like I did everything. Right. I came to work on time. Clients loved me. [00:04:00] So, and, and that was a moment for me where I realized that I want more control over my career.

So it sounds like obviously you've had that epiphany. So somehow you transitioned from that awful situation to the bougie baker. So let's, let's talk about that branding. And let's put so-so you have this moment of clarity. I'm not folding, I'm going to double down on myself. Awesome. So, so, and then this brand, and so let's go there.

Raquel: So the boujee banker quote unquote actually started while I was a banker. So I was the type of person that would kind of go above and beyond. Cause I really enjoyed actually helping people. So I was like building budget, minders for the customers and really just digging deep with them, the coworkers, right.

Every time I would come to work, I'll be getting dress real cute. And they'd be like, bougie yourself. I was like, yes. And some humble too. And so [00:05:00] that's how the name came to be. It was actually my coworkers who dubbed me, the boujee banker. I liked that branding. 

Jared Easley: That's pretty cool. And then at some point you realize, Hey, I'm going to start a 

Raquel: podcast.

Yes. Yes. 

Jared Easley: I've got a podcast. I always like super easy. There's a little bit that goes into that. What's that experience been 

Raquel: like for you? So podcasting is a entirely different field from like YouTube and just the content creator field that I've been used to. So for me, More intimate, right? Like you can hide behind creativity on social media, on YouTube and all of that.

But here it's really what I say and how it resonates with people and really going intimate to certain aspects of my life so that I can create that connection. So for me, podcasting just brings a deeper relationship connection between myself and my audience makes 

Jared Easley: sense. And so since you started the podcast, what are some things that you've enjoyed about it?

Raquel: I really [00:06:00] enjoy getting used to hearing my voice by itself

and outside of that, it's just man making certain connections and really growing because I'm new to this space. So even meeting you and seeing how your drive and your hustle is set up with your podcasts, I'm like, man, this is amazing. So for me, it's just going into a new space and learning as much as I can.

Jared Easley: And like you said, you feeling a little bit like a freshmen, but I can't think of a better place for you to be at this particular season of where you are then FN con what's your experience been like? I think on so far, other than side, that you felt like. 

Raquel: I cannot put a price on this experience. I've gone to conferences where I paid thousands of dollars and the value that's been obtained is measurable.

So being able to connect with other like-minded people. Typically I'm just at home by myself studying, creating content. And then I have [00:07:00] speaking engagements, but I'm never really in a space to where I can just nerd talk money and statistics and how it's affecting the economy and all these great things.

Well, not great things, but terrible, terrible, terrible things. But I. I have never been in this type of space. So I'm learning a lot. I'm appreciative. I mean, it's really kind of repetitive, but it's just true.

Jared Easley: so for people to check out your podcast and check out what you're doing online, what are some things that they'll pull from that? 

Raquel: So if you guys check me out online, you'll pull a lot of. My brand is very pink, but also my target market is really minority women. And I service them because not only am I a black female, I'm a mother and I get it.

I mean, if you just look at the statistics, unfortunately, the net worth for millennial black female is $0. And that hurts because as educated as we are as [00:08:00] academically decorated as many businesses as we start financially, what we can bring to the table. It's nothing, which isn't 

Jared Easley: true, but yeah, that clearly isn't the case for everybody.

Raquel: No, of course. So that's averaged out, right? They do studies. So if you. If you look at the data, right? And this is what we kind of have to go by. A single black females, net worth has been summed up to less than $5 by the time she's 40 or 50, it's a thousand to $2,000. And I know it sucks and we don't want to believe it because we know that, you know, there are successful African-American females out there, and I don't want to take that away from them, but it's kind of, one of those is what it is situations.

And we just have to do everything in our power to change our demographic. But have you 

Jared Easley: received encouraging feedback? 

Raquel: Yes. Yes I have. Yeah. Sure. So between December 3rd, 2020 and today's date, I mean, my brand has touched 32 countries. Yeah. I know the us [00:09:00] and the UK are my largest audiences. I've had the pleasure of being interviewed by Anthony O'Neil with the Dave Ramsey network.

I've had the pleasure of being interviewed by Sirius XM radio. As well as speaking internationally on some stages. Yeah. Well, so how they do it now is like virtually, virtually. And then I just recently spoke at Savannah state university to over 500 students. I spoke at the Coca-Cola Roxy center. It's over a thousand people.

Yeah. So it's been wonderful. And I think part of it is. I don't mind saying what hurts hearing to be, you know, I don't mind saying what hurts people to hear, because I am that demographic. I mean, I'm here, I'm millennial woman, you know what I mean? I think it's just received a bit differently than if someone else said it.

Jared Easley: What are some 

Raquel: of the things that you talk about? So the main thing that I talk about is combating debt. Yeah. I think that it's crippling a lot of people, [00:10:00] especially, you know, for millennial women, my target market, I mean, We have things that we're not in control of. Right. Social economics, systemic, all that stuff.

But we can also place attention on the things that we do have control over what our spending habits like, what's our relationship with money. These are things that I've talked to audiences about because if we don't address it, we can't fix it. And most times you just don't know what you don't know. And I don't think a lot of people would place attention on.

That deep, psychological and emotional connection that we have to money. And I think once we really get to the foundation of that, we can start moving forward. And so in my speeches, that's kind of where I go. 

Jared Easley: And it sounds like you're just getting more and more of those opportunities as you continue to get your brand out there and more people find out about what 

Raquel: yeah.

Like I make it fun. So if you go to my Instagram, I make it fun. I make the data fund. I also let you know that this is the picture of where we are. This is how we can change it. 

Jared Easley: Okay. So it sounds like a lot has been [00:11:00] accomplished in just a few months. Uh, congratulations on that. What are some things you're looking forward 

Raquel: to maybe in the next year, I am looking forward to deeper connections.

I'm looking forward to networking. Strengthening my brand. I just released my first book. It's called mastering your money mindset. Whoa. Okay. 

Jared Easley: I didn't realize you had a book already. Wow. You're really doing a lot for a sort of mountain. 

Raquel: Well, so this isn't my first go at entrepreneurship. Okay. So it's. Me using everything that I've learned in the past and really just going all in with where I am now in the space.

So the class that I've been teaching for about eight months now, I turned it into a book. So it's a self discovery book. It's all, 

Jared Easley: that's wonderful. Kind of already had all the content for the class. They can now you repurpose it into a book and, uh, I'm guessing that book is available now. And people can check that out.

And so what's the feedback on the book? 

Raquel: So the book, it was just put on presale on my birthday. They officially in now, but [00:12:00] I have a lot of people who've taken the class, purchased the book, because like I said, we go into that relationship. Talk about the language in which your mom and dad spoke about money and how that's affected you and, and how you operate with money today.

Identifying your triggers around. And how you can begin to really create those healthy boundaries. 

Jared Easley: So I'm a dad. I have a 10 year old daughter. What do you say to parents who are one to help their kids start to be prudent with money as at a 

Raquel: younger age? So I have a 14 year old, eight year old and a six year old.

So the way that I deal with them, with money looking at you, I would 

Jared Easley: not guess that by the way, so 

Raquel: good for you. I deal with all three of them with money in different ways. So for my eight year old, which would be kind of comparable to your 10 year old, right? One of the things we do is I make sure that she understands value with money because I think a lot of times as parents, we want to give our children what we either had or didn't have.

Right. And so unfortunately that picture can be set up as a child [00:13:00] expecting versus appreciating. And when they expect they don't value what you're doing for them, One things I do with my eight year old with all three of them, actually, if there's something that they want, that costs a decent amount of money, I'll say, okay.

Yeah, you can have it. Sure. But let's print out the picture. We'll put it on the wall and we'll have a little bag that goes under the picture. And for every personal development or financial literacy book you read, I'll give you money towards that thing. So what happens is they're developing as a person I'm getting what I want, but they know the end result is the reward, which is what they.

That's a 

Jared Easley: really unique way to do that. I liked that I'm likely to steal it. I 

Raquel: will give credit

Jared Easley: okay. So for someone who's listening and they're saying, ah, man, Raquel's just speaking to me. I'm not where I want to be financially. I've got some debt. What would you say to that person? That's wanting to make [00:14:00] some better decisions, but you know, they're coming out of it. They've, they've, they've made 

Raquel: some bad choices.

Yeah. I mean, we've all made bad choices. My relationship with money was never good up until recently. I mean, I've been an entrepreneur before and as an entrepreneur, I'll say this you're used to getting money fairly quickly. Right. But managing it is kind of the hardest. And for me, I had to get to the roots of my relationship with.

It didn't matter what workshops I took. It didn't matter what YouTube videos I watched. It didn't matter which resources I downloaded because it was a temporary fix to a lifetime problem. And so the only way you can really repair that and move forward is you have to get down to your relationship with money and how you operate with it.

So if you're someone who's in. And there's someone who's really struggling with having a positive relationship with your money, sit down and start asking yourself some key questions that you might not have asked yourself before. You know, what was my first memory of money? What did that look like? Was money.

The subject of arguments in my household. [00:15:00] And how did that affect me to this day? All of those things play into how you manage your money, how you spend your money, how you choose to save. It all affects you into adulthood. 

Jared Easley: Yeah, that's so true. It's very likely that someone was listening, saying, I just need to reach out to Raquel.

Raquel's probably the person who can help. You mentioned Instagram, you've got the book. You got the podcast. 

Raquel: Yeah. If you just Google, you can Google the bougie banker I'll pop up. My podcast will pop up my YouTube, my Instagram, my website, uh, really any of those avenues, but I would definitely say I'm most active on Instagram.

I'm on there multiple times a day in my stories and all of that, you can click on the link section of my bio you'll have access to my book, my finance planner, my. Classes, my course is all of that. So I'm 

Jared Easley: actually on my device now. And I am going to go and find you on Instagram and follow you. So I, here we go.

When I searched for a search warrant, the boujee 

Raquel: banker. [00:16:00] All right, hold on. 

Jared Easley: Let me get to where I need to do this. T H 

Raquel: E B O 

Jared Easley: U J. I misspelled because I'm using one hand. The bougie banker. I love that branding. That's so good. Thank you. Okay. And do I have it? I think I have it. Okay. And then underscore, so, and there you are.

I see. And I'm following. So now I'm on there. So you're like, who's this strange handsome white guy.

Hey, you have a bee bougie. Oh, B bougie.com/the 

Raquel: bougie banker bougie.com. That's my LinkedIn tab. So when it pops up everything, 

Jared Easley: that's awesome. And that's got the link to where someone could purchase the book. Someone wants to check out the podcast. Okay. Cool. All right. So a couple of closing questions. One is who's doing something that interests you.

Raquel: Wow. Who's doing something that interests me. It doesn't have to be [00:17:00] someone that's doing something that interests me. I would have to say would be David Imani, TA he is someone that I really have a lot of respect for. He started this company called believe nation, and it really focuses on. Faith-based believing in yourself and, and manifestation and how you can really move to obtain the things that you really feel like you desire in life.

And I've seen the impact that it's created, and I've seen how his company has given back all over the world. And so I'm, I really aspire to take some of the aspects that I've seen that he's done and incorporate into my own. 

Jared Easley: Oh, well said. All right. We always like to close out with final thoughts. Do you have any final thoughts for people?

Raquel: To my final thoughts are, if you are the person who listens to all the podcasts, watch all the YouTube and are a character or creature of listening, but not implementing change. Don't just listen, do don't just watch at, and that's where you're really going to see a change. [00:18:00] It's not going to happen unless you decide that you're tired of being tired, that something has to change and you move on that emotional thought.

Jared Easley: Well said, congratulations on the book, the podcast. Speaking, all the wonderful things that are happening. I'm glad you could take something that certainly didn't feel good. And wasn't fun last December, and now turn it into something that's life-changing and going to be a transformational, not just for yourself, but for others as well.

Raquel: Congratulations. Thank you for having me. .