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Confidence Grows When You Make A Plan · Divas That Care Network

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_01: It's Divas the Care Radio.
• 0:02
  SPEAKER_01: Stories, strategies, and ideas to inspire positive change.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome to Divas That Care, a network of women committed to making our world a better place for everyone.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_01: This is a global movement for women by women engaged in a collaborative effort to create a better world for future generations.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_01: To find out more about the movement, visit divasletcare.com after the show.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_01: Right now, though, stay tuned for another jolt of inspiration.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_02: Welcome to Confidence in Bloom, the podcast where we explore what it truly means to grow in confidence from the inside out.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_02: I'm your host, Tina Spolotini, and each week we have conversations that help women quiet self-doubt, trust themselves, and step into the life they're meant to live.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_02: Today's theme is Speak Up and Stand Firm.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_02: Finding your voice isn't always easy.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_02: Whether it's advocating for yourself, setting boundaries, making difficult decisions, or standing beside someone you love, confidence often grows in the moments when we choose courage over comfort.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_02: I'm excited to welcome Shelley Howard.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_02: Shelley is the founder and CEO of College Ready, a two-time best-selling author and an internationally recognized College of Missions and Financial Strategist.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_02: Through her work, she has helped thousands of families navigate one of life's biggest decisions with greater confidence and clarity.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_02: Shelly, thank you so much for being here.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_02: I'm so excited to have this conversation with you.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you, Tina.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_00: I can't wait to share with your listeners all things about college.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_02: I can just imagine.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_02: Excuse me.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_02: Now you've spent years helping families make life-changing decisions, you know, especially when we're talking college.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_02: What have you learned about connection between confidence and then speaking up for what matters most?
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's critical and also challenging at the same time.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_00: Confidence is something that you don't often come with.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_00: You have to learn it.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_00: And so when I'm working with students, they're still in the process of learning their own confidence.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_00: And it's critical because if they can't confidently tell a university who they are, what matters to them, how have they proven it, the college is not going to be confident in offering them a position.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: It's often like a career.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_00: And so to teaching that to teach them that confidence is helping them to learn more about themselves.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_00: And I believe that that applies to adults as well.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_00: If we don't know our gifts and our talents and our strengths, how would one be confident in going forward?
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_00: So I think confidence is something learned, but I think it's very important to the process of life.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_02: I love that.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_02: So we are teaching these young kids.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_02: Now I have three adult children myself.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_02: They're, you know, young adults.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_02: And, you know, when they're 17, 18 and they're moving on to university college, they don't have they have a certain kind of confidence, but not the kind of confidence that, you know, like a university may require.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_02: That that alone sounds difficult, right?
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_02: And now you're creating that in them, right?
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_02: Like you're helping them create the confidence that they need to move forward in their future.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_02: That, I mean, that's amazing, right?
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_02: That is, you know, every young adult needs that to some degree.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_00: I would love if every young adult had that going into college because they would look at that education so much differently.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_02: And then that's kind of the point I was sort of getting at is now that they're, you know, they've got this confidence that they didn't know they had, they thought that, you know, being cocky and, you know, being, because I mean, let's face it, at that age, especially males, and I know the women are no different, right?
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_02: They have a certain, they have a confidence in them, right?
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_02: And whether it's fake or not fake, because you, you know, as we get to our age, we know that some of it we have to put on a bit of a front to put and pretend that we're confident.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_02: And and I believe that young people do that so that they don't feel left out or, you know, I don't want to say the word stupid because I don't really think that's, you know, but they feel like they're not good enough.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_02: And so they pretend, right?
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_02: That's what I okay, that's my opinion.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_02: I may, you know, don't want to say that that is what it is, you know.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_02: But you helping them, it creates a different energy for them, right?
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_02: They now go in, they start school feeling like I can do this, right?
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_02: Because I remember being at that age, and I saw it even in my own kids when they started their second, you know, their post-secondary, they were like, I don't know that I can do this, right?
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_02: Because it's a big deal, right?
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_02: It's a huge change.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_02: It's no longer high school, it's no longer, you know, these small tiny classes where the teacher will call you out by your name, right?
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_02: Like it's a big difference.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_02: And so you get to walk them through this.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_02: And you do that before, right?
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_02: Like your job is to get them confident before they even apply.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_00: For sure.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_00: And I, you know, parents, if you're wondering how confident your child is, you can ask them two things.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_00: The first one is, who are you?
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_00: If they can confidently tell you who they are, other than their name, where they live, what high school they go to, you know that there's some confidence depth to them.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_00: If they can, or if they look at you like you know who I am, that's such a weird question.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_00: I would ask them to go deeper.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_00: If I didn't know you, who are you?
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_00: Because what I have found when I when I meet with students and I ask them, so tell me, who are you?
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_00: And they're they're stuck.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_00: They don't know what to say confidently.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_00: They feel insecure with, I don't know who I am, or I don't know what to tell you who I am.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_00: And so that's the first thing we start with at College Ready is getting clear about who they are, what matters to them, and what have they done about it, because that's what colleges want to know.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_00: And ultimately, that's what they need to know to be an adult.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_00: So we're trying to help them understand, university, college, or not, if somebody asks you, what do you want to do in your future, and you shrug, that is not confidence.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_00: That is insecurity, that is, I don't know, and I'm kind of embarrassed that I don't know.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_00: But if they can tell that that person asking, I want to do this, I want to go here, I want to be this, and this is what I want to accomplish, that confidence alone will help get them that career, getting them into the education that they need, and ultimately help them to feel secure in what they want to do in their future.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_00: So college is just the stepping stone, it's not the in-game.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_00: And that confidence that gets them from one place to the other is really the gift that you can give your child because I don't know how many listeners have a 17-year-old that can tell them confidently, looking in an adult in the eye, this is what I want to do, this is where I want to go, this is how much I'm gonna make.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_00: Confidently, wow, what a different world they would step into.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_02: And I'd love that.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_02: So that's the kind of answer that you're looking for when you say to a 17-year-old looking to go to university or college, who are you?
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_02: Like you want to know, like, you know, yes, okay, I know my name, right?
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_02: But what I stand for, right?
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_02: This is I want to be a doctor.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_02: I want to be a medical doctor, I want to work in, you know, this hospital.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_02: I want you like you want to know that they know what they want.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_02: Is that right?
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_02: So who am I?
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_02: Sounds like I don't, I don't know.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_02: So this is the women that I work with, those are the questions that they ask themselves.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_02: Who am I?
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_02: Like, who am I really?
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_02: And those are the kinds of answers we're looking for.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_02: We're not looking, I mean, yes, we're looking for I'm a mother, I'm a wife, I'm a, you know, sure.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_02: We're looking for those kind of answers.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_02: But those, they're they're broad, right?
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_02: We want to know, right, like who, like what do I stand for really?
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_02: What do I want?
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_02: What are my goals?
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_02: What am I working towards?
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_02: Is that right?
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_00: And so we start with students, right, as young as seventh and eighth grade.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_00: Some students can tell you straight away, my firstborn knew he wanted to be a surgeon by the time he was in eighth grade.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_00: My youngest, my fourth, she's still trying to figure it out.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_00: And I raised them the same.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_00: I think a lot comes down to personality.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_00: I think a lot comes down to the opportunities that they've taken, right?
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_00: Confidence comes from failing forward.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't come from playing small and being unsure.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_00: It's stepping out into this is who I want to be, trying that, and the best place to do it, adult or teenager, is community service.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_00: When you're serving another human being, you're stepping into, I want to make impact.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_00: I want to inspire, I want to make a difference, I want to do something in the world, and it costs you nothing.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_00: You're providing a service to somebody else.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_00: And so we have an organization called Empowereducation.world.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_00: It's a student-led organization where I mentor teenagers on helping them figure out what is their passion, what are their gifts, their talents, and their advocacy, what are they going to do about those things, and how will they prove to themselves and others by stepping into it.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_00: And so I encourage students and adults as well that if you're stuck and you don't know what it is that you're supposed to be doing or confidently understanding yourself, give yourself a break and then just try it.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't have to be perfect.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_00: And telling students it doesn't have to be perfect is like giving them a breath of fresh air because teenagers are looking at the best day of everybody's life on social media, and they don't feel as pretty, as smart, as strong, as and I tell them, forget all about that.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_00: Let's go and figure out who you are supposed to be, test it out, and then you'll be able to confidently say, I'm a strong leader, I am good at whatever that confident statement is, is stepping into the right direction.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_00: And if that's university, now they can tell the story or the essay that will support they know who they are, they know what they've done, and they know the impact that they're going to make.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_02: I love that.
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_02: I love that.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_02: And I I think you know, bringing these young kids into adulthood with that type of confidence, it leads, it makes their um like their opportunities a lot more wider as they age, right?
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_02: Because we all know like life brings change, right?
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, sure, you need to go into university or college knowing what you want to get out of it.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_02: But once you get out of it, you're like, you know, they say, you know, you graduate university and the world is your oyster, right?
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_02: And so now, yes, okay, I have a degree, I know what I'm gonna do for work, but there are also other opportunities that come to you when you're confident and open to it, right?
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_02: So I'm feeling really super excited for all these kids that you're working for because I would have loved that as a kid, right?
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_02: As a, you know, as coming out of high school, if someone would have come to me and said, you know, Tina, what do you want to do with your life?
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_02: I would have been like, oh my God, you have no idea, right?
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_02: Like I have so many things that I want to do, but I didn't know how to start that.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_02: I didn't, I didn't have the resources or I didn't know that I had the resources because I think the resources are there, but we all we don't always know how to find them, right?
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_02: And so now I get excited knowing that there's someone there that's willing to, you know, put open their door for these young kids and give them that because we're living in a world now where we can't rely on our governments as much as we could before, right?
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_02: We can't rely on our parents because with social media there's and technology, there's so much more to know, right?
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_02: And so you're giving these kids sure the confidence, because that's what we need to move forward, but you're giving them the opportunities and the insights to look for them.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_02: I just love it.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_02: I'm so super excited.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_02: Now, I I I mean, I'm I know that the the students alone are learning from you and they're gaining a huge benefit from you, but what about the parents?
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_02: So I'm worried or I'm questioning, you know, as a parent, we second guess ourselves like all the time.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_02: We don't want to make the wrong decisions or guide our kids to make the wrong decisions, right?
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_02: And I mean, this is, I mean, I like to think I left the decision up to my children, right?
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_02: We helped them, we told them what we thought, but we left it all up to them.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_02: But how do you move like the parents into like from fear?
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_02: Because we all are, we all live in a little bit of that fear, into that confidence so that they too can support their kids.
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_00: Such a powerful question.
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_00: And it's all about knowledge and creating a plan.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_00: So the reason why people are fearful is they go on social media and they hear that even people with a perfect GPA and a perfect test score and all of this stuff are not getting into college.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_00: And so it's just feeding that fear, and it's just it's it's an awful place to be for sure.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and then secondly, is even if they went to university themselves, it was at least 20 years ago.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_00: So life has changed significantly in 20 years, I think everybody could agree.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_00: And that's when the reality hits is if parents assume that their child is going to do, hey, I made it on my own, why do they need help?
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_00: Well, it's because it's nothing like it used to be.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_00: My my kids often remind me that was back in the cave women days, right?
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_00: We typed it on a typewriter, we put a stamp, we just hope it got to admissions, and it didn't cost significantly anywhere close to what it does now.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_00: So the first thing is getting knowledge, and that is understanding where to get it and who has the right knowledge.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_00: There's so much bad information.
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_00: If you Google this information, you are gonna get so many mixed messages.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_00: If you use AI, it gets worse.
• 15:17
  SPEAKER_00: So now, what is a family left to do?
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_00: Well, they can assume their high school counselor is going to do all of this for them.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_00: And I I want them to understand that assumption is gonna cost you in time and money.
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_00: Not that I don't think there are good admissions people.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_00: It's just I want you as parents, ask your teenager this how many times have you met with your high school counselor?
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_00: Just that simple question.
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_00: And if they are a good to average student, it may be one time in four years.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_00: That is shocking to think that you're expecting that person to know your child enough to help them get into the best fit academic, social, and financially fit university.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_00: So please do not count on them.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_00: That would be very dangerous.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_00: Then the second piece is allowing your 17-year-old to navigate this whole process.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_00: They are deer and headlights.
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_00: They have they've never done anything like this.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_00: And if you think they have, ask them, what would you do with a million dollars cash?
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_00: And I think it might terrify you.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_00: The financial literacy or lack of is crazy because high schools simply are not teaching that and they're not being held accountable to that.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_00: So if the family doesn't discuss it on a regular basis, they have no idea.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_00: $400,000 in college debt in the US.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_00: What does that even mean?
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_00: That they have no idea, and then they marry somebody with that.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_00: Now they're double-debted for$800,000.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_00: It's crazy.
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_00: So we thought we want parents to understand that don't think that the high school counselor is gonna do this, and don't expect your 17-year-old to navigate this.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_00: So now it's left up to you, the parent.
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_00: Are you the one who's gonna help them do this?
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_00: Or are you gonna hire support?
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_00: That's all that I want them to ask.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_00: I have two best-selling books.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_00: The first one is how to send your student to college without losing your mind, your money.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_00: And I truly wrote that from a parent's perspective because that was me with my first child.
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_00: I was terrified.
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't want to lose sleep and I didn't want to lose my money.
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_00: And therefore, the book is there to help you.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_00: The second one is the college admissions plan simplified.
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't need to be overwhelming.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_00: It there is a simple process and structure if you know where to find it.
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_00: So for your listeners, I'm offering both of them on Amazon for$4.
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_00: So please, if you do nothing else, it's less than a cup of coffee.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_00: Go and get the book.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_00: It's an easy read, and at least you have an idea.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_00: Now it's up to what do you want to do?
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_00: Create the plan with your child so they don't go into debt and they do get accepted to the university.
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_00: And if you really read it well, they'll do it without without massive overwhelm.
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that alone will give parents the peace of mind that they're doing the right thing for their child and for their family.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_02: I know the money is a big, it's a big issue.
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_02: So you're like you basically you challenge that belief that the students are going to have or be buried in debt at the end of their degree.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_02: Uh so I would love to know more about that.
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_02: You know, I don't know, I don't want you to share the secrets of your books, obviously, right?
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_02: But what I would like is, you know, maybe you could tell us, are there any moments that you can think back of when you had to like your yourself personally had to stand sort of firm against that wisdom, right?
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_02: That whole, you know, you're gonna be, you're gonna have so much debt at the end of this.
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_00: So good.
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm happy to share.
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_00: My mission with College Ready is to help a million families navigate getting into college and out without debt.
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_00: So my firstborn, um, without going too deep into his story, he had hopes and dreams of being a doctor.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_00: We had no doctors in our family, and so he came to me and asked for help.
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_00: He said, Mom, I really want to be a brain surgeon.
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_00: Will you help me?
• 19:49
  SPEAKER_00: And at that moment, I was a bit terrified as a parent.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't want to let him down and I didn't want him to go into massive debt.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_00: So I had this, this huge, I don't know what I don't know.
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_00: And that's when I went back to school and I got my master's, and I went back to school and I became an independent certified college consultant.
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_00: I started touring 25 uh colleges a semester.
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_00: He applied to 11, 12 schools, got into 11, had seven full right offers, went to Harvard pre-med for free, went on to UC San Diego Medical School, and just finished as an orthopedic surgeon.
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_00: All of this happened where he's not going to be in debt is because we had a plan, we had a strategy, and we were proactive in making sure that happened.
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_00: So it all comes down to really understanding what our colleges are looking for, picking the right colleges, and then helping the student to stand out.
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_00: Because if they don't get accepted to college, you don't have to worry about paying for it.
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_00: So we have to work on step number one, which is college admissions and a standout strategy, and at the same time, helping that student.
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_00: So there's four buckets of money, and I think this is important.
• 21:09
  SPEAKER_00: I help students across the globe.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_00: We're an international organization.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_00: I was just named the 2026 Global Educational Consultant of the Year because thank you.
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_00: My mission is to help families either coming into the U.S.
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_00: or going out of the U.S.
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_00: Because my firstborn, he studied in the U.S., graduated debt-free.
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_00: My second went to University of Alabama and she's now a nurse.
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_00: So I have a doctor and a nurse who both graduated without debt, and I didn't pay a dot a dollar.
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_00: Then my my third went to San Francisco State and is now going and getting his secondary degree from Berkeley.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_00: And then my fourth went to Europe.
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_00: And that's when College Ready went from a national company to an international company because she got A US and European dual degree international business for$27,000 in total and got to see the world and got to be debt free.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_00: So I went to this whole other world of wow, didn't know this was a thing.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_00: And I just got back from Europe yesterday at a uh graduation uh University of Venice, and one of my students graduated from there with zero debt.
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm thinking, wait a minute, here's another opportunity.
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_00: It's my it was my lack of knowledge that I didn't know this existed, just like I didn't know inside the US that it was possible.
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_00: But last year alone, we had 26 students earn$11.8 million in scholarships.
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_00: $11.8 million.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_00: That's yeah, that's more than you could earn, you know, in a lottery.
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_00: So I want families to understand just because you don't know how doesn't mean it doesn't exist.
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 23:11
  SPEAKER_00: That's what I want you to know.
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_00: So the back to there's four buckets of money.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_00: There's the need-based money, which are those families that earn under$200,000.
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_00: You can get need-based grants and aid if that is you.
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_00: If you get into an Ivy League school and you make under$200,000, they will pay for the whole thing.
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_00: So again, it's can you get in?
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_00: Because don't let money stand in your way.
• 23:40
  SPEAKER_00: But maybe you make more than that.
• 23:43
  SPEAKER_00: That's okay.
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_00: There's three other buckets.
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_00: So the next bucket of money is going to be merit-based money.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_00: That is, what have you done that makes you stand out?
• 23:55
  SPEAKER_00: Is it your GPA, your test scores, your community service, your leadership, your extracurriculars?
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_00: What is it?
• 24:03
  SPEAKER_00: Because there's so much money that people want to give you for being amazing.
• 24:09
  SPEAKER_00: That's kind of like going to work and doing that next level and getting a raise.
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_00: Think of it like that.
• 24:15
  SPEAKER_00: That's the merit bucket.
• 24:18
  SPEAKER_00: Then there's the institutional bucket.
• 24:21
  SPEAKER_00: That is picking the right universities for the right student equals scholarships.
• 24:27
  SPEAKER_00: If you have a student that is excelling in their major or an area at a university, it could even be an example would be my son got a full ride at USC, um, University of Southern California, for his leadership.
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_00: He was loving being part of leadership.
• 24:53
  SPEAKER_00: It just happened to be that they were giving away a ton of money for that, a free education.
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_00: And Harvard matched it.
• 25:00
  SPEAKER_00: So his his what he was doing was recognized by USC.
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_00: They threw a bunch of money at him, and then we went and negotiated with Harvard.
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_00: So that money was institutional money.
• 25:15
  SPEAKER_00: And then there's the independent scholarships.
• 25:18
  SPEAKER_00: Right now, there's a scholarship for$10,000 if you're a vegan.
• 25:23
  SPEAKER_00: There's one for$15,000 if you have one green eye and one brown eye.
• 25:27
  SPEAKER_00: There's so much random money out there that families are not even tapping into that you can start applying to as young as fourth grade.
• 25:37
  SPEAKER_00: Fourth grade.
• 25:38
  SPEAKER_02: My goodness.
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_02: My goodness.
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_00: And people are just saying, oh, I make too much money, I'm not gonna get any money.
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_00: That's the biggest mistake I see.
• 25:51
  SPEAKER_02: Wow.
• 25:51
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, so your job then, now you said that you worked with kids, you know, seventh, eighth grade.
• 25:58
  SPEAKER_02: You don't start, I mean, you probably do, but you like it's not necessarily just okay, my kid's going into grade 12 this year.
• 26:05
  SPEAKER_02: We need to get him into a university.
• 26:07
  SPEAKER_02: What can we do?
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_02: You actually start younger so that you can see their skills.
• 26:12
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, you would be great in leadership, you would be great, you know, at doing, you know, this kind of the work or this kind of work, right?
• 26:19
  SPEAKER_02: And then you can sort of guide them as to okay, maybe you could get into this financial bucket or this financial bucket with what you do and what you know.
• 26:30
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 26:31
  SPEAKER_00: So we work with students, we can start as young as seventh grade or eighth grade or ninth grade or tenth grade or eleventh grade or twelfth grade.
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_00: We say the same thing has to happen.
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_00: It's just how fast it has to happen.
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_00: So in seventh and eighth grade, it's gentle.
• 26:49
  SPEAKER_00: They haven't made any mistakes, we're there to support them, we're there to nurture them.
• 26:54
  SPEAKER_00: If they come in their junior year, it just means we've got to be a little bit more on point.
• 26:59
  SPEAKER_00: Their senior year, which means it's a fire hose, but they still can get it done.
• 27:03
  SPEAKER_00: So it just depends on when the family finds us.
• 27:08
  SPEAKER_00: I'm still as crazy as it seems, 18 years in business,$80 million in scholarships, named College Consultant of the Year, and I'm still the best kept secret.
• 27:20
  SPEAKER_00: So I tend to get most of my business by referrals.
• 27:25
  SPEAKER_00: And that's why I want families to read the book so they either can do it on their own or they get support.
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_00: Either way, they don't find out so late that they can't take advantage of all the opportunities.
• 27:40
  SPEAKER_00: So it's right, you still have to do everything.
• 27:43
  SPEAKER_00: It's just do you want to have a nice long runway or do you want to a short runway with a fast takeoff?
• 27:51
  SPEAKER_02: Right, right.
• 27:52
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 27:52
  SPEAKER_02: Oh my gosh, I'm so excited for parents that are going to be listening to this that have children, you know, younger children where they're still, you know, start maybe they're starting their navigation into the, you know, post-secondary.
• 28:06
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, I love it.
• 28:07
  SPEAKER_02: I'm so excited.
• 28:08
  SPEAKER_02: Now, I often work with women um who know what they want to say, but they're they're hesitant, right?
• 28:15
  SPEAKER_02: Because they don't want to disappoint someone or they don't want to be judged.
• 28:18
  SPEAKER_02: I'm sure you experience this over and over and over again from students and from parents.
• 28:24
  SPEAKER_02: What advice would you give to those, you know, questioning their word, right?
• 28:30
  SPEAKER_02: Who's and they're, yeah, I mean, obviously they're learning to find their voice.
• 28:33
  SPEAKER_02: What is your advice to them?
• 28:36
  SPEAKER_00: So I would say, students and adults, this is something that I would say is a blanket statement.
• 28:44
  SPEAKER_00: The most important thing that knowledge and a plan does for you is takes away fear.
• 28:51
  SPEAKER_00: Fear and anxiety are the things that can break down your confidence.
• 28:57
  SPEAKER_00: If you cannot be confident in going forward with what your knowledge or your plan is, you are going to be hesitant and insecure.
• 29:08
  SPEAKER_00: So the more you have a strategy, I often talk about it like this college is a business.
• 29:15
  SPEAKER_00: And if you look at life as the choices we get to make, everything needs to have an idea of who you are and what matters to you.
• 29:26
  SPEAKER_00: And if you're missing that element, you're missing the confidence.
• 29:30
  SPEAKER_00: If you don't know what your child wants to be for their career or for their major, or they don't know, how are they gonna be confident in going forward?
• 29:41
  SPEAKER_00: For adults, it's the same thing.
• 29:44
  SPEAKER_00: If they don't know what their passion is and their purpose is, they're gonna go into life not being confident.
• 29:51
  SPEAKER_00: So I always say it's like if you were going to wait to start saving for retirement when you're 75, you're probably gonna be pretty stressed out about how well you retire.
• 30:04
  SPEAKER_00: But if you start at a young age, retirement's just gonna be part of the process.
• 30:09
  SPEAKER_00: That's what I want families to understand is the confidence you gain now, you working with women, me working with children, young adults, is that the sooner we can help them to be confident about their future, the better off they're gonna go into adulthood.
• 30:28
  SPEAKER_00: And think of every student went into adulthood knowing who they are, what matters to them, and have proven it, the confidence is gonna be huge, which is gonna give them the voice they need to be confidently going forward.
• 30:44
  SPEAKER_02: And a better world for the rest of us to live in.
• 30:47
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 30:48
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, absolutely, absolutely.
• 30:50
  SPEAKER_02: Oh my goodness, this makes me so excited.
• 30:53
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 30:54
  SPEAKER_02: Now, now your work isn't just about getting kids accepted into college, really, like you just said, it's more about helping families making intentional decisions, right?
• 31:06
  SPEAKER_02: We want a better world for our kids and for the rest of us.
• 31:10
  SPEAKER_02: How has advocating for these people, like for others, strengthened your own voice over the years?
• 31:17
  SPEAKER_00: I think, well, I know that playing a sport at a young age for me started that voice.
• 31:25
  SPEAKER_00: I believe being involved in a team sport was part of giving me that voice because it was encouraging and inspiring and in teamwork and impact.
• 31:39
  SPEAKER_00: So I believe that I'm on a mission to help families navigate not only college admissions, but not going into debt.
• 31:48
  SPEAKER_00: Those two are very important, tied together.
• 31:51
  SPEAKER_00: But what's more important is I've started a nonprofit in powereducation.world.
• 31:56
  SPEAKER_00: And that has led me to really get clear about my impact, what inspires me, what I want to advocate for.
• 32:07
  SPEAKER_00: And when you're on fire for your own mission, it's so much fun to get other people inspired as well.
• 32:14
  SPEAKER_00: And so I started in Power Education after my fourth time of being in Africa and seeing some of the world that most people will never want to see or have the desire to see.
• 32:29
  SPEAKER_00: And on my last trip there, when I saw what true third world countries look like and the happiness they had with nothing, it was easy for me to find my joy and my advocacy and really lean into helping families.
• 32:47
  SPEAKER_00: And so I would say if you're struggling with finding your why, go surf, go do something impactful for another person.
• 32:56
  SPEAKER_00: Take that feeling away from you, put it on what you can do, what can you impact?
• 33:01
  SPEAKER_00: And there's so much need.
• 33:03
  SPEAKER_00: You don't need to go to Africa, you can do it anywhere.
• 33:06
  SPEAKER_00: But why is that important for you or your family is when you are helping another person, you're not focused on what you're not, you're focused on what you can give.
• 33:15
  SPEAKER_00: And when you're focused on what you can give, all of a sudden you see that you're bringing other people joy, which brings you joy.
• 33:22
  SPEAKER_00: Each time I went to Africa, I thought I was going to help them.
• 33:26
  SPEAKER_00: And every time I came home, I realized the impact they had made on my life.
• 33:31
  SPEAKER_00: And so that has been huge.
• 33:34
  SPEAKER_00: I have 52 teenagers who meet every week, and they have raised over$48,000, built two schools in Africa, an orphanage in Oaxaca, and a school for the blind in India.
• 33:48
  SPEAKER_00: So if that doesn't give students um confidence and inspiration and impact, I don't know what else will.
• 33:57
  SPEAKER_00: That's what inspires me every single day is watching teenagers who could be on their phone and just all about themselves putting down the phone and seeing what I can do to make a difference in the world for another human being.
• 34:14
  SPEAKER_00: And it's my belief that if every 18-year-old did 200 hours of community service, that our world would be a much better place.
• 34:22
  SPEAKER_02: I believe, I believe that 100%.
• 34:24
  SPEAKER_02: I do believe that.
• 34:25
  SPEAKER_02: Although I will say I have never done real community service.
• 34:29
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, I volunteered here, you know, here and there, but never really that I could say I've done it.
• 34:34
  SPEAKER_02: But I know just, you know, from watching the rest of the world, I know that you're 100% right.
• 34:41
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 34:41
  SPEAKER_02: We get so much out of giving, right?
• 34:45
  SPEAKER_02: That we end up, like you said, we end up giving, they end up giving to us.
• 34:49
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I believe that.
• 34:51
  SPEAKER_02: I believe that.
• 34:52
  SPEAKER_02: Now, if someone listening today has been staying quiet or doubting themselves or waiting for permission to take the next step, what would you want them to remember?
• 35:03
  SPEAKER_00: First is if you don't have a plan, you're planning to fail.
• 35:08
  SPEAKER_00: Truly, by putting your head in the sand or putting your hands over your ears, that that young person is going to adult.
• 35:17
  SPEAKER_00: It's just inevitable.
• 35:19
  SPEAKER_00: And you can either do it where you launch them and you're proud and you're feeling confident that you did everything you could, or you're going to be sitting with regret.
• 35:29
  SPEAKER_00: These are choices we get to make.
• 35:31
  SPEAKER_00: So, what does that look like?
• 35:33
  SPEAKER_00: I have so many free resources.
• 35:35
  SPEAKER_00: If you go to college readyplan dot info, college readyplan dot info in fo, I am offering your listeners 30 minutes where I can help give them the confidence that their plan is ready.
• 35:50
  SPEAKER_00: If it's not, I will give them here are the next steps that you can accomplish.
• 35:56
  SPEAKER_00: I already mentioned my two best-selling books.
• 35:58
  SPEAKER_00: And then the third is if you go to collegereadyplan.com and go slash resources, I have a whole page of free resources that help you understand your student aid index, how much college in the US is going to cost.
• 36:13
  SPEAKER_00: I have uh find your core values.
• 36:16
  SPEAKER_00: This could be for an adult or for a child.
• 36:19
  SPEAKER_00: Figuring out who are you, what really makes up who you are, because when you know your core values and you step into them, wow, it feels right.
• 36:29
  SPEAKER_00: It's like putting on the right size pants.
• 36:32
  SPEAKER_00: It just feels so good.
• 36:33
  SPEAKER_00: And so those resources are there for your listeners.
• 36:37
  SPEAKER_00: And I just want everybody to know that it's important that you not give this to your teenager and expect them to know what to do with it.
• 36:49
  SPEAKER_02: Go with go with them, right?
• 36:51
  SPEAKER_02: Like do this with them, beside them.
• 36:53
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that's beautiful.
• 36:55
  SPEAKER_02: That I mean, that's wonderful.
• 36:56
  SPEAKER_02: I um I don't I don't know that I have the words.
• 36:59
  SPEAKER_02: I'm so excited that there is someone out there like you helping these young kids and these families.
• 37:05
  SPEAKER_02: Now, you said in the US how much you know school is going to cost in the US, but you also said that you are international now.
• 37:13
  SPEAKER_02: So can students from here in Canada come to you or anywhere else in the world?
• 37:19
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 37:20
  SPEAKER_00: So we are international.
• 37:22
  SPEAKER_00: We can help Canadians go to Europe, Europeans go to Canada, go to the US.
• 37:27
  SPEAKER_00: We are truly helping families from Asia, India, wherever they're at, the world is now open.
• 37:35
  SPEAKER_00: And even if they are struggling with getting their visas or whatever that may look like, there's so much opportunity.
• 37:45
  SPEAKER_00: There is more universities that are looking for students than students will ever need.
• 37:51
  SPEAKER_00: And so it doesn't matter where you live or what your residency is or where you went to high school, it's really wide open now from free.
• 38:00
  SPEAKER_00: There's 10 universities that are completely free.
• 38:04
  SPEAKER_00: You would have to work, but they are free of tuition.
• 38:08
  SPEAKER_00: That there's no reason why any teenager who wants to go to college should not go.
• 38:16
  SPEAKER_00: And so I want to inspire you just to not be frustrated that it's too expensive because there's free.
• 38:23
  SPEAKER_00: And I tell students, I go, just because you don't know where to find it doesn't mean you shouldn't go get it.
• 38:30
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 38:30
  SPEAKER_02: I love that.
• 38:31
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you so much for joining me today and sharing all this.
• 38:35
  SPEAKER_02: I know that there's many, many, many families that need to hear this, right?
• 38:40
  SPEAKER_02: Because we all live in that bubble that think we can't afford it, or you know, we don't have the we don't have the right abilities or the right resources or anything.
• 38:50
  SPEAKER_02: But I mean, you just proved to us today that anybody can go to university.
• 38:55
  SPEAKER_02: Be who you are meant to be and do this.
• 38:59
  SPEAKER_02: I love it.
• 39:00
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you so much.
• 39:02
  SPEAKER_00: It's been my pleasure.
• 39:03
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you, Tina.
• 39:04
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you for joining us for another episode of Confidence in Bloom.
• 39:08
  SPEAKER_02: If today's conversation encouraged you, I'd love for you to subscribe, leave us a review, and share this episode with another woman who could use the reminder that her voice matters.
• 39:19
  SPEAKER_02: If you're finding yourself at a crossroads, overthinking your next step, struggling to trust yourself, or simply wanting greater clarity, you don't have to figure it out alone.
• 39:28
  SPEAKER_02: I offer coaching for women who are ready to reconnect with their confidence, move through their self-doubt, and create momentum in a way that feels authentic to them.
• 39:38
  SPEAKER_02: If that resonates with you, I'd love to connect and explore whether we're the right fit.
• 39:43
  SPEAKER_02: Until next time, remember, confidence isn't about becoming someone new.
• 39:47
  SPEAKER_02: It's about coming home to who you've been all along.
• 39:51
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks for listening.
• 39:53
  SPEAKER_01: This show was brought to you by Divas That Care.
• 39:55
  SPEAKER_01: Connect with us on Facebook, on Instagram, and of course on divasThatcare.com, where you can subscribe to our newsletter so you don't miss a thing.