Latest / Marci talks money (and life) / From Math Teacher to Money Teacher: Financial Literacy with Stefon Bowman
Transcript
- Marci Grossman (00:15) Hello, I am MoneyMarci. Welcome. I am thrilled to welcome today's guest, Stefon Bowman. Stefon is an educator, financial literacy advocate, and co-founder of Financially L.I.T. (Luxury is Teachable), a program helping students and families build real world money skills through financial education and entrepreneurship. With more than ten years in education, he teaches financial literacy at KIPP Bold Academy in Newark, New Jersey, and has reached hundreds of students and families through innovative classroom experiences, community workshops, and large scale events. Most recently, Stefon helped lead the 3rd Annual Financially Lit Mother's Day Market, bringing together more than 100 vendors and over five hundred attendees to celebrate entrepreneurship and community wealth building. His work has been featured by Chalkbeat and News 12 New Jersey for its innovative approach to preparing young people for financial success in the digital age. Stefon feels strongly that teaching young people about money can't wait until adulthood. Welcome Stefon. Stefon Bowman (01:26) Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you for having me, Marci. Marci Grossman (01:30) I'm thrilled to have you here. So tell me, how did you get here? 'Cause you started as a math teacher, right? Stefon Bowman (01:36) Yes, so I am a math teacher by trade. ⁓ but I've naturally always talked about money. I was like the math teacher where if I'm teaching you multiplication and I got like the deer in headlights look, I will always resort to money and suddenly the kids would get it. Me getting into financial literacy, it kind of was like a match made in heaven. but I've taught in South Carolina, California, New York and now New Jersey. I've taught second grade all the way up to sixth grade math. And then a couple years ago, about almost three, four years ago, I had this idea. I was talking to my coach one day, and he asked like, yo, you know, like it was like an icebreaker, and he asked me what would I teach outside of math? And I was like, either studying skills, because the kids have no clue on how to study, or I would teach them about money, because like who doesn't want to make money? And we laughed it off, and then later on, maybe like two, three months later, the opportunity presented itself for me to become an enrichment teacher and they were like well what do you want to teach and I was like financial literacy and they were like well go and I was like for real and it's been it it's no looking back since then. Marci Grossman (02:43) So are you only teaching financial literacy or you're still teaching math? Stefon Bowman (02:50) Yes, so I only teach financial literacy. I tell all the people in my school I retired from being a math teacher. I'm retired. I teach financial literacy now. So with anything concerning money, I can answer the questions, but math, ⁓ but I always joke around. I always end up in math teachers' classrooms, teaching fifth grade math. Like I'm on the fifth grade team here, so like I've done like the guest celebrity teacher of the day and I go teach them about ratios and percentages and yeah, so I'm always a math teacher. My family originated in math. Like my great my grandmother was a math teacher and she was a college professor teaching math. So like I've always been math has been my thing. Yes, yes. Marci Grossman (03:29) Well, we're a numbers family too, so I get it. I'm a C.P A. My husband is a computer programmer. One of my sons is a computer programmer and the other one is a math teacher. Stefon Bowman (03:35) So wait. So let me ask you, when like growing up with your kids, did you were you like in the store formulating like the tax and like, hey, it's thirty percent off the this is how much it should be? Were you that person? Marci Grossman (03:49) No, I wanted them to find their own interests and their own way and they found math on their own. Stefon Bowman (03:51) Yeah. They found it. Gotcha. So I remember like growing up, we would go into like the department stores and you know, like back to school shopping. I remember vividly my aunt and my grandmother, they were like we would just walk around and like I'm like, I like these jeans, or I like that shirt and they'd be like, it's twenty dollars, all right, it's thirty percent off and they'll like literally give me the number and then I used to be so amazed when we got to the register and they'll the cash register the cashier tell us how much it was and I'm like, You said that and they're like, I teach math, like I know math and I'm like, Wow So I remember like I That was like my falling in love. Like that was like the thing outside of the classroom. Like I always was good with numbers, but like when I saw my aunt, my grandmother do that, I was like, I gotta do that. Never did it. Yes, yes, yes, yes. We love numbers. We love numbers. Marci Grossman (04:35) So math is a family superpower for you. You're teaching fifth graders about financial literacy. Stefon Bowman (04:44) So I'm teaching fifth through eighth grade financial literacy. And occasionally I have some of my now in the third year of our program, here, I have a couple of high schoolers that like I taught in fifth or sixth grade. so like occasionally I get high school participation too, but primarily nine to five I teach fifth through eighth. Marci Grossman (05:05) Okay. And is it the same class for all of them that they go through or do you have different classes you teach? Stefon Bowman (05:11) so I teach different classes, but usually depending on the time of the year, I kinda keep everything consistent unless we have like a event coming up. So for instance, the beginning of the year we always start with like needs versus wants, and like decision making, like the mindset stuff just to get kids acclimated to financial literacy because you know like for me it's bigger than you just telling me about like these different financial literacy terms and you telling me what a stock is. But like if I can get you with the decision making and you actually know what to do when you actually learn those words, now you can actually apply it in real time. ⁓ so I in the beginning of the year I'll start off with all the grades learning the same thing, but then it kind of varies once we get to like different events that we have. So like most recently we had Mother's Day Market and instead of like financial literacy terms for like specifically we actually went into like the marketing part. ⁓ so I got to kinda teach them about like, you know, when you're planning an event, you know, you don't want to have a birthday party and not have people show up. So like what are you gonna do about it? We went into like the content creation, the strategy behind it, looking at like the IG logistics, like ⁓ we had 10,000 views and of the ten thousand views, eight thousand came from Newark. All right, how do we increase that number? So like eighth grade was like more that conversation and then my fifth graders were like making content that we posted on our page as opposed to being like the strategist. So it just varies. Marci Grossman (06:33) I know you have this philosophy of making financial literacy a kitchen table topic. So how do you make that work and do they do they take it home and talk at their kitchen tables? Stefon Bowman (06:38) Yes. Yes. So I'm big, big, big, big on relationship building. ⁓ so like a lot of the kids now, at my school, I've taught either a older sibling, a cousin, or I'm currently teaching either both siblings in the same grade, on a day-to-day basis. So we talk about this thing called compound impact. So what I expect of my students, and we talk about it like in the beginning, is you know, like, hey, we can be learning these financial literacy terms, but like your job is to go home, have these same conversations with your parents because the goal is, you know, once your family gets consistent in talking about these financial literacy terms, these different mindsets that we're talking about, now just naturally when you have Sunday dinner or you go out with your friends or a friend's family, now those conversations start going. So like when we look at the bigger aspect of in the community, if we can get more and more people, compound impact, to actually learn and start highlighting the importance of learning financial literacy, now as a community, we've upped the rigor and we have a whole community actually behind like this initiative learning about financial literacy and changing the lives. Marci Grossman (07:46) I love that term, compound impact. I don't think I've heard that before. Stefon Bowman (07:48) Yes, yes, yes, yes. Marci Grossman (07:52) So here in Michigan financial literacy or personal finance is now required in the high school as a semester class. Do you have that in New Jersey? Stefon Bowman (08:00) wow. they're talking about it as far as I know. I don't know like the day to day logistics right now, but I know there's a couple laws being proposed to get high school students, all high school students in New Jersey to actually learn financial literacy. We're a little ahead of the curve. Yeah. Yes. Marci Grossman (08:16) I yeah, I was going to say I was wondering if they did have that requirement how your kids transition and the teacher would start and they're like, Yeah, we learned that in fifth grade Stefon Bowman (08:24) Yes, but so like the way I look at it, like my fifth graders, even if we're talking about needs versus wants, a fifth grader has a different experience with money as opposed to being a eighth grader. So like even on a in one school year, I have some kids where at the beginning of the year they're the kid going to the corner store every day buying a bacon, egg, and cheese. you know, like they got the juice bars, they got everything. but then, you know, if they're eighth grade, hey, at some point you gotta start prepping for social because you wanna be at the party with your friends, you also want to dress nice, you want to look the part, you want to have the social send-off, you have all these different things you have to spend money on, but as opposed to the fifth grader, you might just have your birthday party coming up. So like the level and kind of intricacies that each grade level kind of experiences with money, it differs. So like we might hint on a topic, but the conversation always leads to what they're actually going through in their life at that moment. Marci Grossman (09:19) So how how are enrichments at your school? Is it every day or a couple of times a week if they're in your class? Stefon Bowman (09:23) We have five day weeks. We teach students four out of the five. So on Wednesdays is like a half day. So we're off the schedule and usually Wednesdays, like today they're doing I-ready math testing. Last week was I-ready ELA. So depending on what those Wednesdays, the half day schedules, we either have like a event, some kind of testing, or it might be like, Hey, it's a whole school celebration or a whole school initiative. but Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Fridays I'm with fifth through eighth every day. Marci Grossman (09:53) Okay. 'Cause I know a lot of schools when they have enrichments in the lower grades, you might have that enrichment two days a week or three days a week, not necessarily every day of the week. Stefon Bowman (09:59) Yeah, no. I see them a lot. I see the whole building. Marci Grossman (10:07) So do kids sign up for your class in fifth grade and in sixth grade and seventh and eighth? Stefon Bowman (10:10) So this year at the school that I'm at, ⁓ everybody just takes the same enrichment, but it might differ on like which quarter that you have. Last year, at my previous school, where I started off at KIPP and I ended up I was being I was a math teacher there and then the last two years of me being there, I started the financial literacy program. ⁓ but initially last year they would actually like at the beginning of the quarter, they would list their top three choices and then by the time the quarter, like we're trying like as a grade level we're trying to get kids where they wanted to be. But eventually I would end up teaching everybody. Yeah. Marci Grossman (10:48) Okay. That's cool. That's a that's a nice gift to give them at that age to have them start thinking about money. Stefon Bowman (10:53) Yeah, it's a little bit of independence. It's an independency, you know? And you know, a lot of the kids now, ⁓ the kids know me as the money teacher. So I don't really have to promote my enrichment 'cause it's like, hey, do you like money? They're like, Yeah. Well And they like, wait, ⁓ that's you. So I don't really have to I don't really have to plead my case for my enrichment too much. Marci Grossman (11:15) And you bring in AI tools and so you're also teaching kids how to use AI responsibly? Stefon Bowman (11:19) Yeah, so that was I am. I am. Yes. Because I naturally use AI and I'm also a part like just with within KIPP. I was a part of like the early initiative of actually introducing AI into the network. ⁓ and again, I'm a nerd low-key, so I do like a fellowship with an AI fellowship trying to like learn and like how you actually implement ⁓ AI into the classroom and like make it best used for teachers, students and like, you know, policymakers. so the way this quarter my I realize a lot of kids now, they use Chat GBT or they might like use Claude, but it's like they treat it as Google. So they'll literally come up like I'm I might have a fifth grader that like let's just say hypothetically they're struggling with reading. You write on a first grade level. You go on Chat GBT, you do know that ChatGBT can produce an essay, but you'll produce this essay and it's like, who wrote this? Not you. That is not so ⁓ I kind of teach them like you know, it's not ⁓ ChatGBT is not the all end-all. Like that's not it's a tool, but you have to actually train that tool. You have to provide it with the correct information. Is how you ask the chat GBT, your but ⁓ the AI, like you know, what are you actually trying to do? Are you using your authentic work? Because you know, if you just give it something generic, you're gonna get a generic response or a generic result. But if you actually tailor it and you you're very descriptive, you're being detailed, you're gonna get exactly what you're trying to get, ⁓ but in a very faster pace. So that's really what I want them to get with AI is like you need to use it as your assistant. Because I can think of 50 million things to do, but it might take me a while, but I can actually go on with AI and be like, hey give me 500 different ideas about financial literacy and I can get that in 10 seconds. Marci Grossman (13:06) And how do you teach them to use it for financial literacy? Stefon Bowman (13:10) Recently we just did a lesson where so outside of just financial literacy, I like to we have some problems where students they just know the community that we live in, like just like you know, due to life circumstances. So a big thing that we I have to kind of like address is the exposure to financial literacy and like you know what these things might look like. Because you know, I'm fighting TikTok, Instagram, everything. So with exposure in the sense of I had them actually use I built this GPT of where they can interview celebrities about financial literacy. So we're in Newark. Well we're from Newark. so like one of the celebrities I include on the list was Shaquille O'Neal. ⁓ everybody knows Shaq, but a lot of people don't you know if you're learning financial literacy, you see Shaq in a different light. He's not just a great NBA player, like no, he's a great entrepreneur. Like Shaq is one of those players he knows money, and if you just kind of like you know research and tailor your life depending on like some of the same decisions he did, you might be pretty good like you said so I had them actually like set up the chat GBT and we talked about like you know the level of questioning because I can ask you a generic question but I can ask you a very specific question which is tailored for me and like who I am so for example it might be a fifth grader might say hey we've been learning about needs versus wants but my parents are starting to give me a $20 allowance next year because I'm walking to school. How do I actually save up $500 by the end of the year while still being able to you know buy breakfast sandwich here and there? They can actually go on there and interview and get a response from it's not exactly Shaq, but it's Shaq's personality that I built into the bot and it gives them an answer based on Shaq's personality and his experiences and then it fits to whatever they're acting on. Marci Grossman (14:54) That's awesome. Stefon Bowman (14:56) Yeah, I and I include some of the celebrities like, you know, they're big music fans, so like NBA Youngboy, like anybody you can pretty much think of, I can build it into the bot and then they actually get to talk to that celebrity. So it's money investment men mentors they get to quiz up and interview. Which kind of helps us because in our in-person events now that level of questioning they actually when they get in front of real entrepreneurs they get to ask them questions and it's questions that like they can literally take from that moment and go out and apply it in the real world and that's really what I stress. Like I don't want to just give them these different things and you know like two years from now they might say hey I heard of that like Mr. Bowman taught me that no I want them to actually be able to say like hey I remember doing that and I already know this is what I've been doing when I learned that. Like they can actually go out and apply it that same very day. Marci Grossman (15:45) And I know you talk about entrepreneurship with your class and and you've created the Young Entrepreneurs Club. Stefon Bowman (15:53) Yes. So backstory when back to COVID. During COVID, I was a math teacher. And during that time I actually started my first business, which is Juggie Kicks. So Juggie Kicks is more of like it started off as like a resale business, because I'm a sneakerhead, die hard sneakerhead. so like I was that I'm always I've been known as the teacher with all the kicks. Like the kids know I like they just pay attention to my shoes. I'm the one telling I will literally take my whole lunch period talking about shoes with them, like they know I'm that, I'm that, I'm that guy. But like during COVID, I started a resale business, and a lot of my fifth graders at that time, ⁓ they were there from like the early stages, and even when I was teaching math, I would be talking about my business. So when I naturally came over to financial literacy, I started using the same examples of you know, like if I'm talking about budgeting, I had actually used some of my budgeting tools that I use for like merch that I was buying, or like, hey, this sneaker is releasing, this is kind of like my budgeting for this release. So like they got to see my real world application, which they were able to apply it. ⁓ and they knew, like, hey, Mr. Bowman is not just telling me financial literacy terms, like, nah, this is like real world what it looks like in that role. ⁓ so I started teaching about entrepreneurship, and at bare minimum, a lot of the kids they like the independency. So when they actually and my whole thing is about exposure and like, you know, like if you really like to crochet, well, you like money too. Why not try crochet and then make money from it? Like, that's an added bonus. And you know, similar to me, like I love sneakers to the point where, like, you know, I can go sell a bunch of my sneakers and I enjoy it, and I still have my sneakers and I get money. Why not? ⁓ so they kind of that mindset is what I brought into the financial literacy term. So, like a lot of kids, like now, I have ooh, in fifth grade, like this year, it was actually kind of it was different. My fifth graders were the strongest vendors that I had, which I thought was gonna be my eighth graders, but ⁓ my fifth graders, you come in here they hey I got a business you wanna buy something? Marci Grossman (17:58) What kind of things do you have y What kind of things I guess are your students deciding that they want to? Stefon Bowman (18:00) so they have ⁓ I have some great bakers. so we talking about cookies and cream cookies, biscoff cookies, we have the cakes, we have chocolate covered strawberries, chocolate covered pretzels, we have different types of bracelets, we have a waist bead maker. ⁓ we have I have one of my eighth graders, he didn't vend with me this year, but he's been planning out his own clothing line so he's been going through that process throughout the year. I have some students where they're learning like they're into photography so like they actually go and like they record stuff for people like those are those are my videographers within Financially LIT. ⁓ I have let me see the keychains we have keychains I have one student him and his mom they make fresh juice ⁓ they've been doing that all year. I have sweet potato pies. I have ⁓ what am I forgetting? ⁓ if they hear this, they're gonna be like really Mr. Bowman. necklaces, the it's the god, all the kids play with the it's Marci Grossman (19:13) Fidgets, Stefon Bowman (19:13) It's like play-doh. Marci Grossman (19:13) the squishies? Stefon Bowman (19:14) It's like play the squishies. Squishies. my god. I have squishies galore. Yes, put thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I have squishies. we have the slime. ⁓ I do have some kids that they went the snack route because a lot of kids around here, like Takis is like the thing round here. So I have some kids snuck selling snacks. I have snack bags. ⁓ I have gosh. Marci Grossman (19:17) I don't want you getting in trouble with your students 'cause you don't mention something. Stefon Bowman (19:41) That might that's a lot. I can't even remember everything, but it's ⁓ so Marci Grossman (19:43) Do they only have stores like at certain events throughout the year or are they always running the entrepreneurship? Stefon Bowman (19:48) So they run it. So I have some, it depends on their level of it. ⁓ so like I have some students, like I have a kid now, she's been vending with me pretty much every event, but she also brings cookies occasionally throughout the week. So she'll sell the cookies on her own. So I don't even have to the only way we talk about like, hey, make sure you sell them during these times. Hey, do you actually have some cookies? 'Cause like the teachers buy, like it's like a whole kind of like philosophy. Everybody's been involved. So like if you are at that point where you can manage selling cookies outside of like, you know, just being at my events, I let them run it. And the kids know, like the teachers, the staff, the families, like they know as long as you communicate with me and like we're in sync, we're good. But like you know, I don't really have too many kids where they just start selling stuff and it's like, I'm hiding from Mr. Bowman. That's not like a thing. because a lot of the kids know like I I'm that teacher where I'm like, hey, I'm supporting myself and I will tell you, hey, y'all love all the kids over there. I got some of the kids over here selling. Let's go. Instead of going to a corner store, we buying with them. Or hey, did you try so-and-so cookies? Because look you not you don't need to waste money over here. You can come over here. So like a lot of kids they thoroughly enjoy like the excitement like Mr. Bowman's buying my cookies ⁓ the other my favorite teachers buying my cookies or the principal... oh the principal. If you get the principal to buy from you ⁓ man you're set. Marci Grossman (21:10) So it sounds like a very unique school that you're at that that they support obviously the financial literacy initiative such as it is, but also having the kids do their entrepreneurship during the school day. Stefon Bowman (21:17) Yes. Yes. ⁓ it's more about like the independency part, and also like them being able to apply it real world. Like it's more that we have at our school is more than just being able to, like be strong in the classroom. But if you can take it outside of the classroom and apply those same things that you're using in the classroom, to benefit your life, why not? That's kinda like the mindset that we have here. ⁓ and also like the kids do a good job and like, you know, I have some I told them like, hey, if you're selling during homeroom, that's fine. ⁓ if you're selling at lunch and recess, that's fine, but like what you can't do is in the middle of your math lesson, be like, Hey, anybody wanna buy cookies, 'cause you will get shut down. We shut down businesses around here. If your behavior is not together, shut down. If your attendance is not together, shut down. If you do not have the academic grade point average, shut down. 'Cause you got bigger fish to fry. They know it's a privilege. Marci Grossman (22:11) That's awesome. That's so important to to give them those life skills moving forward to recognize the things that have to happen before you can have the privilege to sell thing and then running the business. How do you help them to to learn how to set their prices? Stefon Bowman (22:16) Yes. Mm-hmm. For sure. So I the first intro is essentially like in sense of like brownies. All right, if you're spending eight dollars on brownies, okay, cool, you spent eight dollars. You're eight dollars down right at this moment when you first buy that box of brownies. All right, now you gotta think about like what am I gonna put the brownies in. All right, if you spent I don't know, maybe five dollars on plastic baggies on Amazon. Okay. Eight plus five, you're thirteen dollars down. Now, based on the number of brownies that you can make out of that box, you gotta make sure that you at least get thirteen dollars. And if you plan on making a profit, you have to set that price based on whatever amount of brownies that you have. So like let's say if you can make if you can make thirty dollars from that one box of cookies or brownies, you're seventeen dollars up. Well now you know you're making a profit. So as long as you're making a profit, I let them kind of do the trial and error. ⁓ and I do I let them come up with an idea and then I show them the math behind it. Like, hey, are you cool with this? Because if you're not making a profit, I don't think you need to be doing this. And I look at them and they look at me and I'm like decision is yours. And then they'd I think I'ma go back. I think I'ma raise it one more time. Okay, cool. ⁓ and then I have some kids where like, you know, I had one little girl, she had these oohs she's from St. Louis and she had these like I forgot the name of the cakes, but like she was selling them for a dollar. We had some kids selling their cakes for like four or five dollars. So everybody was like, Mr. Bowman, you to need to up her price. She needs to up her price. And I I even got a little concerned because I was like, I mean they she's making money, but a dollar, okay, you could probably and when I started talking to her about it, I was just kind of, you know, like, what's your mindset? Like, why did you set it for a dollar? And she was like, Mr. Bowman, everybody's learnt knowing about my cakes now. Like I brought twenty last week, I just sold forty this week. And I was like, oh I see what you're doing. Like you're getting the marketability out, and then even if you up it at like a big event, she sold it at our Mother's Day Market where we had five hundred and twenty-eight people, she was selling for two dollars, which is still, you know, a dollar price increase is not that much, but people knew about her business so they already knew like hey I know even if I pay two dollars for that it's good it's worth it. So like she built it from that so like I kinda let them go through that trial and error because I never want them to I never want to be the person running their business. Marci Grossman (24:48) Right. Stefon Bowman (24:48) I don't wanna be the boss. Yeah, I don't wanna be the boss. So I let them go through the trials and tribulations. but I'm always that person that I'm consistently there. So like, hey, if you're not making money, all right, let's took let's figure out why you're not making money. All right, let's try this, let's do this. If you are making money, well, how do you stay consistent? How do you actually make more money? How do you sustain this for like, you know, you did it all through fifth grade. Well, you have the summer coming up when you get back in sixth grade, what are you gonna do differently to improve? Marci Grossman (25:16) That's awesome. You also do work for the greater community in your area. Stefon Bowman (25:22) Yes. ⁓ so that stems from just kinda like my background. I'm from South Carolina. I'm a country boy. ⁓ so I'm used to, you know, like where I'm from I literally know everybody in that area. Like it's my the is a it's a road everybody's my cousin. My grandma lives on that road. Everybody's my cousin. ⁓ so you know like I'm strongly family oriented. ⁓ so you know me not being from New Jersey I've traveled and lived in multiple states but ever since I've been in New Jersey ⁓ a lot of the students and like their families they literally just kind of like welcomed me. Where like you know I remember my first year here, I didn't have anywhere to go for Thanksgiving. And one of my students' family just happened to text me and she was like, Mr. Bowman, happy Thanksgiving, but what you doing for Thanksgiving? Like, you got somewhere to go? And I was like, I actually was about to go find something on Uber Eats. And she was like, come to my house. Here's my address. So I ended up eating with my students' families. And come to find out, now they're like my that's family. Like that's my Ariana's my kid. So like, you know, I it's been for me. for a city that, you know, I'm a transplant, but for me, some of the relationships that I built, it's just you can't tell me it's not family. So that's my due justice and like my give back. It is like giving back to the community because, you know, they took they've taken care of me and they continue to take care of me here in Newark. So why not? Marci Grossman (26:49) What made you move? You started in South Carolina, all your family's there. Did you need to go someplace where they didn't know you? Stefon Bowman (26:53) So I growing up in South Carolina, I love South and I love South Carolina. Like I if I had to get reincarnated I will be from South Carolina again. But one thing growing up in South Carolina there was not a lot of access. Like my first concert, like big name concert, was in twelfth grade, my senior year high school. Other than that, you had to travel two hours away just to get something of quality. Or like you know, I remember I'm a sneakerhead, so like I remember having to ask my mom to drive me an hour and a half out from where we were from just to get, that's the only place in South Carolina dropping your shoes. Can we please go there on that Saturday morning? ⁓ so I always knew I wanted to get to a bigger state. So during that time when I first started teaching I taught in South Carolina like three years. And I was like okay it's time to go. Like I I went to school in South Carolina high school, college, career and I was like, okay, I need something different. So I started applying for jobs in Georgia, North Carolina. I think I did a couple jobs in Texas and then like late one night I'm like up on LinkedIn and I saw a job for California. I was like, why not? I never go to California. I actually got a response from them. That was the only school that responded to me. And they were like, Yo, we'd love for you to come out. We'll fly you out to California. You get the tour of the whole school and we'll give you a rental car. And I was like, I'm twenty I'm like twenty four. No, twenty three, twenty four. I'm like I'm flying to Cali. Like what? Why not? And I went there, fell in love with it, and I stayed in Cali for like a year and some change. ⁓ and then I had some family situations happen with my grandmother, and I was like, I gotta get back to South Carolina. And I think like at that time, ⁓ I think tickets to go back home, like you know, if you just went to go book, I think tickets are like $1100, and I was like, I don't have eleven hundred. ⁓ so I refuse to have that situation happen to me again. So that following summer I started applying for jobs and the next best place to California in terms of like pay scale was New York. I got a job in Brooklyn. And I was like, East Coast, Brooklyn. And I was living in San Jose, so I was like, Bay Area, New York, it's about the same thing. Different coasts. Might be a little colder. So I went to New York, fell in love with New York. A lot of opportunities. Like I'm never and I'm straight down ninety-five to get home. So like it New York and the the northeast has been good to me. So I still get the opportunities, I still get the city life, but I also get to go home when I need to. ⁓ a lot of my family still come up here. I still get a taste of Southernness. ⁓ even though I'm in New York, 'cause a lot of new Southern people end up being up here. Like ⁓ in my mind, every time I meet somebody from where I'm from in South Carolina up here now, I'm like, we gotta be cousins. Cause the fact that you know about Sumter, South Carolina, like a lot of people don't know about Sumter. but I am a definitely a product of Sumter, South Carolina. So It's cool. It's cool. That's how I ended up in Jersey and everything. So yeah, long story short. Marci Grossman (29:58) That's great. Stefon, before we wrap up, do you have anything else you want to mention that maybe we haven't covered? Stefon Bowman (30:05) One thing I always wanna push is this like sense of community. And in terms of like, you know, with everything going on in this world, one joy that I have is actually like seeing kids, like helping kids and teaching them, you know, like just one little aspect. The fact that I have some kids that they love me because I helped them make three dollars. Just as simple as three dollars. Like that brings me joy. I I think maybe just like, you know, maybe a urge for your listeners, that we could do is you know, like if you're in a community ⁓ you know, just pushing the use of financial literacy and just helping one another, I think we could do a lot more impact. Well we can make a lot more impact in our world because at the end of the day the more you know about financial literacy, the more access that you have. ⁓ and you know, where I'm from and where I'm teaching in Newark, like we could definitely use a lot more access and a lot more benefits and a lot more ⁓ you know, better living situations, a lot more, I think, you know, a lot of things, mindsets could be adjusted just from a simple fact of us working together in the community and pushing something like financial literacy, like that's universal. It doesn't matter the color, it doesn't matter the skin tone, doesn't matter where you're from, everybody can benefit from like, you know, learning financial literacy. So that would just kind of be like my push. Marci Grossman (31:19) Stefon, thank you so much for being my guest today. We appreciate you taking the time to join us. Stefon Bowman (31:25) Yes, thank you. Thank you for having me. Marci Grossman (31:27) It was my pleasure. And to my listeners, I will be sharing a link to Stefon's information in the show notes. Please check him out. He has a lot of interesting information. Stefon Bowman (31:38) Follow us on Instagram. Marci Grossman (31:39) Don't forget to subscribe, leave us a review, and stay tuned. I'll see you next time. This has been MoneyMarci on Marci Talks Money (and Life). You got this.