There is No "One Way" to do Personal Finance with Markia Brown, AFC

Markia Brown is an award-winning financial educator and content creator, an Accredited Financial Counselor, and an AFCPE member with a talent for making complex financial topics accessible, particularly to younger generations.

Her mission focuses on uplifting underserved communities and offering them vital tools and education to achieve their definition of financial success. She believes that its not just about bridging gaps, but reshaping financial narratives for the better.

On this episode, Markia shares her unique story, what led her to AFCPE, and the impact the AFC has made on her and on those she serves. From a commitment to share 365 days of credit tips to more than 1 million social media followers, we talk about the highs and lows of social influence, the importance of "trust, but verify", and how personal finance looks different for everyone - there are no absolutes. 

Show Notes:
2:10 What led Markia to her work
6:14 How she got big on TikTok
9:43 Highs and lows of social media content creation
14:08 Establishing authority in a world of misinformation
16:22 Markia's journey to the AFC
19:02 How the AFC enhanced what she already knew about money
20:37 Markia's final 2 cents

Website: https://www.themoneyplug.co/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/themoneyplug/ 

Social Media: @TheMoneyPlug

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Here are a few places to start: Become a Member, Sign up for an Essentials Course, or Get AFC Certified today!

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:02

Welcome to Real Money Real Experts, a podcast where leading financial counseling and coaching experts share their stories, their challenges, and their advice for helping people manage money in the real world. I'm your host, Rachel De Leon , executive Director of the Association for Financial Counseling and Planning Education for A-F-C-P-E.

Speaker 2: 0:24

And I'm your co-host, Dr. Mary Bell Carlson , an accredited financial counselor or a FC and the President of Financial Behavior Keynote group. Every episode we're taking a deep dive in the topics that personal finance professionals care about, helping clients, building community, and your professional growth.

Speaker 1: 0:44

The opinions of our podcast guests are their own, which means that their stories, views, or lived experiences may differ from yours or mine. However, the one thing you will always find on this show is a common thread. Our guests are passionate about helping people with their money to improve their lives, and they believe in upholding high standards for the clients and the communities that they serve. We encourage you to tune in to real money, real experts with open curiosity. Why? Because it's oftentimes in the conversations where viewpoints or stories differ from our own that we learn the most.

Speaker 2: 1:22

Markia Brown is known as the money plug on social media and she's an award-winning financial educator and content creator with social media reach of over 1 million, an accredited financial counselor and an A-F-C-P-E member. She has a talent for making complex financial topics accessible, particularly to younger generations. Her work has earned recognition on platforms like The New York Times and CBS News, and she's a respected speaker in financial industry discussions. Her background as a retired US Army veteran and her involvement with Kappa Epsilon side military sorority Inc. Add depth to her profile as a leader in both financial education and community service. Welcome Markia to the show.

Speaker 3: 2:08

Thank you. I'm excited to be here.

Speaker 1: 2:10

Markia, thank you so much for joining us today. I was just telling you before we started recording your website is absolutely beautiful. We'll put this in the show notes, but something that really resonated with me is you lead with your mission on your website and your mission as a financial counselor really focuses on uplifting underserved communities. And you talk about not just bridging gaps but reshaping financial narratives for the better, which is really powerful stuff. So I wanna start by taking us through your journey in this space. What led you to doing this work? It

Speaker 3: 2:45

Was a trial by fire. It started from in 2014 . I was getting out of the military for the first time, so that transition is very shocking in and of itself. It was the only thing I had ever done. I joined in high school in 2010 and so it was very scary. My mom was actually undergoing surgery for breast cancer at the time. I was going through a really nasty divorce from an abusive relationship and I just, it was my rock bottom and I didn't realize that my finances were impacted because I was, I was still getting a check on the first and the 15th and it wasn't until I applied for my first apartment for me and my kids and I was denied. And the lady, she had heard my story, like she felt so bad, but it was, her hands were tied because my credit was horrible. And that's when I was like, oh no, I can't have this. Like I have two mouths to feed. I'm doing it by myself. I ended up getting a job at like a McDonald's. So mind you grown now. Um, worked cybersecurity for the National Security Agency through the military. And now I'm flipping burgers at McDonald's alongside like high school kids. So like it was literally my rock bottom and I took it upon surf myself to learn everything I could about my own situation. And back then it was just for my kids, like I don't want them to have to go through this. So if I learned these lessons, I could teach it to them. I ended up getting back into the military, my remission. She's doing good, you know, I healed from my divorce and as I got back into the military, I'm noticing, I started noticing patterns When you've been through something you can identify like the, the signs in other people a lot easier than you could before. And so I started noticing that a lot of the soldiers around me were making the same pro like mistakes and the same missteps. And so we created an additional duty for me where I could help them. So like I was teaching them how to grocery shop, I was teaching them how to coupon, I volunteered with the USO for a bit. We would clip coupons and pass 'em out to the families, like, you know, teaching them how to budget and things like that. And at first it was just kind of like a passion project, but eventually when I retired I, it was something I was still very passionate about. And so I started doing more research and taking more classes and it led me to the pandemic , um, and <laugh> . And during the pandemic, I lived in Europe at the time I was in Germany and hit a lot harder overseas than it did in the us . It was very isolating. There was no human contact whatsoever. I had just had a baby. So I was just very, I felt very alone. And then like you have all this information you wanna pass out nobody to talk to. So I did with like every other person in my generation does and started posting on TikTok <laugh> and it just, from there it just blew up. And you know, it's evolved over the years into now me running own financial counseling practice. But you know, I just try to be the person that I needed at my lowest. That's always been my goal. Um , I'm blessed enough financially that that was never the primary focus. It was always about my impact and I think that's why I lead with my mission because you can make money doing whatever. That's never been an issue. But what kind of impact are you having on people along the way? Like what , how many lives are you changing? And you know, after my service I struggled a little bit with how can I still change the world and this is my way of doing it.

Speaker 2: 6:00

That's really cool. So I wanna dig in a little bit more about this pandemic, 'cause we all kinda went into this ether and 'cause there's a lot of people on social media, not everyone blows up. So can you talk us through what that journey was like and what happened with you?

Speaker 3: 6:14

It was so surreal. If you want me to be honest, <laugh> , it started off as an accident. I was posting and yeah, like my friends would see it. But like that was it. And then New Year's Eve, 2020, I, you know, I had just had a baby, so I'm fresh into wine at the time. Stella Rosa was a thing and I posted a TikTok and I was like, you know what, next year I'm gonna do 365 days of credit tips. And then I posted it and then people was like, oh, I , I'm gonna follow you 'cause I wanna see it, da da da da . And so then I felt like the next day when I woke up and I saw it and I was like, oh my god , now I have to do it. Like why would I say that? And so I did it. It was more so I didn't wanna seem like a liar. I didn't wanna seem like a like, oh she said that for likes or oh , she was just, you know, like, I don't know. And so I felt obligated to do it. And at first it was rough. I was doing all the things that all the gurus tell you to do post five times a day, say it like this, do it like that. And I wasn't getting anywhere and I was also miserable while doing it. And so I'm one of those people where like, if it makes me uncomfortable, I'm not doing it. I'm very, very headstrong and I'm very opinionated and I just felt like this. I was, this is stupid, I'm not gonna keep doing this . And I started doing it my way. And what I noticed is the more my way I did it, the more people reacted to it. It was refreshing to them. I wasn't, you know, crossing my arms like they do on those tax ads, right? I wasn't showing up in a suit and talking to them as if like I know everything. I came to them as a person. Sometimes I'd be laying in the bed with a scarf on my head. You sometimes I'd have a kid on my hip. You know, like I just came to them the way that I come to my, all of my friends, I talked with them, not at them. And that's when I really started seeing success on social. The more I was authentically myself. You don't have to be condescending to teach people these concepts. You don't have to be above them. You know, I always, my favorite thing to say <laugh> all the time was I'm just a regular person doing regular people stuff. <laugh> like, and I just so happened to post about it on social. Um , eventually my content , my content got in front of the right people and I was extended an invitation to join tiktoks black TikTok program. It was their inaugural class. And through that program we learned how to be better content creators. We learned the importance of cultivating a community. We learned how to appear authentic while still maintaining that professionalism when you're an educator on social media. It connected me with a lot of other creators who I was able to, you know, learn things from and you know, that I admire. And uh , and from there it just really kind of blew up to the point where like now while I do own my own financial counseling practice, my nine to five job, I make social media content for brands. I work for T-B-W-H-I at DLA and they found me on TikTok <laugh>. And so it's, it's really like I said, evolved over time and my biggest, I guess, superpower was being flexible and understanding the power in the pivot. But really it was more so just the more that I am myself, the more I appear as me, the more people reacted to it because they don't get to see that often. I mean I'm five 10, I'm black, I got green hair and facial piercings. You , you really don't see that in a lot of places. And so that kind of made them pause and realize, you know, my whole thing is personal finance looks different for everybody or no absolutes. So if I can get on here and tell my story and change lives, who's to say that your story won't change someone's life?

Speaker 2: 9:43

Very cool. So 365 days of credit change your world <laugh> . Yes. I love it. Well let's go. I wanna dig in a little more into the social media offering because that it's an incredible platform for reach and impact, but it's not always the most positive place. So would you give us a little bit, you've got a strong presence and give us a little bit of the highs and lows you experience around social media.

Speaker 3: 10:10

So for highs , I think this year is probably one of my best. I won the 2023 Fin Talk award from debt.com for best credit repair advice on TikTok. I also was awarded the Savvy Ladies 2023 Female F influencer award, as well as I won best new content creator video content for my TikTok platform from the Plutus Foundation. So it was a really, really big year for me on social, but it was also a really low year too . A very prominent person in the personal finance community took a video from about two years ago and was very offended by it, I guess, and did like a whole one hour dissertation on my video. And since then I've gotten vitriol in my comments, like disgusting comments about myself, about my looks, about my personality or what they perceive to be my personality about my competency. And really, you know, I've had to kind of rely on a lot of my military training like, you know, perception is reality and if this is how people is perceiving me, then this is what they think of me. And it's not wrong to them because this is what they know. And I've really had to kind of settle in understanding that this is my vision. No, everybody isn't gonna get it. I could literally create glasses so that you could have my exact view and it still would not, it wouldn't hit as hard. And so I kind of take solace in understanding that everybody's not gonna like it. I cuss, I have facial piercings, <laugh> , I go to professional events, dressing very relaxed, appearing as myself in all forms. And that may rub people the wrong way. But at the end of the day I also know that the people who I am reaching, I'm changing their lives, I'm changing how they perceive personal finance, I'm changing their relationship with money which could impact their children's lives, their cousins, their aunts, their uncles. So you learn to take the good with the bad with social. But I definitely learned to stop reading the comments. <laugh>, that's , I definitely learned to stop reading the

Speaker 1: 12:16

Comments. I think that's good advice for anyone who is putting themselves out there on social media. I think when you are authentic and you are yourself, not everybody's gonna like that. And I had somebody tell me once, if everybody likes you, then you're actually pretty boring. And so I <laugh> like to repeat that to myself on a day where you're not always going to be everybody's cup of tea, but we are all different as individuals. And so it is so important that we have authenticity and people like you who are able to bridge those gaps, you know, or go beyond bridging those gaps. So thank you for doing the work you're doing out there. And I know, not personally, but I've seen it's a pretty big step to put yourself on social media and there's a lot of good that probably fills your cup, but with that, unfortunately there's people feel very safe and brave behind a screen and sometimes that isn't always kind. So I'm glad you're finding a way to take care of yourself through that too.

Speaker 3: 13:18

It's definitely a journey. I will say that there have been times where things have impacted me more than what I thought they would have, or just a random opinion kind of really just doesn't settle well with me. Um , and I'll overreact or you know, just react off of emotion. Um , but I think the biggest thing is just understanding that I'm human and humans have a tendency of over-inflating their importance. So even though even the people who leave those nasty comments, I promise they left a nasty comment and went on about their day. Like it's not that big of a deal sometimes they just need to let the stress out. And I just so happened to be the target I learned to, you know, just don't, don't take it personal people are people and people are gonna do what people do unfortunately. So I just, I don't know, I just learned to really kind of focus on my reason for doing this, not the reaction to what I'm doing.

Speaker 1: 14:08

So being on social media and being on TikTok, there is a lot out there that is false information, non accurate people who aren't certified or haven't done the work that you have to be able to deliver this kind of expertise. How do you go about establishing authority in a place that really is so unregulated?

Speaker 3: 14:31

I'm very confrontational. <laugh> <laugh> . Um, that has endeared a lot of people to me because again, you know, just myself and that's how I am. I was captain of the debate team from like sixth grade to 10th grade. So I just love proving my point. And so, you know, when I see that misinformation, whereas a lot of of people will just scroll past it, they're like, you know, oh I'm above that. Or they'll, you know, leave like maybe like a passive aggressive comment. I will stitch that video and tell people exactly why whatever it was they said was wrong. Like, I have no problem with that. And I always invite people to hold me accountable if you don't agree with me, stitch my video and tell me why. We can have a whole conversation about it. Like, you know, I'm very, my biggest thing was I fell prey to a lot of those schemes and scams when I was at my lowest. And I hate that there was nowhere for me to turn to validate or verify that what they were telling me was the truth. It was either I believed them or I didn't. And since what I was doing wasn't working, I jumped into it. And so now I just become that for people. You know, people send me the videos all the time and be like, Hey, can you talk about this? Or Hey, can you go live? Or they'll just send me emails and be like, you know, I'm not comfortable talking about this on social, but I just saw this and I just have a couple questions. So it's just being that resource for people to go to. And I don't just give them the answer, I also tell them where to find it. I give them the resources and the , the knowledge that they were missing that almost made them believe that. So that it's not just them listening to me. I always say trust, but verify. They trust that what I'm saying to them is the truth. But they also go and verify for themselves. So they're more confident now in their decision making process when they hear things like this.

Speaker 1: 16:09

I love that. That's such a good reminder. And because you can't control everything that's put out there, but by educating people that take everything with a grain of salt, like you said, trust but verify. I think that's great. And

Speaker 2: 16:22

Speaking of this education, you are an A FC, you belong to A-F-C-P-E as a member, I noticed you put it on your website even and proudly promote that. Can you tell us a little bit more about your A FC journey and how you came to A-F-C-P-E?

Speaker 3: 16:38

Yes. I was first introduced to the A-F-C-P-E at FinCon in 2022 in Orlando. I was very , I was very new to the personal finance space when I first heard about FinCon and shout out to the first gen mentor Giovanna , she like, oh, you should come to FinCon, it's so cool. The people are amazing. And so I did and they were <laugh> and I stopped by the A-F-C-P-E table because the, the description that they had for a financial counselor really caught my eye and it really kind of resonated with me for what I was attempting to do with my platform and how I really saw it evolving over the next couple of years. You know, I hated that people would always refer to me as just a talker. Like I'm so much more than that. And I really felt that through earning this designation and you know, connecting in the community and the way my business could then develop as an A FC, I really felt like that could be demonstrated through the A-F-C-P-E and what they're teaching. And I was, right , lemme see, FinCon was in like October. I think I signed up in like January. I joined the A FCP in like May. And then I just earned my designation. I wanna say it was like right before FinCon , so September, I wanna say

Speaker 2: 17:48

You don't grass grow under your feet. Yeah ,

Speaker 3: 17:51

<laugh> , let me tell you. So retirement is something else. You know, I know the fire community is gonna kill me for saying this, but you know, retirement was so boring, retirement was so dry and it's like there's always something new. There's always something like going on in finance and like I want to give my audience the best chance. So I always take advantage of things when they pop up. So it was like soon as I saw it, I , my gut was like, we need this. I went and got it, you know, like as soon as, you know, I think you guys had sent out an email like join the A-F-C-P-E, here's some of the cool stuff we do. And I was like, oh , join in right now, like <laugh> , you know, like soon as I see something and if it speaks to me and if it really resonates with me, I'm gonna do it. If it works out, it works out. And if it doesn't, I still have time left to now shift gears and pivot. So just, I don't know, I just, just hit and I was like, this is what I should be doing. And since being a part of the A FCP, I've been able to connect with so many like-minded people and other businesses and things like that and just have even opportunities extended to me just because I'm an FAFC through the A-F-C-P-E, through the reputation that the A-F-C-P-E itself holds. So it's definitely just been like a huge benefit for me. I'm so glad I listened to my gut that day. Let me tell you, I wanna

Speaker 2: 19:02

Dig in a bit more too, because you were already out there as an expert, right? And you mentioned FinCon , there's a lot of fincons out there have learned very similarly that kind of school of hard knocks. You went forward and you're like, Hey, there is more I can learn. So tell me a little bit more, how has the A FC enhanced what you already knew, but maybe taking it to a different level?

Speaker 3: 19:24

Man, it's allowed me to really dig in deep to the, to changing the stigma around money mistakes and really helping people repair their relationship with money, right? Like I always tell people, my job is not to tell you what to do. My job is to show you all of the options available to you. And then we'll work towards that together. And I really think just even just here when people hear I'm a an accredited financial counselor, they just feel more at ease. They feel like, okay, she's here to help. A counselor always means that somebody that's there to help them. And it's just really kind of helped people trust me a little more as well as, like I said, the reputation of the A-F-C-P-E alone, the standards that they've set, their , the code of ethics and things like that, that also kind of gives people more reason to trust me. So when they do their research and I , you know, they see what I stand for, what, what standard I'm kind of held to, they feel more comfortable exposing some of their dirty secrets. We're asking people for some really sensitive information, things they don't even tell their spouses. And so comfortability is a really big thing for me. And having my a FC has really allowed people to become more comfortable with me to really, really create that impact. I'm trying to, I'm trying to have,

Speaker 1: 20:37

I think it goes to the A FC providing the credibility, but you marrying that also with your authenticity really helps people feel at ease when they're doing that work. And I think you really got it right, Markia, at the end of each interview, we like to ask our guests to share their 2 cents. If you had one piece of advice to leave with our listeners today, what would it be?

Speaker 3: 21:00

Can I just say that was the hardest question that

Speaker 2: 21:02

Oh my gosh

Speaker 3: 21:03

Has ever asked me because there was so much, I I want , there's so much I wanna say, but I think I'll settle with, there's no such thing as absolutes in personal finance. And that goes for the way that us as financial counselors run our business too. Like there's no one way to do it. And I think if an , if anybody gets anything from my platform, that's what I want you guys to get. It doesn't have, there's no perfect way to do finance. There's no perfect way to run your business. You do it in a way that honors what your mission is and it honors the people that you are trying to serve. I, you know, with social media, with social media people become slaves to the algorithm almost like live to create content just for that algorithm to feed the monster. And I think that's where a lot of people are kind of led astray. That's why a lot of people kind of stress themselves out about it or they try to avoid it when in reality it doesn't have to be that way. The content that I create, the reason I'm able to have the impact that I have is 'cause I don't create content for the algorithm. I'm creating content for the people who are gonna watch it. The people who I want to watch it and reach out, the people who I want to watch it and to create dialogue in their homes around their personal feelings about their finances. Why am I making these decisions? Why do I think that this is the way to do it? Why haven't I tried something different? Um, you , you just be flexible. There's you , you're not a tree. You can be moved <laugh> . So you know, if, if, if you get nothing else from me, that's what I want you to have. There's no such thing as an absolute. So what you like today, you don't have to like it tomorrow. Just be flexible.

Speaker 1: 22:37

I love that. That's so liberating. Even for professionals who are doing this work, I think that's liberating in terms of how you deliver, how you work as an a FC, but also for the people you're serving. I mean, it's not a one size fits all . You get to do what works for you today and that might look different in another part of your journey. And so love that.

Speaker 2: 22:59

Markia , you're an inspiration to me and so many thank you for joining us on this show today. Tell us where our listeners can connect with you

Speaker 3: 23:08

Everywhere You guys are, every social media platform you can think of, I'm on their as the money plug. So THEE money plug , you can always email me at markia b@themoneyplug.co . As well as I'm on LinkedIn at Markia Brown .

Speaker 1: 23:23

Uh , it's fantastic. Thank

Speaker 3: 23:25

You,

Speaker 2: 23:25

Rachel. Speaking with Markia was an absolute pleasure. It was really interesting to hear her 2 cents. I really resonated. She said there is no one way to do personal finance and I just wanted to yell Gloria . Hallelujah . I agree. Amen <laugh> , that is so true . And yet we hear , if you look at a , a lot of big speakers or big people, they, they tell you this is what you do, this is how you do your budget or this is how you invest or this is how you buy interest or whatever the financial topic is. And she's absolutely right. There isn't single right way. And I think so many people are looking for the right way to do finance . But also as business owners we're looking like, okay, what was her secret sauce? How did Markia get a million social media followers? So I need to follow her exact step to get where I'm at. And I think it all drives back to what she said in the beginning, her authenticity, right? And so authenticity is also another word for uniqueness. And when you bring your unique to the table, whether it's as a spouse or a partner or as a financial counselor or as a business owner that is authentic to you and people that are gonna resonate with you on a social media platform or maybe even as a client or customer are gonna be different than the person that resonates with another person, right? And so I just think that that is a beautiful way of saying there is room, there is space. Sure there are wrong things like absolutely don't go down this path, but there's so many right ways to do it. And it's really to you as an individual, as a family, as a business owner, as whatever your definition looks like, there is a right way for you to do it. And you are touching people and influencing people in a different way than Markia is. Even if you followed her exact same journey, it would still end up looking very different as she said. And I just think that's a beautiful way to say, keep doing you and do it to the community that resonates with you or to the family, right? In your specific niche of how it can best help your personal finances and the people around you.

Speaker 1: 25:34

Mary, I really love that this is the episode that is kicking off our year because I think it's, you know, the start of the year everybody is sort of setting goals and and looking to better themselves. But I think that's just a reminder that you are your best self. You should not compare yourself to others. Whether it's the way they're making financial decisions or if it's the way that you know, you're reaching your goals that's going to look so different. You know, this year, don't be the best Marquia Brown, be the best version of yourself. And so I just, I agree with you. That really resonated with me. The other thing that I loved is she really follows her why? And she said the question she asked herself was, what kind of impact am I making? And I think that's a great question for us all to sit with in this new year. You know, however we're going through our life, you know, what is the impact that we're making? And sometimes it's just a small shift in the way we treat others or the way we show up. And so I think that's a really great question to kick off this year. Really excited for the season ahead. We're really focusing on I am an A FC and what does that look like? And AFCs are doing so many different things in this field and they're showing up in different ways. They're coaches, they're counselors, they're educators, researchers, planners, you know, an A FC looks really different and they're making really big impact and we're really excited to tell those stories in 2024. So if you tuned in and this is your first time, make sure you follow us, make sure you tell a friend. We're excited to be in your ear this year.