The Women I Can’t Forget: Why I Became a Licensed Financial Professional

 

In 2016, I stepped into the calling of life coaching. But truly, it started long before that.

I remember being just seven years old, sitting in my second-grade classroom. Our teacher gave us a simple assignment: look up the meaning of your name. I still remember the feeling as I stared at the page.

Alexandria:

The feminine form of Alexander

Meaning: Helper of mankind

Something settled into my bones that day. A weight, but not a burden. A knowing. Even at that young age, I felt the stirrings of purpose. A whisper that I was here for something greater. That my life would be used in service to others. That I was born to lead, to guide, to pour into people in a way that helped them return to themselves.

I carried that knowing into everything I touched.

When I turned eighteen, I began a modeling career. Not through an agency. I chose the freelance path.

I have always been an artist. As a child, I painted, sculpted, danced, wrote poetry, and drew. Art was my first language. Modeling became an extension of that, a new medium where I used my body and presence to create something meaningful.

Freelancing meant managing everything myself: marketing, bookings, payments, contracts. I could have gone the agency route, but I wanted ownership. Ever since I was a little girl, I have loved the idea of being completely free and sovereign.

Of course, there are pros and cons to going the freelance route. With an agent, they handled all communication, marketing, and payments, and took twenty percent of everything. But by managing myself, I gained something far greater.

I learned how to network. I learned how to communicate. I developed some of my deepest people skills.

Many of the photographers I worked with began to see me as their muse. Some weeks, we shot together every few days.

I remember one photographer loved shooting together so much. During the whole two-hour shoot, he spent it trying to “get my eyelashes sharp.” I laughed after because I did not understand why he paid me for those hours when he did not get any satisfactory photos in his eyes.

This was also a lesson for me on excellence, perfection, and the brutal life of an artist. The ongoing process of creating the exact vision that is only in our mind, and the restlessness until it fully becomes.

And though I was not agency represented, I earned $150 an hour like the agency models did at that time. Most models in my area were making $40 an hour without an agent. But my skill, professionalism, and presence set me apart.

That is when I learned a truth I still live by: skill sets, knowledge, and strength of spirit create value. And value creates income.

That season of my life taught me the power of owning my image, my time, and my voice. I traveled across states to shoot in breathtaking locations: forests, deserts, mountains, abandoned buildings. My modeling portfolio became a living, moving gallery of my creative expression.

But even more than the photos, what I took with me was a deep understanding of value exchange. Of what happens when you know your worth and charge accordingly.

Still, the modeling world was not all beauty and lights. I saw the way women were treated. I saw how often power was misused. And even though I was in front of the camera, I often felt I was holding space for something much deeper.

For women to be seen. Truly seen. Not just posed or styled or lit. But seen for who they are.

As I grew my audience, I began pairing my writing with my photos. Stories of inspiration, moments of triumph, lessons from the journey. One day, someone told me, “I pause for the photos, but I stay for your writing. It is beautiful.”

Without realizing it, I was already becoming a coach. A guide. A helper of mankind. Just like my name declared.

When I formally became a life coach in 2016, it was not because I had a degree in psychology. It was not because I had letters behind my name. It was because I had lived. I had led. I had walked through the fire of entrepreneurship, artistry, trauma, healing, financial highs and lows, spiritual awakening, and everything in between.

And still, I rose. With wisdom in my womb, clarity in my voice, and a calling that would not let me go.

From the beginning, my coaching was never about fixing people. It was about remembering.

I helped people come home to themselves. I helped women reclaim their softness. I helped men feel safe enough to grieve. I helped entrepreneurs clear the blocks so their businesses could finally breathe.

And the wild part is, I was still healing too. Still unraveling. Still remembering myself.

That is the truth about being a helper of mankind. It is never a straight path. It is a spiral. A return to who God says you are.

Not your family before you. Not the mindset passed down to you. But who He always intended you to be.

And this is the message that I strived to share with the world.

I reflect on a woman I was in communication with who expressed interest in my healing container, Reclamation.

“I have to be careful. If he hears me on the phone with you… I cannot let him hear us talking or he will get upset. I will let you know when he is not around so we can talk. I need this program more than you know.”

She was in a serious domestic violence situation. She did not have the resources financially to leave or join my program. I was going to give her a scholarship, like I often did, but she never could figure out a time to talk to me when he was not around. And I did not want to jeopardize her safety.

My heart hurt for her.

Then I think about another woman I met. Five children. Single mom. No money. No home. She was fighting to build a business so she could take care of herself and her babies. She was living in her car.

My heart broke for her.

I also reflect on my ancestors, who did not have the resources to actualize what they deserved in their life: peace, financial stability, a steady home, education, a safe and warm environment for themselves and their children.

Then I think about my great aunts. When my great-grandfather first got the job at Hewlett Packard in the Bay Area, one of the first Black men to ever work there, he slowly sent for all of his sisters.

They were all being abused. And had it not been for him having the financial means to rescue them from Louisiana and set them up in a new state far away, their abuse would have continued. Their lives would have looked so different.

So, do you want to know my why?

The women that my heart breaks and hurts for.

The ones stuck in domestic violence. The ones unsure of where meals will come from for their children. The ones being sexually, physically, emotionally abused and have no money for a plane ticket or to start fresh somewhere far away.

So, I am becoming part of the solution.

I fought through symptoms from a brain injury to study and pass my state exam to become a licensed financial services professional.

Because knowledge is power, and I have always been the type to share what I learn.

And my intention is to spread this knowledge like wildfire so that every woman, especially my fellow Black women and women of color, gets to create a new trajectory for themselves.

To create safety. To create wellness. To create access to resources and opportunities for themselves and their children.

There are secrets out there that only the elite know, and they utilize them to stay rich while the poor stay poor.

Not on my watch.

My late grandmother told me every day before school:

“Be great. Learn EVERYTHING.”

And that is exactly what I came here to do.

I am Universal Wealth.

This is not just a career move. It is a ministry of remembrance. A way to help other women reclaim their options, their ownership, and their overflow.

Whether you need a plan to protect your life, build generational wealth, or start fresh with dignity, I am here. I am building this so that no woman has to stay stuck because of money. Not anymore.

If this speaks to you, reach out. I offer a complimentary Financial Needs Analysis so you can see clear options for your current situation. Email: hello@angelicandco.com | Text: (510)779-7879 | Schedule: www.success.as.me/connect