This month, Working Credit is spotlighting Lasaunna, a model from the beautiful islands of St. Kitts. Lasaunna started her credit-building journey with Working Credit almost a year ago while working at Boston Medical Center (BMC), one of Working Credit’s partners. She found out about the credit-building benefit offered by BMC through their intranet and decided to take advantage of it. “I had been wanting to pivot financially, like saving, working on my credit, and the opportunity basically fell into my lap when I saw the ad for Working Credit”.
When Lasaunna first connected with her Credit-Building Counselor, Juanita, she realized that much of the financial information she had previously garnered was incorrect. Lasaunna recalls, “The great thing about Juanita, when we first met, she gave me the history behind what credit is, and me not being from America, I’m happy that she broke it down for me. I feel like a lot of my mistakes were due to not even knowing how the financial systems in America work in general”. Lasaunna remembers Juanita having to debunk a lot of credit and financial myths and misinformation during their first few meetings.
Following the initial sessions, Juanita began guiding Lasaunna through her personalized credit action plan, a tailored strategy provided to every Working Credit participant shortly after their initial one-on-one session with their credit building counselor. Even though she was on a tight budget, Lasaunna started saving money and ticking off tasks on her credit action plan. Lasaunna confessed, “There were times when I felt discouraged and following the plan seemed tedious, but Juanita motivated me. She created an environment of accountability where I could be honest and share my journey. She also reassured me that it was okay to pursue my dream of turning my talent (modeling) into a major source of income.”
Lasaunna has since moved back to her home island of St. Kitts and is now modeling full-time for major sportswear brands. Her credit score has increased by over 70 points, and she is continually reaching the goals that she and her Working Credit counselor set almost a year ago. Lasaunna shared that she acquired a wealth of credit-building knowledge from Juanita. But, the most profound wisdom was to embrace her authentic self and pursue her dreams. “It’s not an overnight process, but if you keep going, it turns out great!”
Lasaunna is currently focused on laying the groundwork to expand her brand and establish her own modeling company. She is actively seeking out potential investors who can lend support to her vision.
Lasaunna, you are truly inspiring! Keep up the great work!
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