Before Giovanna Gigi Gonzales was an entrepreneur in dishing out financial advice on TikTok as the first-gen-

mentor, she was broke and she was lost. Then she started educating herself

largely by reading financial literacy books. Those texts, they gave her a lot of basic language

and skills, but they did not account for the unique and sometimes subtle challenges of being

Latina and being first-gen. It's why Giovanna's new book, Cultura and Cash Lessons from

the First Gen mentor for managing

finances and cultural expectations fills in that gap.

I am neither first gen, nor am I at the beginning of my personal finance journey, and I still

found Gigi's book and this conversation really illuminating when it comes to setting boundaries

and defining the why behind your wealth.

Gigi, thank you so much for being here.

Of course. Hi, Alicia. Thanks for having me on. Gigi, we all know you for being here. Of course. Hi, Alicia.

Thanks for having me on.

Gigi, we all know you now as someone who is not only financially literate, but is helping

other people in our community become financially literate and feel financially sound.

That is not your origin story.

Not at all.

I want you to take me back to the period during which, as you write in the book,

you were feeling broke and confused. Yeah. So I would say most of my financial challenges didn't

happen until my 20s, my early 20s. I had nightmare roommates. I had toxic bosses that I work for.

I had harmful boyfriends that I live with.

All these situations that I couldn't escape out of and I was very much trapped in because I didn't have enough money to leave.

...