A North Texas company is offering women a place to face their feelings in order to become financially secure. They're this week's KRLD Difference Makers.
It was a milestone birthday for Lauri Brown. She was facing her 40th birthday and was reflecting back on her life and what she wanted to do going forward.
"The conversations that I was having with myself, they just felt so different and I began to wonder if I had yet to meet the best version of me," Lauri said. "I came to a realization that I may have lacked some confidence and that in order to be the best version of me, I need help."
She recalled a conversation she'd had years ago.
"She told me about this group of women that she worked with and these classes that she took and this support system that she had," Lauri said. "I couldn't tell you this woman's name but I remembered she told me the name of the group and it was WiNGS."
WiNGS is formally the YWCA of Dallas, which has been serving women for more than a century.
"We have evolved to meet women where they are at a point of change in their lives, where they are taking control of their financial future for themselves and their children," Said CEO Kate Rose Marquez. "We focus on financial literacy and our economic advancement which provides classes, one-on-one coaching. Everything from debt reduction to negotiating a contract to launching a business."
But for Lauri, Wings offered what others had not...the space to get real about what caused her overspending. Everyone in the program has to begin with a financial literacy class.
"Taking that class, we connected on so many levels outside of finance," Lauri said. "We began to have honest conversations about why we made some of the decisions we made. And in that moment, I became vulnerable and I realized and said, 'I've used money to look the part of a confident person.'"
The revelation changed her financial future and now Lauri is hoping to become a coach and help other women build a better financial foundation for themselves.
We're proud to call Wings this weeks KRLD Difference Maker.
"What I learned through WiNGS, there is much more to gain by being vulnerable than to lose by fear of being judged," Lauri said.
WiNGS programs are free.
If you know someone making a difference in the community, send us an email at KRLD.com.