Being a teen mom poses many challenges in life. Having a child at such a young age makes it difficult to live the normal life of a teenager. If that was not hard enough, society looks down on teenage moms and judges them for their situation. Wileena Joseph was a teen mom herself and struggled against all of these stereotypes, but would not be what society labeled her as.
“Being a teen mom, society cancels you out as being a high school dropout or just depending on Government assistance. Being a teen mother, I knew I had a little person who was depending on me and I had to support her. I lived my younger years proving to others that I was not going to be what the perception was about teen moms. I not only graduated from high school, but I’m a college graduate as well.” Recounts Wileena.
Wileena eventually began a job and became a part of corporate America. She quickly realized she was losing valuable time with her children as well as being overlooked for promotions and new positions. Her job, overall, was not giving her much satisfaction in life. Wileena realized that she needed a change to get away from the lifestyle of corporate America.
“As a mother, I found myself trading time for money. Daycare was raising my children while I worked long hours to provide. Working over 10 years in corporate America, I realized corporate America wasn’t for me when I learned it wasn’t what I knew, the credentials I had but who I knew that would get me the job. I was being constantly overlooked for positions I knew I qualified for and had the experience for. I knew attempting to climb the corporate ladder would be challenging. I didn’t want to fight proving myself when building someone else’s dreams. That wasn’t a system I wanted to be a part of.” Wileena remembers.
Wileena wanted to leave this way of life. She was inspired by her own struggles with her credit to begin her own business in financial literacy and credit repair. Like many others around her, financial literacy was not something that was frequently talked about. She knew that many others needed help with their credit as she did.
“Financial literacy and credit repair was not a topic at my family dinner table. Growing up in Chicago, Illinois I knew that wasn’t a topic in many households. What motivated me was knowing my calling was to help people. Knowing that I lack the knowledge of financial literacy and credit repair, I knew there were thousands of people nationwide in the same situation as me that I wanted to help. I have two companies: I have my own staffing agency and my own Financial Literacy and Credit Repair Business.” Says Wileena.
Wileena believes that her business is important because it gives back to the community as much as it helps her achieve financial freedom. For her, she knew it was her responsibility to begin helping others understand their credit and finances as she did because it could help so many people live better lives. Wileena, in the future, will continue her business to help more people.
“My next short term project is to reach and educate 5,000 families on the importance of financial literacy and credit repair by the end of 2020. My next long term major project is to open a shelter for homeless teen moms. Knowing the struggles of a teen mom first hand became an obsession of mine to not only share my testimony, but help the next teen mom create and share their testimony.” Wileena explains.
To learn more about Wileena and her mission to help people understand their finances, you can follow her on Instagram @wileenamjoseph and check out her website at www.wileenajoseph.com
