As an entrepreneur, hairstylist and salon owner, Amber has built a career around serving others. But managing a small business while keeping up with household expenses also meant navigating several predatory loans.
Paying off those loans was Amber’s primary goal when she entered LifeWise StL’s Debt Reduction Savings program. Her predatory loans charged more than 300% interest (there is no legal cap on interest in the state of Missouri), and they quickly became a significant financial burden, leaving little room to save or plan for the future.
She wanted financial freedom, confidence in her money spending habits, and to build a solid future for her elementary aged daughter Allison.
As a participant in the Debt Reduction Savings program, she successfully saved $2,000. LifeWise StL’s matched funds of $4,000 gave Amber the capital she needed to make meaningful progress. She worked on paying off predatory debt, getting current with tax debt, and clearing debt with a financial institution to get back in good standing as a customer.
With those debt payments no longer competing with her typical monthly bills, she was able to get her finances back on track—and start thinking about what could come next.
That breathing room became an opportunity to build new habits.
Amber identifies discipline in money management as the biggest skill she developed through the LifeWise program. Setting goals, tracking progress, and staying accountable helped turn financial intentions into consistent actions.
“How I’m being disciplined with money is allowing me a certain type of freedom I didn’t have before,” Amber said.
Amber also said her outlook changed as she became less burdened by guilt over financial decisions she had made in the past. Amber’s own relationship with money had been shaped by the emotional weight of carrying financial struggles largely on her own.
Instead of allowing past choices to define her, she has been able to view them as part of a larger learning process.
LifeWise StL’s Financial Trauma class and Financial Support Group became particularly meaningful to her. Amber said hearing other people’s stories helped her recognize that she was not alone in the experiences and emotions surrounding money.
“I feel seen. This whole experience has been humanizing,” Amber said. “I walked around forever being the strong friend, the good daughter. Not feeling like I had anyone to give this stuff to. Those [financial] support groups taught me other people go through this, too, and made me feel human instead of robotic,” she said.
Her coach, Ian andres amado, LCSW, CFSW, has witnessed that commitment firsthand.
“Amber’s participation has been enthusiastic and vulnerable since day one,” Ian said. “For all of the progress we made in our hourlong coaching sessions with one another, she would go home and work on finances for several more hours, always bringing back significant updates and improvements.”
For Ian, Amber’s progress has been about more than completing financial tasks. It has been about watching her invest in herself and her family.
“Watching Amber show up for herself and her family has been an honor,” Ian said. “I’m grateful to have had the experience of supporting her in this journey.”
As a business owner, Amber knows what it means to build something from the ground up. Now, she is applying that same determination to her financial life.
Amber’s goals for the future remain ambitious: establish emergency savings, continue strengthening her financial habits and ultimately build generational wealth for her daughter.
