This Week’s Financial Feminist Summit Was Organized with Radical Inclusion in Mind

Financial Feminist BELatina Latinx

There is often a lot of talk about finances and how to “achieve financial freedom” but these conversations typically leave out the realities of diverse populations. The Financial Feminist Summit, organized by Kara Perez, seeks to change things by turning personal finance into an inclusive topic of conversation and education. The Financial Feminist Summit is a free two-day online event taking place this Wednesday and Thursday on May 27th and May 28th. 

Perez is the founder of Bravely Go, a community that gives self-identified women the financial tools to bridge the gap between their dreams and their realities. The organization educates women on how to take control of their own finances by budgeting, paying off debt, learning to invest, and growing their income.

 

Through acknowledging the reality that people are often paid differently based on demographic factors like their gender, immigration status, race, and/or family structure Perez hopes that this summit will help diverse populations finally hear conversations tailored to their lived realities. Perez said she believes, “it’s important for marginalized communities to create their own spaces. It’s important for feminists to take up space in a non feminist world. It’s important to highlight people as experts when the traditional lens of power has looked over them. Most importantly, it’s important to use your voice for the things you believe in, and I believe in this summit.”

The Dominican-Irish Latina spoke to BELatina about why she launched the free summit, the presenters she chose for it, and how she hopes it’ll impact the lives of attendees for the better.

People of color are already facing a steep curve when it comes to “catching up” to people who systematically have a number of advantages. How will the content of the summit take this into account when delivering a financial summit through a feminist and equity lens?

I’ve very specifically gathered speakers who come from different backgrounds, financially, ethnically, racially. Our content is specifically geared to answer sticky questions: What is it like to be a first generation American? What does the gender wage gap mean when it comes to investing? How does race or sexual identity play into that? 

It’s so important to me to pass the mic because I can’t speak to every experience. The summit is a chance to hear from all sorts of experts and learn from every corner of the personal finance world.

How did you decide who would be presenters during the summit?

I worked backwards: What content did I want to present? From there, which people in the space would be able to speak to that? 

The Financial Feminist Summit is a two-day event. What do you hope participants walk away from the summit with?

Confidence and a fire to change their own lives and the system! This summit is very different from most financial events because we are directly addressing the complexities of race, gender, politics, and the systems we live in. All these different parts of our identity impact our money and, unfortunately, most of the personal finance world ignores that. There are no easy answers, but this summit is opening the door to dive deeply into that conversation.

Why is talking about equity when we talk about finances necessary? 

People often think equality is equity, but they are two different things. I can get paid the same as a man, but it doesn’t mean we have financial equity. I still have to deal with the pink tax, or with being seen as “bitchy” instead of authoritative, and being passed over for a promotion. 

I think the personal finance world is very hesitant to address that, because again there are no easy answers. But I’m happy to have those conversations to try and move the needle a little bit. 

Why did you decide to make the summit free?

Simply put, charging money for things means some people will always be left out. This is the first time I’m doing this, and it’s in the middle of a global pandemic. I think it would be unusually cruel to charge for this right now. I plan to do it again, and I may charge next time, but right now, free felt right. 

You can register for the free Financial Feminist Summit through Eventbrite and check out the number of free resources and tools on Bravely Go’s website to start your financial education journey today.

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