Who We Are

We are a black owned company looking to spread financial literacy one book at a time. We are geared toward the youth because we believe in building up our future leaders and equipping them with the tools they need to succeed. Finance isn’t always a fun topic, so we approach it in a more fun and interactive way through story telling. We assist parents in introducing finance terms through captivating stories and activities.

Meet our 3 Main Characters

Aniyah, A'lana, and Daniel are the three main characters we follow. Being a minority-founded business, we think it's critical that minorities are depicted positively in literature. To represent our community, these figures have skin tones that range widely. They are also incredibly significant to the creator because every single one of them was modeled after her children, right down to the names and physical traits.

Giving Back

We recognize the injustices that are still present in our society today. Low-income neighborhoods continue to face many struggles, including the lack of financial education, which plays a significant role in individuals being trapped in that same cycle. We want to do our part to help bridge the wealth gap.

At the end of every year, we will donate a percentage of our profits in books to underserved schools. We are hoping to get as many books as possible in these schools, so students can build up their financial knowledge. Given we are based in Southern California, our current focus will be schools in areas like East San Diego, Spring Valley, Compton, Inglewood, and South Central.

The Founder

Celina received her Bachelor of Science in Finance from the University of South Florida and has several years’ experience in the finance industry within asset and wealth management. She currently holds several security licenses which include the Series 7, 66, and 63. Her career began as an Analyst at Goldman Sachs where she specialized in the valuation of fixed income securities. She created dashboards and reports that provided commentary for AUM, analyzed market conditions, and worked with traders and external parties to arrive at appropriate pricing. She then moved into their wealth management division as a Wealth Management Professional. In this role, she supported a team of advisors and acted as the main point of contact for high net wealth client communications. Being a liaison between clients and internal departments, she was able to utilize her operational and communication skills to drive client satisfaction and assist with the growth of a wealth management team.

Wanting to be more involved with the overall process of wealth management, Celina joined Bofa Merrill Lynch as a Financial Advisor. She was involved in prospecting, developing investment strategies for clients, conducting marketing presentations, and building lasting relationships. She came to see the value of marketing at this point and it’s ability to connect with potential clients by telling compelling stories that they will ultimately act on to make life-changing decisions.

She currently works at Capital Group within content production on the Client Relationship team. Her role allows her to work with several investment sales teams to produce several pitch books with the goal of winning over institutional client business. Although she currently works on institutional investing, she believes its equally important to teach everyday individuals about investing as well. She grew up in poverty all her life and never was taught financial management until college. This is why she believes financial knowledge is not only key but should be taught starting at a young age. She founded Smart Money Buddies to accomplish just that and to impart her knowledge of finance and investing to the everyday youth. It should not only be taught to the extremely wealthy, institutions, or corporate America, but also taught to every child, in every place!