Have you ever wondered why you go to school? Maybe you’re driven to pursue a particular degree. Maybe you drag your feet reluctantly to school each day. Or maybe you really aren’t sure what you want to do in the future.
The purpose of education is to open your mind up to new ideas and new ways of seeing the world. It’s ok if you don’t know what you want to do with your life. Education is a pathway for discovering your passion and if you’re lucky, your passion will drive you to improve the world around you and leave a legacy. My own journey in education was born from being the daughter of a teacher. I was raised in Bahrain and came to Australia in my teens, with my education disrupted and a deep unwillingness to make a life plan I would have to stick to until I retired. Instead, I became a teacher and taught students in low socio-economic school environments. Many of my students also came from the Middle East and I wanted to give back to ensure that more students engaged in learning and could discover and pursue their passion.
One thing that bothered me was that despite my students all needing to use money in their lives, we never discussed it. This bothered me until I took action, studying financial literacy at the University of Melbourne and the University of Cambridge. I had the opportunity to then work on the national financial literacy program and was recognized for my efforts with a place on the Forbes 30 under 30 in 2018. I should have been at the pinnacle of my career and yet it still bothered me that not all students had access to financial literacy.
An education around money was dependent on what your parents taught you and that didn’t seem fair because we all equally needed this knowledge. That same year, I attended One Young World and it gave me the push I needed. Being surrounded by people who had taken a chance to pursue their dreams gave me permission to pursue my own dream.
I founded Money Bites in 2019 to provide a young person’s view on financial literacy. Our next step for Money Bites is to move into schools and create financial literacy programs that can be accessed by all young people. My dream is to ensure that everyone has equal access to education on a topic that affects us all: money. This is the legacy I want to leave for those that come behind me. What will be your legacy?