We had the good fortune of connecting with Charlene Tilbanie and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Charlene, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
Starting a business was the furthest thing from my mind. I don’t consider myself to be a natural entrepreneur and I was content with my corporate job as a certified accountant.

However after paying off $22K of debt in 15 months, and realizing that many women were struggling with managing their finances I realized I had to do something about it. Along my debt free journey I studied personal finance literacy voraciously. In fact, I became obsessed with it and realized that it was something that was not taught in high school, college or society! I then realized that this knowledge I had gained could not be kept to myself but had to be shared and used to help women like myself to move from a place of financial overwhelm and stress to a place of financial peace.

The problem is I doubted myself on whether or not I could actually pull it off! I delayed starting a business for 8 years and it was not until 2020 (we all know what happened then), that I decided to bet on myself and do it afraid. Now I wonder why I didn’t take the leap all along!

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?

As CharleneMoneyCoach, I help high achieving women to overcome financial overwhelm and financial stress and move to a place of financial peace in under 3 months. I do this primarily via 1:1 individualized and customized coaching, where I do a deep dive into clients’ finances and lifestyle and help them create a system, strategy and a set of habits that can help them regain control of their finances, achieve their money goals and most importantly do all of these things while enjoying life. My business is unique for 3 main reasons. The first is that I have personal experience with the very things I help my clients with. I struggled with money for the first 8 year of my career and ended up in a situation where I racked up $22K of consumer debt. It was then I realized that though I knew the business side of numbers, I had no idea about personal financial literacy. After teaching myself, I was able to pay off all of my debt in 15 months. My business is therefore unique in that I don’t teach from theory, I teach from experience. Secondly, I’m a certified chartered accountant and I’m therefore able to help side hustlers with the finance side of their business. I have found that many 9-5ers have a side business and yet are not seeing the fruits of their labor – simply because their business finances are in shambles. Thirdly, my business is unique in that I’m a faith based money coach. Money is not something that’s frequently discussed in church circles and along my journey I realized that the Bible actually addresses the topic more than any other area! I have personally used Biblical principles to transform my financial life and I’ve been able to help clients who hold similar beliefs as I do, to do the same and more!

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I live in the beautiful Cayman Islands (which is actually comprised of 3 islands). For starters I’d have them visit Grand Cayman (the largest of the 3 islands). Grand Cayman has several tourist attractions and I’d therefore take them to Stingray City, the Turtle Farm, the world famous Seven Mile Beach, Cayman Crystal Caves, Pedro St. James and finally Rum Point. Cayman is home to over 150 different nationalities. As a result, it’s a big melting pot of culture and cuisine. It’s called a food mecca for varying reasons and any cuisine you want is available here – Caymanian, Jamaican, Trinidadian, Phillipino, Indian, Chinese, Lebanese, Italian and Greek to name a few!
No trip to the Cayman Islands would be complete without a stop over to one of the smaller islands. We would therefore do a day trip each to Cayman Brac and Little Cayman to enjoy the scenery and a slower pace of life!

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
My husband and sister deserve a lot of credit and recognition. As a new entrepreneur, I have doubted my skills, expertise and capacity several times. In fact, I have tried to quit this business several times since starting it. They however have not allowed me to quit – in fact they always find a way to encourage me to keep going. I have run several strategies by them, asked for their advice, used them as a sounding board, asked for their opinions on certain decisions, and they have always come through with the help that I needed!

Website: www.charlenemoneycoach.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/charlenemoneycoach/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/charlenemoneycoach

Nominate Someone: ShoutoutMiami is built on recommendations and shoutouts from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.