Community Champion: Jannese Torres
Community Champion Jannese Torres’s fervor for helping others – particularly the under-represented and underserved – stems from her personal experience making the transition from corporate engineer to passionate financial wellness educator, advocate, and influencer. After an unexpected job loss in 2014, Torres shifted her mindset to transform fear into purpose. Now her professional dedication transcends across her personal life as well – spearheading a movement that not only teaches money management, but makes generational wealth-building and financial freedom accessible to all.
As she strives tirelessly to promote financial wellness across Florida and the country, Jannese takes advantage of her broad reach and influence to strengthen whole communities with financial education and resources. Her expertise and community championship are underscored by her magnetic personality, presence, insight, and true caring for others, especially the traditionally marginalized.
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Personal Statement
I never set out to become a financial educator. I stumbled into it after living through the kind of financial chaos most of us are never taught to navigate. Before founding Yo Quiero Dinero and becoming a nationally recognized financial educator, I was an engineer who did everything “right.” I got the degree, landed the six-figure job, and still felt trapped in the paycheck-to-paycheck grind. When I started learning about financial independence and investing, something clicked. I realized that what had held me back wasn’t a lack of intelligence, it was a lack of access.
As a first-generation Latina, money was something we didn’t talk about; and that silence came at a cost. My passion for financial wellness was born from that realization: that financial education is the most powerful form of self-liberation. I’ll never forget the moment everything shifted. I was sitting on the floor of my apartment, newly laid off, surrounded by bills and unopened statements, the hum of the refrigerator filling the silence. My stomach turned as I calculated my debt, realizing I was working so hard yet building nothing lasting. That moment of panic turned into determination.
I devoured every financial book, podcast, and resource I could find, and slowly started sharing what I learned online. Years later, I met a listener who told me she paid off $40,000 of debt after following my content. She said, “You made me feel like I could actually do this.” That sentence still gives me chills – it’s the reason I do this work. Today, being part of this financial wellness campaign is a full-circle moment. It allows me to combine my professional expertise with my mission to make financial freedom accessible for all, especially for the first-generation, the overlooked, and the underestimated. Through this campaign, I hope to continue amplifying culturally relevant education that not only teaches people how to manage money, but how to build the kind of wealth that changes families for generations.
Community Champion: Jannese Torres
Jannese Torres’s unflagging efforts in the financial wellness arena are truly changing lives; and contributing to the strength and resilience of whole communities in the process. Through her digital outreach and presence, along with her input on the Florida Financial Educators Council Advisory Board, Torres is making a real difference – and her accomplishments are attracting notice.
Jannese strives to facilitate access to financial wellness resources among Floridians from all walks of life, with particular focus on populations that have been historically under-represented and overlooked. Her leadership is an inspiration to the entire movement. On behalf of the Florida Council, we extend our sincerest gratitude to Jannese Torres for her commitment and hard work.
