Romona Hale-Coley – Financial Literacy Motivational Speaker & Advocate
Personal Notes
My passion and purpose is to educate, empower and inspire young adults, women and minorities about the importance of financial health and literacy. Growing up in the inner city of North Philadelphia, I always had the zeal to excel. My interest was sparked in the area of finance while in high school and I knew I wanted to learn more about money management. Ironically, as a finance undergraduate major at Penn State University, I developed the false mindset that investing was only available to high net worth individuals and corporate clients. Thankfully, I dispelled that concept as a young adult. Today, I love to empower others and share my personal experiences on how I was able to take control of my financial future and move others to take action and do the same!
Bio
Romona M. Hale-Coley was born and raised in North Philadelphia, PA, and is an NFEC Certified Financial Education Instructor. She is one of five siblings born to Elizabeth Hale and Ramon Gonzalez. Romona attended Philadelphia’s public schools and graduated from Dobbins Randolph Vocational High School. She pursued her undergraduate education at Pennsylvania State University, where she received her Bachelors of Science in Finance and International Business. Romona would also complete a semester abroad in Barcelona, Spain. While attending Penn State University Romona met Floyd Coley, and the two were married in 2008.
Romona would later pursue her graduate studies and earn her MBA from North Carolina Central University, while working full-time. Romona held various Financial Analyst and Accounting roles for more than ten years in both Corporate Finance and Accounting while residing in Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Delaware and North Carolina. Prior to resigning from her role as a Senior Financial Analyst in Corporate Treasury, Romona was responsible for hedging foreign currency and risk exposure. Romona and Floyd became first time parents and welcomed their daughter, Alani Monae, in 2012. They also have a four-legged family member, their dog Maxi.
From these experiences, Romona was inspired and compelled to write, “Walking Towards Financial Freedom.” In her book she shares how understanding financial principals such as: planning, budgeting, investing, interest impact, amortization, time value of money, etc. are critical to managing one’s personal finances. Her vision is to educate, empower and inspire her community, women and young people to take control of their financial health and achieve financial freedom!
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