Written by: Victoria Lewis | Alexandria Capital
I watched the waitress swipe my credit card after wrapping up a Saturday night dinner with friends. You really can’t afford this, I thought. You should’ve just eaten at home.
I was 23, living in San Francisco on a $42k public-relations salary. It was my first year post-grad and I was learning just how expensive life was. A budget was a foreign concept to me, and I had no problem spending money. I wanted to enjoy myself, especially if I was out with friends. As long as I could cover rent, I told myself I was doing fine.
After some time, the “spend now, figure it out later” strategy began to feel more painful than fun. The number in my bank account was a constant worry, and the mental math I was doing with even the smallest purchases was exhausting. I couldn’t pay off my credit card in full—a principle I’d been raised with—and the anxiety of that was keeping me up at night.
This experience awakened something in me: If I didn't figure out how to manage my resources, I was never going to feel steady in life. I set off on a quiet personal journey to understand money on a deeper level. In the months and years that followed, I consumed personal-finance podcasts and books, experimented with budgeting tools, and learned about money mindset work. Real life taught me just as much, as I navigated chapters of unemployment, and watched my family move through a complex estate planning situation. I became fascinated with the notion that our financial lives are never stagnant. The amount of money we have, and what we need it to do for us, ebbs and flows, and having systems in place to support these changes is critical to peace of mind. This is a shared human experience regardless of background.
My peers started noticing my burgeoning interest. If someone was willing to talk with me about their financial life, I was all ears. Looking back, I realize that being the girl talking about budgets at a party probably wasn't terribly cool, but it lit me up. I was amazed at how financial awareness had improved my confidence and mental health, and I was eager to share this with others.
The Post-Grad Predicament
Going into college, I opted for a communications degree, as I had always enjoyed my English classes and writing assignments. For seven years, I worked in PR and comms roles across the tech industry. I went from agency life to in-house positions at large companies like Salesforce and Oracle. On paper, these roles were everything I thought I wanted. But internally, something felt misaligned. When I considered what direction I wanted to take my career, I kept circling back to two truths: personal finance fascinated me, and I envied careers that helped people directly. One day, a peer asked if I had ever considered financial planning. I barely knew anything about the profession, but the idea stuck.
The Transition
I stayed in communications for a few more years, held back by the sunk-cost fallacy of my career. I had already invested all of this time into this career. It was familiar, safe. What if I changed paths and failed?
Still, financial planning had been tugging at me for multiple years. The least I could do was explore it.
I started with networking, reaching out to folks for introductory calls where I could learn more about the profession. I showed up at a FPA networking event, unsure of what to say or even what to ask. But I met some kind people there who encouraged me along this path. They told me about the talent need for financial planners, and the need for more women in the industry.
I learned about the day-to-day work of a planner through Amplified Planning's Externship program. I spent hours watching Hannah Moore, CFP®'s client meetings, and was blown away by how she calmly and joyfully guided clients through some of life's most precarious and precious moments. In the year that followed I completed a Certificate in Financial Planning through Dalton Education and New York University, where I learned the basics in investments, retirement, tax, estate planning, and more.
Meanwhile, my communications career motored on in the background until I was eventually impacted by a RIF. It was inconvenient, but also clarifying. If there was ever a moment to pivot, this was it. With the help of career coach Nina Rayburn, I honed my story, reframed my transferable skills, and committed fully to a job search in wealth management. A few months later, I accepted an Operations and Wealth Associate role at a fiduciary RIA in Manhattan.
Looking ahead
I’m only a few months into this new career, but I’m so energized by what I'm learning and the path I see ahead of me. What drew me to this profession wasn’t spreadsheets or markets. It was the human element: sitting with people in pivotal life moments and helping them make decisions that support their goals, values, and futures. Each day, I'm witnessing how proactive financial planning is an act of love for yourself and for the people who rely on you. I'm thrilled to be in a role that supports that.
If you're feeling pulled towards something new but are unsure what shape it should take, I encourage you to tug on that loose thread of thought and see what unravels. My multi-year journey to this industry has had many starts and stops, and I'm still just getting started. While I still don’t fully know what lies ahead, I do know that we are all worthy of work that lights us up and helps us thrive.