Cassandra Jackman

I attribute my success to going through my own hurts and learning from them the hard way. I bumped my head a thousand and one times, but those experiences taught me how to help others navigate their own pain and transitions. My friends saw the impact I was having by helping them through different stages of life, and they pushed me to formalize what I was doing naturally. I went through a horrible marriage and horrible divorce, and I sought therapy and got my own life coach to help me walk through it. That healing journey taught me that you can't go into anything new with unhealed baggage. Now I'm able to maintain boundaries without bitterness, and I use everything I learned to help others understand that transitioning starts with going back to yourself first. On the financial services side, watching my uncle pass without life insurance and seeing how our Panamanian community had to come together to bury him made me realize how important it is to educate minority communities about insurance and legacy building. Losing $26,000 in my 401K in my 50s also drove home the importance of helping people make better financial decisions. Being the first in my family to earn a master's degree and the first to rewrite corporate policies and procedures showed me that I could break new ground and create paths for others.

Make sure what you're doing is something that makes you cry, because if it makes you cry, then you know you'll stick with it. You have to have a type of passion behind something in order to complete it. Sometimes we start something and don't complete it just because we lack that passion. Know what you want before you start. Most importantly, understand that softness starts with you. It doesn't start with anyone else - it starts with you knowing who you are and what you bring, even though you're a boss daily and running corporate America. The softness still begins with you. And remember, we tend to love everyone else first - our jobs, our children, our relationships - before we love ourselves. You can't go into anything with unhealed baggage. If hurt surfaces that hard when you're reading something or going through something, then you haven't healed. You need to figure out how to heal, whether that's through therapy or other professional help, because you can't carry that type of baggage into new situations.

One of the biggest challenges I see is helping people in minority communities understand the importance of financial planning and life insurance. I watch people walking around with expensive things like red bottoms, but then they put up a GoFundMe to bury their mother. That's putting your mother to shame and putting yourself to shame. In the Latino and African American communities specifically, people don't always understand that insurance isn't just for burial - it's important for legacy building and how it can affect you 10 years from now if you put it in the right IUL or annuity instead of letting others gamble your money in things like 401Ks. On the life coaching side, the challenge is helping people recognize and heal from deep hurt. When I did a 10-woman panel test for my book, 9 out of 10 were still going through unresolved hurt. It's so common for people to just dig a hole and throw their pain in there instead of actually healing. The opportunity is in helping people understand that they can't go into anything new - whether it's a relationship, a job, or motherhood after loss - with that type of unhealed baggage.

The most important value to me is helping others, especially giving back to my community. Being the first in my family to get a master's degree and the first to rewrite corporate policies and procedures showed me the importance of breaking barriers. As the oldest of seven children and a teen mother who was married at 16, I had to learn everything on my own without a big sister to fall upon. My mom was a country girl and my dad was a foreigner, so I had to figure things out myself. That experience drives my commitment to helping children in lower-poverty areas learn to read effectively and do basic math. I'm working on developing a nonprofit for battered women and homeless children because I understand what it's like to go through hard times. Having survived a horrible marriage and horrible divorce, and having sought therapy and life coaching to heal, I value maintaining boundaries without bitterness. I believe strongly in self-love and the principle that you have to love yourself first before you can truly love others - whether that's your job, your children, or your relationships. My Panamanian and African American heritage also shapes my values, particularly my commitment to educating minority communities about financial planning and legacy building. In my personal life, I value working out, reading, and spending time with my grandchildren.