Sheila Diiorio

I attribute my success to tenacity, grit, and an unwavering determination to break the cycle of generational poverty for myself and my children. I grew up poor on government assistance and had to find my way out of that. When I was young and married, my husband at the time would always take my cash, so I had to hide my own money and pivot from what I already knew to start something else. When I got divorced, I had to do another pivot because now I had children to take care of, and I had to work 5 jobs because my ex was barely paying any child support. I created this whole money tracking system out of necessity because nobody teaches this in school. I am dyslexic, so I didn't want to spend all kinds of time trying to figure out things with spreadsheets and everything else. I had to end generational poverty for myself and provide for my children, so it was really important for me to find a way out and not have to rely on anybody else. I couldn't deal with it anymore, so I just had to go and see ya. I've been doing this work for about 20 years, and have been making money from it faithfully for about 3 years now since COVID when I really started getting out there more. I recently wrote a book called The Paycheck Revolution for Women to make life easier for myself and others, and it's also a way to make residual income along the way. I changed my approach to work with high-achieving women who really want to make an effort and change, because I'm done with people who just talk the talk and don't want to do the walk.

One of the most powerful pieces of career advice I ever received was from an Aerosmith song, and I don't know who the originator is, but the line goes: if you always do what you always did, you'll always get what you always got. That lesson taught me that you have to change things up, you have to be bold and go for it, and you can't be afraid of no. Everybody says no, or they're afraid, or they don't have the answer and they just don't want to deal with it so they say no. But you have to make a mindset alteration if you really want to make an improvement in your life. That advice has been fundamental to how I approach everything.

My advice to young women entering my industry is that what she needs to do is be honest with herself and figure out where she wants to be. She needs to really and truly ask herself if she wants to do this or not, because it's not for everybody. This may not be for her, but she can at least give it a try. And she should also find something else that feeds her passion and will make it more beneficial for herself. Self-reflection is a major thing to figure out your strengths and what truly drives you.

One of the biggest challenges in financial coaching and education today is helping people overcome limiting beliefs, financial stress, and deeply ingrained habits that often keep them stuck in cycles they want to escape. At the same time, there are tremendous opportunities to leverage technology, financial education, coaching, and community support to help individuals and families build lasting wealth and financial confidence. She believes that as more people seek intentional, values-based approaches to money, there is an incredible opportunity to transform not only finances, but entire generations through education, empowerment, and mindset shifts.

Family is at the center of everything I do. I have a girl and a boy who are now grown, and one of my greatest motivations has been ending generational poverty for myself and providing greater opportunities for my children and future generations. I grew up poor on government assistance and had to find my way out of that. When I got divorced, I had to work 5 jobs because my ex was barely paying any child support, and I had to create a whole money tracking system out of necessity. It was really important for me to find a way out and not have to rely on anybody else. I couldn't deal with it anymore, so I had to go and make it happen. Beyond my professional work, I have always volunteered at the schools and have done seminars for Girl Scouts. I've also reached out to women's prisons to help them learn how to break down their money so they're successful when they come out. I believe in giving back and helping others, especially young girls, learn about money early on because schools don't teach this.