“God gave me a vision about my life when I was six years old. And everything that I've done has been a result of that vision.” Painting the vision of the life you want to live can be more than just a metaphor. As I ask Angel about the art that surrounds her in her home office, the throughline of her personal calling to financially empower millions of people is consistent.
“Here's my Andy Warhol” as she shows me a print of Warhol’s “Dollar Sign”, of course the version in American Green. “And an image of I Love Lucy’s original cheques”. I smile as I see the joy that the artwork brings to her, reinforcing every part of her personal mission here on earth. Angel has designed her life, including her work space at home, to remind her of her purpose - and the artwork was intentionally selected for her environment to do just that.
I listened in awe of how this woman spoke proudly of her HBCU’s alma-mater’s impeccable art collection - America’s oldest African-American art museum. Hampton U Alumni fluff their feathers over the incredible art collection that the school has, and the knowledge of arts that come with the culture. Seldom asked about her connection to creativity, Angel lights up, sharing with us her little known secret - it was art that was a defining and differentiating dimension that kick-started her journey.
BUT FIRST, WHO IS ANGEL RICH?
Angel Rich is first and foremost a woman of incredible faith - in every sense of the word. A wife, an author, and a visionary, she is relentless in finding the best ways that people - especially the Black Community - can be self-empowered. That’s where the focus on financial literacy and financial freedom comes in. Angel wants to see wealth management systems like health management systems, especially with employers. Amongst her long list of accolades, Angel is the first Black American woman to secure an institutional partnership with one of the three major credit bureaus.
As CEO and founder of The Wealth Factory, a ‘fintech’ company that is a conglomerate of other educational technology games enhancing financial literacy, she is excited about the explosive success of Wealth Factory’s AI-powered fintech app, CreditRich - a Finovate/FinDEVr alum Experian creation, now in partnership with Visa. This is more than a breakthrough and historic partnership - this is a path to real solutions, with a focus on creating debit and credit cards for millennials, Gen Z, the Black community, and the underbanked.
HOW HER CREDIT APP WORKS
CreditRich’s overarching goal–to help the next generation to have a fair chance in life - and turn the tide on the number of people who are credit invisible. It uses a similar easy-to-access strategy like Robinhood, which uses spare change to buy stocks. Except in this case, users can pay the bills with that spare change - all with the view of building an improved credit score.
The app is based on their proprietary algorithm that leverages the user's current credit, which is extrapolated from their credit report upon consent, thanks to their partnership with Experian. The app then builds out a ‘credit intelligence’ so people can forecast the impact of their unique credit behavior. In an accessible and secure format, the app “gamifies” credit building with customized steps + tasks, making the journey of improving credit accessible no matter what stage the user currently is at.
This is part of Angel’s calling and personal mission. Naturally, Angel is also the founder of Black Tech Matters, an organization that partners with tech companies, financial services, government agencies, non-profits, and media companies to promote the need for diversity inclusion in STEM.
The Tech fund is where the advocacy is enhanced from STEM to STEAM - science technology, engineering, arts, and math. It connects athletes, artists, and actors with venture capitalists and highly innovative Black founders to help build creative solutions for global problems.
PERSONAL LESSONS AND THE POWER OF ART
It’s this art loving, mission-driven wisdom I had to ask Angel about. With her incredible life experience so far, what personal lessons might she share with the rest of us? And could she have some unlikely insight for artists and collectors alike? Here are 4 Personal lessons from Fintech disruptor Angel Rich, and the secret on how art is the ultimate business relations differentiator.
Connect to nature. When I am overwhelmed and not sure where to, I turn to my anchors. just sit in front of the fireplace, because fire is nature, right? And it's constantly burning. And when Moses was thinking he went to the burning bush, so it might sound a little bit weird, but I just sit in front of the fireplace. Or, if that hasn't worked I fly to water. I get on a plane to Miami or LA or Jamaica. And I will sit and I will be one with the earth. With the land, I will almost do a baptism, giving of myself again in the water. And I go deep. Usually by the time I do that, I've solved my problem. And I do not leave the water until the answers come to me.
Your relationships ground you. Learn to ask your relationships for help and connection. If the problem doesn't seem to be solved with your own thinking alone, “I've then learned to ask my husband for a hug or a massage” says Angel. He has now learned how important this is to me because just the comfort or care allows me to think and clear my mind; it allows me to be grounded”.
Praying and honest self-reflection help cut through the noise. In times of difficulty, Angel emphasizes prayer and reflection with brutal honesty. Questions can include “What am I missing? Am I being too trusting of somebody? And is my ego in the way? Is greed in the way? Is there some type of sin that is in the way? Is it me that has sent or need to relieve myself of some type of ungodly thought? Or is it the other person or other situation that has sinned against me? And do I need to forgive them for that and move on? “At first I like to make sure that it is not me that is the source of the issue, and if it is myself, I fix the situation and forgive myself. My relationship to God is also critical and it is important that I surrender.”
Sometimes it comes down to knowing the art on the wall. “I went on a job interview while I was at Prudential Financial, and the man who soon became my boss had a piece of art on the wall. It was Van Gogh, the Scream. And I walked in and I just casually said, Oh, I love your van Gogh painting. And he looked at me saying the majority of the people that have come through this office have never been able to identify that painting, how were you so easily able to do that? I proudly stated how much I love art, and every Hampton student knows their art. He then went into his closet and whipped out like three other paintings and asked me to identify them. I knew them all. I knew two out of three of the titles. The third one, I didn’t know the title, but I said I was willing to bet who the artist is. And so he was so impressed. That’s one of the ways I ended up getting my job at Prudential. And then it was just a casual sort of interview after that, and we discussed art. After that, I was like, that skill needs to be a game. This skillset needs to be a simulated experience, because there will come a time in your life that you might walk into a business meeting. And it boils down to whether or not you can name the art on the wall.”
WHAT NEXT?
Read the next HAEd Blog in the series: Family, Fatherhood, and building a Black-Owned Music Empire in Rome - insights from fellow Harvard Alum Charles Burchell
Watch our incredible conversation here, and subscribe to the podcast for more exciting conversations on life wisdom and the arts from people with impact.
Get Angel’s book here, and download her Creditrich App in google apps.
Looking for art to capture your vision in your workspace? Let’s paint the perfect piece of inspiration together evelisa.com