Hidden Gems: Meet Tyana Ingram, CFSW, CFEI® of The Ten Coins

Today we’d like to introduce you to Tyana Ingram, CFSW, CFEI®.

Hi Tyana, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I was born in The Bronx, NY and raised in a suburb about an hour away from The City. I’ve always been a creative leader with a balance of handling my business and being the life of the party. In high school, I was captain of the Track Team and the Step Team, President of Youth Against Racism, and the Junior Prom Queen. My first official job was at Subway at 13 years old and I’ve been working non-stop ever since. My parents did the best that they could but I learned pretty quickly that if I wanted to live the life I wanted, I was going to have to work for it.

My first summer working, I clocked about 40-50 hours each week. When it was time for school shopping, I bought new clothes and shoes to last me for the first two weeks of school. When I wanted a large stereo system for my garage-turned bedroom, my mom showed me how to get it through a rent-to-own store. From an early age, I used money as a way to look and feel good and saving wasn’t anywhere in my vocabulary. As soon as I had money in my hand, I found a way to spend it. This was definitely a learned behavior. I know now that I spent money this way after years and cycles of generational money trauma in my family.

After I graduated from Howard University, I moved to Los Angeles and received my Master’s in Social Work from USC. I started my career working with families impacted by the LA County foster care system and have been working with this population for over a decade. I realized really quickly that most families involved in the child welfare system were Black and that poverty was a key reason for this. I saw firsthand families getting reported to and staying in the foster care system due to financial issues. I couldn’t help to notice that so many of these families reminded me of my own family. I was trying to support these families with their life challenges while also going through my own struggles. I continued to make the same money decisions and money mistakes as I navigated young adulthood on my own.

In 2018, I became really focused on self-care and taking intentional time to get to know myself. A friend and I began curating social wellness events to be in the community with others growing through life as well. Yet in still, I knew there had to be a better way to help myself and the people that I was serving. I was excited to find out about Financial Social Work, a behavioral health model that helps people to strengthen their relationships with themselves and their money. While working on my own financial healing journey, I officially became a Certified Financial Social Worker in 2021. I had a strong desire to blend my personal and professional experiences together with my purpose and passion and was inspired to create my own social enterprise in 2022, The Ten Coins LLC. I recently became a Certified Financial Education Instructor to strengthen my services and skill sets and offer vital online financial education programs to the community. I feel so grateful to be able to be on the journey with others, learning to take care of our whole selves and create the lives we desire.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I was taught to take the “straight road” in life. Go to college, get a career, and work your way up. While I appreciate the opportunities that this path has afforded me, in 2017 I realized that there were many more sides of me that needed to be explored and I started seriously struggling with my mental health. I was experiencing anxiety in a way that I never had before, lost a bunch of weight unintentionally, and felt like there was a dark cloud over my life. I was unhappy with myself, my job, my relationships, and my money situation. Even though I was advancing in my education and career, I was receiving little income, in major debt, and had difficulties keeping up with the day-to-day expenses of life. I had no idea how to improve my financial situation other than working multiple jobs and hustling for my worth.

Then in 2021, my fiancé and I decided to end our relationship after being in each other’s lives for 14 years. Life as I knew it for so long changed drastically. My self-love was at an all-time low and my negative self-talk was at an all-time high. I felt defeated and hopeless, which was affecting every area of my life, especially my financial outlook. Through intentional self-care practices like therapy, prayer, journaling, tarot, meditation, yoga, and affirmation music, I started to heal and shift my mindset from lack to abundance. I began to reclaim my power, take accountability for the situations in my life, and got the courage to take the steps to start building my business. I’m still working full-time while growing my business and oftentimes, that negative self-talk, anxiety, and fear of failure kicks in. Money trauma is real, but so is healing. I’m committed to the journey. I’m unlearning old ways of thinking, learning how to love myself fully, unpacking and processing old wounds, re-parenting myself, and working on new money and life goals.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
The Ten Coins LLC is a spiritual, social enterprise with a mission to inspire the community to heal their money wounds and achieve financial peace of mind. Our name comes from the Tarot Card, The Ten of Pentacles, which symbolizes legacy wealth, stability, and abundance in all areas of your life. It is rooted in financial success and lack of financial struggle.

We partner with individuals and organizations to help our community get their minds and money right through our holistic financial wellness circles, workshops, and events. This is not your average financial services company. In addition to equipping people with key financial education, we provide solid money mindset foundations to build financial well-being and create lasting financial change in a very non-traditional way. We get outside, use music, meditation, community, and collaboration all to create a safe space that allows participants to explore their money story, reduce financial stress, and increase financial knowledge. We are trauma-informed and place an emphasis on cultural humility and equity to meet the diverse needs of our participants. Through this healing spiritual practice, we are helping people to realize their vision and see that they can achieve their financial and personal goals slowly and steadily with patience and real support. I take pride in my services because not only are they changing individuals’ lives, they are changing the lives of families and impacting generations. I am helping people let go of their unhealthy relationships with money and transform their way of negative thinking and behaving to something more fulfilling and with a deeper significance. My talent is helping others see it’s okay to let go and start over without fear because I’ve been there myself. Helping people trust in themselves and the universe so they can see they have the power to create their own reality is my goal.

I am currently providing financial wellness and education circles and workshops to several non-profit organizations helping their clients gain control of their financial situation and I’m open for consultations with new partners.

If you are having some form of financial conflict in your life that is impacting your ability to move forward with your goals and you need help identifying a clear financial strategy to better support your battles so you can have a victory, I am here for you. Starting Fall 2023, I will be opening for 1:1 in-person and virtual holistic financial wellness counseling.

Before we let you go, we’ve got to ask if you have any advice for those who are just starting out?
JUST KEEP GOING! Whatever you do, don’t give up. The day-to-day grind can make it hard to have faith and see the light at the end of the tunnel. Write down “your why” and remind yourself of it every day, especially during the hard times. Focus on the bigger picture rather than the here and now to see that you have everything you need to succeed. Reflect on how far you’ve come already and use all that you learned to persevere. Small steps lead to big results. So don’t overwhelm yourself with everything at once. Break your goals down into the tiniest steps and just check off one thing off your list to start. You don’t have to have it all together, ever. Make mistakes, learn from them, and continue to push forward. Utilize your support system and if you don’t have one, put yourself out there and start collaborating with others. Keep that fire, courage, and determination. Your success is already yours. No need to compare yourself or be envious of others. No one can be you! Everything will work out exactly when it is supposed to work out.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.thetencoins.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/thetencoins
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tyanaingram/
• Other: tiktok.com/tyana.tencoins

Image Credits
Carmen Johnson, Brian Everitt