Paying it forward

A group of teens arrived at Schwab’s Westlake, TX campus, eager and curious about the day ahead. The teens who are part of a Microsoft-sponsored youth mentorship program, found their way to the Schwab campus thanks to Tatiana Preval, a Schwab Investment Consultant, who had heard about the youth program and arranged for the students to spend a day furthering their education with Schwab. Tatiana had a full day planned for the students—they toured the campus, took a Schwab Moneywise™ course where they learned about college planning and applying for FAFSA, and even started mapping out five-year plans. The goal was simple: show them what a career in financial services could look like and help them imagine new possibilities for themselves.

For Tatiana, the day was deeply personal. Not too much older than the students herself, she knew what it felt like to be uncertain about the future but determined to forge your own path. As the youngest of three daughters from a Caribbean family, she was the first in her family to leave home and build a career. She didn’t have an example to follow, and it was a challenging (and often isolating) journey for her, but the rewards have been undeniable. She’s living proof that you can break the mold, defy expectations, and change the course of your life with the right guidance.  

That’s why Tatiana wanted to bring the teens to Schwab. She wanted them to know they had options, and that there are people like her to help them. Tatiana had been lucky enough to have mentors—people who saw her potential when she couldn’t yet see it for herself—mentors like Christina Faulkner.  

Christina is the director of Schwab’s Financial Consultant Academy, and like Tatiana, Christina’s own path to success hadn’t been straightforward. Growing up, her mother worked multiple jobs, but still, there were days without hot water. The desire to understand this inequity had driven her to study finance in college, though even that journey had been filled with hardship. At one point, she found herself homeless, living out of her car. But even during those tough times, she kept pushing forward, determined to understand money so she could change her life—and help others change theirs too. 

Her persistence paid off. After college, she got a job at Schwab, starting in customer service and support, working her way up to wealth management roles, to her current position as director of the Financial Consultant Academy where she’s responsible for bringing more diversity to the branch network through recruitment of recent college graduates, as well as career-changers, by training them to become financial consultants. So far, she has helped 20 classes of students launch careers in finance that might have once seemed out of reach. 

So when Tatiana asked Christina if she wanted to help host the teens and discuss the Financial Consultant Academy with them, the answer was an immediate yes.  

“I was that kid sitting in a seat, looking for opportunities,” Christina said. “This is near and dear to my heart.”

“It was fun connecting with eager students long before they become our future talent,” Christina said reflecting on the impact of the day. “By partnering with mentorship programs like this one, we get the opportunity to inspire them before they consider financial services an avenue because most schools don’t teach financial literacy. We want to inspire careers, of course, but more importantly, we want to empower them with tools to make smart financial decisions. If they leave knowing one thing more than when they came, I call that a successful day."

By the end of the day, it was clear that the event had been more than just a career showcase. For Tatiana, seeing how the students engaged—eager and thoughtful— reminded her of the power of mentorship, how a single conversation could spark a transformation. It had happened to her when mentors like Christina had guided her, and now, she was paying it forward.  

And for the students, they left with a new sense of what was possible. They got that not just from learning about the industry or having a better idea of how to apply for college, but also from Tatiana and Christina’s stories, and how they were able to change the trajectories of their lives.  

The students might not fully realize it now, but this day could be the spark that sets them on a new path.