Millennial money expert, author and personal finance blogger Stefanie O'Connell and I talk about being an actress during the recession and what inspired her to teach others to be smarter with their money. Long episode description: Stefanie O’Connell is one inspiring millennial. She had aspirations of becoming an actress growing up and even studied acting in New York City. She was well on her way to becoming a broadway star too — until the recession hit.  The economic collapse forced her to rethink her plans of being an actress and consider other ways of making a living. She also started getting interested in personal finance, and realized from books like Rich Dad, Poor Dad that she did not want to live like a starving artist for the rest of her life. This new passion for finance soon motivated her to start her own blog initially called The Broke and Beautiful Life. Now just going by her name (like yours truly) at StefanieOConnel.com, she’s not only a popular personal finance blogger, but also an author (she penned her first book The Broke and Beautiful Life in January 2015), and frequent money expert on media outlets like Fox & Friends, Dr. Oz and CBS News. What I love about Stefanie, beyond being such a hustler, is how positive she is. She seriously took those lemons and made some amazing lemonade with them. If there’s one thing you can learn from Stefanie’s story, it’s that life is rarely a straight path. Heck, it might actually be a really good thing. How boring would life be if it was predictable? Just look at my  life. I thought I was going to be an award-winning film editor in Vancouver, but instead I moved to Toronto, work in digital marketing during the day and host my own personal finance podcast at night! And I love it! I love that life is so unpredictable and I’ve learned over the years that it’s when you embrace the unknown and divert from your original path, some truly amazing things can happen. Read Stefanie O’Connell’s Book As I mentioned, besides being a personal finance blogger, Stefanie is a full-fledged author! Here’s a glimpse of what her book The Broke and Beautiful Life: Small Town Budget, Big City Dreams is all about: After moving to New York City to become a Broadway actress, Stefanie O’Connell faced one of two inevitabilities when faced with unemployment–spiral into debt or learn how to effectively manage her money. Punctuated with humor, insight, and essential money management lessons, The Broke and Beautiful Life offers practical strategies to make smarter financial decisions today as a means to fulfill the goals and dreams of tomorrow. You can grab your copy of her awesome book on Amazon. Check Out Stefanie on YouTube Not only do I predict Stefanie becoming a YouTube star, or the next Oprah, I want to help her get there! Recently she shared on Facebook that she hopes to attend YouTube’s Bootcamp to up her Youtuber game. She’s a natural already with the acting chops, but in order to get into the bootcamp she needs 500 channel subscribers. Since Stefanie is such an awesome gal, I’m asking you to subscribe to her channel (as well as mine), so she can become famous and credit me for helping her out! Seriously girl, if you ever get a talk show, I definitely expect to be a guest! Shownotes: jessicamoorhouse.com/35