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My Story
Why I Started Financial.ish.
Hi, I’m Angelique. I didn’t set out to work in finance, but life had other plans.
I grew up in Sint Maarten, studied hospitality in The Hague, and somewhere along the way fell in love with the language of money. A decade in finance later, I’m translating it back into a language that actually feels like home.
This is the story of how a hotel-management student became a finance professional, and why I built Financial.ish for the people who were never handed the rulebook.
St. Martin → Rotterdam
MSc, SOAS London
CFEI Certified
"Save your money."
Like many people from the Caribbean, I grew up hearing that one piece of financial advice over and over. The problem is that nobody explained what came after saving.
In 2007, I left Sint Maarten to pursue a career in hospitality. Four years later, I graduated from ROC Mondriaan in The Hague with a degree in International Hotel & Management.
On paper, my path seemed clear. Build a career in hospitality. Work my way up. Live the dream I had set out to achieve.
But while I was studying hotel management, something else kept grabbing my attention. Money.
Not because I had a lot of it. Because I didn’t.
I became fascinated by how businesses worked behind the scenes. How decisions were made. How money flowed through organizations. Why some people seemed to build financial security while others worked just as hard and struggled.
One of my strongest subjects was accounting. Looking back, that should have been my first clue.
Nobody talked about investing. Nobody talked about building wealth. Nobody talked about making your money work for you.
We saved for Carnival. We saved for school supplies. We saved for plane tickets. We saved because life happens. But wealth building? That conversation rarely happened.
When I moved to the Netherlands, I quickly realized I was operating in a financial system I didn’t fully understand. There were rules, opportunities, and risks nobody had prepared me for.
I made mistakes. Some expensive. Some painful. Some completely avoidable.
And that’s when I decided to learn.
From curiosity to a calling
I went on to earn a Bachelor’s degree in Financial Management and Control, followed by an MSc in Public Financial Management from SOAS, University of London.
Over the past decade, I’ve worked in financial planning and analysis, financial management, business transformation, and consulting for organizations like Nike, Warner Bros., Cargill, Van Oord, SnowWorld, and The Social Hub.
I’ve sat in boardrooms discussing million-euro decisions. I’ve built forecasts, budgets, business cases, and transformation programs. I’ve seen how money moves inside large organizations.
And one thing became impossible to ignore. The people I grew up with were rarely being taught the same financial knowledge that helped others build wealth.
Not because we aren’t capable. Not because we don’t work hard.
Because nobody was translating it into a language that felt relevant to us.
Why Financial.ish exists
That’s why I became a Certified Financial Education Instructor (CFEI). Not because I wanted another title. Because I wanted to learn how to teach financial literacy in a way that actually connects with people.
Because information alone doesn’t change lives. Understanding does.
Financial.ish exists to make financial education feel less intimidating, less judgmental, and more human. It’s a place where people can learn about money without shame. A place where culture, psychology, and practical financial knowledge come together.
A place built for Caribbean people, the diaspora, young adults, first-generation wealth builders, and anyone who’s ever felt like everybody else got a financial handbook they never received.
Most people don't struggle with money because they're bad at math. They struggle because nobody taught them the rules.
— Angelique
Financial.ish is my way of changing that. For Sint Maarten. For the Caribbean. For the diaspora. And for the next generation.
Because financial literacy shouldn't be a privilege. It should be a life skill.
Ready to learn together?
Start with a free course or book a coaching session — whichever feels right.
