I have had the privilege of doing a lot of talking about money and finances with the amazing Hillary Augustine, my dear friend and owner of Excela. Hillary is formally trained both as a therapist and an accountant; she has also been on a gorgeous journey the past many years to understand the intersection of a multiplicity of justice issues. As she talks about money—and helps her clients learn to think and talk about their relationship to money—she also asks people to consider larger structures of economics in this country.

Thus, when she starts some of her classes, she puts a picture of her anglo-family in front of the class and asks, “Let’s look at this picture and talk about money and privilege and social locations.” Her point is to communicate that she comes from a white, middle-class family that has historically benefited from the exploitative capitalistic system as it currently functions in the U.S. And while she has a lot to teach her clients—based on her training and experience—she also wants her clients to understand she speaks and “knows what she knows” from a particular place. Read more »