From Cliffhanger to Compass
Financial Empowerment Network’s New Chapter
Earlier this year, Valériana Chikoti-Bandua Estes and Iand I had the honor of walking alongside the Financial Empowerment Network’s (FEN) athrough a deep and intentional strategic planning process. Together with FEN’s board, staff, and community partners, we engaged in thoughtful listening sessions, constituent input, analysis, and co-creation—all building toward clarity on FEN’s identity and future direction.
Grateful to stand alongside the incredible FEN board and staff with my co-facilitator Valériana Chikoti-Bandua Estes at the end of the retreat.
A powerful theme throughout this journey has been unpacking and challenging the concept of scarcity. Scarcity is not only a financial condition, it is also a mindset we have been sold: the belief that there is never enough, that we must compete for limited resources, or that our worth depends on what we lack. Scarcity can shrink vision, stifle creativity, and constrain what feels possible.
What emerged through this process was not a kind of toxic positivity or wishful thinking. It was a grounded recognition that abundance is real when we center relationships, when we pool wisdom, and when we dare to imagine more. Across conversations, people leaned into abundance of ideas, abundance of collective power, and abundance of possibility for strengthening and expanding an already thriving statewide and Tribal financial empowerment network — one that is rooted in equity, care, and belonging.
Valériana Chikoti-Bandua Estes guiding the group with her signature blend of clarity, care, and audacity.
This body of work came together most visibly at FEN’s two-day retreat. There, participants reflected on what to protect, what to evolve, and what to let go of and each person completed a Compass worksheet. After the retreat, I gathered and analyzed every response, lifted up the strongest themes, and created a Calibrated Compass for FEN: a shared guide designed to keep decision-making aligned with values, equity, and sustainability.
My example Compass for Alex Panagotacos Consulting. In client workshops, the organization’s logo would normally go in the center, but here I’ve placed my own. This Compass reflects my purpose, values, priorities, and cautions — a living guide rooted in equity, ancestry, and abundance. It’s the same tool I use to help organizations clarify their direction and move forward with courage and care.
I absolutely love collaborating with amazing humans like Valériana Chikoti-Bandua Estes, whose practice Necessary Interruptions pushes organizations to courageously interrupt anti-Black oppression and center liberation as the foundation for equity. When we team up, we help organizations move forward with clarity, boldness, and care. I am equally grateful for the board and staff of FEN, who showed up to this process with honesty, creativity, and deep commitment. When we team up in this way, we help organizations move forward with clarity, boldness, and care.
Team selfie with my brilliant co-facilitator Valériana after an energizing retreat with FEN’s board and staff. Nothing like closing a chapter with laughter and beginning the next with abundance.
Bank On Washington Forum: September 18-19
This theme of abundance continues as we step into the 2025 Bank On Washington Annual Forum, happening September 18–19 in Tacoma. The Forum’s theme this year is Pathways to Financial Belonging, and our opening plenary, “Interrupting the Spirit of Scarcity: Embracing Abundance,” will build on the retreat’s reflectionsinvi, ting the entire statewide network to consider how shifting from scarcity to abundance can transform financial empowerment work across Washington.
Save the date: September 18–19, 2025
Location: UW Tacoma, William W. Phillips Hall
Learn More & Register
Writing the Next Chapter with Abundance
We are energized, grounded, and grateful not only by the work of the retreat, but also by the chance to carry these conversations forward at the Bank On Forum. FEN is writing its next chapter with courage and conviction, and we are honored to walk alongside them and the broader financial empowerment community in this unfolding journey.