About this Event
Come celebrate and learn at the launch of this educator’s essential guide to teaching inclusive financial literacy in any setting, from a veteran New York City public school teacher.
Educator, author, and financial empowerment advocate Diana Isern will be in conversation with social impact executive, trauma-informed facilitator, and author Nicole Russell-Wharton, followed by a book signing and reception.
here!
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About the book
Money Talks—here’s how to empower students to join the conversation
Diana Isern, a financial educator and school leader with 20 years in public education, has spent the past decade teaching students how to think and talk about money. Now, as financial literacy mandates surge across the US, she's gathered her top resources and strategies in Money Talks, your jargon-free, interactive guide to inclusive financial wellness education.
This hands-on resource for high school educators offers personal reflection exercises and practical methods for teaching financial concepts like money mindset, building credit and savings, investing in the stock market and in real estate, and navigating new digital economies. Money Talks is grounded in the RICH framework, which ensures that students from all backgrounds see themselves as capable wealth builders:
- Representation: ensuring that diverse perspectives and identities are reflected
- Inquiry: fostering critical questioning and wonder
- Connection: making concepts accessible and relevant to students' lives
- Holistic thinking: embracing asset-based thinking
Throughout the guide, you’ll hear from real students and educators on the transformative power of inclusive financial education. The stories, strategies, and activities in Money Talks will support educators in creating authentic, engaging lessons that go beyond the classroom to make a lasting impact on students and their families.
Praise for Money Talks
“Money Talks is a game-changer for financial literacy education. Diana blends storytelling, cultural awareness, and real classroom strategy in a way that feels fresh, practical, and deeply needed. Her RICH Framework gives educators a clear path to making money conversations empowering for every student.”
—Tiffany “The Budgetnista” Aliche, New York Times best-selling author of Get Good with Money: Ten Simple Steps to Becoming Financially Whole
“Teaching money is deeply personal, and Isern handles it with the warmth and wisdom of a true veteran. By prioritizing vulnerability over perfection, she shows us how to foster a ‘you belong here’ vibe that sticks with students long after graduation. Isern treats financial education as a mission, not just a math problem.”
—Alex Lamon, award-winning high school business teacher and executive director of New Jersey Council for Economic Education
“Diana Isern is one of the sharpest minds out there teaching kids financial literacy—from budgeting to blockchain. Practical, inclusive, and research-backed, Money Talks offers teachers a fun-to-read road map that will transform students’ lives—and their own.”
—Beth Kobliner, New York Times best-selling author of Get a Financial Life: Personal Finance in Your Twenties and Thirties
About the author
Diana Isern is an educator, author, and financial empowerment advocate with twenty years in New York City Public Schools as a teacher and school leader. She is the author of Money Talks: An Educator's Guide to Teaching Financial Empowerment (Beacon Press, 2026), a practical, asset-based guide that helps educators teach the young people and learners of all ages to build wealth and see themselves in financial spaces. Her course, Making Money Moves, drew half of her school each semester and taught students to see cultural heritage, work ethic, and perseverance as forms of wealth. An Accredited Financial Counselor and recipient of the Council for Economic Education's Sloan Teaching Champion Award, Diana presents nationwide to educators, community leaders, and policymakers on financial empowerment, leads professional development, and has collaborated on curriculum with partners including Intuit for Education, the Council for Economic Education, Next Gen Personal Finance, and Stackwell Capital. Her work has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, on Bloomberg News, and MarketWatch. She lives in Queens, New York with her spouse and two children KJ and Zoe. When she's not talking money, you'll find her traveling the world, visiting family in Puerto Rico, or getting loud at professional wrestling events. Learn more at dianafinancialeducation.com.
About Nicole Russell-Wharton
Nicole Russell-Wharton is an award-winning social impact executive, trauma-informed facilitator, certified trauma-informed yoga practitioner, and best-selling author with more than two decades of leadership in youth mental health and wellness. A Bronx native, she is the Co-Founder and Executive Director of Precious Dreams Foundation, serving children and young adults impacted by foster care and housing instability. Inspired by her own family’s experience with housing insecurity, Nicole co-founded the organization alongside her mother to ensure vulnerable youth receive not only essential resources, but also healing-centered support, emotional regulation tools, and the confidence to dream beyond their circumstances. Her trauma-responsive, holistic approach has earned her recognition and honors from GLAMOUR, Essence, and O, The Oprah Magazine as an “Everyday Hero.”
Nicole is a Macmillan-published author whose books have sold tens of thousands of copies nationwide. Her latest release, Breaking Generational Silence, explores how uncovering family health histories can interrupt cycles of trauma, while her children’s and young adult titles, Everything a Band-Aid Can’t Fix and My Busy, Busy Brain, are used in schools across the country to support social-emotional learning. Through her writing, facilitation, and community impact strategy work, Nicole advances trauma-informed leadership and generational healing for historically underserved communities.
Event venue & nearby stays
Lofty Pigeon Books, Church Avenue, Brooklyn, NY, USA, United States
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