Multi-platinum artist Saweetie partnered with TurboTax to provide financial literacy education to up-and-coming basketball stars. The “NANi” singer shared valuable tips with rising talent in the Atlanta Entertainment Basketball League (AEBL) with an on-court conversation.
For the Black community, especially Black women, financial literacy is extremely important. Black people make 76 cents for every dollar made by their white counterparts. The gap only widens for Black women, who make only 66 cents for every dollar made by a white male. The realities of the gender and racial wage gap emphasize the importance of financial literacy education. For Saweetie, this partnership with TurboTax allows her the opportunity to help bridge that gap and help the next generation.
“TurboTax is taking time to implement some core values and beliefs in a community that can benefit from it, and I stand by that 100 percent,” Saweetie said, referring to the financial and tax literacy program sponsored through the partnership. “If you don’t have these financial skill sets, you’ll find yourself in a hole as an adult and always trying to catch up. [But,] if you are taught that at a young age, it becomes a second nature skill set. I’m really happy to be here today, especially in a community that has supported me since the beginning of my career.”
With TurboTax, Saweetie is teaching rising basketball stars in the Atlanta community valuable financial tips. The opportunity is full circle for her. It allows her to give back to the “magical” and “innovative” city that embraced her with open arms. Atlanta’s music scene helped grow Saweetie’s career in many ways, and this partnership serves as a way for her to give back to them. It also combines two of her biggest passions: sports and financial literacy.
Saweetie’s connection to sports began long before her partnership with TurboTax. The lifelong athlete started at a young age by playing football at the park and at school. Eventually, she became a year-round player, joining volleyball and track. She credits her involvement with sports for molding her into the woman she is today.
“[Sports] made me a very disciplined woman and taught me how to set goals and to achieve them,” she told 21Ninety. “I’m very grateful for my sports background because if I didn’t play sports, I don’t know if I would have been able to be as business savvy and driven as I am today.”
Over the course of her stardom, Saweetie has been able to home in on the true value of money. She developed into a more financially savvy person by using different tips and tricks that she learned along the way. Now, she is taking the time to share those lessons.
“Teaching financial literacy is imperative because if you know better you do better,” Saweetie told 21Ninety. “It bridges gaps and fills holes that would have been left empty if someone didn’t know they could learn how to overcome those challenges.”
One of her financial holy grails that she learned throughout this time is the power of budgets. The simple skill of creating a detailed spending list to monitor her expenses helped Saweetie save, invest and expand her money. However, she asserts that without the financial literacy knowledge, she wouldn’t have been able to do that. It’s for people, especially young individuals, to gloss over that step, when money is coming in.
“Financial literacy is a generational skill set,” she said. “It’s something that pays off as life goes on and we all want that. We want to reach the point of our career, where we are able to relax and reap the fruits of our labor.”