In the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, Ray’Chel Wilson, then an educator in Oklahoma, recognized the intensifying economic struggles for her students and their families. Although the school provided some technology to help students with financial education, it wasn’t useful or effective.
Wilson sought to change this by developing practical resources for building financial literacy, including ForOurLastNames, a startup providing personal finance education geared toward building wealth for generations to come. This past spring, as she wrapped up a Master’s of Divinity at the Duke Divinity School, Wilson presented the startup in the Duke Innovation and Entrepreneurship Startup Showcase.
ForOurLastNames provides an app through which users can access a range of financial literacy tools. The app is modeled off of a ready-set-go approach that helps users move from financial trauma to financial traction, Wilson said.
The first component of this approach is users’ ability to participate in money mindset meditations designed to help them identify points of financial trauma—such as an historic lack of financial resources or being laid off—and build resilience. The meditations are powered by AI and become more personalized with continued usage.
ForOurLastNames also offers personalized financial freedom pathways with specific, step-by-step guidance and metrics related to achieving a specific goal, as well as a list of “dos” and “don’ts” along the way. The pathways are designed around specific life-stage ambitions, such as purchasing your first residential home or building your investment portfolio, rather than age-based goals.
The final component of ForOurLastNames’ ready-set-go model is the opportunity for users to connect with vetted financial professionals who can help them reach their desired goal.
“Ultimately, we do want to create change for the wealth gap, the class wealth gap, the gender wealth gap, the racial wealth gap,” Wilson said.
Combining economic and technological experience
Wilson said what sets ForOurLastNames apart from other financial education resources and startups is her domain expertise, collaboration with her co-founder and CTO Tiffany Bogert, and that the startup sits at an intersection of numerous tech industries.
With experience as a financial therapist, certified financial education instructor and behavioral economics scholar, Wilson has created a tool that aims to capture the market and address financial literacy with research-backed practices.
Bogert and Wilson are both first-generation wealth builders from marginalized backgrounds, Wilson said, and this, combined with their respective experiences in the technology and economic industries and love of working together, makes them ideally suited to develop tools for financial education.
Although ForOurLastNames was born out of Wilson’s desire to help her young students advance their financial literacy, the app’s tools appeal to all ages and types of people, from corporate employees to nonprofit workers.
The startup’s blending of a variety of tech spaces—including equity tech, education tech, fintech and healthtech—has also enhanced the market appeal of the software and helped the startup scale.
ForOurLastNames’ subscription model
ForOurLastNames offers access to the app through a subscription fee. Currently, the app is exclusively available to institutions, which can access the software with a $49 annual subscription per student, employee or other user.
As to the incentive institutions have to make the service available, Wilson noted that one in three employees are distracted by their personal finances at work. And this distraction costs companies over $1 billion annually.
“It also is a cost savings for employers when they do have ForOurLastNames as the financial wellness, financial empowerment, financial literacy solution for their students, for their teams, for their organization,” Wilson said.
When the app is made available to individual users, they will also be able to access the software for a $49 per year subscription fee.
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Startup: ForOurLastNames
Co-Founders: Ray’Chel Wilson (CEO), Tiffany Bogert (CTO)
Founded: 2023
Team size: 2 full-time
Location: Tulsa, Oklahoma (formerly, Duke)
Website: www.forourlastnames.io
Funding: Bootstrapped; raising $1.5M on SAFE note
At the Duke Startup Showcase in April, ForOurLastNames received the Social Innovation Prize, which honors the best startup whose goal is to solve a social or environmental problem. With the award, the venture received $10,000 in funding.
ForOurLastNames has also participated in multiple accelerators, including the Nashville Entrepreneur Center’s Project FinTech Accelerator and Do Good X.
“These accelerators have all been helpful in bringing proper mentorship, good people, great insight, whether it be an official advisor or just a colleague in the cohort,” Wilson said.
In September, ForOurLastNames will launch on app stores for individual use.
Institutions looking to provide ForOurLastNames in their organizations can schedule a meeting with Wilson to discuss partnership. Individuals who would like to use ForOurLastNames can join the waitlist ahead of the app’s September release.
