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Meet Dr. Paris Woods of McKinley Heights

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Today we’d like to introduce you to Dr. Paris Woods.

Paris Woods

Hi Dr. Woods, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I grew up in north St. Louis to a phenomenal single mother who raised six children, including my sister and four cousins. Education was a core value in our family, and my mom worked tirelessly to find high-quality educational options for us. This resulted in my participating in the desegregation program for several years and being bussed out to the Parkway School District before finally joining the city’s gifted program, through which I attended McKinley CJA and Metro HS. I was fortunate to receive a full scholarship to Harvard University for college and have spent the past 20 years helping others find a pathway out of poverty through education, just as I did.

Would it have been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
A few months into writing my book, I received the news that my entire team was being laid off. It came as a complete shock. Our team was kicking butt on our projects. But the pandemic being what it is, I learned that nothing is guaranteed when it comes to work. Suddenly, the message behind the book took on more urgency. If this could happen to me–it could happen to anyone! And I wanted people to be prepared. I reflected on the journey that brought me to where I am financially. As someone who grew up in a working-class family – with bouts of outright poverty sprinkled in – I had certainly come a long way from living in housing projects in downtown St. Louis. I still remember the day I came to school after an article about my family was published in the St. Louis Post Dispatch. My aunt had been murdered, and my four cousins came to live with my mom, my sister, and me. Our little apartment was bursting at the seams.

My mom was doing her darndest to make things work, but our family was crumbling. The newspaper decided to cover our story. A full-page picture of my mom showed up as a feature story, and our family’s financial business was on full display. I went to school the next day, and my principal cornered me in the hallway. “Would you be okay if we held a toy drive for your family?” she asked. I was beyond mortified. I was used to being seen as the smart kid in school, not the poor one. That was the first time a fire was truly lit inside me to make it to a new financial bracket. I couldn’t wait to escape to college. Arriving at Harvard as a freshman was something of a dream. An abundance of resources surrounded me, and for the first time, I felt like I was no longer poor. It was a miracle. I immersed myself in the experience–made good friends, joined the choir, and explored my academic interests in African American social issues. (I was drawn to understanding why poverty persisted in my community, and boy, did I learn a lot about systemic oppression!)

When I graduated, working in education was a natural next step. After all, education had saved me from my circumstances and helped me access an entirely different life. I worked for years in “college access” – assisting low-income families nationwide to gain access to elite educational opportunities. It wasn’t until I was in my thirties that I had another wake-up call. I lived in a tiny studio apartment, spending lots of money on my car note, student loans (from graduate school–college was free!), and credit card bills from the debt I had accumulated over the years. In some ways, I felt like a success. My community had celebrated my achievement of an Ivy League degree. I was doing work that I loved. And I had just taken an international trip to see Beyonce perform in Portugal for my golden birthday! But something wasn’t right financially. I was earning a lot less than my friends from college, and honestly, feeling pretty broke at the end of each month. That’s when I realized I would have to get intentional about money. I embarked on a journey to make more money, manage it better, and start investing. In just a few years, I had eliminated my debt, doubled my salary, and joined the FIRE movement (“Financial Independence, Retire Early”) by investing in index funds. By the time I got laid off, I was in a strong enough position that I didn’t need to jump into another job immediately. I took advantage of my newfound free time to travel, hang out with friends around the country, and try out the digital nomad life. After enjoying several months off, I decided to accept a senior position at a mission-driven organization with a leader whom I adored. I still work in education today. I didn’t have to change careers or make drastic investing moves to turn things around financially. There truly is a simpler way. I share my story and the key steps that made the difference in my book, The Black Girl’s Guide to Financial Freedom: Build Wealth, Retire Early, and Live the Life of Your Dreams.

Thanks – so, what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
Paris Woods, Ed.D., is the chief program officer at StriveTogether. In this role, she leads impact acceleration and scale to create better, faster, and more equitable outcomes for youth across the StriveTogether Cradle to Career Network and beyond. Paris is an impact-driven strategic leader with 20 years of experience in public, private, and nonprofit educational settings. Before joining StriveTogether, Paris led high-performing teams as the chief of programs at YouthForce NOLA, managing director at Good Reason Houston, and executive director at College Beyond – a nonprofit she co-founded to eliminate the college attainment gap for New Orleans youth. Paris is a 2018 Pahara Fellow, recipient of the Alliance for Diversity and Excellence Innovation Award and the Millennial Award in Education, and a 2016 Gambit’s 40 Under 40 honoree. Paris holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Harvard University and a doctorate from The University of Texas at Austin. She is an adjunct faculty member of educational leadership at Tulane University and serves on the College Beyond, 4.0 Schools, and Believe STL Academy boards.

Where do you see things going in the next 5-10 years?
All of the educators I know are hungry for more financial content for their students, especially by and for people of color, so there is a lot of room for growth. One of the reasons I wrote my book was because there was a shortage of resources in my community covering the basics of wealth-building (rather than the flashier topics of real estate, business development, and stock trading). The truth is that only some people want to go down one of those paths. I meet amazing, professional women every day who love their careers but also want to make wise choices with their money, and that’s who I specialize in helping. Even though my book targets adults, many educators have reached out to me for support because they’ve had trouble finding relatable resources that cover the topics of wealth and financial empowerment for everyday people.

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