Mode Around the Globe: Christine Elizabeth

@christine.elizabeth

Photography by Abe Bermudez @abe.bermudez

Location: Radisson Blu Aruba
www.bluaruba.com
@radissonbluaruba

Tell us a little about yourself and how you would describe your personal brand in three words?
Disciplined. Multifaceted. Unapologetic.

What’s something people would be surprised to learn about you?
I spent more than five years working on Wall Street, most recently as a corporate bond trader. Before becoming a full-time creator, I worked at BlackRock and Morgan Stanley, so finance isn’t something I discovered on social media. It was my career and is still one of my greatest passions. Now, through The Finance Baddie®, I get to translate that knowledge into personal finance education that feels accessible, relevant and actually interesting to women.

What’s your ultimate main-character moment?
Moving to Miami by myself after one of the most transformative years of my life. I got divorced, sold my marital home, lost 45 pounds and essentially had to build a new life for myself.

There was something very “main character” about realizing that the life I thought I was supposed to have was over, but my life wasn’t. I wasn’t starting from zero. I was starting again with everything I had learned.

What’s one thing you never travel without?
My makeup. All of it.
I’m a certified makeup artist, so asking me to choose between blushes, powders, setting sprays, lip liners and lipsticks is simply unreasonable. I need options! If my suitcase is overweight, we’ll cross that bridge when we get there. The makeup is coming.

What does your perfect getaway look like?
Ocean views, a private pool, an adults-only resort and absolutely nowhere I need to be.
My real luxury now is peace, so the perfect getaway almost feels like a digital detox. Fewer notifications, less screen time, slow mornings, amazing food and enough quiet to actually hear myself think. Bonus points if I can see the ocean from my bed.

Are you more of a meticulously planned itinerary girl or “let’s see where the day takes us” girl?Meticulously planned, absolutely. I cannot escape being Type A. My nervous system loves an itinerary! I want the reservations made, transportation figured out and a general idea of what we’re doing. But I’ve learned to leave a day or two completely open because sometimes the best part of a trip is whatever you didn’t plan.

What’s your go-to travel outfit when you want to look effortlessly chic?
A silk slip dress with a high slit, heeled sandals and gold jewelry. It’s feminine, sexy and timeless without looking like you tried too hard. Add glowing skin and a good lip and I’m done.

What’s something you’re currently learning, working on, or trying to get better at?
I’m working on improving my photography since it’s become a big passion of mine.

What’s one destination at the very top of your travel bucket list?
Egypt.

I’m fascinated by places where you can feel the weight of history around you, and Egypt has such an extraordinary richness of culture, architecture and history. I’d love to experience the pyramids, the Nile and the temples in person. I think traveling should expand your perspective, not just your camera roll, and Egypt feels like one of those places that would stay with me forever.

What is one piece of advice that has had a lasting impact on your life?
“What’s meant for you will cross oceans, distances and doubts to find you.”

I’ve found that to be true in so many areas of my life. The things that have ultimately been right for me have found their way to me without me having to abandon myself to keep them. There’s a difference between working for something and forcing something. Learning that distinction has taught me to make peace with what I cannot control and put my energy into what I can.

What’s something you’re currently learning, working on, or trying to get better at?
I’m constantly working on becoming a better educator. As The Finance Baddie®, one of my favorite things about what I do is taking something that feels intimidating, complicated or inaccessible and finding a way to make someone say, “Wait, that’s actually not that hard.”

That could be investing, understanding the market, a beauty technique or even a hair recipe. Information is only powerful if people can actually use it, so I’m always working on becoming better at translating what I know into something useful, digestible and relatable.

What’s one quality you admire most in the people you surround yourself with?
Accountability. I deeply respect people who can acknowledge what they’ve been through without allowing it to determine what they do next. Sometimes we genuinely are victims of circumstances we didn’t create, but I admire people who don’t allow what happened to them to dictate the rest of their lives. I admire people who can still ask themselves, “What is mine to own, and what can I do from here?” I trust people who can examine themselves, admit when they could have done better and ultimately take responsibility for the direction of their own lives.

If you could spend a day living someone else’s life, whose would it be?
Truthfully? No one’s. The older I get, the more I realize there is no life without its own challenges, and the grass always looks greener when you aren’t responsible for maintaining it. But if I had to choose for one day, probably Nicki Minaj. Her music is probably 90% of my workout playlist, and I would love to sit inside her creative process for a day and see how she approaches writing, recording and putting a record together in the studio.

What’s your ultimate comfort activity after a long day?
Curling up on the couch with my Frenchie, Zara, and watching Scandal. She has absolutely no idea what Olivia Pope is going through, but she’s very invested.

What’s one thing that instantly puts you in a good mood?
Making a gratitude list. Even if I only write down five things, it immediately shifts my perspective. Sometimes I’ll flip through old journal entries and realize I’m currently living with things I once prayed for, worked toward or didn’t even know I needed yet. It’s very difficult to stay stuck in what’s wrong when you intentionally remind yourself of what’s right.

What does “feeling your best” look like for you right now?
For me, feeling my best is holistic. My motto is “stay healthy & wealthy,” and to me those two things are deeply connected. What good is building a beautiful life if you’re too depleted to enjoy it? And what good is taking care of yourself today if you’re not preparing yourself for tomorrow?

Feeling my best means being well-rested, eating well, moving my body and feeling mentally and emotionally clear. If something is weighing on me, I’m comfortable talking it through, going to therapy and developing healthier frameworks around what I’ve experienced. It also means showing up fully for my work and audience. And, of course, The Finance Baddie® in me feels pretty great when I’m hitting my financial goals too.

What’s a personal mantra or motto you’re currently living by?
Focus on what you can control. I’ve wasted too much time in my life giving energy to things I had absolutely no power over. I can control my actions, my reactions, my time, my boundaries and how I show up. I cannot control how someone treats me, perceives me or responds to me. Once I really understood that distinction, life became much more peaceful. I actually approach investing similarly. I can’t control the market, but I can control whether I’m informed, how I allocate my money and whether I panic when things become volatile. I’ve realized life isn’t all that different.

What’s one thing you hope people feel when they see the content you create?
I hope they feel empowered and less alone. A lot of my content is educational, whether I’m talking about personal finance, beauty, wellness, fitness or lifestyle, but I’ve also shared some of the hardest chapters of my life in real time. I’ve talked openly about betrayal, divorce, becoming estranged from family and what it looks like to rebuild your life when several relationships you thought would always be there suddenly aren’t.

I share those experiences because I want women to know they’re not alone. Your version of loss might be a divorce, a breakup, a friendship ending, family estrangement or simply realizing that a chapter of your life no longer fits who you’re becoming. I want women to see that life can break completely from the plan you had for it without your life being over. A painful season is still just a season. It can’t rain forever. Eventually, the sun has to come out.

What was your favorite part of your stay at Radisson Blu Aruba?
Waking up somewhere beautiful every morning. Aruba already feels like such an escape, and having a beautiful, relaxing place to come back to after a full day made the entire trip feel even more special.

If your life had a soundtrack right now, what song would be playing?
“Carry Me Through” by Maren Morris.
It resonates with me because so much of this chapter of my life has been about finding the inner strength to keep moving forward. 

 I’ve experienced betrayal, divorce, major changes in family relationships and starting over in a new city on my own.
I’m originally from Jamaica, so there have already been chapters of my life where I’ve had to learn how to build home somewhere new. Right now, that song feels like a reminder that sometimes you discover how strong you are simply because life requires you to keep going.

What do you have coming up that you’re really excited about?
I’m really excited about my next Rich Girl Reset, my annual financial master class for women. This year, I’m especially excited to go deeper into investing and help women understand how to approach building their portfolios without feeling intimidated by the language of finance. After working on Wall Street, I know how unnecessarily complicated this industry can make money sound. One of my biggest missions with The Finance Baddie® is to demystify it.

One of the reasons I created The Finance Baddie® was because I never understood why financial literacy had to be presented in a way that felt so disconnected from the women I knew. You can love beauty, fashion and luxury and still understand your portfolio. Those things aren’t mutually exclusive.
Women understand far more about money than they often give themselves credit for, and I want them to feel confident participating in conversations about investing, wealth and their financial futures.

What was your favorite part of your stay at Radisson Blu Aruba?
La Pergola.
It’s this beautiful archway covered in greenery, with palm trees waiting for you at the end. We took some of my favorite photos from the trip there, but I loved it beyond the aesthetics. There’s something incredibly peaceful about walking through it. It was one of those places that made me stop, put my phone down for a second and just take everything in.