Yanely Espinal

Director of Educational Outreach, NextGen Personal Finance

Born and raised by Dominican immigrant parents in Brooklyn, Yanely is a proud product of NYC public schools. She received a full scholarship to Brown University and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in 2011. As a Teach For America corps member, she taught in Canarsie, Brooklyn, and later received her master’s degree from Relay Graduate School of Education in 2013. While working as an elementary school teacher, Yanely decided to change her financial life by paying off $20,000 of debt in just 18 months. In 2015 she created MissBeHelpful, a YouTube channel that now has over 4.5 million views, to help others learn the money skills she never learned in school. Her book, Mind Your Money: Insightful Stories and Strategies to Help You Reach Your #MoneyGoals, was published in May of 2023 and quickly became an Amazon Bestseller. Yanely was named a Rising Star by the Association of Latino Professionals For America in 2023.

Yanely serves as Director of Educational Outreach for NGPF.org, a nonprofit offering financial education curriculum and teacher professional development at no cost. As an Advocate with the Mission 2030 Fund, she also champions proposed legislation at the state level to guarantee high school students access to a dedicated personal finance course. She hosts Financially Inclined from Marketplace, a video podcast for teens about money lessons for living life your own way. You can connect with Yanely at mindyourmoneybook.com or on social media @MissBeHelpful.