As an immigrant and first-generation in her family to attend college, Shanna Bennett is a self-described late bloomer when it comes to personal finance and navigating student debt. She spoke to Nikki about her educational experiences from childhood to graduate school and the series of career decisions informed by paying off the consequential debt.

Shanna also shares how Paul Newman’s pasta sauce and his “shameless exploitation in pursuit of the common good”, inspired her to start the Student Debt Brand. Post-tax profits of Shanna’s Student Debt Brand of products will pay down other’s student debts and allow them to start living beyond and without their debt. Find Student Debt Brand online here or on Instagram @studentdebtbrand.

Related Articles & Links

Transcript – 

Nikki Nolan: Welcome to the podcast. It’s so good to have you here.

So let’s just like jump right into the deep end.

How much student debt do you have?

Shanna Bennett: Tons of debt. Like tons of debt. I am sitting on just under $200,000 of debt right now. I have 90,000 to be more specific 92,000 in federal debt, and then another a hundred thousand in private student loans. So it’s a lot of fun. I believe my interest rate before I consolidated was at around on average 11%.

I think I might be sitting at 3% right now. Oh you know, I’m sure we’ll talk more about it, but I am learning along the way. And a bit of a late bloomer in regards to all things finance and personal finance. And, and so at the beginning of the pandemic, I actually started calling to talk about my interest rate because somewhere around the end of like 2019, early 2020, I realized I am in an income-based repayment plan.

I’m making payments, but how is it that my balance is increasing? How is it that I consolidate at $89,000? I’ve been paying now. And my balance at the end of the year is $92,000, like what’s happening. And so, I became very deflated and because the pandemic had begun and because they had suspended, interest, the person on the phone was like, Oh, well, there’s no interest right now.

I said, well, I understand that. But like, normally what’s my interest, right? And she was like, well, I don’t, I don’t see that here we’ve wiped out the entire system. So it doesn’t say what your interest rate is and I’m okay. But can’t you just look back what it was and she’s like, well, no, no. And I’m like, okay, great.

And then I actually paid on my federal loans throughout the majority of the pandemic. It wasn’t until the end that I paused, because I saw a study that said only 11% of us were still paying. And then I thought, okay, you know what, let me start throwing that money into savings. And then I’ll see what the government does.

And then I’ll just adjust my plan based on that. But, but yes, that’s my current situation. Tons of debt, not happy about it. And then I just want to add to that with my private loans, that has been a journey. I mean, you know, as we’re all more familiar now, the private loan carriers or servicers are not as flexible and not as forgiving in terms of repayment.

And so, you know, that’s also been a struggle. I’ve had times where I’ve been unable to pay and my federal loans I’ve been able to forbear or defer. And I’ve run out of options several times on my private loans. And so now they are the last group that I need to wrangle. And I’m still in the process of doing that.

I have one that is now involved in a class-action lawsuit, essentially to make a very long story short, I contacted, we have a student loan attorney who, who was great, who we touched base about six months ago. And then I got a letter in the mail. My mother was a co-signer on one private loan.

And so she was served an actual document, legal document. And so, he kind of said, you know what, I have another class action, but I think now you’d actually qualify to be a part of, and I said, sure, I mean, count me in. What’s really unfortunate though with that private loan is I put, I made a lump sum payment of about $10,000 towards it.

I think it was like maybe the one was about $20,000. I was able to negotiate down, make a lump sum payment and it was supposed to really have cut the loan in half. And then when I was able to, they had me on a repayment plan that I was making successfully, they would do this thing where they would only sign me up for the repayment plan every couple of months.

And then the payment would fall off. And then I wouldn’t notice. And then about a few weeks would go by and they’d call me harassing, yeah, me saying, hey, you haven’t paid, where’s your payment? And I’d say, oh, I didn’t realize that you guys set up the automatic withdrawal. And they would say, well, you know, you didn’t pay it.

And so now you’ve gone back back on your, your, obligations. And I’d asked to just go back to the payment plan I was on. And they would say, well, well, no, because you missed a payment. And so now you need to pay more money.

Now at the time that this was happening, I was newly divorced, struggling to find a place to live. I was in temporary housing. I was in an extended stay paying month by month, I move into an apartment like the first apartment that I’ve lived in, in my entire life. So life was a blur at that time. It doesn’t surprise me that I didn’t realize an automatic payment had fallen off.

I say all that, to say that the lawsuit documents claim that I owed basically the full amount. They weren’t taking into consideration the $10,000 that I had put down. Now, to take it to another like side note of a side note, that $10,000 I actually got, because, I needed a roof at the time I needed a roof and a group of people locally- my husband at the time was deployed. He was in the military, and they said, Oh my gosh, you guys need a roof.

Like wrote to somebody. I don’t know. It’s we got this lump sum and we’re looking at it and we’re looking at the roof and we’re looking at my student debt and we’re thinking, I think we should put some towards the debt also. So we quite literally early found a cheaper roof option and threw a chunk of that money towards the debt.

And now all the attorneys I’ve spoken to you since I’ve said you shouldn’t have done that, you know, because now. It almost makes my case and court more difficult for them to argue because I’ve given so much money to these folks that at this point, my debt has changed hands so many times they can barely even prove they own the debt at this point.

And so, one of my loans is in a class action lawsuit and there’s another one that, I’ve also given to this attorney as well, because they’ve come out of nowhere with claims that I don’t even understand. So yeah. Long story short. That’s where I’m at right now.

Nikki Nolan: Oh boy. Wow. Okay. You’re going to be back on the show just to let you know, and we’re going to like follow through and see what happens with that. There’s a few people on the show who are like in the middle of somethings and I’m going to have them back on after things settle.

Shanna Bennett: Yeah, can I add something else? I’m just realizing. So I have, so I have two loans that are with a, defunct, a loan servicer. At this point, they went bankrupt many years ago and no longer exist. So when I would call into my loan servicer, I would say, hey, I’m having trouble paying. You’ve been able to give me deferment and for bearance on my federal loans, what can I do about these two private loans that you are servicing?

And they would say, well, on file, it says you have no more options, but you can try to contact them if you want. And I’m like, well, how do I contact them? If they no longer exist? And they would say, We’ll take this number and you can call and I would, I would call them like I wouldn’t get anywhere because they don’t exist. And I remember looking up the founder of, that private loan company and he’s this like big investor and entrepreneur, and he’s moved on living his life.

And all of the bankers and investors of that product have been able to move on. Yet I’m still stuck with the debt that no one can even tell me who owns it anymore. And so one of the conversations I’ve been having more and more with these attorneys is, but like, what rights do I have? Because those loans are sitting there, I’ve stopped paying them because I can’t communicate with anyone.

And honestly, like my only recourse is to not pay, to have them default, which they’ve already done that. Beyond that they’re reporting negatively on my credit. And then, but at the very same time, no one is contacting me because no one even knows where the paperwork is.

Nikki Nolan: So, so how long have you been in default?

Shanna Bennett: Oh my gosh. For such a long time, I, it took me a long time to realize that and even saying it out loud sounds terrible. I realize that, but it took me a long time to realize that not paying is also an option. You know, not paying gets the attention of people that otherwise you can’t track down.

And because my credit is already, trash, I have nothing to lose, unfortunately.

I’m in an apartment here, but let’s say I wanted to go to another apartment. Let’s say I wanted to slash my rent in half, find something cheaper because my credit score is now trash. I don’t even know if I’d be approved to live anywhere else, but that’s a whole other story. But to answer your question, quite some time, I can’t even tell you, I think I have like 14 plus loans.

The biggest, success for me recently over the past three years is wrangling the federal.

And now I am hell bent on wrangling the private and I no longer accept that I should just sit here while these agencies report negatively on my credit and I can’t even access or communicate with anyone to find something that works with my budget. And so I’m going to be speaking with these attorneys that have been nice enough to help me so far, in trying to figure out some strategy, you know, with this class action lawsuit, I might actually be able to get some of those

funds that I put down on that one loan where I put like, 10 K down.

And if I were to get that back, I’d honestly take that, try to negotiate with another private lender. Maybe give them those funds. I don’t know, but there has to be a way to move on from this point.

Nikki Nolan: That sounds like-

Shanna Bennett: Hell.

Nikki Nolan: Yeah, no, it’s, it’s, it’s like a new layer of hell. This whole entire thing is a rat’s nest on top of a rat’s nest on top of rat’s nest.

This is a good place to transition into, what has been the impact of student debt and your life? I know you talked a little bit about it, but like, let’s get, let’s get in there.

Shanna Bennett: It has been so major. I don’t even know where to start. I think the issue that kind of touches my heart and soul would be the fact that I’m unable to really be there for my family and support them and be a resource to them in the way that I would like to, you know, I’m, I’m the first-born grandchild.

And the. And in doing that, you kind of just take on like this motherly role of everybody around you. And I have a younger sister and my mom is now in her early sixties, and there’s things that I want to be able to do for them that I just can’t do. And there’s a lot of pride too. As an immigrant, being the first person to go to college and graduate in the US.

And everyone’s looking at you, like you are the example and you are the success. And you’re like, hey, I’m barely making it because I have this burden that I trying to get off my back quite literally. So that would be first and foremost. And then I think similar to your story, I find myself constantly making decisions based on the debt, you know, things that I can’t do or things that I’m telling myself I can’t do.

Or, and then there’s a shame also. I think I’m, I think a lot of us are now coming out of that, but still I carry so much shame from the decisions that I made. Especially, you know, undergrad. Grad school, I was more aware of the decisions I was making, but still.

So yeah, I would say the shame for sure.

Just not being able to support my family and even like romantic relationships. There’s something about telling someone, hey, like I have mortgage payments for this debt that I took out years ago, but I don’t have a house. How do you feel about that? Is a house something that you envision for your future because I’m not sure if we can do that together.

Like that kind of thing. And then of course, I’m 36 now and I’m looking at the prospect of, , starting a family. Is that something I want to do? And how does that work with loans? And I know there are people that are out there and they’re doing it, but I look at my finances and I’m like, how do I make this work?

I froze my eggs in last February. So now I have these eggs that are sitting there on ice as an option. If that’s something I choose to do. Right? But I think all of that is, is more, the reason why I’m really buckling down right now. And I’m fully aware that if a family, something I want or companionship or something I want, then, I’ve got to, actively work towards that at this point.

So Yeah.

Major impact. It sucks. No one likes it. I’m not happy about it.

Nikki Nolan: This is a good place to transition in to, I want to know your story.

Shanna Bennett: I have a pretty typical immigrant story, I believe. My mother came to the U S in the early nineties, quite literally with a hundred US dollars and a suitcase. And she came in hopes of a better economy, a better life. And it still floors me to this day that she came here by herself, left her family behind actually left her husband at the time behind.

She was like, well, that’s over, we’re moving on. And she came here. And she was here for about a year or so before I got here, establishing herself, getting a job there, figuring out school districts, all that. And then I came and, shortly after getting here, I realized that my priority and my focus was to be my education.

That was it. I think as an immigrant growing up, there’s a little bit of tug of war with these adults around you, who are from a different country, who are not familiar with growing up in the U S and so there’s things I wanted to do. And she’s like, why do you want to go to the mall and walk around?

And you don’t have any money. And I’m like, mom, it’s because that’s what kids our age do. And she’s like, no, you need to read a book and go finish your homework. And that’s what you’re going to do, that kind of a thing. And so, my education was my focus. Luckily I excelled, not to the stage of getting scholarships or anything, but in the early nineties, what we had instead was, gifted testing, a lot of gifted testing.

The, the Jamaican education system had me a couple grades ahead. So when I got here in first grade, they were like, well, she knows how to read and she’s doing second grade math , what do we do with her? And luckily my mother had the foresight to just say, just keep her where she’s at.

Like it all levels out in the end. And so that’s what she did. And I think, funny enough now the studies show that all that gifted testing that we did in the nineties. Yes, those kids might’ve been gifted, but instead it actually was the extra attention that they got that actually helped them to excel.

Hold the topic for a different time, but, focused on my education. Did really well, first grandkid, first to, have that trajectory to go to school. And so I did that and when I got there, I was very confused. I was so focused on getting there that when I got there, I kind of thought, okay, now what? I went to a state school.

I went to the University of Pittsburgh, loved my experience there. I wanted to go farther. I wanted to go to California and luckily again, my mother had the foresight to say, you just stay close to home. And so I was still in Pennsylvania, a couple of hours away. And so I thought I wanted to go into business again.

I didn’t always know what I wanted to do, but business intrigued me. Being a business woman intrigued me. Selling things, making things for profit, that intrigued me. The only thing was, I didn’t really know what that meant. And I was put in a living learning community for freshmen of all women and men who were focused on getting into Pitt’s business school or were in Pitt’s business school.

And so these are women that wanted to wear suits and work on resumes and practice interviewing. And I had no interest in that. And as an already anxious person, all of that made me incredibly anxious. And I just didn’t, I just couldn’t figure out where I fit. I would sit in a microeconomics class and just hear gibberish.

And so I think about sophomore year is when my counselor goes, so, what do you want to major in? And I’m like, I have no idea. I don’t know. You have one of those mini meltdowns, cause you’re like, I have no idea, you know, I should know, but I don’t know. And so he looks at me and he’s like, okay, well you’re excelling in Spanish and you’re excelling in psychology.

Why don’t you do that? Now, keep in mind up until that point, because I, was confused, I was taking intro to volleyball. I’m taking, you know, party dance because I’m trying to not be overly anxious, but I can’t figure out where I fit. And in fact, I took a bunch of AP courses a senior year and I think I was in like an accelerated Spanish class and at my school at the time, Spanish was like taken very seriously and I didn’t test out of college Intro to Spanish, but I knew that because just test-taking also, for me, it was just never because actually like standardized tests similar to you. I know. Just forget it.

Nikki Nolan: Literally cannot take a standardized test. The only time I got an A in college in one class, I actually got an, A plus in one college. And it was because the professor gave me the test untimed and she orally read me the test.

Shanna Bennett: I remember-

Nikki Nolan: And that was the only, literally the only time I ever excelled. And it was because I need to hear.

In the, in like the only time, it was the all other tests were given to me orally by someone who didn’t know the subject matter. But like when the teacher gave it to me orally, she was asking the question and then I could recall back to the lecture because it was in the same voice.

Shanna Bennett: Right? Oh, that’s so me.

Nikki Nolan: But it’s so ridiculous because like, they basically do this and then they tell you to go over here and do Y and the things don’t make sense.

And like standardized tests are so terrible. Now you can opt kids out of standardized. Parents can opt their kids out. They couldn’t do that in the nineties. I just like would just fill in bubbles and make shapes. And they’d be like, oh my God, she’s never going to go. Like, oh, I failed. I failed out of middle school and I have said this, but I don’t think I’ve ever said it on the show.

I think it is straight up fucking privilege that I didn’t get like, held back completely that my mom was like, no, she’s going to the next grade. She’s going to high school. She’s going to go to college. They were like, no, she’s not, no, she’s not. My mom is like, yes she is. If I didn’t have that and I didn’t have, like, I also think, yeah.

I just think that it was like straight up privilege that I like made it through, like, like pre-college education, like that’s-

Shanna Bennett: I agree. And I think too, you said that, cause I was listening to your intro episode, you’d said to find a place that supports you. And your learning style. That’s important. I know when I got to Pitt, I didn’t know what I was doing and I really wasn’t doing well. And they actually put me in a class that was basically like how to college basically.

And I remember sitting there thinking, I don’t know if I need to be here, but you guys think I need to be here. So I’ll be here and I’m looking back. I, it might’ve actually helped with my anxiety. It was like you know how to schedule out time to do your homework? How do you know what I mean? That kind of thing, which I think might’ve been necessary.

I’m definitely someone that could have benefited from a gap year.

Just to kind of work through some of that confusion and some of that anxiety and all that.

So I get there, Spanish. Okay. I decide I’m going to hang out in this intro Spanish class because I was already so stressed with everything else.

But my Spanish teacher calls me out and after me doing a couple of assignments, she goes, should I be here? Like, you know, too much to be here? And I’m thinking, no, this is supposed to be my refuge. Like, this is where I can just relax. And so she, recommends me for a higher class and like that kind of kept happening with Spanish.

So I say all that to say, when I’m sitting down with this counselor asking him, I don’t know what I should major in. And he says Spanish and psychology, I go, sure. Why not? And that’s what I ended up majoring in. But then college comes to an end 2007, and I know the loans are out there. I again, consider myself a late bloomer when it comes to personal finance and all things adulting.

So I know the loans exist. I don’t know much about them. But I know I’m going to have to reckon with them once I graduate. So I’m like, well, to be a Spanish teacher, am I going to teach psychology? I’m thinking, no. Okay. How about we find the most money that we can make, something in psychology. We go to grad school, we get out, we pay out loans in like a year or two, that’s the new plan.

So I think I go to the psych department and there’s this list of majors for grad school. And there’s this major called industrial organizational psychology. And it has like a six figure income. It’s the highest out of all the psych things you can do. And I’m like, that’s what I’m going to do. I-

Nikki Nolan: Yes.

Shanna Bennett: I applied to like one grad school locally.

I have to take the GRE. So here I am back with another standardized test and I’m like, this is going to be a joke. I break out in like rashes, just from the anxiety of like studying for this thing. I can barely keep my breakfast down and as I’m taking it, don’t ask me how I got into this exclusive program. But I did, prayer works, meditation, like whatever you have to do at work, I get in.

And that was probably the first time in my life that I was more conscious of the loan process. I was signing paperwork myself. I had a better idea of what was happening. And I think because of that, I took those classes very seriously. And I excelled, like I killed graduate school. Don’t ask me how, but like very high, like 3.7, 3.8 GPA, like did really well and enjoyed it.

What’s the but, the but is-

Nikki Nolan: A lot debt.

Shanna Bennett: The but is that when I graduated, we were still in the recession and here I am with this lofty master’s degree in IO psychology and organizational development, all these things, and no one wanted to pay me for it. And, that program had an internship and I interned with a management consulting company in Philadelphia.

And towards the end of my time there, they offered me a full-time job and it wasn’t a good fit for me, similar to you. I’m going to use the word use in your intro. So just in the environment, we just weren’t, we just weren’t vibing. And I know that older generations, when they hear us say things like that, they’re like, it’s a job.

We don’t know what you’re talking. Just, it just do your job. But that, that is essential. When you’re in an environment that, you know, you might not share the same values or, you know, for many different reasons, it might not work for you. It affects your work and it affects your happiness and that’s important.

They were very gracious to offer me a full-time job. I walked away from it and walk into a recession where nobody would hire me. And I felt like a fool. And again, an already anxious person. And I just kept thinking, what are you going to do now? And I thought, no, your anxiety is not going to get in the way of this.

You are going to, if you don’t want to drive down to the city of Philadelphia every day or commute on the train, if that’s stressing you out, then find something locally. So I found something locally. I worked with a, a health literacy consultant who was killing it. I mean, she worked out of her home, but she was taking on government contracts and pharmaceutical companies and they’d come to her and she would break down this insurance lingo or medical lingo into easy to comprehend language for people that had literacy issues or were from socioeconomic groups that the pharmaceutical company couldn’t reach them.

You know, how do you communicate to inner city, black women about early childhood development when you’re talking about terms that nobody knows, you know what I mean? That kind of thing. It was incredibly fulfilling. I worked as her office manager. I loved it. We, created a lifelong friendship. I consider her a best friend and a mentor.

I was getting paid pennies, essentially. I was making pennies, but it was fulfilling work. And it’s just another example of, of your loans kind of making it difficult to enjoy fulfilling work that you’re just not getting paid enough for. But long story short, I ended up because I was online dating at the time I met somebody, he lived in Ohio, moved out here, got married.

I was still able to work remotely for her. But somewhere there after getting married, I’m like, all right, well, I need to bring in more money now we’ve got to like pay these loans. So all this time I’m preparing, I’m deferring. Interest is building. The loans are getting bigger. And when I got to Ohio, it was hard for me to find a job.

I think it was because my experience was from out of state. And I see that now in HR, I, I see resumes and I’m like, wait, what state are you in? What is your goal here? What’s the end game. And so I applied to, at some point, I’ll go back and actually look at how many jobs I applied to, but it was unreal. So in the meantime, I’m working for this health literacy consultant.

I’m working at a sandwich shop. I at one point did, customer service for a major, provider of internet and cable. I did that from home for awhile. Just anything that like boost my income and then somewhere in there, my in-laws at the time said, hey, there’s a position open in the village, our local village government, you should go interview for it.

And I thought, okay. So I go down and interview for it. The mayor, there was this like very like witty, worldly man. And again, we’re in the middle of the country somewhere. And he was like, you know what? You got the job and I’m like me? Me and this predominantly like white, a country town and it was awesome.

Again, very fulfilling work. I was becoming, like ingratiated with the community. I was more familiar with the village goals and how they wanted to support their community and their citizens and, and fundraising. And I got to know the neighbors and which neighbors were upset with each other. And what lawns, you know, were causing trouble like that.

And I loved it. Oh gosh, I loved it. Still getting paid pennies as the clerk for a local village doing payroll and all that. The building was haunted, which was also incredibly freaky and also like added this like layer to the whole experience. And so, I get a call. I got a call from a recruiter that I touched base with months before.

And she goes, hey, I got a job for you. And I’m like, okay, that’s great. But I’m actually very happy where I’m at right now. And she was like, yeah, but like, you’re not getting paid anything. So you’ve got to like make more money, right? And I’m like, okay, okay. And she’s like, why don’t you just check it out, just go down there and check it out.

See if you like it, go down there had a great interview, came back and she goes, what do you think? And I’m like, I like it, but I’m actually, I am very happy where I’m at. And she goes, okay, well what, like, what are you what’s holding you back? And for some reason, she turns into like my career counselor. And every, every reason I gave her for not wanting to do this, she gave me a solid solution or answer something back.

And so I took the job. And in the end, I think I’ve been there now for going on six years in July.

Nikki Nolan: Wow. Congrats.

Shanna Bennett: Thank you. So I’m an HR manager for a group of manufacturing companies. I do everything from payroll to benefits administration, to personnel issues and hiring, recruiting.

You name it, a Jack of all trades. It’s awesome. Also very fulfilling. But you can kind of see there where I am making decisions based on the debt instead of following my heart or falling my, my, my, my interests, you know, and so that’s how I’ve gotten to this place. Yeah, I think I’ve answered that question.

I do want to add though that I’m in a place where I did start a company also, on the side as an experiment, a social experiment and also a passion project called Student Debt Brand. Because I think there should exist a company that pays off people’s debt.

It just doesn’t exist. There are tons of companies that well, it does in different spaces. There are companies that will help you refinance and consolidate and will help you to financially plan. But it’s beautiful to see more companies that are like, hey, you know what? The system is no longer working.

We want to actually help you pay down this debt. And quick story, I got the idea from a Newman’s Own spaghetti sauce jar. I’m obsessed with, Newman’s Own spaghetti sauce. If I think there’s like a, it’s like a basil and something, I can’t think of it now, but through like end of college, I make a really nice meat sauce with it.

Just really quick, easy cheap meal. And over time I realized they give a hundred percent of their after tax profits away to charity. I think it’s since the early eighties, I think they’ve given over $550 million to various charities that Paul Newman cared about. So I’m like, well, why not? Let’s do that for student loan debt.

Why not? And is it possible that people will care enough about other people’s debt to purchase a product, knowing that a hundred percent of those after tax profits will go towards paying off somebody else’s debt? I think that’s really interesting.

And I want to explore that. And so that’s why I started that the, the company out of frustration, basically.

But if you ever study like microloans, they always say that when you give a loan to a woman, she ends up turning around and supporting an entire community just from studies show.

But sometimes if you’re doing that to a man, the affects of that aren’t felt as globally sometimes. So sometimes they’ll focus these microloans on women. So interesting.

Nikki Nolan: That is super well, I mean, I don’t, I haven’t read this, this study, but like that, I feel like it makes sense. I feel like women are really like relationship oriented and, communal oriented and stuff like that. And I don’t know if it’s a natural thing or a societal thing, or like, like, what is it that manufactured women to not all women, not all women, but hashtag not all women, but…

Shanna Bennett: just the worst. I’m so glad that we’ve been able to like blow that whole thing. Like what? Not all men. Yes. All men.

Nikki Nolan: Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yes. Oh my gosh. I mean, until any of all this stuff happened, there’s just like, I have learned so much during this pandemic.

Shanna Bennett: I know what you mean, even to kind of take it back as student loans, it’s so refreshing to be able to have these conversations because I think I was, and a lot of people were ashamed to have these conversations or afraid to have these conversations and now it’s all in the open. So now we can actually talk about the decisions we made in the nineties that, that are affecting us now.

And we can talk about it without shame. And, they’re, they’re like terms, like predatory lending and how oppressive the system is that we can actually tie to like how we were feeling for years now. You’re feeling things and you know, when something’s not right, but there’s no word around it or figuring out how to express it, it’s just, it’s been a really good year for that for a lot of different issues.

Nikki Nolan: I feel like it’s with this movement of like, student loan cancellation, again, we use cancellation not forgiveness cause we don’t need to be forgiven. We absolutely do not be, need to be forgiven on high. We did nothing wrong.

Shanna Bennett: We did nothing wrong.

Nikki Nolan: To get education. It is the system that has failed us.

Is there anything that I haven’t covered? Like did we get to the end of your story?

Shanna Bennett: I think so. I told you I’m a rambler.

Nikki Nolan: You’re not a rambler. You are doing fantastic. You are not a rambler. I, I’m very talky too.

Shanna Bennett: That’s awesome.

Nikki Nolan: I just enjoy meeting new people and it’s, it’s like so exciting to like learn people’s stories.

Shanna Bennett: I mean, we could really talk about this for a very long time. There’s, there’s so many, factors and layers and so many different stories now that I’m learning so many different stories.

And one that has emerged to me is fascinating, is this first-generation story, whether it be an immigrant or just first generation to go to school. I mean, these are groups of people that are not familiar with the process. and so looking back, my mother tried to navigate it the best that she could, and advise me in the best way that she could.

But I think we got to the end of my story. I’ll say this though, regarding Student Debt Brand, I’m looking for, just quality, eco-friendly brands. Just because I think at this point in 2021 to not be doing anything for the environment is just worthy of reassessment. I would say, I say, you know, no, one’s perfect.

I think we all need to be doing little things each day, just to change how we’re living or we really won’t have a planet left. Have you seen that clock? That’s like counting down against like the point of no return?

Nikki Nolan: Oh, in New York. Yes. Yeah. Square. Yeah.

Shanna Bennett: That’s like a real thing.

Nikki Nolan: Why is it so hard for humans to do the right thing?

Shanna Bennett: I don’t know, you didn’t see the beginning of it pandemic when we were all locked down, how like nature started flourishing and the skies were clearer and the waters were clearer. I thought, oh my gosh, okay, we just keep doing this, maybe we’ll make it. But, but I think for me the ideal, yeah, the ideal company would be the one that is supporting the environment and also paying off student loan debt.

And I think if I’m the one to do it, then I’m happy to do it. I think that debt can make us, kind of self-focused it’s like, how can I help you when I’m trying to not drown over here? And I think that’s one of the side effects that we don’t often talk about that I think affects us as a society. We talk about how our brightest, most educated minds are burdened and you know, what, what innovation and what, you know, entrepreneurship could come from people not being so burdened by the debt. And then my last thing that I’ll add, Paul Newman of Newman’s Own, he has a book that he released. I forget when he released it, but it’s called Shameless Exploitation in Pursuit of the Common Good. And it’s a saying that I love because essentially what he’s referencing here is using his celebrity for good. He wanted to use his celebrity to bring in monies by selling his salad dressing at the time, which is all it was at that time, to then be able to give that money away to charity.

And it’s a similar concept and structure that I’d like to have with Student Debt Brand. If I being my introvert itself, have to be the person to get in front of a camera and do a silly dance and make a joke, just to call attention to the fact that the system is broken. We’re leaving people behind. We’re leaving black people.

We’re leaving black, black, and brown people, we’re leaving women behind. And it’s not okay. Then I’ll do it. If I have to be the person to get up at 4:00 AM and work on this page and work on it after work, then I’ll do it. Cause one of us has to step out of line to kind of try to make a change. And a lot of us are doing that and it’s beautiful with all these different companies that are sprouting up and organizations, and it’s beautiful. And I hope that the existence of these things help to show the government and people around us. We wouldn’t exist. If there wasn’t a problem to solve, we’re not just making this up. This is actually exists.

We’re, struggling under a very oppressive system that needs to be wholly restructured, and hope that we get there. I hope major changes happen this year.

Nikki Nolan: I am praying. And as if this podcast doesn’t exist anymore, I would love that. I made this podcast cause it, it needs to exist.

Shanna Bennett: Right, right!

Nikki Nolan: Like, like, and if that need goes away, I’d be totally fine with that. It’s totally okay.

Shanna Bennett: Yeah. We’ll happily move on to other things in the meantime. Yeah. Like this is about, and like you said, if we can, if I can pay off one person’s debt, or at least help them pay off or put money towards their debt. That’d be great. It’s kind of a goal for this year, but I’m not really putting it out there because I’m still learning so much about Instagram and how this process works and teaching myself.

Nikki Nolan: I love your stories. Your stories are so, so much fun and, and, and, and you’ll pitch what it is at the end, and I’ll put it in all the stuff, but like, you are fun!

Shanna Bennett: Sure.

Nikki Nolan: Like you are just, it’s a really enjoyable.

Shanna Bennett: Just know that all comes from a place of frustration and anger.

Nikki Nolan: So what advice would you after this really long journey, what advice would you give to your younger self? Knowing what you know now.

Shanna Bennett: I would say, slow down. I think I would say slow down and go by your own, your own pace. My sister took a year, a gap year and then went to the school of her choice, despite, some other members of the family saying you want to go there? Huh? Why? You know, and kind of just marched to the beat of her own drum. And I think I would’ve preferred if I could have to go back, I would do something similar. I would take my time. I think I would’ve worked while I was in school. Now I did work while I was in school. But at the same time, I was in a long distance relationship.

So those little paychecks are going to like flights back and forth. But I think I really would have got a job and like took some credits here and there and then just graduated whenever I graduated. I would not in any way, take back my undergrad or graduate school education. I, I enjoyed, I learned a lot about myself.

But, but yeah, I think I would have just tried to find ways to avoid the debt. I think I would have explored scholarships and grants a little bit more. I really didn’t do that. I would have avoided private loans for sure. You know the company I mentioned that is now bankrupt, like they kind of popped up out of nowhere.

I remember hearing about them on the radio and maybe like seeing a TV commercial, and I called them up and like got $20,000 just like that. And yeah, I needed the money at the time, but I think I would have found some different ways. And now, there there’s so many different ways of going about it. So yeah, I would have slowed down and tried to tap into some other options for money.

Nikki Nolan: We’re coming to the end. Is there anything you want to pitch?

Shanna Bennett: Yes, Student Debt Brand! Yes. We exist to help folks to pay off their student loans faster. It’s a need. I think the goal is to get to a place in life where we can start living, living beyond our debt, living without our debt. You know, our generation we’re being told is a little bit slower to purchase homes and get married and how children. We’re we’re doing these things, just not at the rate of the generations before us.

And one of those reasons would be student loan debt. And so we just need to be free of it.

There folks I know out there that could be entrepreneurs and could be, solving some of our, our society’s issues, but maybe they’re so concerned about there are three or four side hustles in addition to their nine to five and we’re not freeing them up so that it can have these thoughts.

So, that’s why we exist. We exist out of, my frustration with the student loan process and knowing my own feelings of shame and burden from the process and just wanting to help other people. So that is what I will pitch.

Nikki Nolan: Thank you so much for being here today. This was so much fun.

Shanna Bennett: Thank you for having me. I’ve enjoyed it. I’ve learned so much.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe

Listen on