Bank CEO Raises Kids, Still Shocked One Thought Credit Balance Means Allowance

KEY POINTS

•Teri Williams grew up in Indiantown, Florida, following her great-grandmother who owned multiple businesses in the segregated South.
•In the mid-1990s, Teri and her husband Kevin consolidated four banks to form OneUnited Bank, serving Black communities nationwide.
•Despite thorough financial teachings, one of Williams' children once mistakenly thought their credit card balance reflected available spending money.

Teri Williams, who runs OneUnited Bank with her husband Kevin after merging four Black-serving banks in Boston, LA, and Miami during the 1990s, has juggled banking and parenting two now-adult children aged 30 and 32. Despite Ma Honey—the great-grandmother who owned a juke joint, penny candy store, and barbecue spot in segregated Indiantown, Florida—laying a money-savvy foundation, Williams found herself shocked decades later when her child called confused about credit card 'balance,' thinking it meant free spending money instead of debt. Harvard Business School grad and Brown University scholar, Williams now preaches 'save, save, save,' yet still battles financial literacy confusion in her own household while aiming to make financial knowledge sexy (spoiler: still tough).