Today we’d like to introduce you to Darla Bishop.
Hi Darla, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I’ve been thinking about money, opportunity, and what families need to thrive for most of my life, long before I knew it would become my work.
I grew up in Detroit in a family where money was often tight. I experienced housing instability and food insecurity, and I saw early how financial circumstances could affect nearly every part of a family’s life: health, education, stress, relationships, and the choices available to you. Those experiences eventually led me to public health. I earned my Master of Public Health from the University of Michigan and later my Doctor of Public Health in Health Policy from George Washington University, and I’ve spent more than 15 years working in healthcare and public health.
Somewhere along the way, I realized that we often treat financial problems as though they begin and end with a budget. My public health brain saw something different. Money affects our health and wellbeing, and our experiences, environments, and access to resources affect how we learn to manage money. Financial wellness is a public health issue.
That idea eventually became Finansis, my financial education company, and my first book, How to Afford Everything. I wanted to make financial education feel practical, approachable, and rooted in real life, especially for people who may not have grown up learning how money works.
Motherhood made me ask an even earlier question: What if we didn’t wait until adulthood to start these conversations?
That question led me to write Madeline’s Money Adventure, inspired by my daughter Madeline, and to create Piggy Bank Pathways, an early financial capability program for children ages 4–10, their caregivers, and educators. We use storytelling, books, hands-on learning, and family engagement to help children develop healthy money habits while giving the adults in their lives tools to keep those conversations going at home.
What began as an idea has grown significantly. My self-published books have now sold or been distributed through direct and institutional channels in the tens of thousands. Piggy Bank Pathways has worked with schools, community organizations, and financial institutions, and Madeline and our financial education work were featured by PBS KIDS’ America’s Awesome Kids. I’ve also been fortunate to win national and regional pitch competitions that have helped us continue growing the work.
And now we’re beginning a new chapter.
My husband serves in the U.S. Army, and in August 2026 our family’s latest military move brought us from Michigan to Arlington, Virginia. I’m now establishing Finansis and Piggy Bank Pathways in Northern Virginia and the greater Washington, DC metropolitan area, while continuing the relationships and work we’ve built elsewhere.
I’m especially excited to connect with libraries, schools, community organizations, employers, and financial institutions throughout Northern Virginia and Washington, DC that want to help families start money conversations earlier. I’m also continuing my work as a speaker and media source on family finances, financial wellness, kids and money, and the connection between money and health.
In many ways, the location is new, but the mission hasn’t changed: I want families to have better money conversations earlier, so children don’t have to spend adulthood unlearning what no one taught them.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
It definitely hasn’t been a smooth road. One of the biggest challenges has been learning how to build a business while already having a very full life.
I didn’t leave my career and suddenly have unlimited time to become an entrepreneur. I built Finansis while working full time in healthcare, raising two children, supporting my husband’s military career, writing books, speaking, and learning an entirely new set of skills that had nothing to do with my public health training. I had to learn publishing, marketing, sales, pricing, contracts, fulfillment, intellectual property, and how to actually turn a good idea into a sustainable business.
There were also periods when the business was growing faster than my systems. That sounds like a good problem to have, until you realize that every new opportunity creates more work behind the scenes. I’ve had to learn that growth isn’t just about getting more customers. It’s about building the infrastructure, team, processes, and boundaries that allow you to serve them well.
Being a military spouse adds another layer. You can spend years building relationships in one community and then receive orders telling you it’s time to start over somewhere else. Our 2026 move from Michigan to Arlington, Virginia meant relocating our family while also figuring out how to maintain the momentum I had built in Michigan and establish new relationships across Northern Virginia and Washington, DC.
But that move has also forced me to think bigger. I don’t want to build a business that only works because I personally know everyone in one city. I want to build programs, partnerships, and intellectual property that can travel.
I’ve also learned that entrepreneurship requires being willing to change your mind. Some ideas I was convinced would work didn’t. Some opportunities I almost overlooked became incredibly important. Piggy Bank Pathways itself has evolved as I’ve listened to parents, educators, schools, community organizations, and financial institutions and learned where we can create the most value.
Probably the biggest lesson has been that resilience in business isn’t just about pushing harder. Sometimes it means changing the model, asking for help, building better systems, or deciding that an opportunity no longer fits where you’re going.
I’m still learning that. But I’m proud that what started as something I was building around the edges of my life has become a real business with growing institutional partnerships, thousands of books reaching families, and an opportunity to build an entirely new chapter here in the Washington, DC region.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Finansis LLC | Piggy Bank Pathways?
Finansis is a financial education company built around a simple belief: knowing what to do with money and being able to do it in real life are two very different things.
I’m Dr. Darla Bishop, a public-health-trained financial educator, author, and speaker, and I founded Finansis to help close that gap. Our work sits at the intersection of financial wellness, behavior, and public health. Instead of simply telling people to budget better, save more, or spend less, we help people understand the experiences, environments, emotions, relationships, and systems that shape their financial decisions and give them practical tools they can actually use.
For adults and organizations, that work includes keynote speaking, workshops, financial wellness education, and my book How to Afford Everything. I speak on topics including financial wellness, the connection between money and health, financial decision-making, and how people can use their money, time, and relationships more intentionally. I also regularly serve as a media expert on family finances, consumer issues, and financial wellness.
One of the parts of the company I’m most proud of is Piggy Bank Pathways, our early financial capability program for children ages 4–10, their caregivers, and educators.
Most financial education begins after people are already making consequential financial decisions. Piggy Bank Pathways asks a different question: What if we started earlier?
Through children’s books, hands-on activities, family engagement, educator resources, and programming for schools, libraries, financial institutions, and community organizations, we help children understand concepts like earning, saving, spending, and giving while helping the adults around them continue those conversations at home.
What sets Piggy Bank Pathways apart is that we don’t view financial literacy as simply transferring information from an adult to a child. Children are already observing money. They hear adults talk about what things cost, notice when someone says something is “too expensive,” watch how families make choices, and begin forming their own beliefs about money remarkably early. Our goal is to help families and educators turn those everyday moments into healthy, age-appropriate money conversations.
Storytelling is a big part of how we do that. Madeline’s Money Adventure, inspired by my daughter, gives young children a character they can see themselves in while introducing financial concepts through decisions that make sense in a child’s world. That work eventually led to Madeline and our family’s financial education work being featured by PBS KIDS as part of America’s Awesome Kids, which remains one of my proudest moments.
I’m also proud that we’ve proven these ideas can move beyond individual book sales. Our books have now reached families in the tens of thousands through direct sales and institutional distribution, and we’ve worked with schools, community organizations, and financial institutions to think about how early financial education can reach families at scale.
Now that Finansis is based in Arlington, Virginia, I’m especially excited about building that next chapter across Northern Virginia and the Washington, DC metropolitan area. I’m looking forward to collaborating with schools, libraries, employers, community organizations, banks and credit unions that care about financial wellness and want to help people build healthier relationships with money, whether we’re starting that conversation with a seven-year-old or an adult who wishes someone had started it with them decades ago.
Ultimately, that’s what connects everything we do: helping people have better money conversations earlier, and giving them practical tools to make money work for the lives they actually want to live.
Before we go, is there anything else you can share with us?
One thing I’d add is that I’m genuinely excited to become part of the community here.
Military moves are interesting because you arrive in a new place knowing very few people, but you also get the opportunity to build new relationships and discover how your work can serve a new community. Our family recently made Arlington, Virginia home, and I’m looking forward to getting to know the people and organizations doing meaningful work throughout Northern Virginia and the greater Washington, DC region.
With Piggy Bank Pathways, I’m particularly interested in connecting with elementary schools, libraries, family-serving organizations, and community partners that want to help children and caregivers start healthy money conversations earlier. I’m also interested in working with banks, credit unions, foundations, and corporate partners that want to sponsor or expand access to financial education in the communities they serve.
My bigger vision is to make early financial capability something families don’t have to go searching for. I want children to encounter healthy money conversations in the places they already are: their classrooms, libraries, after-school programs, community events, and homes. And I want the adults around them to feel equipped to keep those conversations going.
Beyond Piggy Bank Pathways, I continue to speak with companies, associations, universities, and community organizations about financial wellness, money and health, and making better use of the resources we have. I’m also always happy to connect with journalists and producers looking for an experienced source on family finances, kids and money, financial wellness, or consumer issues.
So if you’re reading this somewhere in Arlington, Northern Virginia, Washington, DC, Maryland, or elsewhere in the region and thinking, “We should know each other,” I hope you’ll reach out. Some of the best things I’ve built started with exactly that kind of conversation.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://darlabishop.com
- Instagram: Https://www.instagram.com/my_finansis/
- LinkedIn: Https://www.linkedin.com/in/darlabishop
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@my_finansis
