Meet the Team

“We’re failing our kids and our communities if we don’t have deeper conversations about finance and what makes this knowledge personal and powerful. Money management should not be a single course for a select few. Creating brave spaces for financial conversations necessitates a shift in our classrooms, communities, and country.” - Andrea Ferrero & Dyalekt, Teaching Finance as an Act of Social Justice, originally featured on Teach for America blog

Andrea Ferrero became an educator over a decade ago to be part of changing the world. Teaching on the Navajo and Hopi reservation where she grew up, Andrea saw how even the brightest students faltered when money moved from math class to practical application. Looking for tools to address issues of educational equity, Andrea stepped into the world of financial literacy and ed-tech.
She brings over a decade of experience in teaching and learning, curriculum and program development, and community capacity building together to design award winning educational programs and digital products. Andrea holds a teaching credential in PreK-12th grade multiple subjects and two Master’s in Educational Leadership and Curriculum & Instruction with Multicultural Contexts.
Leading Pockets Change, Andrea works with schools, organizations, and businesses to make finance fun through innovative educational approaches and meaningful ed-tech tools. She has served as a delegate to the World Innovation Summit in Qatar, the ASCD Supervision and Curriculum Development Delegation in China, the Multi-Age Learning Institute in New Zealand, and the Mozilla Open Leaders in England. Andrea is also a board member of the California Jump$tart Coalition.
She is always happy to share coffee and a conversation about changing the world through the development of financial capability.

Brian ‘Dyalekt’ Kushner moved from St. Croix to New York to study acting and law. He also liked to rap. After witnessing civil rights injustices at the law firm he worked for, he dropped both the job and the law classes, pursuing the arts instead. Performances at the Nuyorican led him to Hip Hop Theater, writing plays that have been performed on stages across the world. He didn’t sleep on the rapping either, releasing music and touring internationally. His first album/one man play Square Peg Syndrome helped him get named to the Public Theater’s Emerging Writer’s Group.
When Dyalekt was invited to present at a workshop for New York SCORES, a soccer and poetry program in Harlem and the Bronx, his perspective on performance changed. Students are much better audience members than bar patrons, and Dyalekt found he had a natural affinity for facilitation. Hip Hopping with students like he did with MCs in a cypher led to better engagement, grades, and overall attitude toward school than the usual class.
Dyalekt designed curricula that lined up the elements of Hip Hop with learning styles. Through Hip Hop, or rather, by Hip Hopping, students could assess their tendencies and use them to their benefit. Furthermore, the community aspects of Hip Hop show students how to be responsible citizens, peer mentors, and advocates for justice. Dyalekt brought this curriculum, along with his album/play back home to St. Croix, rocking with 17 orgs and over 400 students. They produced 2 books of poetry, an album, and a documentary.
He’s rocked (performed/taught/keynoted) everywhere from conferences like AFCPE and Prosperity Now, to stages like Bowery Ballroom and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, to classrooms at Yale, keynotes at Harvard, & the local barbershop. His latest jam is the Museum of Dead Words, an album/play/research presentation about words that turn conversations into fights, that was most recently presented to the Society for Linguistic Anthropology.
At Pockets Change he uses hip-hop pedagogy to demystify personal finance and help students take control of their relationship with money. He co-hosts the Get Shameless podcast, which discusses personal finance and racial economic inclusion, and was the poetry writer for NYC DOE’s WORD UP program, where he converted phonics lessons into rhymes.

Pamela Capalad is a Certified Financial Planner™ and Accredited Financial Counselor™ and has been in the financial services industry since 2008. Her mission is to help people who felt ashamed or embarrassed about money have a safe and friendly place to talk about it and make real financial progress. She founded and ran Brunch & Budget for 10 years and co-founded Get Shameless, Inc. to further her mission.

While doing deep research into the racial wealth divide and how it directly affected her clients of color, Pam and her husband, Dyalekt, created See Change, a financial liberation community for creators of color. They regularly teach workshop and speak on how art, culture, and media are used to perpetuate racial wealth inequality and how artists have the power to change the narrative.

Pam has been featured in the Washington Post, Teen Vogue, Huffington Post, Vice Magazine, and was named New York Magazine’s Best of New York 2019. She was named one of Investments News 40 Under 40 in 2016, Financial Advisor Magazine's Young Advisors to Watch in 2019, and received AFCPE's Financial Planning Center of the Year award in 2022. Pam is a Global Good Fund Fellow, class of 2022.

Danyell is the Founder & CEO of Maven Media Management. An affiliate of FMI, Maven Media Management takes pride in thinking outside the box. We strive to promote as well as expose clients far beyond obvious realms. Offering both national and regional press outreach, Maven Media Management will work to grow and expand your reach, ignite interest and educate the public as you ready new initiatives and exciting advancements for your brand. Our goal is to continually work to develop your story and help to elevate your brand and lifestyle.

Amari Mills leads Pockets Change community engagement strategies through social media management, collaborative content creation, and outreach e-newsletters. Currently a fourth-year journalism student, Amari is a member of the Ablaze Magazine team, and a former student ambassador for Niche, a college-readiness brand.

Our Board Members

From an early age, Irene was interested by the role money plays in people’s lives, which led her to study Finance and Entrepreneurship at the University of Utah. Shortly before graduating, she began her career in Impact Investing and Poverty Alleviation, where she discovered the transformative power of financial education and leadership development both locally and abroad.
After moving to Santa Barbara, Irene worked as an Investment Advisor while volunteering as a bilingual financial educator with Women’s Economic Ventures (WEV). Today, she serves as WEV’s Associate Director of Community Engagement, where she designs and facilitates collaborative programs that promote financial literacy and economic equity.
Beyond her work at WEV, Irene is a certified yoga teacher and cofounder of Cafecito a tu Salud, a Spanish-language wellness podcast. She is also a graduate of HOPE’s (Hispanas Organized for Political Equity) Leadership and Political Equity Program and teaches Entrepreneurship at UC Santa Barbara. In her free time, Irene enjoys being in nature and spending time with friends and family.

Dr. Monica Caffey is the Academic Program Director and Associate Professor of the Psychology Department at National University where she oversees the Master of Arts in Counseling program. She is also the Chair of the Behavioral Health Commission for San Bernardino County 4th District and Governor appointee for the California Behavioral Health Planning Council where she is the past Chair of Legislative Committee and Chair of the Housing and Homeless Committee. She is the creative director of the Teen Guide to Life Skills and Money Management Manuel, and Founder of the Women of Action, LLC. focusing on women and girls financially literacy training programs nationally.

Benjamin Cadranel believes funding challenges are rarely just about money—they're about building organizational resilience through systems that create sustainable revenue. As founder of Advocacy Chiefs, his multidisciplinary background as attorney, development executive, and former real estate COO gives him an unusual ability to see how legal, financial, and relationship strategies intersect. Rather than pursuing grants in isolation, Benjamin architects comprehensive funding strategies that reduce vulnerability to political or economic shifts by diversifying revenue streams and strengthening the partnerships that support long-term organizational health.
This approach has helped clients secure millions in funding from partners including the James Irvine Foundation, U.S. Department of Education, USDA, and the State of California—not just as one-time awards, but as components of broader revenue strategies. His work creates pathways for entrepreneurs, helps veterans transition into agricultural careers, ensures students with intellectual disabilities access meaningful career services, and expands financial literacy programs across underserved communities. He also serves as Board Chair of the Yolo County Library Foundation and Treasurer of Yolo CASA.
Fluent in French and bicultural from years living and working in France and Belgium, Benjamin brings a global perspective to local challenges. Based in Woodland, California with his wife Nancy, a librarian and sociologist, and their son Joachim, he remains deeply invested in the belief that strategic funding, done right, creates ripples that transform communities.

Performer, designer, writer, inclusion expert and founder of CALLING UP JUSTICE building and mananging the Digital Black Arts Movement House, CripCreate, Producing in Pandemic, We Charge Genocide TV, The Mosiac online network, and gathertown spaces. They design and support digital convenings and directed and produced digital and hybrid theater. Curator, access doula with metaverse and haptics and ai labs.They consult and advise companies like SF Disability Culture Center, National Theater Project, and Howlround digital commons, Unsettling Dramaturgy (crip and indigenous international digital colloquium), board of NET. Credits include NY Neofuturists, podcasts and livestreams and On Pleasure Activism with Disability Visibility Project + Integrated Community Services, and The Smithsonian Afrofuturism Series.