Brianna Franklin used to tell debt survival stories. Now she prevents the debt.

After her NGO funding dried up, she took a gap year and came back with HIRE vs Higher — curriculum teaching high schoolers to spot predatory lending before they get their first credit card.

We cover:

The biggest myth her students already believe: "Borrowing is just life." Because their families believe it. Because buy-now-pay-later marketing positions itself as the hero giving them what they "deserve."

The HIRE framework: Honor Your Skills, Identify Avenues, Research Monetization, Evaluate ROI. For kids who think four-year college is their only door — and lenders who want to keep it that way.

The Jenga exercise: 30 seconds to build for $100, with rigged missing pieces. The lesson? Predatory lending feels possible until you realize you never had all the facts.

Financial trauma at home: How hearing "we don't have enough" until you stop asking becomes a money script you act out at 25 without knowing where it came from.

Find Brianna at hirevshigher.com.

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