Empowering young people through financial literacy is a great passion for council-award winner Mia Sinosic-Cass
Mia Sinosic-Cass may be only 19, but her desire to empower young people has been recognised by North Sydney Council, through a ‘Next Generation’ award. The savvy North Sydney Girls graduate led a financial literacy club throughout high school, began tutoring other children at only 10 years old, and is still looking to the future and new opportunities to expand.
“I would describe it as an increasingly fuelled passion of mine for youth empowerment and advocacy,” Mia says. “My hope in doing this is that I can inspire a lifelong love of learning in people to take control of their own lives.
“Whether that is investing for the first time, or unlocking their true potential academically, or having a shift in their minds that propels them forward.”
Mia currently attends the University of Melbourne, where she is studying economics, but she grew up on the North Shore raised by her ‘badass’ single mother.
“Until I was 14, (Mum) was studying part-time while working multiple jobs day and night to provide for us, which instilled a very strong understanding of the value of money in me,” Mia explains. “As I got older, I was introduced to financial literacy and delved into personal finance, personal development. That was what inspired me to look into investing in my financial future for myself. But I also started a coaching business when I was 15. That is what led me to start my club.”
Another part of Mia’s community work involved her time at the 2RRR community radio station in Ryde, where she ran weekly segments about a variety of topics including pop culture, news, politics, philosophy and, in particular, ‘economics made simple with Mia.’
“My work at 2RRR was such an incredible experience because I’d never gone on the air before. I found that on the news a lot of charged language was being thrown around. Some people just genuinely think inflation is bad or they misconstrue it,” she says.
“On the show I was able to create an open dialogue where I could make economic concepts and understandings simple and accessible for people of all ages.”
Mia described receiving the reward as a welcome surprise, but gives credit to others in her life, including her mentors from 2RRR, and her school economics teacher, who helped her lead the club and brought forward her passion for economics, which she’s now studying.
She hopes winning the award will fuel her reach and impact as an advocate for young people; and emphasises the importance of knowledge, particularly for a stigmatised topic like money and finances. “It is so important that we have dialogue, because whether we like it or not, it is the reason that we have generational cycles of wealth,” Mia says.
“If this award increases my reach and people who receive my message on having access to that sort of understanding and knowledge, that is all that I could hope for.”
Although she is studying at university and ‘just trying to live in the moment and enjoy learning,’ Mia has big future plans. She urges people to follow her socials and blog for her next project. “All the work goes on behind the scenes before anything really gets to light but I am excited for stuff to come out.”
Visit Mia’s blog at miasinosiccass.com.au