She's helping women break mental barriers about money — and invest in themselves

CBC Quebec is highlighting people from the province's Black communities who are giving back, inspiring others and helping to shape our future. These are the 2024 Black Changemakers.

It was 2020, the pandemic had brought the world to a stop and Tayssa Waldron felt completely stumped by a problem she did not see coming.

She had developed a kind of business matchmaking platform to connect women entrepreneurs with compatible and available funding in Canada.

It seemed simple enough. But there seemed to be a holdup during the final stage of the process: actually accepting the money.

"We thought, 'this is strange, why don't they want the money?" Waldron recalls. "What's happening? Is there a technical problem with the platform?"

Waldron and her team started interviewing users and discovered that the hiccup was not technical, but rather emotional. Her team couldn't believe it.

"We had built this platform. You want money? OK, here's the three best financial supports you can have. Just choose one and go," she explained.

During the interviews, Waldron said the women shared fears and concerns about accepting the funding, such as how taking on debt for their businesses made them feel like failures. Some also expressed hesitation about asking for large amounts, while others worried about how money could affect their family dynamics.

Armed with these new perspectives, Waldron knew she had to go deeper to offer the right kind of help. She created Déclic du fric, a book and digital space that helps women entrepreneurs make better financial decisions and understand how psychological factors can influence how they view money.

Waldron's path to her current calling may not have been straightforward, but it's one that she now recognizes is deeply rooted in her childhood.

She was born and raised in French Guiana — located on the northeast coast of South America — to a Brazilian mother and Dominican father.

When asked about her childhood, she fondly recalls the sunshine and being surrounded by warm communities and a rich blend of cultures. She also remembers being acutely aware of the economic disparities.

As the only French territory in South America, many immigrants flock to French Guiana. It was clear even in school that while her classmates all had access to the same public education, "[some] people had a lot of money, some had the minimum and others were very poor."

It was in those formative years that she says she was drawn to economic inclusion and environmental issues. Early on, she not only saw how important economics was, she realized it was a topic that was not discussed enough.