Theresa Cornwell is passionate about helping teenagers and young professionals learn the “Keys” to becoming a millionaire. Having an engineering background, she never foresaw herself teaching personal finances. However, God had a different plan! Because she had a mentor talk to her about personal finances at her first engineering job out of college, she was able to build a credit score over 800, a savings account that would cover over 9 months of living expenses, had multiple successful investing accounts, and bought a duplex in Long Beach, CA to start off her real estate portfolio… All by the time she was 26! When she realized most people her age (and a decade, or two or three) older than her didn’t know how to build that kind of wealth, she began talking to them about it. She realized that I could make a huge difference in tons of lives by reaching high school students with this information BEFORE they get into student loan debt and credit card debt, and while they’re young enough to really take advantage of compound interest. She came to a point in her engineering career where she was having heart palpitations from the stress, so she had to be honest with herself – she had become an engineer to invent things that would help people and change the world. But after eight years in the industry, she realized she wasn’t accomplishing that goal. Theresa figured she might as well teach people the practical skills for financial success full time – it would make a bigger difference in people’s lives than her engineering work (and she figured starting her own business couldn’t possibly be more stressful than the situation she was already in)! Thus her company, The Millionaire Keys, was born – with an emphasis on reaching high school students and teaching them the Keys to becoming a Millionaire early in life. In fact, Theresa reached that $1M milestone by the time she was 31 years old, but always says that if she learned these strategies earlier then she would have achieved it even sooner! Today, The Millionaire Keys (often referred to as TMK) has evolved to teaching professionals via “lunch and learn” sessions at local businesses, and 1-on-1 Coaching for young professionals and students as well. The coaching makes a huge difference in their lives, which is what Theresa always wanted since the beginning of her career. Theresa also speaks at high school events and clubs, teaching teenagers how to start being smart with their money and get on track for financial success early in life!

Theresa was born and raised in Northern California, the only child of parents who were both hard workers in humble jobs. She was told her whole life to also work hard, to get good grades, get into a good college, and get a good job. And that’s exactly what she did. Theresa graduated high school with a 4.8 GPA, went on to graduate from the University of Southern California with her degree in electrical engineering and minor in music recording, and got a job straight after college for Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) working with the US Air Force to develop the next generation of GPS in aiding our war fighters. Her goal as an engineer was to create inventions that would help people and make a positive impact in the world, and she was well on her way now – or so she thought. She had accomplished everything that she was told to do. She worked hard. She got the grades. She got the elite college degree. And she got the good-paying job. But after 8 years working as an engineer, she realized she wasn’t accomplishing what her true goal was in the first place: to help people.