Kristen Carioti is the Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences at Mount Mary University, a private women’s college in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She earned her MS in Applied Economics from Marquette University and her PhD in Economics from the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee. Her research is in the areas of self-employment, gender economics, and financial literacy.

As a personal finance enthusiast, Kristen is particularly passionate about personal finance education. She sees her work as an extension of her university’s mission to educate women to transform the world. Kristen’s mission is to empower students with the skills and mindset to reach financial freedom, because it’s hard to transform the world when you’re living paycheck to paycheck.

Kristen lives in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, with her husband, Joey, and four children, Gus, Tula, Bernadette, and Maxine. When she’s not working, parenting, or managing her house-hold using a complex web of Excel spreadsheets, she likes to journal, color, go for walks, lift weights, and find reasons to use her label maker. No matter what she’s doing, you can always find  her  listening  to  podcasts  on  economics,  cooking,  parenting,  and,  of  course,  personal  finance.