Analyst leaves high-paying Wall Street career to teach financial literacy to inner-city youth

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- Ashley Fox had a six-figure career on Wall Street managing millions of dollars for the wealthy.

She left it all behind to return to her native Philadelphia and teach inner city kids how they too can invest and build wealth.

"I realized that there's a disconnect between people who have a lot of money and the everyday person," said Fox.

Fox left her job and in 2013 founded Empify with the goal of letting lower income families in on the wealth building secrets of millionaires and billionaires that aren't taught in school.

For Fox, the key was to start with the youth before they make costly mistakes as adults.

"The only way to prevent those mistakes from happening is if you teach a child," said the Howard University graduate.

Fourth-grader Zianni Martell is already an investor. She's using the money she got from Empify to buy Apple stock.

"One of my financial goals is to invest in more stocks since now I'm invested in Apple and I want to make more money out of that," said Martell.

Empify is in demand with programs in place for children and adults at more than 50 schools and organizations around the country. There are also plans to expand in low performing schools.

For more information on saving and investment classes for adults, visit Empify.com.