‘Closing the Gap’ with Black fintech creator Tanya Van Court

By ARIAMA C. LONG AmNews Staff, Report for America Corps Member

Tanya Van Court is the entrepreneur and engineer behind Goalsetter, an app founded in 2016 and created to teach historically disadvantaged people to secure their financial freedom. It is one of the first Black-womanowned fintech and financial education apps in Apple’s app store.

“I had a notion that if I didn’t do this, then who would,” said Van Court. “I had all of these experiences and I felt like this was my path.” Goalsetter is a mobile banking, debit card, and investing app that focuses on educating Black and Brown kids and their families, college-bound young adults, and women through fun games and quizzes. It uses pop culture references like GIFs, memes, and partnerships with celebrities to make learning about generational and personal wealth more entertaining.

Van Court is originally from Oakland, California. Her mother was an elementary school teacher and a single mom of six children. She said that her mother was incredibly generous with her students.

“She would bring home more kids on the weekends. My oldest sister would say, ‘Mommy, we have enough,’” joked Van Court. “That was really her way of closing gaps and building bridges for the people in our community and the kids in her school who she knew needed her most.”

Unfortunately, Van Court’s mother died of a brain aneurysm when Van Court was just six years old. Her mother’s sister took in her and her siblings to raise, a decision that taught Van Court an important life lesson about sacrifice. During the summer, her aunt would make the kids write Black history reports and attend Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) camps.