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

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

“I had this notion that if I didn’t do this, who would,” Van Court said. “I had all these experiences and I felt this was my path.”

Goalsetter is a mobile banking, debit card and investment app focused on educating black and brown children and their families, college-bound young adults and women through fun games and quizzes. It uses pop culture references like GIFs, memes and celebrity partnerships to make learning about generational and personal wealth more entertaining.

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

“She took several children home with her at weekends. My oldest sister said, ‘Mom, we’ve got enough,'” Van Court joked. “It was really her way of filling gaps and building bridges for the people in our community and the kids at her school who she knew needed her the most.”

Unfortunately, Van Court’s mother died of a brain aneurysm when Van Court was only six years old. Her mother’s sister took her and her siblings in to raise, a decision that taught Van Court an important life lesson about sacrifice. During the summer, the aunt made the children write black history reports and attend science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) camps.