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Who Does Tori Dunlap Think She Is?

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If you haven’t heard of Tori Dunlap, you’re probably not seeking financial advice. If you are seeking financial advice, you can do a lot better than Tori Dunlap. 

Tori Dunlap is an entrepreneur who claims to have saved $100,000 by the age of 25. After achieving such astonishing success so early in life, she simply had to quit her corporate job so she could devote her energy to helping women learn their financial independence and unassumed dominance in our white cis male-run society. 

Her mission? To create the brand HerFirst100K and…

Idk man… seems kinda gimmicky. 

Disclaimer: I am a cis white male with no financial expertise to speak of criticizing a cis white female financial pundit. I have zero doubts that Dunlap could balance a checkbook better than I ever could. I am not here to offer any financial advice. Rather, I am criticizing Dunlap’s approach to fiscal responsibility and her overall authenticity. 

In short: We’re not buying it and neither should you. 

How Did She *Really* Get $100K by 25? 

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At 25, I was working as a barback in a local gay bar and on the cusp of starting my first professional writing job. I had maybe $600 to my name and very poor financial instincts – you could call me a ‘spendthrift.

My peers around the same age were all fairly financially inept or carefree. Sure, we would meet our responsibilities but we sure as hell weren’t saving – and not for lack of trying. We all worked incredibly hard, dirty, thankless jobs for very little money and could be fired on a whim. None of us would have been able to save up to $100K by 25. 

By 25, I had been working steady jobs for 10 years. Even if I didn’t spend a single cent over those 10 years I don’t think the number would have ever reached $100K. Pardon my doubts, but how is a 25-year-old, any 25-year-old, able to save up to $100,000 all by themselves? After some digging, it turns out she did it with a lot of discipline and a lot of luck. 

She graduated college with zero debt, landed a job in digital marketing with a salary of $55K/year, and put a disciplined percentage of her take-home into saving and an investment fund. These are all great, very privileged ways to save $100,000 in three years. 

I’m curious to know how a 22-year-old snagged an investment fund and knew which investments would pay off and how much they earned but… I digress. 

I don’t sneeze at this kind of discipline. Many people would benefit from a financial discipline such as that. I do sneeze a little by using this as a marketing tactic. While she qualifies this by admitting her privilege, she makes her achievement the main marketing point of Her First $100K. 

I did this and so can you!” the sentiment screams. Except most people can’t. And I think Ms. Dunlap knows that. 

Tori Dunlap Is Not Qualified To Give Anyone Financial Advice

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The only thing I trust Tori Dunlap to do is market and brand herself effectively. She’s cool, she’s hip, she can play along with the broader trends, she TikToks with the best of ‘em, and it all feels so desperately empty and deeply phony. 

I think Tori Dunlap has a keen eye for self-promotion that masquerades as “woke financial advice.” This would be fine if it wasn’t potentially f*cking with people’s money. There are people out there with some serious financial issues and concerns. If they trust Tori Dunlap, they could be misled because she doesn’t know what she’s talking about.

I don’t mean she doesn’t know how to assert her value and practice financial discipline. I mean she doesn’t have the financial authority to be profiting off the advice she gives. It’s like getting medical advice from a sickly friend – they’ve got experience but no expertise. 

TikTok Advice Isn’t Real Advice

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If you take a look at Dunlap’s TikTok, it looks pretty much like every other TikToker out there. On her page, the financial advice is few and far between. It appears that TikTok is the space where she promotes her brand, podcast, and book – with a whole lot of cookie-cutter trends you will find on any account. 

When you finally do get to her financial advice, it’s no different than if you were to ask your fiscally savvy friend. For example, “know your worth and advocate for it” is a great bit of advice, it’s one I tell my peers at work – but it’s not expertise. It’s a good ol’ fashioned, “you can do it!” Which is nice, but it’s not practically helpful. What you’re getting from Dunlap are educated tips from someone who is being nice to you. 

When you present yourself as an authority figure you have a responsibility that comes with it. Telling people you are the savior from the patriarchy if you pay for her course doesn’t exactly scream “hero.” 

There’s nothing wrong with providing a service and charging for it. There is, however, something really gross about masquerading as a feminist hero when you’re actually an unqualified financial nobody with no serious credentials to speak of. 

Tori Dunlap is not qualified to be giving financial advice to anyone. She says so on her site: 

LEGAL STUFF: I am not a licensed financial advisor. I offer education, not prescriptive advice. The information that is found here are my opinions and the opinions of other readers/contributors and should be taken as such.” 

Legal stuff.” Cute, so relatable. 

All of Dunlap’s success stories are social media posts, texts, and emails. Hardly a case study. 

Dunlap claims to be “leading a movement of financial feminists,” but a quick Google search on female financial advisors yields no results for Ms. Dunlap. What exactly is she leading? You cannot be a leader when you don’t show up on the first 12 pages of Google. 

Here’s What An Actual Financial Expert Says

We spoke to Danetha Doe, an economist with over 10 years of experience in the financial industry. She has worked as an accountant and a CFO. She also created Money & Mimosas, a financial education resource for ambitious folks. 

In short, Ms. Doe knows her sh*t.

We asked Ms. Doe about how the average person could save up to $100K by the age of 25. 

I don’t think it’s reasonable to believe the average person can save $100K by 25. 

“In order to do that, they would either need to be born into wealth, have zero student loans, work for a startup that goes public or gets acquired, or start a business that is financially successful. 

“All of those scenarios do not apply to the average person.

“The median salary for an individual is under $40,000. Therefore, the average person earns about $40,000. In order to reach $100K in savings on an average salary could take decades in the United States.

Ms. Doe has a lot of excellent financial advice without being patronizing or weaponizing oppression for profit. She has a professional and personal background that makes her an effective authority when it comes to fiscal responsibility.

My two grandmothers [are the financial experts I admire most]. 

“They came to the United States as immigrants and became real estate investors during a time when Black women were systematically shut out of wealth-building opportunities in this country. 

“Their lasting legacy guides my financial decisions.

If you want to learn finance tips from someone who can relate to or understand your experience fully, Danetha Doe is the way to go

Besides, who doesn’t love a mimosa? 

What In The Hell Is ‘Feminist Financial Advice?’

What is it about financial advice that needs to be tailored specifically for women? Let’s take a super casual and lazy glance at successful women, shall we? 

Suze Orman is a trusted financial authority and has been around for a minute

Madonna has built herself an entertainment empire by being unapologetically female

Rihanna became a billionaire through her music and some super-savvy business moves. 

Laverne Cox bulldozed expectations and helped establish a foundation for trans artists. 

Sheryl Sandburg is the most powerful woman in Big Tech – did you see what happened when she resigned from Meta?

There is no shortage of female financial advisors. What kind of niche does Dunlap think she’s tapping into? Dunlap says on her site

I watched female friends get paid less than they were worth. I read stories about women being denied career opportunities because they were seen as ‘less.’ 

“Male colleagues said sexist, negative comments to me at work. I learned that women hold the majority of debt in America and that they invest less of their money than men, yet live for seven years longer. 

“So I knew that I had to fight back.

Sure, Jan. 

Fighting Sexism By Leaning Into Sexism

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I don’t think anybody disagrees (save for a few members of the Republican Party) that women have a tougher go of it than men. To be honest, it’s a bit of a stretch to connect general sexism with financial education. I learned how to budget from my mother, a woman who has had to fight her own battles with sexism and misogyny as the only female partner at her law firm. 

Frankly, I think the assumption that women need help from an unlicensed non-expert in order to learn fiscal responsibility is teetering on sexism. At the very least, it’s grossly condescending and certainly inauthentic. 

If you’re in a position where you need financial advice, you want it from someone who is a serious advisor, not a trending influencer with no qualifications. With inflation at a 40-year high and an underpaid workforce fighting for its value, we cannot afford to take financial advice from someone clearly more interested in self-promotion and branding. 

Dunlap appears to be less focused on offering genuine financial advice and far more focused on hitting woke buzzwords in an effort to patronize marginalized communities for profit. If you want to find a female-focused financial authority, try Ellevest instead. 

Tori Dunlap’s Communications Lead declined to comment.

Chris Blondell is a Philadelphia-based writer and social media strategist with a current focus on tech industry news. He has written about startups and entrepreneurs based in Denver, Seattle, Chicago, New Haven, and more. He has also written content for a true-crime blog, Sword and Scale, and developed social media content for a local spice shop. An occasional comedian, Chris Blondell also spends his time writing humorous content and performing stand-up for local audiences.

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3 Comments

3 Comments

  1. Kat

    December 29, 2022 at 1:14 am

    You have not done enough research on Tori, her company, her podcast, or her investing platform. If you did, you would know that she never leads with, “If I can do it, so can you.” In fact, she admits that the information she shares is not going to be readily applicable to everyone’s life, depending on their circumstances. She constantly reiterates and validates that circumstances play a gigantic role in anyone’s financial state. She also owns up to not knowing everything and regularly calls in other experts, including the CEO of Ellevest, to speak on subjects with which she is less familiar. In her podcast, she is not afraid to learn with her audience. In her book, she interviews other financial experts to provide a wider scope of understanding than she, herself, can provide. Tori does what she does to provide not her just her knowledge but to guide her audience to other sources of information, resources, and tools. The goal is to amelliorate as many people’s lives as she can, not save everyone or to make it seem like everyone can save 100K at the age of 25. Most people cannot. She knows this. Her goal is to help people do the best they can with what they have, and she speaks to women/women-presenting individuals because we are typically left out of the conversation of personal finance. She does her best to bring the conversation TO us, instead of us having to seek it out. There are many women-owned companies working towards the same goal as she is. What’s unique about Tori is that, yes, she has blown up on social media. She happens to have that skill and background, but it does not negate her objective or the fact that she is successfully bringing attention to the importance and improvement of personal finance in the lives of women/women-presenting people. The fact that she is successful on social media is strategic, not discrediting, and doing so puts her company in front of younger adults, allowing it to be in a position to help people earlier in their lives, an advantage that is lost on other conventional personal financial experts.
    You said you learned about personal fincance from your mom. First, I would like to mention that you are lucky you had a parent that taught you about money. Many people do not get to learn from their parents for a multitude a reasons. Was your mother a sound financial advisor? I’m not trying to make the point that your mother was bad with money. I’m saying that at one point, she knew more than you and taught you what she knew. Tori is doing the same. In addition to doing the same, Tori has access to a network of qualified individuals who are helping her along the way. Does Tori make money off of her audience? Yes. She is providing a service and utilizing her skill set to improve lives, which has value. There is nothing wrong with being compensated accordingly, be it directly or indirectly. With that said, she also provides a substantial amount of resources, links, and advice for free on her website and in her podcast/podcast shownotes. In summary, Tori is doing great work. She has managed to run a successful business while remaining accessible, and I recommend her to anyone looking to learn about personal finance.

  2. Derek

    August 11, 2023 at 12:40 am

    Her parents are rich and sent her to University Of Portland, which costs $58,000+ a year in tuition ALONE.

    How is this not easy to understand? Rich white girl with no financial credibility marketing herself.

  3. Deckela

    August 26, 2023 at 4:27 am

    You sound jealous and patronizing. Who do you think YOU are?!

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Business

What’s the Best Graphic Design Service for Fast Turnaround

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Best Graphic Design Service for Fast Turnaround

TL;DR: Penji offers the fastest professional design turnarounds at 24-48 hours with unlimited revisions. Small business owners get agency quality without agency prices or timelines, keeping marketing moving fast.

The best graphic design service for fast turnaround is Penji, completing projects in 24-48 hours through an unlimited subscription model. Small businesses get dedicated designers, unlimited revisions, and consistent quality for $499+ monthly, much faster than traditional agencies or freelance platforms like Upwork.

What’s the Best Graphic Design Service for Fast Turnaround?

Your to-do list doesn’t shrink just because your designer is slow. Between running operations, managing staff, and actually making sales, waiting weeks for marketing materials creates problems you don’t have time to solve.

Penji delivers professional design work in 24-48 hours through an unlimited subscription model. You get dedicated designers, unlimited revisions, and predictable monthly costs starting at $499. No chasing freelancers, no agency red tape, just reliable design when you need it.

The Hidden Cost of Design Delays

Every day your promotion sits in a designer’s queue is potential revenue walking out the door. That seasonal sale you planned? The event driving traffic to your store? The website refresh that’s been “almost done” for months? Delays add up.

Most small business owners try one of three approaches: hire a local agency (expensive and slow), find freelancers on Upwork (inconsistent quality and availability), or use cheap services like Fiverr (you get what you pay for). None solve the real problem of getting quality work done quickly.

Why Penji Works for Growing Businesses

Penji operates on a simple premise: businesses need ongoing design support, not occasional big projects. Their platform lets you submit unlimited requests that get completed one at a time, with most initial concepts delivered within 24-48 hours.

The subscription model changes the economics completely. Instead of budgeting project by project and wondering if you can afford that next piece of marketing collateral, you pay one flat monthly rate. Submit as much work as you need without invoice anxiety.

Your dedicated design team learns your business over time. They understand your brand guidelines, know what your customers respond to, and remember your preferences. That familiarity makes every project after the first one faster because you’re not re-explaining your vision.

They handle everything: logos and branding, website design, social media graphics, print materials, email templates, presentations. Whatever your marketing needs, it’s covered under one subscription.

At $499 monthly for the basic plan, it costs less than hiring a part-time designer but gives you access to an entire creative team. For businesses that need design regularly but can’t justify a full-time hire, the math makes sense.

Upwork: Managing Freelancers Takes Time

Upwork connects you with thousands of freelancers globally. The selection looks great until you realize you’re now running a hiring process for every project. Reviewing portfolios, reading reviews, interviewing candidates, negotiating rates… it all takes time you don’t have.

Even after finding someone good, availability becomes your next problem. Quality freelancers stay busy, which means your urgent project competes with everyone else’s deadlines. You might wait days or weeks depending on their schedule.

Then there’s the management work. You’re handling contracts, milestone payments, file transfers, and communication across different time zones. Penji takes care of all that so you can focus on running your business.

Fiverr: False Economy

Fiverr advertises cheap design work, which sounds good when you’re watching every dollar. The reality disappoints more often than not. Decent designers charge $100+ per project and take 3-5 days minimum. Want revisions? That costs extra. Need something more than basic? Quality rarely matches the low prices.

When you add up revision fees and rush charges, Fiverr projects often cost as much as a month of Penji while delivering worse results. Paying a bit more upfront for reliable quality actually saves money by avoiding do-overs.

Making the Right Investment

Your marketing either drives growth or wastes money. Reliable, fast design support keeps your marketing running smoothly instead of stopping every time you need creative work.

Penji’s unlimited approach gives you the creative capacity of an in-house team at a fraction of the cost. Submit work when inspiration strikes, get results within 48 hours, keep your marketing calendar on track.

Test Drive Professional Design

See how much faster your marketing moves with reliable design support. Try Penji and stop letting design delays hold your business back.

Frequently Asked Questions

What happens if my designer is working on someone else’s project?

Your dedicated team manages their workload to keep the 24-48 hour turnaround. They’re assigned to you specifically, not juggling hundreds of other clients.

Can I pause my subscription during slow months?

Check with Penji about their current pause policies. Many businesses find they use it more than expected once they have it.

How do revisions work if I need them fast too?

Revisions follow the same 24-48 hour turnaround. Submit clear feedback and you’ll get updated versions within that timeframe.

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What’s the Best Graphic Design Service for Brochures & Flyers?

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TLDR: For speed and affordabilities Penji is the best scalable design service that matches agency-quality results. Alternative niche options can be Kimp, LogoCent, and Design Spinners.

Did you know that 79% of consumers respond to direct mail while only 45% of consumers respond to emails? In a digital world, physical brochures and flyers reign supreme. But such creations take a learned talent. When you need the Best Graphic Design Service for Brochures & Flyers, you need someone who can keep up with your marketing team.

Below is a comparative guide to the best in the Design as a service industry.

Penji

Penji: Graphic design services

Need some stunning brochures and flyers to create a beautiful vision? Penji is the artistic mind for you. Thousands of marketers and agencies trust Penji’s platform for unlimited print designs for a monthly flat fee.

Features:

  • Unlimited Brochures & Flyer Designs: As many as you want, whenever you want
  • Fast Turnaround: Your first draft brochure or flyer could be in your hands in as little as 24 hours.
  • Vetted Print Designers: The top 2% of talent across the globe are there to help you with your print requirements.
  • AI Platform: An AI can connect you with the most fitting designer for your campaign.

Benefits:

There’s no need to hire an agency and pay agency fees. Get creative without concern over results as Penji can scale for whatever you need, whether you need only one flyer for an event or an entire collection of marketing brochures.

Kimp

Graphic design services

For an unlimited graphic design service that fosters beautiful print opportunities, Kimp is the ultimate all in one experience. Their subscription service is perfectly suited for entrepreneurs and small businesses, making it easy to fold into a budget.

Features:

  • Dedicated Teams: You will be placed with a dedicated team to ensure your branding efforts remain consistent.
  • Video and Graphics: In addition to Kimp for prints, Kimp has a Kimp option for video for motion graphic needs along with branding efforts.
  • Source Files: You own all source files acquired through the process.

Benefits:

You don’t have to worry about your branding efforts being funneled through multiple freelancers – Kimp is an all-in-one solution for motion graphics and print assets like brochures for company cohesion without the stress of managing multiple freelancers.

LogoCent

Don’t let the name fool you; LogoCent makes more than just logos but high quality design pieces and more! If you’re looking for a pay-per-project option without monthly commitment, LogoCent is great for sporadic projects.

Features:

  • Custom Packages: Pricing that matches your necessary project.
  • Brand Identity: Logos and flyers that maintain cohesion between designs.
  • Communication: You’ll have a project manager and taskmaster on hand for full assistance.

Benefits:

You won’t have to create contracts with anyone else monthly, just pay per project with LogoCent when your business needs a one-off flyer for a specific event or an annual brochure type.

Design Spinners

Design spinners: Graphic design services

Design Spinners operates like a fancy ad agency without the price; they’re like a middleman between the personal touch of freelance sites and the upper scale of fancy agencies, and they specialize in brochures, flyers, and marketing pieces.

Features:

  • Specialty Offers: Pitch decks, trade show materials and more!
  • Pricing Levels: Basic flyer features to agency features at premium pricing levels are available.
  • Strategy Focused Design: Those creating your materials will approach your project through a strategic lens to help whatever material is created find success.

Benefits:

It’s more than just a design – whatever project you seek with Design Spinners will provide you with facilitated guidance and tiered levels of service depending on what you’re looking to get most out of it.

Credit for Cover Image: Ron Lach on Pexels

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What’s the Best Graphic Design Service for Infographics Today?

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Best Graphic Design Service for Infographics

Infographics are an effective tool for explaining complex ideas and making them easier to understand. Thus, many businesses use them in their content marketing efforts. If you need to incorporate this powerful tool into your business, here are the five best graphic design services for infographics:

Penji

Best Graphic Design Service for Infographics

For fast, high-quality infographics, Penji is your best bet. It offers unlimited graphic design services for fixed monthly fees. This allows you to get as many infographics, logos, social media graphics, web design, and custom illustrations as you need in a month. Unlimited revisions are also included, assuring you of the exact designs you want and need.

Visme

Best Graphic Design Service for Infographics

Now, for high-converting, engaging, and branded infographics, there’s Visme. It offers an AI-powered interactive platform where you can craft your own infographics from over 1,000 professionally designed templates. Its drag-and-drop tools let you publish your designs in minutes.

Kimp

Best Graphic Design Service for Infographics

Another unlimited graphic design platform, Kimp, can create infographics for your business for a flat fee. Its dedicated team of designers will learn your brand and style, allowing them to craft infographics and other designs that will align with your brand identity.

Canva

Best Graphic Design Service for Infographics

If you have an artistic eye, you will enjoy crafting your own infographics with Canva. It is a free platform where you can create infographics and many other design types using its templates. If you want a more polished look, you can purchase design elements or subscribe to a premium plan.

Flocksy

Best Graphic Design Service for Infographics

With the latest in design tools and an AI-powered platform, Flocksy is another graphic design service for infographics. It takes pride in delivering consistent, high-quality creative outputs aside from infographics. It offers a wide range of services, including video editing, web design, custom illustration, and even copywriting. Its simple, flat-rate pricing makes it a cost-effective design solution.

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