About Consumer University

Meet Alicia Diefenbach, Founder

Alicia
Alicia Diefenbach

In 1986 Alicia Diefenbach was 16 years old, lived in Idaho, and had a pink Mohawk. She was repeatedly told by her mother, teachers, and myriad other adults that she’d never get a job looking like a freak show. Since they had jobs she figured they were probably right. As she wasn’t looking for a job, she decided to worry about it later. She maintained one interesting shade or another of hair color until she graduated from college in 1994.

In 1994, Alicia began working for the Washington State government. She worked for an agency called the Department of Financial Institutions. They investigate the financial crimes targeting Washingtonians, and bust the chops of the criminals they catch. Alicia liked working with victims of mortgage loan fraud, but wanted to educate people about avoiding crime in the first place.

In 1999, still working for the government, Alicia began making presentations to audiences on money matters like credit, identity theft, saving and investing, and avoiding investment and mortgage fraud. If it was related to money and how you can get more out of your life by better managing your paycheck, she was talking about it.

Pink Mohawks

She also became known in the industry for that pink mohawk she had in high school. Demonstrating the magic of compounding interest, Alicia showed high school students how the money she spent on her pink hair could have been worth over $1 million dollars (by the time she retired) had she invested the money in the stock market instead of her hair product. By 2002, over 15,000 students had learned about investing from Alicia’s presentations.

Start Of Consumer University

In 2003, she launched her own business, Consumer University. Through Consumer University Alicia designs, delivers and consults on non-commercial financial and investor education programs across the United States. She particularly values her partnerships with State and Federal regulators, and not for profits like the Investor Protection Trust and the Credit Union industry.

Alicia is published consumer writer, a writer for Verity Credit Union’s blog, www.spendsavelive.com, a former board member of the Foundation for Private Enterprise, and was a content contributor for the Washington State Financial Literacy Public Private Partnership.

She is also particularly pleased to have shown her mom that maybe, just maybe, that pink Mohawk has paid off.

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