About Naomi
I studied finance at the University of St. Thomas. I didn't receive need-based scholarships, and my family didn't pay my tuition. If college was going to work, I had to figure out how to make it work.
By graduation I had secured more than 20 scholarships and 5 grants, and I owed $0 in student debt. But the number people ask about — the $0 — is the least interesting part to me.
01What actually happened
During school I completed 4 internships, a co-op and 3 fellowships, and attended 4 conferences. I studied abroad for a semester and traveled to more than 30 countries. None of it happened in isolation — each piece made the next one possible.
Experience
Corporate finance, financial advising, startups, cancer research, surgical-technology research in London, a microbiology lab, patient care, a greenhouse and a sailing dock. Every one taught me something about what's out there — and how students can find it.
IBM
Corporate Financial Analyst · Co-op
Five Star Financial
Financial advising
BETA.MN
Project manager & volunteer coordinator
Startups
Early-stage companies
BC Cancer
Radiation oncology researcher
University of St. Thomas
Microbiology lab
University College London
Summer researcher · TeQ surgical technology group · Queen Square, London
Monarch Healthcare
Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA)
Wayzata Sailing
Sailing instructor
University of St. Thomas
Horticulturist · Campus greenhouse
4 conferences
Conferences put students in front of professionals, researchers and employers they'd never meet on campus. Student rates and sponsorships can make them more affordable than people expect.
Risk management & insurance · Philadelphia
The risk management and insurance industry's annual conference.
Biomedical research · Mayo Clinic & University of Minnesota
The 3rd annual “Cells to Cures” symposium on organoid research.
Interfaith leadership
A national gathering of student and community leaders working across religious differences.
Neurosurgery
The American Association of Neurological Surgeons' annual meeting.
Beyond the classroom
I raced for the University of St. Thomas sailing team, crewed at the St. Maarten Heineken Regatta in the Caribbean, and taught sailing as an instructor. Extracurriculars aren't a distraction from a strategy — they're often where the best opportunities start.
30+ countries
A semester abroad and more than 30 countries. Not every trip was funded by a scholarship — but budgeting, planning and saying yes to the right opportunities made them possible.
02Why I do this
Most advice treats scholarships, internships, study abroad and career planning as separate checklists. In reality, a scholarship decision changes which internship you can afford to take; an internship changes what you want to study; a semester abroad changes what you think is possible.
My finance background gives me a practical lens for this: budgeting, cost/benefit thinking, opportunity cost, and return. I use it to help students see the trade-offs clearly and choose on purpose.
You don't need to do college exactly the way I did. You need a strategy that works for you.
03The short version
These are my personal results — shared as proof of what I know from experience, not as a promise of what any student will achieve. I'm a coach and educator, not a licensed financial adviser.
College, itemized
Naomi Peters
Student debt at graduation
$0
Naomi's personal results. They show what's possible, not what's promised — coaching helps you build a strategy for your own situation.
More opportunity. Less debt.
A free 20-minute call to find your biggest bottleneck — and whether I can help.