All great things must start with a first step!Welcome to Children and Beyond. My name is Sabrina Raber. As a young girl I learned a lot about money from the many stories my father told us about clients and the financial mistakes they made. When I was eight years old, my father decided to take me along with him to different business conferences. For the next two years, I went to the same conference, and each year, the speaker, Brian Buffini, preached the same thing: financial reform over and over again. I found myself wondering how so many adults found themselves in financial difficulty. Being eight, I didn’t understand the complexities of money in the same way I know about them today. But I did know the way people were handling money was not right. I could see my friends spending their nickels and dimes on candy and toys. It hit me. These kids, my friends, would end up in the same situation as their economically desolate parents if they continued to spend their money this way.Learning from the conferences, I saw the far-reaching effects of debt, and was terrified that my friends would experience the same challenges. One day, on the playground, I realized what I had to do. Armed with markers and paper, my stuffed dog, and an idea, I devised a plan to change the world. With the help of my father, I designed a business that would teach money management skills to children.I had my start. I used the lessons I learned from Brian Buffini and even though it took me a long time to understand, I changed his words into simple methods my friends could learn. My plan was set. I would teach them about money and hope they could escape the pain I saw my own parents go through. After long thought, I named my business Children and Beyond. It was at that point where this vision truly starts.Within the year, I became famous. Brian Buffini invited me to speak at his seminars. At the age of eight, I spoke in front of 1000 people; when I was nine, it was 1,500. I was nicknamed The Money Girl, and had my first TV interview when I was almost ten on KOMO 7 News in Seattle, Washington, where we were living at the time. The second TV interview took place in Portland, Oregon six months later. As I got older, I found it more and more difficult to be The Money Girl. Friends drifted away, my family moved, I got involved in sports and music and school, and at times, found myself too busy to even think. But amidst all the activities lay the seed of the business I had started as an eight-year-old. I continued to carry with me the desire to make a difference, and to help children everywhere.I realized that my seemingly insignificant idea was on track to save kids from growing up to be the same drowning-in-debt adults I sat next to every year at the conference. Somehow, I knew any changes needed to start with the parents. If the parents understood how to save, spend, and share their money the right way, their children would grow up able to pay for student loans, buy a house, and live a financially free life without worry. It was the exact thing I wanted those many years ago.Children and Beyond hopes to also introduce other crucial life skills. I was the first to receive a master’s in music and Community Partnership at the University of South Carolina and have seen great things come from the magic of bringing music to a child that may not otherwise have that opportunity. Basic music education can afford these children the opportunity to be more creative, happier, more productive, and have higher work ethics. It is my hope that a program I designed name Find Your Beat will give them something to be proud of that is truly theirs.My father and I teamed up to bring this message to you. Our knowledge, our passion to help, is now in your hands. I hope Children and Beyond can help all the kids I was unable to help, because I know these lessons can change the world, one child at a time.