Fresh from a Kenyan safari, Karen Akpan, also known as “The Mom Trotter,” can thank her family’s newfound adventures to her unconventional financial journey.

While traveling has always been a priority for the mother of one, she was convicted to create a platform encouraging families to travel without breaking the bank. Launching The Mom Trotter blog in 2017, the family-oriented platform generated popularity allowing the family of three to create revenue from their travel experiences. Travel Noire reports that Karen also expanded the brand to launch Black Kids Do Travel, designed for families of color to share their travel experiences and inspire other families to follow suit. Despite the impressive traction the Akpans’ were gaining, the incoming revenue was not enough to sustain the family’s lifestyle.

While living in California, life was great for the family of three. Karen had received a high-paying contract job as a clinical researcher and moved into a beautiful home. Taking financial precautions, the family had at least six months of earnings allocated for emergency situations. Unfortunately, the family would learn very soon how vital financial provisions would be when Karen lost her contract position. As the family began projecting for a downward spiral, Karen would draw up an unconventional solution to begin to remediate the loss of revenue.

Beginning with their mortgage, which was a jarring $4,200 a month, The Mom Trotter suggested to her husband Sylvester Akpan, a bold idea — sell their home and embrace an RV lifestyle so they could essentially live rent-free.

Her husband initially felt uneasy but supported her decision. In February of 2020, the Akpan family took a leap of faith and pulled together $14,000 to purchase an RV rental. Their nomadic lifestyle would prove to be the greatest decision as it became the gateway to financial freedom. Within 18 months the Akpans managed to pay off over $200,000 in accumulated debt.

Akpan stopped by AfroTech to share why she took drastic financial measures to achieve financial freedom.

Editorial note: Portions of this interview have been edited and condensed for clarity.

Financial Debt

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