As Olympian Keturah Orji approaches retirement, the USA Track & Field triple jumper is looking forward to establishing a new mentorship program to invest in young athletes and spread financial literacy to her community.
The University of Georgia alum, who studied financial planning as a student-athlete, is well-versed in wealth management, retirement planning, and other major financial topics. Plans for the 10-time U.S. Champion’s new mentorship program include guidance for collegiate and professional athletes as they navigate money management and investments. The initiative will assist college athletes with the transition into their professional careers.
Discovering there was more to money than saving “opened my mind to how much information there is that we’re not exposed to,” the 28-year-old told Afrotech in an interview.
“I was in this space in school where they were educating us on why credit cards are beneficial,” the 10-time olympian said, recalling her mother opposing advice from a professor to open a credit card. “I thought of it as a positive tool
that could help me do so much, but the way my mom had been taught about credit cards was that’s how you have mindless and uncontrolled spending.”Representation is a big thing for Orji. She previously launched a mentorship program for eighth-grade girls called Amara’s Pride. She established the program while she was a student at the University of Georgia to grant young girls access to successful women making moves in fields they aspire to explore.
“You really can’t model what you haven’t seen, so I want to make sure that everyone below the age of 18 is seeing people that look like them doing amazing things so that they know they can do it too,” she told 11Alive in March.
Orji, who describes herself as humble, quiet, and reserved, believes competitors like herself can still be dominant contenders in their sports.
The New Jersey-born track and field athlete has made history several times throughout her Olympic career. According to Orji’s official website, she’s the first American woman to win six consecutive U.S. titles in the outdoor triple jump since 1974 and to make two successive Olympic finals in the triple jump. She placed ninth overall in the 2024 Paris Games.