Press kit for Alichia Russ
Everything a reporter, producer, or event host needs in one place: bios in three lengths, print-ready photos, book covers, talking points, and a direct line to Alichia. Use any of it without asking.
Fast facts
- WhoAuthor, speaker, and founder of Capital Steward. Former classroom teacher (grades 4 through 8), mentor teacher, and district curriculum writer.
- WhereTolleson, Arizona (Phoenix West Valley). Available for in-person events across Arizona and virtual events anywhere.
- Featured bookHelp! I'm Broke and I Can't Get Rich, a stewardship book about the small, repeated "leaks" that quietly drain money, time, opportunity, and peace.
- Also by AlichiaThe Hidden Trade and Capital Steward, both available on Amazon.
- Signature talk"Notice the Leak," delivered at 18, 30, or 45 minutes, with a companion workshop called One Small Repair.
- The one line"You can't repair what you can't see."
Author bios
Three lengths, ready to paste. Each has a copy button.
One line
Alichia Russ is the author of Help! I'm Broke and I Can't Get Rich and founder of Capital Steward, helping people notice the hidden patterns quietly draining their wealth.
Short (about 100 words)
Alichia Russ is a former educator turned author and speaker who spent years teaching, writing curriculum, and mentoring other teachers before turning that same pattern-recognition instinct on money. After a costly wake-up call in the markets, she began studying why financially capable people still feel like they're falling behind, and found the answer wasn't income. It was a series of small, repeated "leaks" hiding in plain sight. She wrote Help! I'm Broke and I Can't Get Rich to help readers find theirs, and founded Capital Steward to teach the broader practice of noticing before repairing. She lives in Tolleson, Arizona.
Long (about 300 words)
Alichia Russ didn't start out studying money. She started out studying people: as a classroom teacher for grades 4 through 8, a lead and mentor teacher guiding colleagues toward National Board Certification, a district curriculum writer, and a member of a committee reviewing books for developmental appropriateness. Years of watching how people actually make decisions, not how they say they will, shaped the lens she now brings to financial behavior.
That lens sharpened after a personal turning point: losing an embarrassing sum, well over $15,000, trading options while outwardly appearing financially stable. The experience revealed a gap she calls living a double life, successful on the outside, still carrying old financial fear underneath. Rather than blame a lack of discipline or income, Alichia began investigating the quieter cause: small, repeated patterns, or "leaks," that drain money, time, relationships, opportunity, and peace long before anyone notices.
That investigation became Help! I'm Broke and I Can't Get Rich, a stewardship-based book structured around nineteen distinct leaks across three parts: noticing them, building better systems, and sustaining the life being built. It became the foundation for her signature keynote, "Notice the Leak," and her companion workshop, One Small Repair, where audiences move from recognition to action in a single sitting.
Alichia is the founder of Capital Steward, the broader framework and practice this work is drawn from, and continues to write, speak, and teach from the same principle that shaped her classroom career: you can't repair what you can't see. She lives and works in Tolleson, Arizona.
Books
Right-click or long-press any cover to save it. Higher-resolution cover files are available on request.
Help! I'm Broke and I Can't Get Rich
A Stewardship Book About the Small Leaks That Quietly Steal the Life You're Building
For people who work hard, earn money, and still wonder why life never feels as stable as it should. Nineteen leaks, three parts, and one small repair per chapter.
View on AmazonThe Hidden Trade
The Invisible Exchanges That Shape Your Life
A simple framework for recognizing the invisible transactions beneath ordinary decisions: what each choice spends, what it preserves, and what it makes possible next.
View on Amazon
Capital Steward
Why You Keep Ending Up in the Same Place and How to Change What Happens Next
A practical guide to identifying recurring patterns, hidden costs, and the trade-offs our decisions create across five forms of capital.
View on AmazonPhotos
Approved for editorial use. Two headshots, each available in a print-size file and a smaller web file.
Photo credit: courtesy of Alichia Russ. Need a different crop, a landscape version, or an event photo? Email the contact below and it will be sent the same day.
Talking points
The ideas Alichia returns to, in her own words.
- Most people don't have an income problem. They have a leak problem.
- You can't repair what you can't see.
- The problem isn't you. It's the pattern.
- Wealth isn't built through hustle. It's built through noticing, then repairing, one small pattern at a time.
- A leak isn't a character flaw. It's a habit that made sense once and never got questioned since.
- Floods make headlines. Leaks rewrite lives.
Sample interview questions
Good starting points for a feature, a podcast, or a five-minute segment.
- What is a "leak," and how is it different from a bad habit?
- A bad habit is something you already know you're doing. A leak is invisible until someone points at the pattern underneath it. That distinction is what the book and the talk are built around.
- You're a former teacher, not a financial advisor. Why should people listen to you about money?
- Because the work isn't financial advice, it's pattern recognition. Years in classrooms, retail, and curriculum design taught me how people actually make decisions, and that's the same skill this framework applies to money.
- What made you want to write this book?
- A costly personal wake-up call: losing an embarrassing sum, well over $15,000, trading options while looking financially fine from the outside. That gap between appearance and reality became the whole premise.
- What's one leak almost everyone has and doesn't realize it?
- Convenience. Chapter 3 walks through it: the extra delivery fee, the upgraded plan nobody downgraded, the subscription that outlived its usefulness months ago. None of it feels like a decision in the moment, so nobody notices it as a leak. It's rarely one big number. It's twenty small, comfortable choices that quietly cost more than the emergency fund most people wish they had.
- What should someone do in the next 24 hours after hearing this?
- One small repair. Not a life overhaul. One identified pattern and one deliberate, small correction to it.
Speaking
Alichia speaks to schools, churches, employee groups, associations, and community organizations. Full details and fees are on the speaking page.
Notice the Leak (keynote)
18, 30, or 45 minutes. Audiences leave able to name one specific pattern quietly draining their money, time, or energy, and a question they can't unhear: "Where's my leak?"
One Small Repair (workshop)
A live, applied companion to the keynote. Participants work on their own patterns in the room and leave with one written repair they can start within 24 hours.
Author talks and signings
Libraries, bookstores, book clubs, and community events. Alichia brings books and is glad to do a Q&A.
Contact
Interviews, photo requests, review copies, and event coverage:
hello@altriusventures.comMedia and time-sensitive inquiries are prioritized.