Ashton Kutcher Inspires Woman in Emotional Clip for Crackle’s ‘Going From Broke’

Ashton Kutcher is giving a dose of inspiration to a woman being dragged down by $200,000 of student debt. In a PopCulture exclusive sneak peek of Crackle’s Going From Broke, the actor and executive producer offers a little emotional “ammo” to Isabel, who was the first of her family members to graduate from a four-year college, but now is struggling to pay off the loans she had to take out to finish.

“Let me give you a little ammo, so you can be proud of who you are today,” Kutcher tells the young woman, who is getting visibly emotional at his words. “I’m 43-year-old Ashton, and you inspire me. So if 20-something-year-old you can’t inspire you, we’ve gotta make that shift.” He continues that already as a college grad, “You’ve done things that I’ve never done.”

“I didn’t do in my life what you’ve already done,” he tells Isabel, now crying. “Setting goals for yourself for your future self doesn’t mean that your today self isn’t good enough. Your today self is good enough. You’re climbing now, right? You’re climbing. You’ve got your feet under you, you’re climbing.” Having given her the pep talk of the century, Kutcher moves on to talking about Isabel’s “side hustle,” just one of the tools he and a team of financial experts will on Going From Broke to get the grad into a more comfortable financial space.

The award-winning Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment show is focused on helping millennials overcome their crippling financial struggles, including mounds of student debt, a shrinking job pool and lack of basic financial literacy. Along with Kutcher, Going From Broke host Dan Rosensweig, CEO of Chegg, and financial expert Tonya Rapley young people get a crash course in how to become the CEO of their own lives.

Season 1 of Going From Broke premiered in October 2019, and by the time a new season was under production, the coronavirus pandemic had shut down shows all over the world. The pandemic’s financial impact was a massive one, however, and one Going From Broke wanted to help handle, so they figured out how to get filming in a safe way as soon as possible.

COVID-19 “has exacerbated the dire financial situation that so many young people already found themselves in,” Rosensweig said in a February press release. In the second season, he continued, “the stakes are higher; people are struggling with unemployment, mounting debt, and potentially physical and mental health issues. We have the opportunity to provide a lifeline and help them get back on track, working with them in real-time to get them on the path to financial freedom.” Going From Broke season 2 airs free on Crackle starting May 20.