NAPFA 2025 Award Recipients
NAPFA is thrilled to honor a distinguished group of professionals and firms with its prestigious 2025 awards. These individuals and organizations exemplify the standards of excellence and commitment that NAPFA promotes in the field of Fee-Only financial planning.
Inspiring Leader Award
Brooklyn H. Brock, CFP®, CEPA®, ChFC®, CKA®
Brooklyn is a third-generation financial advisor and the founder of Ellevate Advisors, a fee-only RIA firm that specializes in Financial Planning and Exit Planning for advisors themselves. After years in the industry, Brooklyn recognized a surprising trend: financial advisors often put their own retirement and succession planning on the back burner. That insight inspired her to launch a firm with a singular mission—to help advisors thrive with the same level of care they provide to their own clients! Ellevate Advisors was honored as the Best Financial Planning and Exit Coaching Firm for Advisors in the 2024 World Finance Awards for its innovative, values-based approach. As a sought-after national speaker, Brooklyn travels across the country sharing her passion for helping fellow advisors build lives and legacies they’re proud of.
New Professional Award
Elijah Essa, CFP®
Elijah has been a fee-only financial planner for over eight years. In 2025, he started Essa Financial to provide transparent and client-centric financial advice to folks in the Louisville community and beyond.
Elijah was born and raised in Louisville. His father, David, was a Lebanese immigrant who came to the U.S. in the 1970s. Throughout his life, David continually instilled the values of hard work, education, and financial literacy in his kids. If it were not for David’s encouragement, Elijah would not have sought the path of becoming a financial planner. Though David is no longer with us, the firm name Essa Financial, along with the logo, are homages to his legacy and his influence on Elijah’s life.
After graduating from Western Kentucky University’s Personal Financial Planning program in 2017, Elijah started his career with Coats Financial Planning, a pioneering fee-only financial planning firm in Louisville. Elijah served as a Senior Financial Planner at the firm, directly working with 30+ clients and supporting over 100 households in his time there. His time spent learning under Stuart Coats at the firm was pivotal to his growth as a financial planner.
As a teacher, Elijah’s favorite part about being a financial planner is communicating complex planning topics to clients in ways that are more easily understood. He enjoys the education aspect of being a planner, especially in a one-on-one environment. He values deep relationships with clients, and is always willing to listen and learn. He also believes exceptional client service (and swift communication) is the cornerstone of financial planning.
Elijah is actively involved in the profession. He is an active volunteer with the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors (NAPFA), having previously served on their Genesis board for young advisors for five years and currently serving on the South Region board as the Membership Chair. He also reviews scholarship applications for the CFP Board Center for Financial Planning, which provides assistance to qualified candidates for the CFP® exam.
Elijah was named a Rising Star by Financial Planning magazine as a part of their inaugural national list of ten planners in 2021. He graduated in December of 2022 with a master’s degree in Personal Financial Planning from Kansas State University. In addition to his role as a planner, Elijah teaches part-time as an adjunct professor at the University of Louisville.
NAPFA Foundation Pro Bono Service Award
Steve O. Oniya, CFP®, ChFC®, MBA
Born and raised in Houston, Texas and instilled with an entrepreneurial drive from entrepreneurial parents; Steve enjoys leading people, business development and helping others. He enjoys the strategy of making more, from less.
Steve grew up helping his father’s business (in which his father was featured in Forbes). He enjoys learning from others, adapting to different environments, strategy, and helping instill confidence in others to achieve their goals.
Steve personally enjoys achieving goals and self-development. Steve has won numerous awards, higher-level education, and extracurricular activities that further developed his financial management and people skills. Some of those awards and achievements include 1st place winner in the Foundations Stock portfolio competition (return of 61% vs. competition mean of 21%), National Excellence in Leadership Award & Presidential status from the National Society of Leadership & Success, the Bill & Sharon Young Media Education Scholarship and most dedicated alumni from Alpha Kappa Psi ( the largest business fraternity). A cosmopolitan traveler and philomath, Steve O. or Steven (as some affectionately call him), has been fortunate to travel throughout the world, and enjoys learning about culture, meeting new people, and developing relationships. He also enjoys the strategizing of travel planning to achieve finite goals of places and experiences with limited time and resources in an efficient manner. Steve also enjoys gardening and how it is akin to investing with the phrases like “you reap what you sow” and “the fruit of your labor.”