As they navigate life after high school, they want to share with you some tips for making a smooth transition.

1. Manage your money.
The summer Courtney got out of high school, she worked at J. Crew. Not only was the job good because she was making money, but it also became a step into the real world.

“I learned great people skills. I also learned discipline on a different level, not just doing what I was told, but also working for a different kind of a team,” she says.

With a part-time job, a person also has the responsibility to use her earnings wisely, always remembering the One it comes from. Most of Courtney and Tori’s expenses are covered when they’re on the road, but they still must buy their own toiletries and other necessities.

“If I was smart, I’d be on a budget right now, but I don’t really have an income,” Tori says. “If I did, I think it would be wise to save 10 percent and to tithe 10 percent. That would just be a good habit for what you’re going to do your whole life.”

Creating a budget requires setting your priorities. When Courtney went to college for a year, she made sure to put aside money for gas and food.

“Sometimes I’d put $10 more toward gas, because gas prices are always fluctuating,” she says. “I’d also have to choose very wisely if I was going to eat out. I knew a salad and drink would cost me $10. Do I have that $10 to spend? I’d decide, No, I’ll just stay home and make couscous with feta cheese for dinner. That’s what I did for a long time.”

2. Treasure your family.
When you move away from your family, those relationships will undoubtedly change. Tori has three older sisters, and she says as they have all grown more mature, their relationships have grown stronger.

”In middle school, we’d argue over clothes and stupid things, but now we realize that was just petty stuff,” she says. “I also love my parents and am blessed they’re so supportive, and they trust me.”

Earning your parents’ trust comes through respecting them first. It’s easy to be influenced by the people around you, but your parents are really your authority, Courtney says. “They’re doing what they think is best, so if you respect them in that, they’ll respect you. Then there comes freedom, trust, love and peace.”

3. Follow God’s will.
Deciding what to do or where to go after high school is difficult. Tori’s advice is to let God speak into your life and be in constant communication with Him through prayer.

“Sometimes when He gives you an answer, you’ll say, ‘All right, I don’t know where this is going, but I trust You.’ ”

She doesn’t know if CADIA will be a success or failure, but she can be confident at least in this moment, this is God’s plan for her.

Courtney went to college for a year and then felt called back to Nashville. “For me, it was this epiphany that all of a sudden, I thought, I know what I have to do!” she says. “I expected to move back, work at Starbucks, do session work, whatever. I just knew I wanted to use the gift of singing God had given me.

“My dad’s deal was if I didn’t have a job or career by the fall, I had to be in school somewhere. So I applied to Belmont University and was planning on that, and in a month’s time CADIA was official.”

4. Think positive.
Even if they’re out of adolescence, Tori and Courtney are no different from most young women who deal with a negative self-image. Tori says sometimes she’ll catch herself looking in the mirror and picking out the imperfections.

“It’s hard not to do that,” she says, “but you have to have it in your mind that when you start to do that, you’ll say, ‘OK, you know what? I’m healthy.’ That’s what I want to be: just healthy.”

Being in the entertainment industry in front of cameras and an audience makes this way of thinking even harder. They’ve gotten pictures back from a photo shoot, and Courtney can tell the designer slimmed her cheeks down. She can let that disappointment jab at her heart, or she can remind herself, God made me this way.

“He made the stretch marks on my legs. He knew I was going to have spider veins on my legs. He knew I was going to have zits on my chest, but I’m beautiful,” Courtney says.

Why CADIA?
The name is derived from the Greek word Arcadia, meaning place of peace.

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