Even as investor confidence is arguably at its lowest point since the Great Depression, Jennifer Openshaw, a frequent TV and radio talk show commentator and author of "The Millionaire Zone" (an investing advice book about "turning who and what you know into profits," according to Openshaw), has her own agenda for kick-starting the economy: Educate and motivate the 100 million Americans who have never invested in stocks to start putting their trust -- and money -- into the Street. Openshaw spoke with WS&T Executive Editor Penny Crosman about her latest venture, WeSeed, a new Web site designed to demystify the stock market and provide a place to test-drive investment ideas.

WS&T: Your biography suggests that you have your own rags-to-riches story. Are you trying to inspire others to do the same?

Openshaw: I saw my mother struggle [after getting divorced at 28], and at the age of 12 I realized that if I was going to succeed and be financially independent, I had to make it happen on my own. I've found there's a huge void in providing practical, motivating tools to help people get ahead. The little guy is often left to his own devices because he doesn't have enough assets for an adviser to focus on him.

WS&T: Is WeSeed primarily an educational site? What kinds of people do you hope to reach?

Openshaw: We're trying to reach the 100 million Americans who've never directly invested in the market. We want to provide a first-time on-ramp into understanding the market for people who never thought they could do it. Those are the people who typically face [psychological] barriers: They feel they have to be a Wall Street expert, and they feel like they have to have a lot of money or time.

Our view is that everyday people are smart -- that's contrary to what Wall Street would say. We believe everybody has useful information, and they can be ahead of Wall Street. When Starbucks started, you could have seen the place was packed and charging $4 for a cup of coffee and thought, "This is a company I might want to think about owning," and you would have discovered that long before Wall Street. The beauty of the Internet today is that we can now exchange that kind of information in real time.

Our view is that if people owned just one share of stock, it would change their lives. They would look at the news differently, they'd look at their 401(k)s differently, they'd ask smarter questions of a financial professional and they'd be able to have a conversation with a CEO, which makes them more competitive in the job market. We're not necessarily trying to make stock traders out of everybody, and we're not saying that everybody should plunk all their money in stocks. This is just a first step for people to engage in the market and decide if they want to continue on or not.

WS&T: I recall a successful investor saying that he would ask his teenage daughter which brand of jeans she and her friends were buying and then go look up that company's stock ...

Openshaw: Peter Lynch said, "If you stay half-alert, you can pick the spectacular performers right from your place of business or out of the neighborhood shopping mall, and long before Wall Street discovers them." We're trying to teach people to look beyond brands and products they use every day to the companies behind them. If you love that company so much, all your friends are using it and you think it's got the best customer service and products, why would you not think about owning that company?

We're trying to provide a fresh, creative way for people to learn about the stock market on their own terms. We're purposely not trying to bring in the financial jargon and data; instead we're starting from a point of "What do everyday people care about?" They care about their kids so we have a kids stock market; they care about fashion so we have the fashion stock market [Ed. note: WeSeed groups selected companies around themes]. Rather than starting out talking about the financials of the company, we talk about celebrities or pop culture in the news, then make the connection to a related company.