The Application She Didn't Submit: Andrea Coggins on networking & Career Growth

In this episode, we sit down with Andrea Coggins, Vice President of Consumer Lending at Financial Plus Credit Union, for an honest and inspiring conversation about the unexpected turns that shape our careers. Andrea shares the story of how she entered the credit union world (through an application sh didn't even submit) and how one opportunity set the foundation for a career rooted in connection, growth, and impact.

We explore the power of networking, not as a transactional tool, but as a relationship‑driven force that opens doors, creates visibility, and supports long‑term success. Andrea reflects on how saying yes, showing up authentically, and surrounding herself with the right people fueled her personal and professional growth—from branch leadership to executive roles.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:27

I'm just really glad you're here. Now let's get into it before you're happy as well. Well, welcome. I'm so excited to have you. Thank you. I'm excited to be here. Yay. Um so tell me, I met you through Q. So we did that last year. Tell me about how you got started here and how did that journey evolve from where you started over 10 years ago to now how you became VP at Consumer Lending.

SPEAKER_00 0:55

Yeah, absolutely. Um so I actually started, it's actually a crazy story because I don't know how I started in the credit union industry. I actually um interviewed with a bank. I interviewed for Chase. I was about to go be a part-time teller there. And at that time, I got a call from a credit union and they were confirming my interview. And I was like, you know what? I've had nothing going on that day. It will be good practice. So never applied at this credit union. I never even applied to be a teller at Chase. I had a family member that worked there, and so that's how that interview was set up. So it's not like I had been out there applying for jobs, anything like that. So I still don't know how that happened, but I went to this interview at a credit union, and just the mission behind credit unions, the credit union, the purpose there was so different than when I interviewed um at the bank. I walked out of there, they called me about 10 minutes later, offered me the position, and I was like, you know what? I think this is the right move for me. So very thankful that it happened. Don't know how it happened. It must have just been meant to be that I ended up in credit union. The universe had it planned for you. Exactly. Exactly. So I was a part-time teller, like I said, I was going to school to become a veterinarian, actually. I had said since I was three years old I wanted to be a veterinarian, I was in school for it. I was actually in my internship for it. And at that time, I had to put a dog down for the first time. And like you think about these things, right? And it's never gonna be an easy thing. But the first dog I had to put down, there was this 35-year-old woman laying on top of the dog, bawling her eyes out. And I was like, I can't do this for the rest of my life. Like, I can't, like, that's that's gonna be hard. And luckily, I loved what I was doing at the credit union, and I just made the decision that, you know, I really like the credit union industry, I like what I'm doing. Let's see if I can grow from um or in this industry that I already really do enjoy. So I went to full-time at the credit union and just kind of started growing from there. So became a part-time teller. Um, actually, before I became a full-time MSR, I became a part-time MSR, made the decision to go full-time, uh, went to another credit union as an assistant and branch manager. And at that time, the reason why I switched credit unions is the one I was at, you couldn't be promoted into management at the same location. And I wasn't in a place where I was ready to relocate, anything like that. And then I ended up moving back to my hometown and landed at Financial Plus, where I'm at right now. I my whole ten years in credit unions, my first 10 years were all spent in the retail space. So between Teller MSR, assistant manager, branch manager, and then I became the senior district manager, which oversaw a group of half of our branches, six of our branches. And I was very accustomed to the retail side of things. But a little over a year ago, I was approached and asked if I would consider coming over to lending. And so here I am now, um, VP of consumer lending. It was definitely a big jump. It was definitely something that was a little scary for me. Yeah. But I've loved it. I love learning and I've been able to learn a lot of new stuff over the last year. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_01 4:19

I love how you didn't even apply. It just Here I am. Yeah, sure, why not?

SPEAKER_00 4:24

Right. Exactly. It's crazy just to think about it, but like I'm so thankful it happened, obviously, because now here I am. Like my career has been built around the credit union industry. And yeah, very happy that I didn't have to go, you know, work at the B-word.

SPEAKER_01 4:38

It's one of my favorite things is when uh we get new employees and they say, Oh, our customers, and we're like, No. Especially if they come from a bank and like just seeing like the culture shock, because like we're like, no, you don't you don't say those words. Right, exactly. What challenges have you had since going to consumer lendings, other than it's totally out of your comfort, though?

SPEAKER_00 5:00

Yeah, there's a couple I can think of just off the top of my head, and both of them are really more recent in um my career. And the first one was I mentioned that I went from being a branch manager to a senior district manager and oversaw six of our branches at that time. Well, five of those or four of those six branches actually just came to us in a merger. So um very different, like culture, very different, like great credit union, like love that they were brought into our company. But when you're going from being a peer with people that were just brought into the company and now you're leading them, they're coming through a merger. They have a lot of unknowns with the company. It can be challenging, and it can be challenging to earn their trust and as an outsider coming in. So I would say that was the first one that was really a challenge for me. And I absolutely love everyone that I ended up working with through that position. They're amazing people, and we were able to build that trust in our relationship. And luckily, I've been able to see them grow and their roles and everything throughout that. And then the second one I would say is coming over as a VP of consumer lending, because when I say I was an outsider, right, during the merger, coming in as a senior district manager. Now I'm really an outsider because then I've never even been in consumer lending, like I've always just been in retail. So and then coming in at the level I was coming in, there is a lot of like, does she deserve the position? Why did she get this role right? So again, just goes back to building trust. Like it's definitely a challenge coming into those things, and you do kind of have to prove yourself, and it's okay to know that you have to prove yourself and to not get upset. You shouldn't get upset that you have to take that time to start building the trust, that it's not just gonna be there right when you come into that position. So I would say those would probably be the two biggest challenges I've had in my journey in credit unions. Also, two of the most rewarding things I've done in my journey through credit unions. So definitely wouldn't change it. I've definitely learned so much through both of those things, learned more in those transition periods than I have in the other 10 years I've spent in credit unions.

SPEAKER_01 7:16

I we have never gone to a merger, and I don't know if I'm cut out for that. I don't like uncertainty.

unknown 7:23

Right.

SPEAKER_01 7:23

I'm not good with it. Right.

SPEAKER_00 7:25

And that's where you just have to have that understanding, right? The position I was stepping into, they were dealing with a lot of uncertainty. They were coming into a company that they didn't really know much about. And like I can sit there and tell them Financial Plus is an amazing company to work for all day long, but they're not gonna really have that confidence until they see it um in front of them. And luckily, it it's been a great merger. A lot of amazing people have um come into our organization because of it. How did you first get involved with fuel?

SPEAKER_01 7:57

Because I knew you were involved in fuel when I applied for Cube. And now we're both neither of us are in it this year, which is away from it.

SPEAKER_00 8:05

So actually I became involved in fuel kind of I feel like it was kind of backwards, I guess. Um, because I applied to be the fuel liaison with the Cue's Council of Michigan before I actually was officially in fuel. Really? So yes. So Jessica McNear was previously on the fuel liaison for the Qes Council, and her term was ending. So she approached me about it, and she was like, you know, think about it, this could be something that you'd really like doing. So I had heard about fuel. A lot of people in our credit union had been involved in fuel. I just had never been involved in it up to that point. So I joined Fuel. I was able to get uh the role of a fuel liaison for the CUES Council, and that's that's really where it started for me. So it was kind of taking on both of those at the same time between fuel and the cues board. I feel like that would be interesting.

SPEAKER_01 9:03

Go from like zero to a hundred really. That was me with conferences two years ago. I'd never been to one and then I went to six in one year, and I was like, what the hell just happened?

unknown 9:12

Right.

SPEAKER_00 9:13

Sure, let's just do it. Yeah, you just get thrown into it, you learn, and you go from there.

SPEAKER_01 9:19

Yeah, I asked to go to hike the hill this year, and my supervisor said, Okay, well, if it's a budget and only one of us go, would you be comfortable going alone? And I was like, I'd be scared, but I mean, yeah, I'd find somebody I know and cling to them and be like, You're my person. Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 9:38

But that's luckily you have that experience from going to six conferences in a year to where it's not gonna be like, Oh, I'm going to one of my first events and now I'm going alone, and now I have to find people. They would have thrown me if you've made those connections at the other conferences.

SPEAKER_01 9:55

They would have thrown me in DC as my first. I would have been like, nope, bye. I don't want to do this anymore. Right. What was your what was it like with Hughes? I talked to Ginger kind of about it, but what was it on your end? How was that?

SPEAKER_00 10:10

No, it was really good. It was first of all, I have to give a shout out to Ginger because she was just an amazing partner to work with as a liaison on the board. I had actually never met Ginger before that, and we were able to really create a great relationship through our time spent there, and one that we'll definitely continue on. But it was it was really good. Basically, what our role was there is um to give the CUE's Council a just kind of feedback of how they could get their name out more to the young professionals and fuel. And that was that was our role. And we got to lead scholarship groups, got to meet a ton of amazing young professionals that really inspired me throughout the time being able to do that. And it was just a great experience. Hopefully, we'll continue a lot of the relationships that we built through this throughout the rest of my career. What was your favorite part of it all? The scholarship groups were honestly my favorite part. It was so fun to see how much passion like all of these young professionals brought, and even like reading the applications, like the passion that they brought to their applications, even was like I said, inspiring. And then getting to spend time with them at the different CUs events, getting to know them more. It was fun. It was fun, taught me a lot. I took a ton away from each of those scholarship recipients. So a lot of work to plan on sometimes. Um, but definitely completely worth it.

SPEAKER_01 11:36

I was so bummed when I because I like was one of the few's future, and I was so bummed that I was in so much pain and couldn't go to dinner with you guys, but it was not pretty. I completely understand that you know, right, but it looked like fun, and I really wanted to do economic summit, and I hadn't heard, I was like, I probably didn't get it. And I was like, well, it is what it is, but I just I think the fact that they even offer that to YPs.

SPEAKER_00 12:03

I think it's absolutely and that's something the Q's Council has done an amazing job of. Like one of their main focuses now is just how do we help the young professionals in our industry grow and being able to partner that with the fuel group. It's already in a great spot. It's gonna continue to grow and be even greater of a connection as the years go on. Sorry, have a bit of a sore throat today. Okay. Jennifer and I, our terms ended as a fuel liaison. So we recently passed those roles on to Erica Duche and Courtney Gazo, and the direction they're gonna take it in is gonna be far and above what we were even able to do with it. Yeah. So really excited to see where it goes with them on there as the fuel liaisons now.

SPEAKER_01 12:50

Courtney was one of our uh scholarship people, and she's gonna be, I think she's gonna rock it. She's phenomenal.

SPEAKER_00 12:58

Yeah, I think both of them are gonna do an outstanding job, and we're gonna see even more growth come and more connection come from Qs and Fuel just with them stepping into those roles now. I love it.

SPEAKER_01 13:10

Um with fuel, what do you have any advice for like anybody who wants to get involved? Because I mean, like I have the advice. I kind of put like a blurb together for the email we sent out um because we had a lot of interest in it, but I need it to gracefully step away and let let somebody else do it. Let somebody else find that passion. And I I've had a few people say, like, what can I do? Like, if you have any advice on how how can I pees who are new to fuel really make the most of their their time.

SPEAKER_00 13:40

Yeah. I think it's all about being intentional with the connections you build, intentional with the effort that you put into it. I always tell people at our credit union, like, you're only gonna get out of fuel the effort that you put into it. So you can go to an event here or there, you can sit in the back, you can talk to people that you've only like that you've already interacted with. And sure, that will be great. You might get something a little bit out of it, but where you're gonna see growth, where you're gonna see yourself evolve is being intentional, gaining those new relationships, connecting with people, having in mind things that you already want to grow and things that you want to take away from fuel and having those intentional conversations, making those connections. And then once you've made the connections, you have to pour into those if you want them to be lacking connections. You can't just go introduce yourself to someone at an event and then you're gonna have a connection that lasts forever. You have to continue to foster that. You have to continue to pour into that connection if you want it to be a lifelong connection. And a lot of YPs, they may not exactly need those connections right where they're at right now, but there's connections you can make that 10 years down the road, 20 years down the road, that's when you're gonna need that connection. And if it you just leave it as a quick introduction um and never touch that, never foster that relationship from there, you're gonna lose that connection and not have that person to reach out to. So things, even though it might not be a connection that you need right now, it's important to nurture those relationships so that you do have it when you eventually do need it.

SPEAKER_01 15:22

I think a big one for me was I had heard of LinkedIn, but I never got like I literally stayed the Q1 stay at Qs two years ago in 2024. I was literally building it while we're it because I heard about it, I was like, I should really do this. And that has allowed me kind of to strengthen them more than just like send an email because I can see the updates that they're putting out and I can congratulate them and talk to them and definitely allows us to strengthen it. And I thought LinkedIn was kind of like eh, whatever. And then I've started actually using it. And connections have allowed me to connect with somebody in Georgia at another company to talk about podcasts a few weeks ago. Like yeah, or a year ago, would have thought.

SPEAKER_00 16:07

Exactly. Yeah, and another thing that I always like doing is if I'm exchanging a business card with someone, as soon as I walk away from that event, I'm gonna write down on the back of it like where I met them, things we talked about. If not in a business card, I open the notes app on my phone, I write down their name, where we met, different things we talked about, because then when it's a few weeks later, it's a year later, I can always circle back to like, hey, we connected at this event. Like, hope your vacation to Disney was fun that you went on last year. You know what I mean? That's a good idea. I never even thought about it. It really just it not only helps you remember, but it's gonna help them recall who you were when you're reaching out to them. So just making sure, like I said, it all goes back to being intentional with those connections. And part of that is making sure that you can you remember what you connected about and where you met them. So those are just two things that I've always done at different networking events, just to help me because you meet so many people, right? Like you're not gonna remember every conversation you had, but that helps you be able to bring it back to top of mind. Yeah, that's actually insanely clever. I never would have thought of that.

SPEAKER_01 17:18

You think I would. I'm on the notes app all the time taking this. You think I would think of that, but that's a good way to find that connection. And mine is I have severe social anxiety. Like, even starting this podcast, I was like, I don't know what I'm gonna do, but here we are. And I just I make it a point to go up to like three people in a day and just like compliment them on something because one, who doesn't love a compliment? Like I love it when I'm wearing like a t-shirt or a dress from like Goodwill, and somebody goes, Oh, I love your outfit. Like, do you want me to tell you I spent three dollars on it? And fantastic. Um, and so I I love a good compliment, and that is my way of kind of breaking the ice with somebody, yeah. And then allowing it to like grow.

SPEAKER_00 18:03

Right. Well, I mean, honestly, kudos to you for starting this, even though like it's not something that was in your comfort zone because that just means that you're really focused on growing and stepping outside of that. And I mean, great job with that. But honestly, I'm the same way. Like, I am not an extrovert, like I um network because I know how important networking is. I do not network because it gives me energy, right? Yeah. So I go to events, I do the same thing. I set a goal of like this is how many conversations with new people I want to start today. And then I also try, if you're going to a conference, looking over the attendee list beforehand and saying, these are the people that I really want to connect with, and these are the topics I want to connect with them about. But I mean, I leave networking events and I'm I'm exhausted. Like I'm not one of those natural extroverts where it's always gonna come easy and it's always going to give you that energy. It's I I network because I know how important it is, and I have to be intentional about my networking because it doesn't always come easy.

SPEAKER_01 19:12

Yeah, my cousin is the kind of person that conferences energize her, and I'm like, really, because I sleep for like four days after a two-day conference. Like, I'm like, leave me alone. I'm not gonna talk. I want to be that person. I am so not that person.

SPEAKER_00 19:27

Right. No, I have super like that is a superpower to have. I'm telling you, like the people that can just go out there and talk to hundreds of people and just keep that energy level up. I am definitely jealous of the skills that they have. But the important thing is to remember you don't have to be that to be good at networking. You can be more introverted, you can have that social anxiety, like you said, as you just have to put more work into it, but you can still be extremely good at networking and creating those connections.

SPEAKER_01 19:59

And that's why you have a hotel room at conferences, you can go take a breather. I mean, I I do that very often, like it's okay. It's okay. I also bring uh pillow spray, like lavender pillow spray. So when I'm done, I can just use like that's a great idea. Yeah, that's that's how I uh survive conferences. Yeah. That liquid IV. So with consumer lending, you've you've grown into it. Do you what are the trends are you seeing? Do you see any trends? What I mean I don't see a lot of consumer. I'm in compliance, so I don't know much about it. I just I see the reviewing, I see the interest rate trends, but that's about all I see.

SPEAKER_00 20:35

Right. Yeah, I mean, there's a lot of uncertainty still um out there. Yeah, I think that that's if you talk about necessarily a trend, but that's what a lot of credit unions are still dealing with. Like there was uncertainty with the tariffs last year. Some of that bleeds into this year. There's some uncertainty with where rates are going to go. So just making sure that we're being proactive and staying on top of what's happening in the industry is always going to be super important. You'll see a lot of people now moving to like AI decisioning, things like that. It's becoming more popular in our industry and learning it because it's new. Like it's it's not something that was out there 15, 20 years ago. Like it's something that's new and something we're still learning um how to use it as a tool. But there's so many new different vendors and everything that exists now for consumer lending. So it's just really making sure, like I said, that we're staying proactive, not just with new vendors, but also the vendors that we do have. Are they still meeting our needs? Are they still doing what we expect them to do? And if they're not, what are we going to do moving forward? So it's just things are happening at such a more rapid pace than they have in the past. Um, so it's just important to kind of keep an eye on everything going on. the um economy.

SPEAKER_01 22:02

I think it's it's also scary with how rapidly it it it changes and updates and you have the AI part of it. And AI in general is a little scary because you you have to train it and you have to learn it in all of these things. And I think there's a definite fear that it's gonna take away their job or our jobs. And I meanwhile like I obviously I'm a person but and a robot can't take over it completely. But if that means it makes my job a little bit easier.

SPEAKER_00 22:29

Yeah. Exactly. And that's that's my whole outlook on it. I don't think it's going to necessarily take away jobs. What I think it's going to do is if we're using it correctly, it's going to allow us to use the expertise and the knowledge of our employees on the things that we actually need that expertise and knowledge for. And it's going to take away that mundane repetitive like it doesn't really matter. If we have a person looking at this, let AI take that on like let them do that repetitive stuff. Let's use because our employees and their knowledge and their skills that's our biggest resource as a um organization, as an industry is the people, right? So let us use them on things that we need that skill for, we need that knowledge for and let AI take on the stuff that was just busy work for them.

SPEAKER_01 23:22

If it's just checking boxes and making sure we have all the documents I we're we're looking into an AI like auto decisioner. And I can't wait because I literally renew every single loan that we go through. And I cannot wait for some of it to be auto because then I don't have to look at it as in depth because I know it has made everything and I'm like I can't wait for the day.

SPEAKER_00 23:47

Yeah. Yeah and like you said like the uncertainty the new things the rapid pace things are coming out it's always going to be a little bit scary but it's also fun like we get to learn things so much quicker than we did in the past and it's so much more for us to learn. And I love that part like I love the learning. I think that that is the most important part of people grow or anyone who wants to grow to keep that growth mindset to always lean into things that are gonna help you learn something new. And the pace that things are changing now it forces you to learn things new.

SPEAKER_01 24:23

It forces us and it definitely forces us and then we I uh so when I was emailing you about my schedule I was off the last two weeks because I forgot to mandate it five weeks and then I realized I ended November and I was like might as well just take the last two two weeks off of the year and then next week I'm out for surgery and I I have a tentative return date but I don't know between all of it I'm looking at everything and I was like and I had to figure out who's gonna cover this who's gonna answer this and I was like because I like to learn I have somehow become important in the last eight years. When did this happen? I don't I don't remember this. And it is because I I'm the person of like oh I want to learn that I I go to our accounting office or up to the teller right and I'm like hey how do you do that? Do I need to know? No I'm just curious what what does it look like? What does a day look like for you? What are the parameters? How can I like I also like to look for solutions and how to make life easier.

SPEAKER_00 25:16

And I think that's why I like AI so much is like what can I do to make it oh yeah absolutely and that's that's the thing like my advice is always like of course there's going to be times that you need to say no to something because you don't have the capacity to do it up to the standard it should be done, right? But my advice is always like whenever a new opportunity comes up whenever the opportunity to get involved in a new um department or anything like that like to learn more about that always say yes. Never let never say no out of fear to anything. Never let that be a reason you say no because a lot of things do come up and you might question like am I the right person for this am I um going to know enough to be able to do what they're asking me to do. But just never say no out of fear. Always do the more you can say yes the quicker you're gonna grow. So of course like I said there's gonna be times where you have to say no because you don't have the capacity or you don't have you can't put your all into it but say yes when opportunities come up say yes so that you can learn things. Say yes so that you realize in a year down the road you've somehow become this really important piece of knowing all these procedures like you just said but um honestly the more you can say yes the more you have that growth mindset the more you're gonna learn along your all along the way and the more um fun your job becomes because you get to pull these different pieces into it.

SPEAKER_01 26:49

Yeah and even if you you are going to know everything like that's part of growth is you're going to learn it and I've applied for jobs that I've known nothing about but I've been like I can do it case in point my current position I knew zero about compliance and I said let me do it.

SPEAKER_00 27:06

Just give me a chance and here we are four years later like yeah exactly I mean we're in the same boat right like I didn't know a ton about consumer lending like I had originated loans in the branches but I had never been in a consumer lending role and of course there's fear there. Of course when I was first approached about it I was like ooh is this something I can do but you say yes because you have the confidence that you can learn it and you have the confidence in that skill set that you have and you go from there. Just do it.

SPEAKER_01 27:39

Yeah just do it. Right.

SPEAKER_00 27:42

That's what I say what advice would you give yourself if you looked back at the very beginning of that like random call interview call that you got what advice would you give yourself for that I would say that the biggest piece of advice I would probably give myself is to lean into those learning experiences earlier in my career. I always wanted to learn I didn't actively seek out opportunities to continue learning. I am someone I always tell myself that I can't let myself get comfortable because I'm someone that once I was comfortable I don't know if I would be able to like pull myself out of that situation. So there were times that I probably let myself get a little bit too comfortable in the beginning of my career and just from the beginning it doesn't matter how young you are, how uninexperienced you are you can always keep learning and keep growing from that knowledge that you gain. Keep asking questions, keep asking why things work the way that they work asking to see the way different departments do it. Like I said doesn't matter where you're at in your career or how young and inexperienced you feel you can always start there and that learning and that knowledge will help you down any career path you end up taking. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:05

I think it's also super helpful that luckily we are in an industry that those older than us are they're so welcoming in general. You can walk up to any CEO from any of our credit unions and just introduce yourself and even though you're whether you're 10 years in your five years in you're two months in they're still going to be approachable and friendly and kind and ask questions and allow you to grow. And I think that's impressionable.

SPEAKER_00 29:33

Right. And that's the power of credit unions right like there's people that have helped me and given me advice there's people that I still reach out to with a ton of questions that they don't have to help me. Like they're not obligated to answer my question. They're not obligated to give me the advice that they've given me but they do because credit unions it's people helping people and that doesn't just mean the members that utilize us as their financial institution it means the people that work at the credit union down the street or the people that work at the credit union across the country. Like that is one of the biggest things that I whop about credit unions is just it's people helping people and it's people helping all people even if it might be a competitor even if it might be someone that you know you met 10 years ago at a conference and you wrote down how you met them and some things you talked about on the back of a business card and now you're reaching out to them because you're in a new role and um you need some advice on something new. Everyone loves helping each other and that's what is um so impactful about the credit union industry.

SPEAKER_01 30:42

I've noticed that we are all I love it when I get it might seem weird. I love when I get like the email list of like from a random like hey we're looking into this because I can share if I know things because I've learned some things the hard way. But also I can see what what is on other people's radar. Is that something that maybe I need to look at and how we're doing it as well to kind of maybe I can make it better. So it's not just giving advice but also seeing like maybe we should look at that for a reason. And the collaboration is I don't think I mean I came from retail but I don't think there's really many other places that would be so willing to share and that's just the I my I'm an active service girly like I will give me active service and if you say you have a problem if I have a solution for it I'm gonna try to help you. That happened to me last year at Q's Future Summit. Somebody said they have issues I was like I have checklists in a spreadsheet tracker do you want I I can send you a copy to show you what I do if it will help you. And um they actually have implemented it I was like oh I was just showing you what I did to like kind of give you a direction but if you want to use it have at it like that's fine.

SPEAKER_00 31:49

Yeah no that's awesome and you brought up a really important point is also making sure that you are providing advice you are providing answering questions that you have the ability to answer. I think something that we can start to fall into is we have those people we can ask questions to we have those resources like America's credit union councils things like that where you can go in and ask questions but it can all be one sided. Like you need to make sure you're doing your part to help answer questions that are out there and give advice to people and that's something that always stays really top of mind for me because I know how much advice and questions I have been able to ask people around the credit union industry and I know how much that has helped me along my journey. So anytime I'm able to connect with someone or connect someone to another person who might be a resource I always want to make sure that I do that. And it's not just me using the connections to help myself but also really trying to help all of those whether they've helped me in the past or um not because I know how many people have helped me along the way. I love that that's awesome.

SPEAKER_01 33:05

That's a good way to look at it too of it it's almost like a pay it forward. Yeah absolutely and I love that about our industry. I love that we we do that kind of wrapping up what the same question I asked everybody about what is a defining moment that you have if you have one or if you like what is a moment that you thought like yeah this is exactly why I do it this is why I work at a credit union. Is it just helping someone come out of debt? Is it getting a hug from a member? Like what do you have any of those moments that you want to share?

SPEAKER_00 33:38

I mean I luckily have had a ton of those moments throughout my career and it's something that um I still have like it still comes to the realization of, you know what, this is why I do what I do. And I guess my first one would be um when I I was still I actually was probably still um in my internship to be a veterinarian so it wasn't something I was planning on doing long term yet and was able to sit down with a member and really help her restructure some of her debt, get it into one payment and just she actually brought her husband back in a day later and they were both just in tears um at my desk because of how much of a game changer it was for them and their lives and their financial future and just being on the retail side of it I got to experience that a lot and those were always you always walked away from every one of those moments. You could have just had an interaction with an angry member. You could have just had a really bad day but you get to have those interactions with members and it's always like this is exactly why I do what I do. It's really with my team and the people I've worked with in the past and the times that they come and they say you know what this made a big impact on me or anything like that. So I love I love those moments. I love when you hear that something small that you've done that you didn't even know would have much ramification made that big impact on someone's life whether it's your team or a member.

SPEAKER_01 35:21

I love it.

SPEAKER_00 35:21

I love I saw a member Tuesday and I hadn't seen her in like four years and she was in an office and I kind of knocked on the door and she instantly recognized me and gave me a hug and I was like yeah this this is this is what it is seeing those moments those connections and I think it's so easy to forget too like the impact you can have on your community's lives like what we do is a big deal like it is yeah not it's you know health and finances those are the two biggest things that people worry about right and we have the ability to help ease their mind when it comes to finances and put them in a situation that's gonna better their financial future and it's so easy to forget that when it's something we do every day but just try to take the time to remember that what we do does have an impact and it does change lives and I mean it makes it so easy to keep doing what you're doing.

SPEAKER_01 36:18

Yeah and right and remembering that this is why we're here it's it's definitely an interesting one and like I I love hearing about member stories and what we've because I just I've had so many of those interactions that I mean I've had a member buy me a drink out when I he saw me downtown before I was like okay I mean I'm not gonna say no but hey it's nice to see you outside of work when I'm you know that's that okay. Hi. I love it. Oh my gosh. Well thank you so much for having on and all of the reschedules and all of it and talking and I'm excited.

SPEAKER_00 36:52

I was excited to talk having me on here. I I love this idea. I love what you're doing especially now that I know that it's not in your comfort zone and something that you've done to step out of your comfort zone. I love it even more now.

SPEAKER_01 37:06

But it's a hundred percent out of my comfort zone and I'm I had a meeting with the state leaders earlier. I'm really excited because um I'm going to crash their quarter two uh meeting to talk to some people about advocacy for the podcast and um promoting and I've got some really cool things on the agenda this year for it and really start to focus I mean the first few months was just kind of getting my footing and now now we're gonna start. I'm excited and yeah we'll we'll see how it goes this year. I love it. Great job great job thank you I'm gonna try my best and I'm pretty sure I have you on LinkedIn so yeah I'm sure we'll connect and we'll network and have a good time and yeah have a good weekend.

SPEAKER_00 37:57

Thank you too