April Eggert

I attribute my success to curiosity, resilience, and a willingness to step into opportunities before I feel completely ready for them. I have always been someone who wants to understand how things work, why they work, and how they could work better. That mindset has helped me grow from operational roles in financial services into marketing and community engagement leadership, while also giving me the confidence to build something entirely new through Unpacked.

I also believe strongly in doing the work. I am willing to learn unfamiliar skills, ask questions, seek out people who know more than I do, and keep refining until I get where I need to go. Some of the most meaningful growth in my career has come from saying yes to challenges that initially felt uncomfortable.

Just as important, I care deeply about people. Whether I am developing a marketing strategy, supporting a community initiative, mentoring someone on my team, or creating a product designed to ease the mental load, I want the work I do to have a purpose beyond simply checking a box. That combination of curiosity, persistence, creativity, and purpose has shaped nearly every opportunity I have had.

The best career advice I’ve ever received is to stop waiting until I feel completely ready. I’m someone who likes to know what I’m doing. I like to be prepared, capable, and confident that I can deliver. But some of the biggest growth in my career has happened when I said yes before I had all of that figured out. I’ve had to learn that being ready doesn’t always mean having every answer. Sometimes it means trusting yourself enough to take the opportunity, ask questions, learn quickly, and figure it out as you go.

That mindset has changed the way I approach my career. I still care deeply about doing things well, but I’m much less afraid of being new at something. I’ve learned that you don’t have to feel fearless to take the next step, you just have to be willing to take it.

Don’t limit yourself to your current job description. Learn the business, ask questions, understand why decisions are being made, and look for ways your work can make a bigger impact. In marketing especially, it’s easy to be seen as the person who makes things look good, but your value is so much bigger than that. Learn the numbers. Understand the audience. Know what the organization is trying to accomplish and connect your work back to it. I’d also tell young women not to wait for someone else to decide they’re ready for more. Speak up, bring ideas to the table, volunteer for the project that scares you a little, and let yourself take up space in the room. You don’t have to know everything to belong there. Stay curious, be willing to learn, and build a reputation for being someone who follows through.

One of the biggest challenges in credit union marketing is finding the balance between honoring what has always made credit unions special- trust, relationships, and community, and meeting the expectations of a generation that wants everything to be fast, digital, personalized, and easy. That challenge is also one of our biggest opportunities.

We have the chance to rethink how we connect with people, especially younger generations who may not fully understand what makes a credit union different. Marketing can’t just be about promoting products anymore. It has to be about understanding people, using data thoughtfully, creating meaningful experiences, and showing up in ways that feel relevant and genuine.Technology, AI, and changing consumer behavior are moving quickly, but I don’t think the answer is to become less human. I think the opportunity is to use those tools to become more helpful, more personal, and more connected to the communities we serve.

The values that matter most to me are integrity, curiosity, empathy, and follow-through.

Integrity is huge for me. I want people to know that I mean what I say, that I’ll do the right thing even when it’s inconvenient, and that they can trust me.

Curiosity is what keeps me growing. I’m always asking questions, learning something new, or trying to understand how something could be done better. I never want to get so comfortable that I stop evolving.

Empathy matters just as much. Whether I’m working with a member, an employee, a community partner, or someone I love, I try to understand where they’re coming from before deciding what they need from me.

And finally, follow-through. Ideas matter, but so does doing the work. I’ve always believed that if I say I’m going to do something, I should do everything I can to make it happen.

Those values shape how I lead, how I work, and how I try to show up for the people in my life.