Betsy Bennett

Ultimately, it starts with my mother. She always taught me, no matter what, in the face of adversity, to be kind, caring and empathetic, but stand strong and speak your truth. She was a firm believer in that, and I feel no matter what challenges I've met along the way, if you hold strong to your principles and believe in yourself and your community, that's what will get you far in the future. No one can get far ahead by being selfish. If you lean on your community and trust them, they will trust you. My mother was an incredible lady. We lost her in 2002, so it's been a lot of years, but she lives in my heart every day, and I take all the lessons she gave me along the way. I know she would be proud of me, and I work every day to keep making her proud of me. She also fought for me when I struggled with dyslexia back in the 80s when it really wasn't recognized yet. She did a lot of her own research at the library and had me tested for whatever we could be tested for in school. She stumbled across a book called The Gift of Dyslexia that was life-changing, absolutely life-changing. The lessons and tricks and tips in it really opened up so much of my life to be able to look at things differently and know that I wasn't broken and could figure things out. I've been surrounded by supportive people my whole life who were encouraging and said why not, and I'm amazed and blessed every day of my life.

You can't eat a title. My old manager at John Marshall, this gal named Joan Roby, shared this advice that actually came from her mom, and I knew her mother she was a cool lady. The advice was that you can't eat a title. You need to be good at your job and want to excel in your job for your advancement, not just for the title on the piece of paper. Being able to learn, grow, and grow a team all of the meat and potatoes of a job - is more important than what they call you. Your letters on your signature line aren't going to be what puts the food on the table. Showing your true nature and doing the job and doing it well is what will feed you. I tell people that all the time, and they look at me like I've got 3 heads, because if you look at my email signature line, my title looks like alphabet soup - I have many of them. But that's not what matters. That is not who I am. I am not my title. That's been my favorite forever, and I live by that.

Be brave. Be brave, and be strong, and be willing to take that next step. We as women, including myself, worry - am I good enough to do this thing, even if it makes sense on paper? And I'm sure more than just women, everybody has that, am I good enough? You just have to be brave, and be strong, and take the leap of faith. No matter what, you can keep trying, and the more you try, the easier it gets. But be brave and be strong. I suffer immensely from imposter syndrome, and I know, especially in women, we do. We don't always go out on that limb, because everybody's more worried about safety and security, which I get. I came up very impoverished and have had to kick and scrape for every penny I ever had, but now that I am here in this position, I'm like, how did I get here? Do I deserve to be here? Harvard actually did a study where they found that for a job post, more men applied for the job even if they didn't have three of the qualifications, and less women applied for the job just because they didn't have one of the qualifications. So we second-guess ourselves a lot. We have that imposter syndrome - can I do it? Am I good enough for it? I am hoping there's a shift in that, and that we're working on that.

The biggest opportunity is just trying to ensure in an area that is flooded with banks, that people know you are here and to help. We can offer that classic banking touch, where you can still talk to the same person and you have a dedicated banker. A lot of people want to move to fintech banks and online banks, and there's nothing wrong with them, and some people it works great for, but sometimes, if something goes wrong, you just need to talk to a friendly face. In this day and age of everything being online, I think people forget that sometimes it's important to be able to have that person in front of you. The challenge is to set yourself apart in the crowd, in the sea of banks, and show that you are here for them. Our opportunity lies in providing that relationship-driven model and proving to our community that we are genuinely here for them.

I really do fit strong with values that run right along with the bank's. Our vision is what we call local - leadership, outstanding service, community, adaptability, and loyalty. I really do feel strongly for both the bank and myself that we fit those. To continue in a community, and being a community bank and a community banker, you have to give back to your community. Otherwise, there's no purpose of us being here. You just take community out of the name. I want to provide good leadership to my team. I am blessed to have an amazing team. We're small, but we're mighty. None of us come from financial backgrounds, so we've all kind of learned this together, and we use that for the outstanding service portion to determine what people need. Adaptability in this world - everybody's got to be adaptable and drop and pivot at a moment's notice, especially now. And loyalty to our clients and our internal team - we have to support each other. It all ties in together. I can't think of a better personal one either. I think local works for both work and personal life.