Deedra Carter

I would say, for me, it is learning lessons, because when you're coming up and you're really trying to navigate, you're young - I was the youngest loan officer, the manager at the time didn't have any women on his team, and I didn't really know much. So, any mistake that I made, even now, because we're all going to mess up, you have to sit back and reflect on what you did wrong. I have to accept what you did wrong, and then not repeat it. And I know that sounds really simple, but I'm telling you, when you mess up, it is like, what happened when this presents itself again? I will not respond this way again, or I will do this differently. And I find that doing that, the guilt isn't there of, oh, I messed up. It's like, no, I learned something. So, if I can get the lesson, I don't have to worry about screwing up in a big way, because you're just taking one step at a time. And so, for me, self-reflection, you have to be able to self-correct, too. Nobody likes an arrogant person. You can be, oh, I did this and this and this to make yourself feel good, but you still have to be able to self-correct. That's really important, I think.

Whatever you do when no one is watching is what actually is shown when everyone is watching, and that comes from my mom, because she's like, integrity is what you do when no one's around, and that is so true. When you're burning the midnight oil and you're up and you're doing everything you need to do, it does show when the curtain calls - you're ready to go. So you have to really live by what you practice. If you're out here giving advice to people, you need to be disciplined, if that's something you preach. And then the principles that I tell the team to live by, I have to demonstrate that to them. If not, it's just empty words, so you really need to just practice what you preach.

You need a mentor, you need to be connected to someone that's already here. Financial services is extremely gate-kept. This isn't something that's taught in school, your parents don't have the literacy to give this to you, you're not going to learn it in college. And so, you need to be connected to someone in the business, and if you don't know anyone, then you need to proactively reach out to strangers, because that's what I did. I didn't even know them, but I picked their brain, and I got the information that I needed. You need someone that you can be vulnerable with, there are some things that you don't understand, and there's a lot of etiquette that isn't taught, it's just expected, and so you have to learn how to navigate. Corporate America is cutthroat. You have to be strategic and tactical. There are certain strategies that women need to know, they need to be aware of, like if you go out to dinner with a male team and there's one left, you need to leave. You don't stay behind. There's just a lot of things that I think people should know and understand that we have to move differently as women if you want to be successful, you have to protect your reputation.

I would say financial services, a challenge is how we're perceived to the public. I'm noticing that a lot of advisors are using the title financial professional instead of financial advisor, and I'm like, you've worked and you've earned this, but the public has a perception of us that's not always accurate. It only takes a few people to steal someone's money or make a bad investment, and now people are very distrusting. So, I think our credibility has taken quite a hit in the media from some bad apples.

You really need to have a strong skill set when it comes to problem solving and critical thinking skills. No one's gonna teach you how to fix your problems - you can be thrown a lot, and it's up to you to figure it out, so you have to be strategic. And then whatever you do when no one is watching is what actually is shown when everyone is watching, and that comes from my mom - integrity is what you do when no one's around, and that is so true. When you're burning the midnight oil and you're up and you're doing everything you need to do, it does show when the curtain calls. So you have to really live by what you practice. If you're out here giving advice to people, you need to be disciplined. And then the principles that I tell the team to live by, I have to demonstrate that to them. If not, it's just empty words, so you really need to just practice what you preach.