Her Story
About Kaitlyn
I've been in the banking industry for 10 years now, celebrating that milestone this week. My role as Vice President of Marketing for First Bank and Trust Company is quite broad - it encompasses external communication, various compliance responsibilities, and mostly marketing and advertising. I have a unique story because I was approached by our board of directors to lead the marketing department when I was young, especially for the financial services industry. At that point, I was here in a lower capacity, but I felt like I was given a great deal of responsibility at a pretty young age. I'm proud to be among several female marketing leaders within the community. I serve on a committee across the state, and the vast majority of marketing leaders in Virginia are actually female. While finance as a whole is still male-dominated, I'm fortunate to be part of a strong network of women in marketing leadership roles. Our organization has grown to almost 500 employees now across 30-plus locations, and I'm proud of the work we do to serve our communities.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Kaitlyn
01What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute my success to the work ethic that was instilled by my parents. I come from a working family, and my mom and dad both worked full-time and then some to give me the childhood and the adult life that I had. So I think it kind of boils down to work ethic. The second part of that is I played sports my entire life - I played softball. That work ethic and being able to know and adopt different roles within a team at different levels really helped me, and I think still today, being able to be adaptable and go to work under pressure, I attribute that all back to sports.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
It's so simple, but my dad always told me, whether it was on the softball field or at work, be the hardest working person on the field. That was just his mentality, and it was kind of ingrained in me. It's about giving it your all, 110%. It's a mindset.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Don't be afraid to ask questions of people that are in those leadership roles now. Ask for what you want out of your career path and let it be known what your goals are for your career. Absolutely advocate for yourself - no one is going to advocate for you the way that you can yourself. Even if you do have a mentor, you should still be vocal about what you hope your path will look like.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
I think the biggest challenge, and this may be true across industries, would be adopting and figuring out how best to utilize the new AI technology available to us within our industry framework, while also maintaining compliance and trust among our customers. But opportunities are great right now, also on the AI front, and being able to figure out how to utilize that to the benefit of yourself or your company. So it's twofold - AI presents both challenges and opportunities.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
I would say transparency and honesty. Just being upfront and transparent with folks is a more efficient way to do business, but it's just doing the right thing and trying to do right by everyone, and to do right by the organization.
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