Shaina Patel

I think it's just all the support I've received throughout my life. My parents have been so supportive of me, my grandparents, my aunts and uncles, like, my whole family, my siblings, but also my professors and my teachers. I still have some professors and teachers and mentors I've collected throughout my life that I still keep in touch with. I have this one professor in college who was never formally my advisor, but anytime I had anything, I would just walk right into his office and sit there. I've cried in front of him, I've ranted to him, I've done just everything. I've just had a great support system, and everyone has encouraged me. I don't think there's ever been one time in my life where I've had an idea and my parents have been like, no, that's too big, you can't achieve it. I've always been pushed to do whatever I wanted, in a sense where it's like no dream is too big or no goal is too large, everything is attainable. I do not think I'd be here without my family, my professors, and even some of my coworkers that have just been great advocates for me.

I think it would be don't be afraid to speak up for yourself. You're never too young to stand up for yourself because you're your biggest advocate. I learned this very strongly at one point in my career when I was kind of at a crossroads where I did not want to leave my company, but I just didn't really see a path for me. I was like, you know, I'm young, what ground do I have to stand on to be like, hey, I'm really wanting to move into this department, I think I could be an asset here. I wish I would have spoken up sooner, because when I spoke up, they were like, you know what, yeah, this is great, let's move you to this department, let's get you where you can shine. It turned out wonderfully, and I'm in a position that I love, working with people that I look up to and want to be when I grow up, for lack of a better term.

I would say, so, banking is a very male-dominated industry, and I think I was very intimidated when I first came in. I thought I had to change everything about me. I thought I had to really get into knowing sports stats and all this stuff. It was a crazy time trying to keep up with all of it. But I would say just go in being confident, being who you are. You're in the room that you're in for a reason. There's no ifs, ands, or buts about it, there's no mistakes. Go and be true to who you are, don't change who you are, but also realize you can learn from everyone in the room. Know that your place is here for a reason.

I think some big challenges are that when it kind of boils down to it, lending is mostly a sales job, especially when you're starting off. I think a big challenge is getting someone to kind of pick up the phone. One thing I focused on a little too much when I was first starting off was, yeah, I'm young in my career, and I focused too much on that part of it when I think I was really the only person that cared that I was young in lending. I don't really think a lot of people have seen that. So I think that was a big thing for me to overcome. And then also just the rejection kind of stings at first, because I mean, you'll get people that'll hang up on you, you'll get people that'll block your number, you'll get all sorts of things. But each no is one step closer to a yes, is what I like to think.

In work and personal, I think there's a lot of crossover. I try to be a person of integrity, and I try to do what's best for the majority of people, not just for me. I try to make sure if I'm making a decision, I take into account everyone that it's going to affect, and I try to see the bigger picture. I also think it's really important to treat people as individuals and not as just a number. I was fortunate enough to go to a school where I was treated as a name, not as graduate student number 237 or whatever. So I think it's really important to get to know people and keep the humanity in everything. I'm also just a strong believer that we're all doing this whole life thing one step at a time, we're all doing it for the first time, so we've got to support each other no matter what walks of life we're in. We're living for the first time, none of us have experienced what we're experiencing now before.