Vanessa Brens

My path into finance was deeply personal. It came from my own life experiences with my finances years ago when I was establishing my credit, working on purchasing a home, and saving money. I remember how much joy and how free I felt when someone came into my world during those challenging times and was able to enlighten me and help me see the other side, showing me that I was going to get through it. Every step of the way, I kept finding myself closer and closer to having perfect credit, good income, and being able to buy the home. That journey led me down this path where I said, you know what, this is where I see myself growing, and where I can also help others be better with their finances, because I know a lot of people struggle with that in communities and just everywhere. Before finance, I did a lot of administrative work and executive office work for contractors and construction companies. I worked for a furniture company that sold wholesale for new homes, which connected with my love of numbers because I still had to make sure the math was right when someone was building cabinets and needed 100 cabinet knobs. I spent over 6 years with Wells Fargo doing investigations, risk, and compliance, which included Anti-Money Laundering and OFAC work, monitoring foreign assets and international wire transfers. Now I'm with Ally Bank in a recovery role, working with accounts that have vehicles in repossession status. What I enjoy most about my work is being able to educate people financially, because I've been down that path myself and I remember how it felt to have someone help me see the light at the end of the tunnel.